DAY 32

Image by Jay Huang

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A GREETING
Now I am the one calling to you—
and you, O God, will answer me. Turn your ear to me and
hear my prayer.
(Psalm 17:6)

A READING
Then ...you will be able to stand tall fearlessly.
Your suffering will be a thing of the past;
you’ll view it as water under the bridge.
And your life will be brighter than the noonday sun;
its gloom will turn into a bright dawn.
You’ll possess renewed security,
for now hope will reign;
you’ll be able to take your rest in safety—
you’ll lie down, and no one will make you afraid.
(Job 11:15-18)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Guard me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
(Psalm 17:8)

A PRAYER
Love with us, Love above us, Love beneath us,
Love within us, Love beside us, Love who surrounds us,
You who are both/and, who created every facet in the kaleidoscope
he, him, she, her, they, them, ze, zir, zey, zem,
and delights in the expansiveness of gender.
Disturb us when we grow complicit in our privilege,
Stir in us your Spirit of compassion to listen alongside and show up when we’re invited
In the name of the One who calls us by our name and our bodies good
Jesus the Christ who loves us as we are, Amen.
- by Rev. Victoria A. Featherston for Lutherans Connect

VERSE OF THE DAY
In God’s hand is the soul of every living thing;
in God’s hand is the breath of all humankind.
(Job 12:10)

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"Two nudes in a forest," by Frida Kahlo (1939).
Mexican painter Kahlo is well-known for her self-portraits. She is less well-known for her bisexuality and paintings that express same. This work was inspired by her relationship with the actress Dolores Del Rio.

How can we appreciate the nuances and contexts that underline how some scriptural texts have been interpreted? Why has the church so long been challenged by sexuality -- of any kind?

Jesus has little or nothing to say about human gender and sexuality. Instead, he seems more concerned with the way in which human beings form their relationships, with or without sexual contexts. Jesus disliked hypocrisy and exploitation: he refuses to participate in a public shaming of a woman whose sexuality has been judged (John 8), he has a long conversation with another woman whose sexual history he seems to know (John 4), and he offers a surprising (for its time) affirmation of the experience of those who were eunuchs (Matthew 19). He is more interested in intention, and in the forming of lasting bonds (Matthew 19). It is Paul who establishes more rigid structures and who develops theologies which separate and distinguish. Even so, he was responding in his time to the ways in which power had led to a distortion of human sexuality. He was trying to reach those who had been sexually enslaved by the leaders of the Roman Empire and offer them freedom. In our own time, we might imagine it as trying to reach out to the vitims named in the Epstein files. Nonetheless, the prohibitions and exclusions made by Paul have had long-lasting impacts on many in our church.

Jesus is never interested in exclusion. Instead, everything in his ministry points toward the inclusion of all peoples. He does not judge the human body, but time after time expresses a yearning for bodies and people to have wholeness and healing. How can we in our own time and in our own lives do the same?

One way is to tell more stories of diverse loving relationships. And to take time to watch and listen to them when they come our way. And even more, we can seek them out.

The song “Somewhere,” from the Broadway musical West Side Story, has caught the attention of many people who dream of a time and a space when they might be fully able to just be themselves in love. Love has an infinite capacity to form itself in human connections in millions of myriad ways. Why do we limit that by trying to put love into specific categories? What are the stories, the dances, the songs, the art that express those possibilities? In today's video, we see the work of Queer the Ballet, a New York-based dance company who commission dance works that express a diverse experience of orientation and gender. Today’s ballet captures a relationship between two women in a non-traditional pas de deux. Setting and filming it in an urban location allows us to see more closely the intimate connection that is not always visible in ballets on a stage, and which capture how people show love in simply being together.

Somewhere... there is a place that is imagined in the Job reading, where the kindom of God is revealed to be for all people. What can each of us do to show that such a place is now, in this time and in our own communities?

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Image by David Grimes.

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

This short documentary offers a deeper dive into the work of Queer the Ballet.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 31

Image by Felicito Rustique Jr.

queer bodies

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A GREETING
My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready;
I will sing and play for you.
(Psalm 57:7)

A READING
Not all flesh is the same. Human beings have one kind, animals have another, birds another, and fish another. Then there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies have a beauty of their own, and earthly bodies have a beauty of their own. The sun has one kind of brightness, the moon another, and the stars another. And star differs from star in brightness.
(1 Corinthians 15:39-41)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE 
For all these mysteries I thank you—
for the wonder of myself,
for the wonder of your works—
my soul knows it well.
(Psalm 139:14)

A SHORT REFLECTION
Your name
is a gift
You can return it
if it doesn’t fit.
- found in Lord of the Butterflies,  by Andrea Gibson. 

VERSE OF THE DAY
When I am anxious and worried,
you comfort me and bring me joy.
(Psalm 94:19)

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"Resurgence of the People," by Kent Monkman (2019)
In this work, Two-Spirt and Queer artist Monkman reframes traditional historical paintings that often have figured triumphal settler figures. Using his alter-ego figure "Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Monkman figures people of all kinds in the boat that is heading toward a place of freedom and renewal, including migrants and refugees and other marginalized folks who are being pulled from the water. 

In today's short reading, we hear Paul talk about the beauty of all created bodies. He is writing in the context of understanding resurrection. In our world, there are people who dream of and pursue renewed bodies to express who they are, seeking a rebirth of identity. Today we reflect on what it is to have a gender identity that does not conform to the one assigned at birth, or which does not feel conformed to any binary gender. At the invitation of Lutherans Connect, Pastor Victoria A. Featherston (they/them) offers this for us from their lived experience:

Andrea Gibson’s words [see above] when reflecting on queerness, more specifically genderqueer bodies as sacred, feel to me like an oasis of both/and in the wilderness journeying toward the cross. How does the language we sometimes use limit the expansiveness of the body of Christ?

I serve on a committee that recommends spiritual care for those who are incarcerated. Two months ago, I visited a women’s correctional institution in British Columbia and was part of a team conducting a site review who interviewed persons on the inside and how to improve chaplaincy services in Canada’s prisons. One of those persons identified as transgender and, when sharing her concerns, talked of the importance of decentering herself and using her voice to advocate for her interfaith neighbours.

In a world where living outside the gender binary is dangerous, there is an encouragement to retreat into the closet of fear and silence dressed up as safety. A closet where one feels as though they must mask who they are for the comfort of the privileged, a closet where all may not always be welcome and their body may be policed. As a genderqueer pastor who presents mostly as “passing” or able to present as the gender I was assigned at birth, I have privilege and I feel called to use my voice alongside those in my community who do not “pass.”

How do these words challenge us within the comfort we may have always known in our own bodies? In the opening lines of today's video, the songwriter names the reasons that are sometimes given for not being open. We in the church can add to these with perhaps similar conversations we may have heard in our own faith communities: "our parish is not ready for this." "We don't have a problem with the issue or the individual, but just worry that the parish may not treat them well and they won't be safe." How do these concerns, however honestly felt, prevent opportunities for real learning and growth? We might ask ourselves instead, "how does God feel about the non-binary or trans person we are afraid of calling into our parish?" "How is God challenging us in this moment?"

Victoria adds:
In what ways have we experienced the need to mask or filter our identities? How can we reframe those experiences and bodies as sacred?

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Image by Karen
Seahorses and sea dragons (figured here) are often embraced as emblems by the queer and trans community. Male seahorse bodies are among the very few species in all Creation that are the gender who give birth.

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
Andrea Gibson was an American non-binary poet, spoken word performer and activist. They documented their own journey living with cancer. "Maga hat in the chemo room," explores the politics of identity and clothing confronted while having chemotherapy. Listen to how their experience of illness broadened their experience of all human beings.

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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!