shaped by god, community & life |
worship, community & pedagogy |
As a lesbian, called to Christian ministry, I see and often experience hope in a God that became human. The incarnation, for me, is a literal embodiment of hope showing me that the way things are isn’t the way things should stay. Hope that brokenness doesn’t have the final say, that instead, healing and wholeness are not only possible but the way our Creator God intended it. Hope that the misuse and abuse of power doesn’t define the individual and doesn’t rid a person of their value as an image-bearer of the divine. It is this living, breathing and moving hope that I have experienced in the UCC, before and since becoming a member. My vocation, as I understand it at this stage, is to witness to the hope-filled incarnation of God, who showed preference treatment to those who were most forgotten in society.
The artifacts that I've submitted for SLO 3 is a series of pictures, visual pieces of art that I created as part of a seminary class in my second year. These 15 panels of art are meant to echo the movements seen in the traditional Stations of the Cross, sometimes called “The Way of Suffering”, but instead my offering maps the story of the LGBTQ+/Queer Christian experience inside and outside the church. It has been through the process of coming out within the church context that has sharpened my attentiveness to the harm Christian institutions and Christian people can do to others in the names of Christ. The objective was not just to subtly invite direct comparison of the LGBTQ+ experience of suffering with that of Christ’s, but to invite others (primarily church members) to prayerfully journey alongside the queer Christian. I've included a walking guide as well.
I think all LGBTQ+ Christians, particularly those who are called to leadership within the Church, offer an abundance of gifts to the church. Some of these gifts are not unique to anyone individual but born out of the shared experience of hurt and rejection. I believe that my experience of becoming aware of and claiming my lesbian identity has grown in me an empathy for those who are marginalized by society and face discrimination because of who they are and because of circumstances they can't change. I have a hope that communities of faith can become genuine communities of acceptance and love. There is always a critical intersection at the site at which statements of beliefs (theological claims) meet the everyday realities of life and relationships (ethics). I believe that in recent years, particularly within the UCC, the Church is experiencing a movement of growing awareness in the ways it is and is not living into God's Kin-dom ideal as regards LGBTQ+ persons. I believe that an integral part of this journey is helping our congregations and faith community not just gain in awareness of the issues but to also grow in empathy for the 'other,' so that the stranger will be a stranger no more.
The hope for me is that empathy may lead a congregation into self-reflection and evaluation. I believe that any congregation examining how the church has perpetuated suffering amongst LGBTQ+ people, particularly that which comes from judgmental attitudes, exclusionary practices, the issuing of ultimatums, and offering only the conditional hope of inclusion. This project helped me express how I see my role as a queer person in ministry, to connect the dots between the hurt experienced by not just LGBTQ+ individuals, but every group marginalized by the dominant culture. I have grown in my commitment to name the shortcomings I see in the church, be honest about our complicity in various systems of oppression and to move into action from a place of empathy for others.
The artifacts that I've submitted for SLO 3 is a series of pictures, visual pieces of art that I created as part of a seminary class in my second year. These 15 panels of art are meant to echo the movements seen in the traditional Stations of the Cross, sometimes called “The Way of Suffering”, but instead my offering maps the story of the LGBTQ+/Queer Christian experience inside and outside the church. It has been through the process of coming out within the church context that has sharpened my attentiveness to the harm Christian institutions and Christian people can do to others in the names of Christ. The objective was not just to subtly invite direct comparison of the LGBTQ+ experience of suffering with that of Christ’s, but to invite others (primarily church members) to prayerfully journey alongside the queer Christian. I've included a walking guide as well.
I think all LGBTQ+ Christians, particularly those who are called to leadership within the Church, offer an abundance of gifts to the church. Some of these gifts are not unique to anyone individual but born out of the shared experience of hurt and rejection. I believe that my experience of becoming aware of and claiming my lesbian identity has grown in me an empathy for those who are marginalized by society and face discrimination because of who they are and because of circumstances they can't change. I have a hope that communities of faith can become genuine communities of acceptance and love. There is always a critical intersection at the site at which statements of beliefs (theological claims) meet the everyday realities of life and relationships (ethics). I believe that in recent years, particularly within the UCC, the Church is experiencing a movement of growing awareness in the ways it is and is not living into God's Kin-dom ideal as regards LGBTQ+ persons. I believe that an integral part of this journey is helping our congregations and faith community not just gain in awareness of the issues but to also grow in empathy for the 'other,' so that the stranger will be a stranger no more.
The hope for me is that empathy may lead a congregation into self-reflection and evaluation. I believe that any congregation examining how the church has perpetuated suffering amongst LGBTQ+ people, particularly that which comes from judgmental attitudes, exclusionary practices, the issuing of ultimatums, and offering only the conditional hope of inclusion. This project helped me express how I see my role as a queer person in ministry, to connect the dots between the hurt experienced by not just LGBTQ+ individuals, but every group marginalized by the dominant culture. I have grown in my commitment to name the shortcomings I see in the church, be honest about our complicity in various systems of oppression and to move into action from a place of empathy for others.
| The Way of Empathy_Walking Guide TRIFOLD |