Queer Theology

Today’s episode is a special one as we get a break from the usual Sunday lectionary readings. Fr. Shay and Brian answer some deep and riveting, queer-related questions. AND we are excited to announce that this episode holds a HUGE giveaway. Stay tuned to learn more! Episode Transcript Brian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. Good morning! Today is Sunday, September 22nd and I’m so glad to have you all hear for another episode of the Queer Theology podcast. We’re going to break from the lectionary today to do another Q&A episode and we’ve got an exciting announcement. In this episode, we’re gonna touch upon some of the Christian books that were influential to us. You know, when Shay and I first were growing up and coming up, there just weren’t many, if any, books that were written by and for LGBT Christians. Thankfully, that is changing and so we reached out to a bunch of our friends who have written some books that we think are stellar. We are putting together a mega giveaway! So you can see everything that’s included, and enter at queertheology.com/giveaway. The grand prize is a powerpack of seven books, most of them we got signed by the authors for you, and they are:   1. Radical Love by Patrick Cheng 2. Queer Virtue by Liz Edman 3. Transforming by Austen Hartke 4. One Coin Found by Emmy Kegler 5. Outside the Lines by Mihee Kim-Kort 6. Our Lives Matter by Pamela R. Lightsey 7. Transgender Theology Ministry and Communities of Faith by Justin Tanis It’s a really awesome collection of books, I think. The grand prize also includes a “God is Love” shirt, some LGBTQ Christian theme stickers, and a year of subscription to Sanctuary Collective. Which if you don’t already know, in addition to being a supported international online community, also comes with resources like: Resurrecting Faith, An LGBTQ Christian Guide to Self Care, all 12 issues of our digital magazine Spit & Spirit which covers everything, from Sin & Grace, to Pride & Shame, to Sex & Bodies, to Crucifixion & Resurrection, and more. We are constantly adding to Sanctuary Collective, we got a really cool lineup of stuff coming out next year, so the prize pack is gonna be pretty awesome. So the giveaway is totally free to enter. All you have to do is go to queertheology.com/giveaway. So pause the podcast right now and go do that! Tell you friends. There will be a few runner up prices, so make sure that you head over to queertheology.com/giveaway and enter now. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s jump into the questions. I am excited to be doing another Q&A episode today we’ve got a few good questions to dive into. This is something we’re gonna be doing from time to time in the podcast. So if you have a question that you would like featured, just shoot us an email at connect@queertheology.com. Let us know if it’s a question for the podcast and we will include it here. So this first question is from Sarah whose a member of Sanctuary Collective, which you can learn more about at queertheology.com/community, and she asks: “Do you have any attachments to specific saints or theologians, who are they and why?” Shay, I know you’ve got a bug I think, but what’s your response to this? FS: I do! You know, growing up I was in a tradition that did not do saints, right? So it’s been fun over the last couple of years to discover the meaning of saints and figuring out how to connect to that. I think that my saints are, some of them are actual canonized by the Roman Catholic church saints and some of them are just people that I consider meaningful and have had an impact on my life. So I think of folks like Dorothy Day, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, all Roman Catholics who did a ton of work around justice issues, and caring for the poor. Those folks are super important to my life and have impacted my journey. So those are probably some of my favorite, more modern saints. I’m a big fan of Doubting Thomas, and his story, and I’ve written a lot about Thomas and Jesus’ scars in the midst of that. So yeah, those are the saints that come first to mind. Do you have any particular saints, Brian? B: Before I get into that though, you wrote a little bit about doubting Thomas in your book, Walking Towards Resurrection. Where can folks get that? FS: That’s on our website, we have a bunch of different options there. We did an ebook version, I read an audiobook version you can do a bundle that will get you all of that, and that’s at queertheology.com/resurrection. Folks have seemed to really resonate with it and found it meaningful, both trans and non trans folks. So yeah, if you wanna pick that up. B: Yeah! I remember the first time I heard you talk about Doubting Thomas and also this passage from Ezekiel, I was like, “Holy shit! Shay is not just regurgitating stuff other people have said before he is creating new theology right here in front of me.” It was amazing and I love it! I highly recommend that. I would also second Dorothy Day, I think for me some theologians that have been super influential in me, Dr. James Cone for sure, one of the founders of liberation theology, definitely Black Liberation theology here in America and abroad. Like, hugely transformative in a way that I understand the gospel, and reminds me of that scene in the scriptures were like, the scales fall off of Paul’s eyes. And I was like, oh yeah! I can see this all in a new way now. What was so clearly there all along and I somehow missed before. I think that our work at Queer Theology is definitely, forever indebted to the work of Cone and other Liberation Theologians. More recently in my journey, Patrick Cheng and Marcella Althaus-Reid, to queer theologians, Patrick’s big book is Radical Love and Maricela’s book is The queer God which is super, super dense. I’m like, a lot to get through, but really expanding the way that I think about God, and sex, and relationships, and how that all puts together in the ways in which things already queer. Christianity has always been queer, so those have been huge for me I think. FS: Yeah, I am really indebted to, and frankly these books are a little bit dated, but Robert Goss’ Jesus Acted Up and the Queer Christ, were really transformative for me. Especially in shifting out of this sense of apologetics and the clober passages, to a more expansive understanding of what theology could be and what queer theology could be. So his books are, like I said, some of the language is a little bit dated specially around gender identity, but a really great first intro into queer theology. Also, Justin Tanis’ book on Transgender in the Church is still the best book that I’ve read around trans 101 theology and also about how to make your church more inclusive for trans folks. That book was just republished, so it’s available again which means we’re so excited to have it. So I highly recommend that one too. Those books were really transformative for me, and then I think, even deeper than that I’m really enjoying the Rob Bell’s newest book on the Bible, that’s been super helpful. And I think a lot of the folks that came out of the radical left in the 60’s and 70’s, their theology still speaks and screams today at the American church in particular. So the writings of Dorothy Day and the Berrigan brothers are still super influential for me. B: Yeah, I think for me, the years before I came out and the first years after I came out, I spent a lot of time hashing and rehashing those clobber passages and reading all these books about apologetics. I didn’t really make much movement, from the time that I first had this inkling that I liked boys until a few years after I came out. It was really starting to look at moving away from apologetics and into queer theology, liberation theology. Listening to actual queer people talk about their faith, rather than just constantly defending at against or what I am not, made all of the difference and how things started to click into place. So I definitely recommend that for you. So let’s move on to the next question, shall we? FS: Yeah! Let’s do it. This one comes from Miranda and the question is: “How can we love our neighbors when our opinions and beliefs are so different? It’s so hard to find the good when our heads are butting so much.” B: Oh! I feel this! FS: Yes! B: Friends, neighbors, family altogether. I think one thing, sort of mental shifts that’s been helpful for me is switching from the idea of there are good people and there are bad people, to we are all people doing our best, hopefully with what we’ve got. All of us, whether the people that we might traditionally label as good or bad have redeeming qualities, and they do stuff that’s hurtful and harmful. I like to think of myself as a good person, but if I only ever think of myself and my loved ones as good people, then I don’t notice the ways in which I participate in white supremacy, sexism, even cis-supremacy right? So focusing less on judging the person’s whole entire character, and more about getting specific on actions and impact has been helpful for me. So then I can love in whatever ways that looks like the person while not condoning bad stuff that they do, I think. What about you Shay? FS: I think for me, it’s figuring out what this relationship look like with folks that have harmful and oppressive views, and realizing that a) I don’t have to be in relationship with everyone. That’s been really impactful even thinking around family, right? My family is not owed a relationship with me if they continue to react in ways that are harmful to my well-being. I think also figuring out that there are places where I can have conversations and be in some type of relationships with folks, but I am no longer willing to engage around certain issues because I know that folks minds are unwilling to change. So that it is unhealthy for me to continue to engage around those things. I also think that sometimes frictive relationships are important when we’re doing the work of justice, meaning that if white people are called to confront white supremacy all the time, and then it’s our job to do that so that people of color don’t have to do that. So it’s important that we don’t sweep bad views under the rug so that we can have a happy relationship with our neighbors or with our racist Uncle. You also have to figure out the safety and what is healthy for you. We have some great resources on our website around self-care, you can go to queertheology.com/selfcare. There are some courses and workbooks and articles, and if you think that you might need that. Especially around dealing with family and unaffirming family, I recommend that you check out those resources. B: Yeah, all of what you said and I think like, to be in a relationship with someone, vulnerability is so important and also people have to earn our vulnerability. So, like you were saying, not everyone is owed that. Also to your point of that sometimes some friction and tension in relationships is good and important thing. Knowing when you’ve got that to give and when you don’t, and I know for me, sometimes I’m just unwilling or unable to debate the rightness of my queerness or my polyness. So I’m probably more likely to take a bow out on that one, and then recognizing that sometimes it will be hard to confront family and friends about racism and transphobia, but I’m not personally affected by it. It’s not my character or life on the line there, so I feel called into that space to have those conversations and step into that conflict. So figuring out when those moments that you want to lean in and when are the moments when you wanna tap out all the while, like Shay said, figuring out the important boundaries, healthy boundaries. There’s all that at queertheology.com/selfcare. All the while that you’re doing all of that, sort of trying to see the good in people even while identifying the real harm that comes from their actions or their policies or their votes sometimes. FS: Yes. So those are the questions for this time. Reminder if you’ve got questions that you want us to feature on the podcast, connect@queertheology.com. Let us know that it’s a question for the podcast and we’ll do one of these again soon. B: Remember to go to queertheology.com/giveaway to enter our LGBTQ Christian book giveaway. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters. FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) In this episode, we dived into: Attachments to saints and theologians People who are influential to us Handling relationships with families, friends, and neighbors Fr. Shay’s book: Walking Towards Resurrection, which you can check at queertheology.com/resurrection Recommended links to check out: queertheology.com/selfcare and queertheology.com/community Plus details to the mega giveaway, details on all the prizes, and how to enter. Visit queertheology.com/giveaway Also, if you have questions for us that you’d like to be featured in one of our podcast episodes, please send them over to connect@queertheology.com, and make sure to let us know that this question is for the podcast. Photo by Claudia The post Q&A + Book Giveaway appeared first on Queer Theology.

Day by day, the scripture reminds us to always find a way to reach out to others, be there for the underprivileged, and be present with the oppressed. It’s a blessing to be accepted, affirmed and be found, but equally (if not more) a blessing to find the lost and embrace them with love and acceptance. Episode TranscriptBrian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. B: Hello, hello, hello! Today is Sunday, September 15th 2019, we’re going to be taking a look at Luke 15:1-10. I’ll read it to you now and it’s also available through the show notes of this episode at queertheology.com/294 if you want to read along there. All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” Shay, what do we do with this? FS: I am so intrigued to read this passage again. You know, this is one that was read all the time when I was growing up in my church. I feel like I have heard sermons on this passage for years and years and years and years. I mean you know, they often centered on converting people… B: Yuuuppp! FS: …and there’s this need to evangelize, and witness, and share our faith. Just a lot about that. I’m actually preaching on this passage this Sunday and have been thinking a lot about what’s a new take on it, is there a new take on it, and what do I wanna say. You know, I’m part of a Lutheran church, an older congregation — probably in a lot of ways shrinking congregation. I think that many mainline churches that are shrinking, there’s a lot of anxiety about: how do we get more people to come to our church, how do we grow our numbers. It’s this sense of we just have to fill the congregation, right? I’m struck by both these stories that Jesus tells. The message isn’t: “Be really great and get a lot of people to come into your congregation.” It’s like, “There are lost people out there, go and find them, and be where they are.” So I’m struck by that kind of turn around especially for the kind of liberal mainline church who are not comfortable with ideas like witnessing and converting people. What does it look like to then live in a world in such a way that you’re going out after people who are lost. And I don’t think of lost in a sense of like non-Christians. I think of lost in a sense of people who are experiencing despair, or who are searching for meaning and don’t know how to find it, or who are trapped in their lives and feeling depressed about that. What is it that we have to offer that could be helpful for them. It’s about going and being with people in those spaces and not necessarily like bringing them in into our congregation. And I think that that has to be the conversation. These ideas can’t be transactional anymore. They can’t be: “I’m going to be nice to you, so you join my church and save it from dying.” It’s gonna have to be: “What does it mean to live out in our faith in new ways when so many people don’t wanna come to church on Sunday morning?” That’s not exactly a queer take, but that’s something tthat I’m really thinking about for my own context for this Sunday. What about you? B: Yeah, I also heard of this passage a lot growing up. Sometimes it was, they would tell us that we are supposed to be excited about when we converted people or like if we’re good Christians our whole lives and some terrible person became a Christian at the end of their life, they still could go to heaven and God will almost be happy. It sounds like a good thing, but also, there’s a twinge with this like, I don’t know, weird jealousy or something. I was super, super involved in young life growing up and they have these summer camps for a week at a time. We’re like bringing out high school kids from all around the country and the target audience is people who are not evangelical Christians, to try and convert them. And literally, at the end of the week, they have people who have decided to “give their life over to Jesus”, like stand up and everyone claps and they play music and it’s like a literal celebration. The waters that we swim in are tainited by conservative, fundamentalist, and evangelical Christianity. So it’s really tempting to feel like that’s the real version of Christianity and our understanding of it is somehow like an adaptation. I wanna push back on that like that evangelical Christianity as we know today is relatively modern invention like within the past 100-200 years, right? I remember a few years ago, one of my boy friends from college have been not out for a long time. We were in our late 20s and he came out. I remember saying, “Oh! The angels are celebrating in heaven today! So and so, came out.” I do see this parallel between coming out or embracing your LGBTQ identity, and being found. Before we come out, we’re like literally separated from the queer community. We are literally separated. From any of us for are in anti-LGBT versions of Christianity. We’re like separated from a faith that is giving us life, so we’re like in this place of metaphoric darkness. We need a woman to come bring her lamp out to come find the coin that’s missing right? It’s dark, and scary, and depressing, and there’s all sorts of research that shows that not being accepted and affirmed in your queer identity has negative mental, physical, and health repurcussions. And so, we’ve got this good news of the gospel of tthe queer Jesus Christ. So I thought that: A. To you point earlier, it’s a good thing to share it. And not to share it in a, say this prayer with and you become a Christian, and then it stops there. But like, we have light, we have healing, we have community. If you’re alone or hurting or in despair, as you were saying, or have needs to be meeting, as you as well say elsewhere. This is a place that we should come together and celebrate this beloved community. That’s my, I guess slightly more queer ttake on tthis passage. I also find some real insight into coming back to these passages, and realizing like oh no, the Bible is alive, all of it,from Genesis to Revelation for LGBTQ people and there is a good word in there for us too. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters. FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) In this episode, we touched on: The anxiety that some churches feel over the decreasing number of churchgoers Finding the “lost” and how we should help How embracing LGBTQ folks is in the same lens as being found Luke 15:1-10 All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” Photo by Garrett Sears The post Being Found – Luke 15:1-10 appeared first on Queer Theology.

When faced with tremendous pressure and issues in life, it sometimes becomes difficult to see past the pain, the anxiety and the stress. But luckily, we have been blessed to have the chance to choose life and choose who we surround ourselves with, in this life. Episode TranscriptBrian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. Hello, hello, hello! Today is Sunday, September 8, 2019 we’re going to be looking at Deuteronomy 30:15-20. I will read it to you now from the Common English Bible. Look here! Today I’ve set before you life and what’s good versus death and what’s wrong. If you obey the Lord your God’s commandments that I’m commanding you right now by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments, his regulations, and his case laws, then you will live and thrive, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and so are misled, worshipping other gods and serving them, I’m telling you right now that you will definitely die. You will not prolong your life on the fertile land that you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live— by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him. That’s how you will survive and live long on the fertile land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Okay Shay, there’s some interesting messages in here. What do you make of this? FS: Yeah, I mean obviously the first thing that comes to mind is just the beauty of this idea of choosing life, and that life and death are set before us, and that we have the opportunity to choose life for ourselves. I think that’s really beautiful. I think that this idea of listening to your heart and trusting your heart to be able to choose life is beautiful and I think important especially for queer and trans folks who are often taught to not trust our bodies and our hearts. Instead, we are supposed to just trust things external to us. But I also think that there’s something here about, my sense is that this was around the time when the Hebrew people, the Israelites are about to be sent into exile again. Or have been wandering. There’s also the sense that by staying close to the community, by doing this work of choosing life, that’s what’s gonna help them survive all of the hardships that are ahead. I think that stuck out to me on this read. I think in a tumultuous American time, particularly, this sense of choosing life, of investing in your community, of doing the things that will give you survival is really resonating and sticking out to me. B: Yeah, you know, we talked in one of the past few weeks about how many of us grew up a conservative type of Christian and got messages about what the Bible meant and was saying. So it’s really easy for me to see this and say, oh by walking in the ways of God, and keeping God’s commandments, God’s regulations, and God’s case laws, then you’ll live. That the evangelical church gets to define what all of that means? This is a beautiful message for people living in this time, and now we’re living in a different time. We have to figure out what does that means for us. I love what you saying about being in excile, being vulnerable, and keeping in the community. I think about how the queer community is such a vibrant life-giving thing for so many people. That part of what is so devastating about the closet is that you’re like cut off from this community of people who are like you, who have been there before you, who understand what you’re going through, who have made the mistakes so that you might not have to. And so, in many ways, coming out of the closet, or choosing to transition, or getting connected to other queer folks, is choosing life. It’s not about, you have to choose this version of God’s commandments that some pastor on TV tells you is the right way to honor God. But look in front of yourselves, and see what’s good, and see the blessings in your life, and choose to be connected to that. I often say, just choose life. We know the research about what happens if you accept or don’t accept your queer kids. We know the research about accepting yourself as a queer person. We know the research about having supportive friends. Just choose life! I say it all the time. Part of that is an intellectual choice to say, believe good things about yourself and hold on to theology that is life-giving. Part of that is like what Shay is talking about, be in community with people who will take care of you, and nourish you, and understand you, and walk alongside you. Just like the importance of being in communion with queer Christians is so, so, so, so important. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters. FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) Today, we talked about: The beautiful opportunity we have to choose life How choosing life relates to queer and trans folks The importance of being in community with queer folks instead of keeping to yourself Living as queer while surrounding yourself with supportive people will make things a little bit easier We’ve looked into this same passage before which you can listen to here. Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Look here! Today I’ve set before you life and what’s good versus death and what’s wrong. If you obey the Lord your God’s commandments that I’m commanding you right now by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments, his regulations, and his case laws, then you will live and thrive, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and so are misled, worshipping other gods and serving them, I’m telling you right now that you will definitely die. You will not prolong your life on the fertile land that you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you right now: I have set life and death, blessing and curse before you. Now choose life—so that you and your descendants will live— by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him. That’s how you will survive and live long on the fertile land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors: to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Photo by Pablo Heimplatz The post What does it mean to choose life? – Deuteronomy 30:15-20 appeared first on Queer Theology.

Honoring marriage or a relationship is not only for straight relationships. More often than not, people who are in queer relationships take faithfulness even more seriously. This episode also shares how there are more important things to focus on in this world than to nit-pick other people’s relationships. Episode TranscriptBrian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. FS: Hello and welcome back to the Queer Theology podcast this week we’re taking a look at the text for Sunday, September 1st. We’re gonna look at Hebrews 13:1-8, and I’m gonna read it for us now. Keep loving each other like family. Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this, some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place. Marriage must be honored in every respect, with no cheating on the relationship, because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery. Your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. This is why we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper, and I won’t be afraid. What can people do to me? Remember your leaders who spoke God’s word to you. Imitate their faith as you consider the way their lives turned out. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! So let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name. Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices. B: Oh man! FS: There’s a lot in here! B: Yeah. We’re reading this passage and I’m like, yeah, love each other like family, this is going to be great, we’re gonna talk about queer chosen family, open up your homes to guests, yes! Remember prisoners, the mistreated, and then I can almost hear in my head this record scratch, eerrr eerrr talking about marriage and I realize in myself that despite being a Christian my whole life and openly queer for over a decade — oh my God, 15 years at this point — closer to 2 decades than 1 — and I’ve been open and polyamorous for eight-plus years. I’m finding that sometimes my extinct is to clench up a little bit whenever marriage or relationship are talked about in the Bible because I don’t always trust it. And then I realize, oh wait! Marriage must be honored in every respect like no cheating on the relationship. I was like, oh yeah! I actually do take relationships and commitment in a relationship very, very seriously. I think sometimes even more serious than people who are monogamously married. And there is no cheating in my relationship, and I don’t know, I can’t say for certain whether or not, the author of this passage intended to be endorsing queer-polyamorous relationships to millennia in the future. But I do know that if you look at the spirit of this, that actually queer & polyamorous relationships fit right into this and are not so antithetical to it as folks might assume on first brush. So that was the first thing that jumped out at me, what about you Shay? FS: Yes, there are two things for me, kind of going off what you just said. I think part of this too, is understanding the historical context about what these writers were trying to do and who they were trying to protect, right? In a setting where women were able to be practically discarded, to say that you had to respect your marriage relationship and that you shouldn’t commit adultery was really protecting someone who was marginalized and oppressed in that community. I look at so many heterosexual and even heterosexual-Christian relationships today, and I think, well jeez, you’re still not respecting women and you’re still oppressing and marginalizing people who are vulnerable. So that kind of comes up for me in reading about this passage. And the other thing is that I’ve heard a lot about sexual immorality and adultery in the Christian communities. I have not heard very much about prisons and prisoners, and respecting those who are mistreated and opening your homes to guests, and you know… B: Not loving money. FS: Not loving money!!! So it’s like, again this idea that gay and queer Christians are the ones that “cherry picks” scripture is just not true. I think evangelical Christians do it all the time. I think that often they read this passage, even when they are talking about prisoners, they are talking about prisoners so they can convert them, not so they can actually be in solidarity with them, and treat them well in prison. So I think that this passage still really speaks today, and I think often queer and trans-folks are the folks that are the ones who are opening their homes to guests, and paying attention to people in prison, and paying attention to the oppressed and marginalized, and probably be more responsible and faithful in their relationships than even a lot of heterosexual Christians. I don’t see this passage as an indictment against my own queerness and transness. But it is a good reminder of where the places I could still be doing more. B: Yeah. And you know, I think that when I was first figuring out my queerness and how that fits into my faith. I felt like progressive Christianity or queer Christianity was this modified version of the real Christianity which I had grown up with. And it’s important for me to remember when you were saying all this stuff about not honoring this, and this, and that, queer Christians and progressive Christians have just as much of a claim, if not more of a claim to the Christian tradition than conservatives, evangelicals, prosperity gospel, anti-gay Christians, right? It’s not like they are the real ones and we are the modification of it. We are both laying claim to this and I always love going back to Matthew 7, “Judge the tree by its fruit.” We’re both saying that we’re Christians and we can’t say that we’re the real ones and they are not the real Christians. We’re all making Christian theological claims, but “judge the tree by its fruit”, and what fruit are our faith bearing. I just look at my life and the lives of other queer Christians that I know. There’s some tasty, tasty fruit there and I’m so excited to be part of this movement with all ya’ll. We talked about the historical context and Shay was talking about you have to understand that this was intended to honor women, and all that. So we are in the midst of registration for a How to Read the Bible course, we also recently did a Christianity and Polyamory course, and we are gonna be doing one about sex coming up. If any of the stuff that we’ve talked about in this podcast episode is resonating with you, you can learn more about the various courses and groups that we’re putting together at queertheology.com/courses. And add your name to the list of any ones that catch your eye that you might be interested. Again that’s queertheology.com/courses and we would love to dive even deeper into these topics if we have time for in this short podcast episodes. That is all for now and we will see you next week. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters. FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) In this episode, we talked about… Honoring marriage or relationships regardless of whether you are heterosexual or queer Who is really “cherry-picking” the scripture? How the writers of this passage were protecting the marginalized and oppressed — the women How Christian communities focus more on adultery and sexual immorality over prisoners and the mistreated We have tons of exciting courses lined up for you, and you can check if any of these courses excite you by going to queertheology.com/courses. Hebrews 13:1-8 Keep loving each other like family. Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this, some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place. Marriage must be honored in every respect, with no cheating on the relationship, because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery. Your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. This is why we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper, and I won’t be afraid. What can people do to me? Remember your leaders who spoke God’s word to you. Imitate their faith as you consider the way their lives turned out. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! So let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name. Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices. Photo by Brooke Cagle The post What It Means to Honor Marriage (and other important lessons) – Hebrews 13:1-8 appeared first on Queer Theology.

When our need to help the poor, feed the hungry, and uphold the oppressed is strong, we sometimes forget that it’s okay to slow down a bit. To rest. To take care of one’s self. And this passage from Isaiah reminds us of that. Episode TranscriptBrian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. B: Hello, hello, hello. Today is Sunday, August 25th, 2019 or at least that is the day that it is when this episode comes out. Actually, Shay is with me here in Los Angeles for a week so we’re recording a little bit ahead of schedule. It’s really been exciting and fun to have you here for the past week, Shay. FS: It’s been super fun to be here. B: A few days ago, we got together with some podcast listeners, some subscribers of the mailing list, some members of Sanctuary Collective for some park theology instead of pub theology. For an evening of getting to know each other, talking about everything from therapy, to veggie-tales, to Hebrew translations of the Bible, and all points in between. It’s been really a lot of fun. What have been some highlights for you Shay? FS: Yeah, I just love it when we get to meet with people face-to-face and hear more of their stories and find out how they found out about the website and podcast. But really, just to be in community with people and that’s been super fun. It’s been great to think a little bit about what’s next for Queer Theology. To think about how we’re doing things and what we can do better and what we want to do more of that’s been really exciting, too. B: Yeah, we got lots of exciting plans that we’ve been working on. One of them has already come to fruition. We are in the middle of registration for a course on How to Read the Bible. I think this is so important, I know that for me, I grew up reading the Bible, constantly talking with the Bible in church all the time. Really feeling like I knew the ins and outs of the Bible and then when I realize I was queer, having the Bible turn around on me and it becoming like a weapon used against me. Then, spending so many years having to fend myself against the Bible. And then, so feeling like I really knew the Bible, I remember as a closeted teenager and opening the Bible trying to figure out what the passages about homosexuality meant and did it condemn me. What about bisexuality, what about this transgender that I heard of? And then, fast forward years in the future and realizing that being a gay or a bi-sexual Christian wasn’t quite enough as much as I thought I knew the Bible in and out, there was just so much more to learn and reading a lot of books by serious academics has been helpful. Working alongside folks that had seminary education has been very helpful. One of our goals at QueerTheology.com has always been to sort of make all of this juicy stuff that happens in Academia available to everyone so that you don’t have to go hundred thousand dollars into debt and go to spend 3 years in seminary to learn how to read the Bible. Because I think there’s something more to just picking it up and reading like it’s the book in order to get the most out of it. So I’m super excited about this class if you’re interested in learning more, you can go to queertheology.com/biblecourse, with or without a hyphen, it will take you there. Shay, what can we look forward to in this course? FS: Yeah. We’re going to look at a ton of different stuff, we’re gonna a lot about how to read the Bible in context meaning both in what kind of literature it is, but also the historical context and really unpacking that and how knowing that context impacts how we read scripture. We’re gonna look at tools for you to do this work on your own, so that you don’t have to be necessarily beholden to going to seminary. We are just gonna give a hint and a tease of starting to read the Bible through a queer and trans lens. We are going to do an entire course on just that later on, but you’ll get just a hint of that in this course. B: I’m super, super, super excited. So before we jump into this week’s lectionary text, this is something that we don’t really ever do. But if you are a fan of this podcast, it would really mean a lot to us if you could go and leave a review on iTunes, or Stitcher or wherever it is that you listen to this podcast. The more reviews that there are, the more it helps other people find the podcast with the algorithms, and also just having your voice on there gives a sense of what this podcast is about for folks who might be considering it. We do from time to time get anti-LGBTQ Christians leaving one star, hateful reviews on there. So having your voice to counterbalance all of that negativity would be super meaningful. So iTunes, Stitcher, the Google podcast, or wherever you listen to your podcast, go on there and drop a review we would really appreciate it. And now, unto this week’s text. It is Isaiah 58:9-14 I will read it to you now. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and God will say, “I’m here.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger-pointing, the wicked speech; if you open your heart to the hungry, and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noon. The Lord will guide you continually and provide for you, even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won’t run dry. They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account; the foundations of generations past you will restore. You will be called Mender of Broken Walls, Restorer of Livable Streets. If you stop trampling the Sabbath, stop doing whatever you want on my holy day, and consider the Sabbath a delight, sacred to the Lord, honored, and honor it instead of doing things your way, seeking what you want and doing business as usual, then you will take delight in the Lord. I will let you ride on the heights of the earth; I will sustain you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Amen. Shay, I know you really love this passage, why is that? FS: I do. I love the poetry of it for one, but I also love how it really turns so much of what I was taught as a kid on its head. I remember growing up and being told that the reason that America was in such bad shape, the reason that there were abortion and mass shootings was because we had taken prayer out of public school. B: Right! FS: I remember Carmen, God bless…. B: Carmen the life coach? FS: Yes …had this entire monologue about putting God back in America again. Quoted all these statistics that said that the rise, the violence happened exactly when they took God out of schools, whatever. But I love that this passage talks so clearly about when you call, the Lord will answer, but it’s if you remove the yoke from among you, if you open your heart to the hungry and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted. Then, your light will shine in the darkness. Again, when we talk about the fact that social justice is baked into scripture, that it’s all throughout, that this idea of caring for the poor and those who are marginalized is at the heart of what it means to follow God. We are talking about through all of these passages. I think that this is a passage that’s so clear. It’s also a passage that it isn’t like if you berate your neighbors for their religious beliefs, or lack of religious beliefs. If you make sure that you fly the American flat, if you protest the abortion clinics, and your light will shine in the darkness. No. You take care of the poor and hungry. And to me, my favorite is this, they would rebuild ancient ruins on your account, you will be called mender of broken walls and restorer of livable streets. I think that’s such a beautiful image and it’s so powerful to think about: that could be the legacy that we’re living. This legacy of mending broken walls and restoring livable streets, and that’s the work to be done. B: Yeah. What sticks out for me in this passage, or I guess what comes to mind is: sometimes I think that the prosperity gospel, and God that wants you to be uber rich, and just name and then claim it, which the secular version of that is the law of attraction or whatever. Gets put in conflict with social justice, Christianity. And somehow, social justice, Christianity, in the popular conception gets translated into, God wants you to suffer or that suffering is noble, or that abundance is bad. What I see here is for this marrying of both of those. Not that we should be excessively wealthy, or if you donate to your millionaire pastor’s church and God will pay your rent. But rather, this idea of removing the yoke and taking care of the hungry goes hand-in-hand with also resting on the Sabbath, and not being ground down. No one wins under capitalism. We’re all grinding, and grinding, and grinding, and grinding. The goal of the Hebrew prophets and what I see in Jesus and what I see in my atheist, social justice friends is not that we are constantly miserable, right? But there is enough and we can take care of each other and still rest. Take care of ourselves, our family and the stranger. I think that is an important message for the world today. FS: Just a reminder, if you want to take this Bible course, it starts really soon. We are going to start it right in the beginning of September. You can sign up for that at queertheology.com/biblecourse. We would love to see you there. It’s going to be a really rich and powerful time together. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters. FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) This episode talks about: A recap of the LA meetup Why Fr. Shay loves this passage so much The work that needs to be done and the legacy that we can live behind Respecting the Sabbath day The importance of resting, and finding a balance between helping others and taking care of yourself The How to Read the Bible course is now open for registration. We are going to start the course on September 15. If this is something you’re interested in, you can sign up for that at queertheology.com/biblecourse. Isaiah 58:9-14 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and God will say, “I’m here.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger-pointing, the wicked speech; if you open your heart to the hungry, and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noon. The Lord will guide you continually and provide for you, even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won’t run dry. They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account; the foundations of generations past you will restore. You will be called Mender of Broken Walls, Restorer of Livable Streets. If you stop trampling the Sabbath, stop doing whatever you want on my holy day, and consider the Sabbath a delight, sacred to the Lord, honored, and honor it instead of doing things your way, seeking what you want and doing business as usual, then you will take delight in the Lord. I will let you ride on the heights of the earth; I will sustain you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Photo by Helena Lopes The post Take Care – Isaiah 58:9-14 appeared first on Queer Theology.

It’s easy to misinterpret the scriptures, and even our so-called traditions and traditional ways of doing things can hinder proper understanding of the text. This episode highlights the importance of knowing historical and political context in order to truly understand the Bible. Download the transcript (PDF) Episode Transcript Brian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. B: Hello, hello, hello. Today is Sunday, August 18th we are going to take a look at Hebrews 11:29-12:2 I will read it to you now. By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if they were on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were drowned. By faith Jericho’s walls fell after the people marched around them for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute wasn’t killed with the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace. What more can I say? I would run out of time if I told you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. Through faith they conquered kingdoms, brought about justice, realized promises, shut the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped from the edge of the sword, found strength in weakness, were mighty in war, and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured and refused to be released so they could gain a better resurrection. But others experienced public shame by being taunted and whipped; they were even put in chains and in prison. They were stoned to death, they were cut in two, and they died by being murdered with swords. They went around wearing the skins of sheep and goats, needy, oppressed, and mistreated. The world didn’t deserve them. They wandered around in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground. All these people didn’t receive what was promised, though they were given approval for their faith. God provided something better for us so they wouldn’t be made perfect without us. So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne. B: Shay, there’s a lot of stuff in here. Where do we begin to make sense of this passage? FS: I mean one of the things that sticks out to me first off is this way that the author of this passage is reinterpreting their own texts and stories for a new context and a new community. By telling all of these older stories, the author is saying, “Look! This is our tradition, this is what we are part of, this is what we are doing, and this is how we can change it and understand it now and continue at forward.” This idea that scripture tells only one story is really false. In here, we have this narrative of how these things get repackaged and reframed and retaught. I think that that’s what we’re still doing today, and it’s really important that we use this as an instructive way of how to read scripture, through scripture. That’s the first thing that sticks out to me, what about you? B: What I notice in this passage is that, some churches that I’ve been to, the idea that you needed Jesus and the Christian writings in order to really understand the Hebrew bible. That almost the New Testament is like this secret key that unlocks the hidden meaning of the Hebrew scriptures. Even like Jonah and the whale being about Jesus and all of this stuff. But what I’m realizing is that this passage makes clear is that actually you need the Hebrew scriptures in order to understand the Christian ones. You need to understand the captivity of the Hebrew people, and their escape, and exile. You need to understand all of these about Jericho and Rahab, this forms the foundation of what the Christian authors are talking about. Then, they take it a step forward and repackage it and make new meaning out of it. But if you don’t understand the foundation, you’re not going to get sturdy walls, my guess is. What I would say. There’s this need to not just take everything at face value and think like, “I can just flip open to any page of the bible and read it, and that’s all that i need to know in order to understand this.” Or that being alive is all that you need to do to make sense of this ancient text. FS: Yeah. And we’re gonna be launching a course really soon here about how to read the bible and how to really understand it. You know, I went to seminary and spent years, and years, and years studying the scripture. I think that that was a fantastic experience and also, I think that there’s a lot of things that you can learn by being in community with other people. By dipping into resources that exist, and dipping into the resources that we are going to provide. That will help you get a really much sense of how to read the bible even without going to seminary. So we are super excited to be launching that course really soon. B: Yeah. So if you’re interested in that, you can hop on the waitlist, be the first to find out about it at queertheology.com/biblewaitlist. And Shay, can you just give us one example, from this passage, what you might learn in this course would help you understand this passage a little bit better. FS: I mean, you were talking earlier about needing to understand like exile. I think that that’s one of the big things that we’re gonna talk about in this course about how the political experiences of the Hebrew people, and also of the early Jesus followers. The historical context that they were living in drastically shaped their understanding of themselves, of their communities, of their approach to the divine. You have to understand those historical realities in order to really get at some of the things that people are talking about. So when we talk about Jericho or the time of the prophets, you really have to understand what’s happening historically and politically in those times to understand the spiritual implications. B: So I’m super excited that that course is starting very soon. Again, you can find out more and be the first to find out how to sign up at queertheology.com/biblewaitlist. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters. FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. This episode’s highlights: The importance of understanding historical and political experiences of Hebrew authors Learning how to read and understand the Bible (join our course, coming soon!) How knowing and learning the context of the text builds a stronger foundation in understanding the scriptures We are launching a How to Read the Bible course, really soon. Be the first to know about it, including special discount, by hopping on the waitlist at queertheology.com/biblewaitlist. Hebrews 11:29-12:2 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if they were on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were drowned. By faith Jericho’s walls fell after the people marched around them for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute wasn’t killed with the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace. What more can I say? I would run out of time if I told you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. Through faith they conquered kingdoms, brought about justice, realized promises, shut the mouths of lions, put out raging fires, escaped from the edge of the sword, found strength in weakness, were mighty in war, and routed foreign armies.  Women received back their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured and refused to be released so they could gain a better resurrection. But others experienced public shame by being taunted and whipped; they were even put in chains and in prison. They were stoned to death, they were cut in two, and they died by being murdered with swords. They went around wearing the skins of sheep and goats, needy, oppressed, and mistreated. The world didn’t deserve them. They wandered around in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground. All these people didn’t receive what was promised, though they were given approval for their faith. God provided something better for us so they wouldn’t be made perfect without us. So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne. Photo by Nicole Honeywill The post Context Matters – Hebrews 11:29-12:2 appeared first on Queer Theology.

Fr. Shay is away on a writer’s retreat so we’re taking another listen to one of our all-time most popular episodes. Everything we talk about is critical to understanding the Bible and that makes it particularly timely as we are getting ready to open up registration for an online course + group discussion on how to read the Bible. You can hop on the waitlist for that here (we’ll give you first dibs at joining since we’ve sold out these types of courses in the past AND you’ll get a special discount) Episode Transcript Brian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns  B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. B: Hello, hello, hello. Today is Sunday, August 11th and we are doing something a little different and a little special. If you haven’t already picked up on it, it’s just me right now. Shay is on a queer writer’s retreat and we got our dates mixed up and realized that we don’t have a podcast episode planned out for today. So I dug into our archives and found one of our most popular episodes of all time. It’s from a few years ago so you may not have heard it yet, so I’m excited to share that with you today. In this episode, we really get into it. We take a look at how there’s more to the story than meets the eye sometimes. We get into gender and sexual scandal, and how God is found in the margins. All of that is critical to understanding the Bible. So I’m excited to dig into this episode with you again today.  I also have a special announcement, you’re one of the firsts to hear if you’re listening to this podcast. We are very, very soon – within the next week or two, we are going to be opening up registration for an online group course and discussion on how to read the Bible. If you’re inspired by this episode and you want to learn how to do that even better, you can go to  queertheology.com/biblewaitlist. To learn more, get on the waitlist. You’ll be the first to hear about it. We’ve sold out these types of things in the past, and you’ll also be able to grab a discount for registering early. I think like as folks, that some of us have grown up as Christians our whole lives and are familiar reading the Bible. And for those of us queer, have been attack by the Bible it can feel like we’ve gotten a master class in reading the Bible. And while that’s partly true, there’s also so much more that goes into how the Bible is created, how the Bible was intended, how the Bible has been used over time, and how much more you can get out of the BIble if you have just a little bit more knowledge and background, and sort of more formalized training. So we are excited to really share this with you. Again, you can hop on the waitlist at  queertheology.com/biblewaitlist you’ll be the first to find out. And without further ado, let’s jump into this week’s episode.   It’s the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman by the well. If you’re not familiar with that story, head on over to QueerTheology.com/171 to read it, and then come back.    “He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me some water to drink.’ His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food.   “The Samaritan woman asked, ‘Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.)   “Jesus responded, ‘If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, “Give me some water to drink,” you would be asking him and he would give you living water.’   “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’   “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.’   “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, get your husband, and come back here.’   “The woman replied, ‘I don’t have a husband.’   “‘You are right to say, “I don’t have a husband,”’ Jesus answered. ‘You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.’   “The woman said, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.’   “Jesus said to her, ‘Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.’   “The woman said, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.’   “Jesus said to her, ‘I Am—the one who speaks with you.’ Just then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?’ They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus.   “In the meantime the disciples spoke to Jesus, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you don’t know about.’   “The disciples asked each other, ‘Has someone brought him food?’   “Jesus said to them, ‘I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work. Don’t you have a saying, “Four more months and then it’s time for harvest”? Look, I tell you: open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for the harvest. Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together. This is a true saying, that one sows and another harvests. I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for; others worked hard, and you will share in their hard work.’   “Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, ‘He told me everything I’ve ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.’”   So Shay, what are your thoughts on this passage? FS: This is one of those really famous and great passages. One of the things I think is important: any time women show up in the Bible, we should pay attention, because it doesn’t happen very often. Again, we have a woman who is not named, which is super disappointing, but serves as a really interesting character within Jesus’s narrative and within the narrative of the gospel. This woman who, again, has some scandal in her life, as a lot of the women mentioned in the Bible seem to. Jesus treats her with compassion and love, which I think is beautiful and awesome. It’s interesting, too, that at the end of this passage, this woman becomes a missionary and an apostle for Jesus. She ends up being the one to convert her entire town. We see, again, an example throughout the gospels of women stepping up into this role when the men around them are kind of feckless and [laughs] not doing anything helpful. Which is a pretty awesome thing to see, especially because in this time women were not trusted. Their word wasn’t valid. Their word didn’t count in court, they weren’t trusted witnesses. So the fact that she then becomes the one to tell her town about Jesus and they believe her, is saying something really incredible. What about you?    B: Yeah, you know I’m struck by this passage where she says “I have no husband,” and Jesus says “You’re right when you say you have no husband; the fact is you have had five husband and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” You know, that is something that, if that happened today, religious leaders would have all sorts of snide, judgy things to say about it. That’s not what happens here. She goes on to be sort of a missionary. We say this over and over again: queer people have more to offer than what we’re not, God is in the margins. We say that God is embodied in Jesus, and he’s hanging out with this woman and befriending her and inviting her into ministry with him – and not judging her. It’s not just that it’s okay to be gay, it’s not just that you can be LGBTQ and Christian, it’s that we’re central to this story. Queer people and women and immigrants and people who are HIV positive and folks living with disabilities, we’re central to this story of God that we see throughout the Hebrew Bible and Christian scriptures. That’s just a cool reminder that that’s where God is.   [outro music plays]   B: So that was our episode. Thank you for joining us for another week of the QueerTheology Lectionary Bible Podcast. We would love to hear what you think. Find us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Let us know what you thought about the episode. Also, before you go, a quick reminder: remember to signup on the waitlist for this How to Read the Bible course that is coming up. You can get on that at queertheology.com/biblewaitlist, you’ll be the first to know. Make sure you get a spot before it sells out, get a discount, and all that good stuff.    Shay is going to be with me in Los Angeles next week. We are going to be hanging out, planning, working, recording podcast episodes. So two things: 1. If you are in the Los Angeles area and you would like to meet up with us, we are going to be hosting an LA area meetup, email us at connect@queertheology.com. To let us know you wanna meet up and we’ll give you the details. Or you can find us on social media and let us know. And if you have a question you would like answer on the podcast, you can email us again that’s connect@queertheology.com. You can ask any question that you would like answered or suggest a particular passage that you’d like us to take a look at and we will get to that. That is all for now, and we will see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) Today’s episode we talk about: The importance of women in the Bible The way Jesus handles sexual scandal How and why queer people can see themselves in this passage How God can be seen as part of the margins John 4:5-42 “He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give me some water to drink.’ His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food. “The Samaritan woman asked, ‘Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.) “Jesus responded, ‘If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, “Give me some water to drink,” you would be asking him and he would give you living water.’ “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’ “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.’ “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, get your husband, and come back here.’ “The woman replied, ‘I don’t have a husband.’ “‘You are right to say, “I don’t have a husband,”’ Jesus answered. ‘You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.’ “The woman said, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.’ “Jesus said to her, ‘Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.’ “The woman said, ‘I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.’ “Jesus said to her, ‘I Am—the one who speaks with you.’ Just then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?’ They left the city and were on their way to see Jesus. “In the meantime the disciples spoke to Jesus, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you don’t know about.’ “The disciples asked each other, ‘Has someone brought him food?’ “Jesus said to them, ‘I am fed by doing the will of the one who sent me and by completing his work. Don’t you have a saying, “Four more months and then it’s time for harvest”? Look, I tell you: open your eyes and notice that the fields are already ripe for the harvest. Those who harvest are receiving their pay and gathering fruit for eternal life so that those who sow and those who harvest can celebrate together. This is a true saying, that one sows and another harvests. I have sent you to harvest what you didn’t work hard for; others worked hard, and you will share in their hard work.’ “Many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus because of the woman’s word when she testified, ‘He told me everything I’ve ever done.’ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is truly the savior of the world.’” Photo by Sabine van Straaten The post God is in the Margins – John 4:5-42 appeared first on Queer Theology.

As far back as we can remember, we were taught to read the Bible in a way that doesn’t always line up with what the passage actually says. Sometimes, people stop reading when they think that a particular part of the passage is enough to fit their “needs”. What’s worse is that some may take full advantage of this and use it against LGBTQ folks. Take a look at this passage and see what we think. Episode TranscriptBrian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. B: Good morning! Today is Sunday, August 4th, 2019. We are going to be looking at Colossians 3:1-11, if you wanna read along we will put the texts in the show notes for this episode which you can find at QueerTheology.com/288. You can also find notes for everything we talk about over there, but I will also read it for you now. This is from the Common English Bible. Therefore, if you were raised with Christ, look for the things that are above where Christ is sitting at God’s right side. Think about the things above and not things on earth. You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. So put to death the parts of your life that belong to the earth, such as sexual immorality, moral corruption, lust, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). The wrath of God is coming upon disobedient people because of these things. You used to live this way, when you were alive to these things. But now set aside these things, such as anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene language. Don’t lie to each other. Take off the old human nature with its practices and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created it. In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all things and in all people. Shay, this has so much going on here and I can not wait to hear your LGBTQ Christian take on this passage, so hit me with it. FS: Yeah, I feel like this is one of those passages that people read one verse, and then stop. Right? “…put to death the parts of your life that belong to the earth, such as sexual immorality, moral corruption, lust, evil desire…” and then they stop there. B: They stop even before they even get to greed! FS: Yeah! And then they say, see you, gay people, the wrath of God is coming upon you. Okay, so, first of all, ya’ll left out greed which is called idolatry, I mean that’s huge. Also, you’re leaving aside anger, rage, malice, slander and obscene language and lying. This indicts all of us in some way. It’s lazy reading to make this passage about gay people. I also think there’s somebody that said about Paul and his clear issues about sex. I want to get Paul a really great therapist so that he can work out whatever angst he has around sex and sexuality. Because I feel like he is writing out his own stuff unto other people and again, I think we’ve talked about this before, I’m pretty sure Paul would be horrified to know that his letters to specific church communities became scripture. I don’t think that that was he was doing here, and I think that he’d be like, “Oh shit! I maybe should’ve reign some of that in.” Also, the fact is I think lots of people pull out these sections and use Paul’s own angst about sexuality to create their own angst about sexuality and to be anxious about everyone’s sexuality. Which I don’t think that’s what this is about. That’s like my first rant about this passage. I do think that part of what Paul is saying here is that what it means to be a follower of Jesus is to try to imitate Jesus and Jesus’ life. Part of that is figuring out how to live in the world in a just way. In a way that is kind to other people. In a way that puts the Kingdom of God first. I think that he gets at it better at the end when he talks about, “In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, but Christ is all things and in all people.” But he took a weird turn to get there. I think that that’s more about Paul and less about God. So for me, when I’m reading this passage from a queer perspective, I’m not reading it from a sense of like don’t have sex, but about what is it mean to imitate Christ? What does that look like? And not in some kind of hippy-dippy kind of way, but in concrete ways. What does it mean to follow in the path of Jesus, here and now, and in my life? I think that those are really challenging questions and those are vital and valid questions to sit with. What does this passage do for you? B: Amen! A few times recently, we’ve talked how it’s important to recognize what is in the text and who should be bringing to the text. I remember when I came out, I was 18/19 and one of my friends from church, I don’t know how she asked me but she basically, “If I gave you some passages to consider, would you read them and consider them about me being gay.” I was like, “I probably already read them, but sure.” So she sent me a letter that have 25+ passages on it. One of them was this Colossians passage, and actually most of the passages where like this where it talked about sexual immorality, or moral corruption, or lust and these are things that only mean homosexuality if you come to the table with that in mind. In fact, it only means premarital sex, or kinky sex or non-monogamy if you bring that to the table with you. I think Paul very clearly wanted no one to have sex at all, so that’s just something we have to own, and name, and deal with. Also, we recognize that we’re not doing that. I think that what you said earlier was so important to remember that when you look at this whole passage it indicts all of us. No one escapes this. As much as I try and be a kind, mindful person, I get angry. I’ve probably thrown into a rage before even. There’s just like no way to escape this, so starting there is an important thing to remember. I also just can’t help but notice all the ways the anti-LGBTQ Christians lie and manipulate the truth in order to try and condemn queer people, women and their bodies, and unfortunately, immigrants, right? Often times, slander us. In condemning queer people, Christians are often violating the very text that they are claiming to uphold, and it’s just like “ugh”. It makes me so, so angry, but I also think that this idea of “…put the parts of your life that belong to the earth, such as sexual immorality, moral corruption, lust, evil desire, and greed.” I can get behind that. What does this look like to actually ask people of faith who can not stand for rape culture, for sexual assault, for embezzlement, for objectifying people, for hoarding wealth? That is what this passage could inspire us to do, and instead, it’s just like, “Don’t masturbate and don’t be gay.” What a terrible corruption of this text. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters. FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) This episode’s highlights include: How others intentionally misinterpret this passage and use it against queer folks The use of this passage against queer people, when it actually talks about everyone who sins Paul’s personal issues with sex and how it is reflected in this passage Reading this passage wrongly is easy especially if you’ve already made up your mind (anti-LGBTQ thoughts) The challenge to use this passage to protect the oppressed than to castrate queer folks Colossians 3:1-11 Therefore, if you were raised with Christ, look for the things that are above where Christ is sitting at God’s right side. Think about the things above and not things on earth. You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. So put to death the parts of your life that belong to the earth, such as sexual immorality, moral corruption, lust, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). The wrath of God is coming upon disobedient people because of these things. You used to live this way, when you were alive to these things. But now set aside these things, such as anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene language. Don’t lie to each other. Take off the old human nature with its practices and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created it.  In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all things and in all people. Photo by Richard Jaimes The post Sexual Immorality – Colossians 3:1-11 appeared first on Queer Theology.

Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the six or seven clobber verses that is commonly used to condemn homosexuality. We talk about what the verse really represents and how it is not about LGBTQ issues. When read using the correct lenses, it focuses on the injustice and oppression that is currently occurring in today’s world. It also pushes us to find ways to help the needy, the poor and the innocent. Episode TranscriptBrian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns  B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. FS: Hello and welcome back to the Queer Theology podcast. This is Sunday, July 28th and we are going to look at a doozy of a passage today, Genesis 18:20-32. You can find that in the show notes at QueerTheology.com/287, but I’m also going to go ahead and read it for us now. So this is Genesis 18:20-32. Then the Lord said, “The cries of injustice from Sodom and Gomorrah are countless, and their sin is very serious! I will go down now to examine the cries of injustice that have reached me. Have they really done all this? If not, I want to know.” The men turned away and walked toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord. Abraham approached and said, “Will you really sweep away the innocent with the guilty? What if there are fifty innocent people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not save the place for the sake of the fifty innocent people in it? It’s not like you to do this, killing the innocent with the guilty as if there were no difference. It’s not like you! Will the judge of all the earth not act justly?” The Lord said, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will save it because of them.” Abraham responded, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, even though I’m just soil and ash, what if there are five fewer innocent people than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city over just five?” The Lord said, “If I find forty-five there, I won’t destroy it.” Once again Abraham spoke, “What if forty are there?” The Lord said, “For the sake of forty, I will do nothing.” He said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak. What if thirty are there?” The Lord said, “I won’t do it if I find thirty there.” Abraham said, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, what if twenty are there?” The Lord said, “I won’t do it, for the sake of twenty.” Abraham said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak just once more. What if there are ten?” And the Lord said, “I will not destroy it because of those ten.” B: I’m so excited!!! FS: Yes! What do you make of this? What do you do with this? B: Yeah! So obviously, this is the start of the story of Sodom & Gomorrah which LGBTQ people are intimately aware with, and honestly, at this point probably, most people are aware of it because it’s just become so ingrained in our culture. Sodomy is a word that has come to mean: non-PIV sex right? It derives from this story and I think there are all sorts of takes on why that’s maybe not accurate and we will perhaps get into some of that today. But what struck me today, and I think I said this last week, I just love coming back to texts over and over again because each time you see something different. And so, when we picked this text I was, “Oh! We’re gonna talk Sodom & Gomorrah. We are going to talk about homosexuality in the Bible. And we’re gonna talk about how you can know it’s okay and this doesn’t really say what people say that it says.” All that definitely happening. Today prisons came up, particularly the death penalty, but prisons in general, and so often we need to punish people for their crimes and what about innocent folks who get swept up in this. Here God is saying, let’s just assume for the sake of this argument that all of the city of Sodom really is terrible people. God is like, I’m not gonna destroy that. I’m gonna let go and pardon an entire city full of terrible people just so that I don’t destroy ten innocent people. And I think what would our approach to criminal justice, incarceration, and in particular, the death penalty look like if we were like: just one person is too many to be punished? And what does a graceful approach to crime and punishment look like? I think, obviously, the story ends with Sodom & Gomorrah being destroyed, so not a perfect analogy. But at least for me, it prompts a moment of introspection around that. In the past, we’ve talked about how prison-justice is both a queer issue and a Christian issue, and you can learn more about that at QueerTheology.com/prisons, but that’s like my prison and crime and punishment weird aside on Sodom & Gomorrah. Shay, what comes up for you in this passage? FS: Yeah, it’s funny because you started off by saying that this is a passage that people know really intimately. I think there’s a yes-and there, right? We have this sense that we know the passage, but every time I read it, I find new things. I find things that we don’t talk about when we talk about these passages. Even this passage, the very first sentence says, “The cries of injustice from Sodom and Gomorrah are countless…” and I think that there was a lot of butt sex in Sodom and Gomorrah and I’m pissed. The injustice is so serious that I have to do something about it. That’s the first takeaway.  The other takeaway is that this passage is really funny, right? This back and forth between Abraham and the Lord is hysterical to me because Abraham is doing this fake deference thing and God is like playing into it. The two of them are going back and forth and Abraham is like, well, if I got him to agree to 50, maybe I can get him to agree to 45. It’s like this barter. And again, we see this sense of a God who is willing to change God’s mind, willing to be badgered down to ten people, willing to not smite the person who is arguing. I think that we often have this sense, especially, people talk about the old testament God and we have pushed back about that in hundreds of other podcasts. So we won’t do that again here. The sense here is that God is wanting to be compassionate and also, unwilling for injustice to continue to exist. I think that’s an important piece of this story. God is wanting to protect the innocent, wanting to take care of them, and also is not willing to let oppressors go free and do their thing. And so, I think that this story should be terrifying, not to queer folks, but to people who are invested in systems of power. And really, I’ll speak for myself as a white American, that’s me and I think all of us who are in the systems where oppression and injustice is still occurring. To me, that’s the message of this story. You recorded this great video talking about how you are a sodomite and I think that’s huge, that’s a great video and it’s important to pay attention to that, and we’ll put that in the show notes. I think that’s the message that this story continues to speak and it’s more important that we grapple with that and less important than we say, well Sodom & Gomorrah wasn’t really about gay people — it wasn’t. And also, it’s more important that we do the work about where’s the injustice in our world and how are we being a part of the change than it is to do linguistic things around homosexuality in the Bible. B: Yeah! I am a sodomite, but it’s not because I like to suck dick and have butt-sex, but because I like, participate, in the injustice in the world. I think that this idea of justice and injustice is so central to our understanding of this, and as people who, Christianity is this dominant religion in America and in much of the world, especially for folks that grew up in a church which are surrounded by Bible stories and church stories. And so, it’s really easy like you were saying to think that we know what it means.  It’s really important on approaching a text to be paying attention to what is actually here and what isn’t. The injustice happening in Sodom & Gomorrah is only about gay people if you bring that prejudice and bias to the text. But if you look at how the Hebrew and the Christian Bibles: what does God call injustice or what did God’s people call injustice? It’s very clear that it’s political abuse, by hoarding of wealth, neglecting poor folks, mistreating women, not taking care of immigrants, right? The Bible makes clear what injustice is and even Ezekiel talks about specifically Sodom & Gomorrah, saying: the sin your sister Sodom they were arrogant, overfed, unconcerned. They did not help the poor and needy, right? This passage is convicting, but not in the ways that it’s been used against us in the past. If you still have lingering questions about is it okay to be LGBTQ Christian, we put together a 7-day email series that walks you through all of that. You can get that at QueerTheology.com/is-it-ok. We will start sending those over to you. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters.  FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript (PDF) Today’s episode talks about: How the passage is already ingrained in the culture of most Christians The relationship between prison and the death penalty to today’s passage Sodom & Gomorrah is NOT about homosexuality Focusing on injustice and what we should do about it God’s willingness to change God’s mind Look into this video about sodomy If you wish to receive our 7-day email series about whether or not it’s okay to be an LGBTQ Christian, check this one out: QueerTheology.com/is-it-ok Genesis 18:20-32 Then the Lord said, “The cries of injustice from Sodom and Gomorrah are countless, and their sin is very serious! I will go down now to examine the cries of injustice that have reached me. Have they really done all this? If not, I want to know.” The men turned away and walked toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord. Abraham approached and said, “Will you really sweep away the innocent with the guilty? What if there are fifty innocent people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not save the place for the sake of the fifty innocent people in it? It’s not like you to do this, killing the innocent with the guilty as if there were no difference. It’s not like you! Will the judge of all the earth not act justly?” The Lord said, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will save it because of them.” Abraham responded, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, even though I’m just soil and ash, what if there are five fewer innocent people than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city over just five?” The Lord said, “If I find forty-five there, I won’t destroy it.” Once again Abraham spoke, “What if forty are there?” The Lord said, “For the sake of forty, I will do nothing.” He said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak. What if thirty are there?” The Lord said, “I won’t do it if I find thirty there.” Abraham said, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, what if twenty are there?” The Lord said, “I won’t do it, for the sake of twenty.” Abraham said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak just once more. What if there are ten?” And the Lord said, “I will not destroy it because of those ten.” Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi The post Sodom & Gomorrah – Genesis 18:20-32 appeared first on Queer Theology.

People often call for the separation of state and religion, but in reality, we tread in the middle especially for LGBTQ+ Christians, every day. The scripture today calls for us to strengthen our faith while fighting for those who are oppressed. It calls for us to question the system and the politics that continue to undervalue those who are having trouble supporting themselves. Episode TranscriptBrian: Welcome to the Queer Theology podcast! Fr. Shay: Where each episode, we take a queer look at the week’s lectionary readings. We’re the co-founders of QueerTheology.com and the hosts for this podcast. I’m Father Shay Kearns  B: And I’m Brian G. Murphy. FS: Hello, hello, and welcome to the QueerTheology podcast. It’s Sunday, July 21st and this week we are going to take a look at Amos 1-12, I’m gonna go ahead and read it for us. It will also be on the show notes, you can access those at QueerTheology.com/286, but again, Amos 1-12. B: And that’s Amos 8:1-12 FS: Yes, thank you. This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again forgive them. On that day, the people will wail the temple songs,” says the Lord God; “there will be many corpses, thrown about everywhere. Silence.” Judgment on oppressors and hypocrites Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy the poor of the land, 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we may offer wheat for sale, make the ephah smaller, enlarge the shekel, and deceive with false balances, in order to buy the needy for silver and the helpless for sandals, and sell garbage as grain?” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget what they have done. Will not the land tremble on this account, and all who live in it mourn, as it rises and overflows like the Nile, and then falls again, like the River of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into sad affairs and all your singing into a funeral song; I will make people wear mourning clothes and shave their heads; I will make it like the loss of an only child, and the end of it like a bitter day. The days are surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send hunger and thirst on the land; neither a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Lord ’s words. They will wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they will roam all around, seeking the Lord’s word, but they won’t find it. Yeah! What do we do with this? B: So, I am obsessed with Amos. One of my favorite passages in the Bible of all time is in Amos. Amos 5:18-24 which I will put links to in the show notes for this episode which you can get at QueerTheology.com/286. But Amos is just like most, if not all of the Hebrew prophets, does not mince words and has some harsh things to say. What struck me about reading the text this time, I love this process of going through the lectionary and sort of revisiting text over and over again, and sort of uncover new meaning each time. This is actually the first time doing this passage on this podcast, but what struck at me this time while reading this passage that right here at the beginning it says: The Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again forgive them.” It’s kind of like fun to see an angsty God here, because we just know that that is not true, right? So either God is an unreliable person, thing, being that changes God’s mind or sort of makes empty threats. And/or, the people recording their accounts of the Bible run their experience of God through their own personal lens and narrative and experience and it shifts by the context at their end. And/or God really never is going to forgive us ever again. So, that is something that sticks out at me. This reminds me of a passage recently that we did or a few passages recently that we talked about depression and seeing overwhelmed and despair in scripture. I think can be really powerful especially for folks that have been taught to always be positive, and positive thinking, and daily affirmations, and just like law of attraction, prosperity gospe: if you just believe good things like life can be great. So it’s interesting to see this overwhelmed and despair reflected in scripture I think that that’s very human and understandable and as queer people, something that we can definitely relate to. What about you Shay? FS: I love all of that that you just said because I think it’s important that we look at how God changes throughout scripture right? Also, that we look at how people’s understandings of God shift and that they’re trying to make sense of it and that’s what scripture is: it’s that people are trying to make sense of what’s going on and what’s happening. I love too that this to me feels so relevant to now and this section on oppressors and hypocrites and those who trample the needy and destroy the poor of the land. Who make measures smaller, but money worth less, right? This feels to me like America in 2019. I’m always struck by the folks who come to churches or who aren’t in churches and are like, “Churches shouldn’t be political. Get the politics out of it.” And I’m like do you not read scripture?  B: Right? FS: You can’t read this text and not talk about politics. You can’t read this text and can’t talk about the way in which systems exist that oppress people and that God is pissed about that, right?  B: Yup! FS: It’s here and it’s all over scripture. It’s not like just one or two text, it’s everywhere. And so I think it’s really important that we grapple with that and that we talk about the fact that our faith and what we believe about God does in fact, impact our politics and it should, right? This isn’t a situation where we should be compartmentalizing these things and I think we can talk about the fact that you can have a separation of state and religion, that is possible. But you can not divorce your politics from your spiritual values, and that comes out in the ways that you live, and move and work through the world. And so I think it’s really vital that we talk about that, and that we grapple with that, and that we deal with that. So this passage is a reminder to me do that work, to continue to do that work, and to continue to figure out how my faith informs my politics, what it looks like and what that means. And to call in to question the ways in which I’m participating in systems that are oppressing poor people and needy people. And I think that’s it’s really vital and ongoing work. B: Amen! We’ve done a handful of other podcast, written some articles and made a video or two about faith and politics. In particular, the politics of Jesus. So if you want to dive more into how our faith and our politics interplay, you can go to QueerTheology.com/politics to check all of those out and again, we will put all of these links in the show notes to this episode which you can get at QueerTheology.com/286. If you are interested in this stuff, and want to dive deeper, and rustle with it and be in a community of folks that are also going through life and figuring this out together, sanctuary collective might be a great thing for you. It’s an international community of folks, LGBTQ christians and straight cisgender supporters from all over the world. We’ve got subtopics so you can discuss each episode of the podcast as it comes out, to talk about sex and bodies, to talk about how it’s okay to be LGBTQ, a place for prayer requests and getting support. And then just a place to talk about life, and faith, and our joys, and our sorrows. You also get access to a growing library of resources, so you can learn more about that and join at QueerTheology.com/community. We would love to have you in there! If you have any questions, shoot us an email connect@queertheology.com or send us a message on any of the social medias that you are connected to us on. [outro music plays] B: The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do at QueerTheology.com which provides resources, community, and inspiration for LGBTQ Christians and straight cisgender supporters.  FS: To dive into more of the action, visit us at QueerTheology.com. You can also connect with us online: on Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, and Instagram. B: We’ll see you next week. Download the transcript Highlights for today’s episode: The scripture talking about depression and despair is very relatable Importance of looking at God’s changes throughout the scripture Politics and religion intertwine — whether you like it or not, here’s another episode about faith and politics Listen to Brian’s favorite passage here If you are interested to learn more and dive deeper, here are a few links to help you: QueerTheology.com/resources QueerTheology.com/politics QueerTheology.com/community Amos 8:1-12 This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again forgive them. On that day, the people will wail the temple songs,” says the Lord God; “there will be many corpses, thrown about everywhere. Silence.” Judgment on oppressors and hypocrites Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy the poor of the land, 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we may offer wheat for sale, make the ephah smaller, enlarge the shekel, and deceive with false balances, in order to buy the needy for silver and the helpless for sandals, and sell garbage as grain?” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget what they have done. Will not the land tremble on this account, and all who live in it mourn, as it rises and overflows like the Nile, and then falls again, like the River of Egypt?[b] On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into sad affairs and all your singing into a funeral song; I will make people wear mourning clothes and shave their heads; I will make it like the loss of an only child, and the end of it like a bitter day. The days are surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send hunger and thirst on the land; neither a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Lord ’s words. They will wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they will roam all around, seeking the Lord’s word, but they won’t find it. Photo by Marco Oriolesi The post God Gets Pissed at Our Politics – Amos 8:1-12 appeared first on Queer Theology.