I was moved to read in Chris Beam’s book Transparent about a group of teenage transpeople in Los Angeles who mentor and assist one another in learning the skills necessary for survival in a transgender-phobic society. Who taught these trans-teenagers to be so helpful and faithful to one another? Chris Beam found that “whether they’re [...]Read More...

Once we’ve made it through the door, transpeople can have a profound impact on all faith communities. For instance, Queer theology often encourages a non- or multi-gendered understanding of God. As Tanis explains, “Transgender people… have a unique opportunity to witness to the gender of God. We who embody more than one gender within our [...]Read More...

As M Barclay puts it: “This chapter talks about night and day and land and water, but we have dusk and we have marshes. These verses don’t mean ‘there’s only land and water, and there’s nowhere where these two meet.’ These binaries aren’t meant to speak to all of reality—they invite us into thinking about [...]Read More...

We, too, still often expect change from the top-down. We look for redemption with the lens of empire clouding our view. It can keep us, from recognizing Christ among us, around us, or within us. It is not until these two are practicing the very things they learned from Jesus that they are able to [...]Read More...

So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience [...]Read More...

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was famished. Then tempter approached and said, “If you are the Chosen One of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘One does [...]Read More...

Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an immigrant, in the land of Canaan. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. [...]Read More...

Resurrection is not a do-over. We don’t move on as though nothing ever happened. No, redeemed life is a new kind of life. Jesus was resurrected with scars. The scars weren’t simply a reminder of the past; they were the pathway to the future. They were there to show that the cause of death had [...]Read More...

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22-23 (NRSV) [...]Read More...

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22-23 (NRSV) [...]Read More...