Week 6—Queerfully and Wonderfully Made*

 *full disclosure: I didn't invent this awesome title

Why this matters

        Why does this matter?

       Last week we saw that when Barna research asked respondents what word they most associate with the Christian church, the word most used by both Christians and non-Christians was "anti-gay." This despite the fact that there are an estimated 5 million LGBTQ Christians in the US. Arguably, I would suggest that this is key to understanding the massive cultural shift in the last decade: for the first time ever, when asked to name their religious affiliation, the majority of Americans now list "none." David Gushee writes: "This is not a perception problem, solvable by a rebranding campaign and a PR firm. This is a human suffering problem within the very heart of the church."

       So one reason why queer inclusion is vitally important is that it appears to be directly connected to the survival of the Church itself. But another, more urgent reason, is found in research by the Trevor Project which found dramatically increased risks of depression and suicide risk among LGBTQ youth. That risk is particularly elevated among transgender and non-binary youth: more than half considered suicide in the past year. And yet, transgender and non-binary youth who reported having at least one gender-affirming space had 25% reduced odds of reporting a suicide attempt in the past year.

       So a compelling reason for churches, families and communities to have these discussions is that it is literally-life saving.

Gender Identity, the Bible, and Science

       This week we read an excerpt from a compelling autobiography by Jennifer Finney Boylan: She's Not There: a Life in Two Genders. The author describes her first four decades growing up transgender without the vocabulary or knowledge to describe her experience. Reading these sorts of first-person accounts is so valuable in building understanding and empathy among those of us who are cis-gender (when your gender identity aligns with the gender assigned at birth). Of course, everyone's experience is different (the saying is: "if you know one transgender person, then you know one transgender person") which is all the more reason to read widely, to lean in, listen and trust their story.

       Having hopefully dismissed the clobber verses that are used to oppose gay and lesbian inclusion, we turn now to discuss gender identity and expression.  The Bible does not address gender identity directly— and that's important. When faced with silence from Scripture, we can turn instead to the consistent and overall call to love. Our consideration of what it means to love our transgender or non-binary neighbors involves listening well, believing their stories, and leaning into the science. And there is much we can learn from the emerging field of gender studies, which upends much of what folks in my generation were taught. It is interesting to learn that gender in the animal kingdom is not as binary as we think, with all sorts of intriguing variations. It's important to know that gender in humans is also not as binary as it appears. Even on the chromosomal level, we learn that 1-2% of the world's population is neither xx nor xy, but some variation (about the same percentage of redheads in the world). We can read the history of transgender and non-binary people throughout the centuries. Some cultures even have a tradition in which "two spirit" people are honored.

       For cis-gender folks, it may seem like transgender and non-binary people are suddenly more prevalent. But there is actually no reason to believe that is the case. Rather, we are simply hearing more now about this reality that has always been present for several reasons: greater awareness means that non-binary people have a name for what they are experiencing (Boylan's book describes this well). Despite some heartbreaking and alarming pushback, there is more acceptance today, making it (somewhat) easier for transgender and non-binary folks to come out. The rise of puberty blockers is bringing the question of gender-affirming therapy to the public view. (Puberty blockers simply allow pre- or early- adolescent youth who are experiencing gender dysphoria to put a pause on puberty and particularly the development of secondary sex characteristics. This is a helpful resource that gives young people the ability to delay more permanent gender-affirming therapy, giving them time/space to explore what they are experiencing.)

       Gender identity is often compared to handedness. We don't decide to be right or left handed, we discover it at a very early age. It's something intrinsic to who we are. The majority of people are right-handed, but there is a significant minority (10%) for whom left-handedness is the norm and a smaller group (about 1%) who are ambidextrous. When we use the non-dominant hand, it feels wrong. At some points in history, lefties have been marginalized or viewed with suspicion. My father was actually born left-handed but forced from a young age to use his right hand. And yet, despite that early conditioning, he always knew that he was naturally a leftie. 

Queerfully and Wonderfully Made

       There is no clear clobber verse denouncing transgender or non-binary Christians. The usual argument used is the creation account in Genesis 1. So take a moment and carefully read Gen. 1:1-31.

       Those who use this passage to oppose diverse gender identities, generally will argue that gender is binary in this account. They will argue that God created you in a particular gender, and God does not make mistakes.

       Gen. 1 does describes human creation with two binaries—male/female. At first glance it seems set. And yet, we've learned throughout this workshop to take the time to read Scripture more carefully, to look at the context.

       And here we see that the creation account contains many pairs that seem like binaries— dark/light; day/night, sky/sea, dry land/sea. Yet each of these binaries is, in fact, not a binary but rather polarities. They describe two endpoints on a continuum. We have dark and light—but we also have twilight, dawn, all sorts of times when light is dim. We have day and night—but all sorts of times between noon and midnight—evening, morning, etc. We have dry land and sea but also have swamps and bogs and wetlands.  It's a figure of speech called a "merism." It's similar to the phrase "I searched high and low."  We know that doesn't mean your search ignored all the mid-range places, but rather is a figure of speech to outline the broad scope of your search.

       In the same way, as the science has shown us, male and female are not binary, but rather two endpoints in a continuum of gender identity and gender expression.

       The suggestion is made that it's wrong to use hormones or surgery to change the way your body appears. This gets into a whole complicated area of theology—why bad things happen (theodicy). That's a favorite topic of mine, so another day, another workshop, I'd love to discuss that. But the bottom line is, no one really thinks that everything that happens in the world is good, or that we should never intervene—otherwise we wouldn't wear glasses or hearing aids. My granddaughter was born with a devastating heart defect: her heart has only a single ventricle. Untreated, it is 100% fatal. She had to have 3 open heart surgeries, beginning on her second day of life. Christians prayed for her—and I am enormously grateful because today she is healthy and thriving. But no one ever suggested she shouldn't have the surgeries because God created her that way.

       At the same time, our gender identity does seems to be innate—which means, yes, God did make us the way we are—including, as we know from science and history, "two-spirit" people—people who don't fit the gender binary. Gen. 1:31 says God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Gal. 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

What are God's pronouns?

  When you pray, how do you usually address God? Father, Savior, Holy Spirit, Lord?

       We are often trained to picture God as male. That's because many of the images for God in the Bible are male—especially the image of Father and Son, as well as king. But we have other images as well—shepherd, rock, fortress—as well as female images like a mother hen and a woman with a lost coin. The Hebrew word for the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, ruach, is feminine.

       What do you notice about God's gender in the Genesis account?

       Gen. 1:26-27: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

       So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

       You might first notice that, surprisingly, God refers to Godself in the first person plural in this account. That's because the Hebrew word for God used here, Elohim, is plural. You might also notice that in vs. 27 the image of God image is both male and female. Think about looking into a mirror—the image presented never contains something not present in the real. So since an image can't be more than the original, I would conclude that God must be both—or more than—male and female

       This concept is not as new as it might seem—even for evangelicals. Both mystics and theologians have been emphasizing the "divine feminine" for centuries. In years past it was difficult to talk about God without using male pronouns. We didn't want to use "it" because God is personal, but we didn't want to use gendered pronouns. We had to use lots of literary gymnastics to avoid using any pronouns for God.

       When trying to describe God, we often encounter these sorts of challenges because God is transcendent—"wholly other." We are limited by our language. But language is fluid. It changes. This has been acknowledged in dictionaries and style manuals, which have in recent years adopted the singular "they/ them."

       So in Haven, we use they/them for God. 

Nearing the End and Naming the Cost

    This concept is not as new as it might seem—even for evangelicals. Both mystics and theologians have been emphasizing the "divine feminine" for centuries. In years past it was difficult to talk about God without using male pronouns. We didn't want to use "it" because God is personal, but we didn't want to use gendered pronouns. We had to use lots of literary gymnastics to avoid using any pronouns for God.    We are nearing the end of this workshop. Early on we saw the Wesleyan Quadrilateral as a model from the book of Acts for how we can approach decision making. Now is the time to begin  prayerfully thinking through how that rubric can help you discern where you stand on LGBTQ inclusion.

       Here's my take on it: Christian tradition mostly opposes inclusion, but we've also seen how the Church has moved positions in the past, especially on the issue of slavery and women's roles. As we've shared the research on LGBTQIA+, I believe reason—our thoughtful analysis of history and scientific knowledge, give us every reason to support queer inclusion. Similarly, I think our experience of our queer friends, family, and neighbors argues for full inclusion. Our hearts intuitively tell us inclusion is right. I hope our exploration of the clobber verses has shifted the final barriers to full inclusion.

       As we are close to the end of our workshop—just one more week—you may or may not be at a crossroads, perhaps considering changing long-held beliefs. For most of us, the biggest factor in your view on queer inclusion is the Bible, which is why we've spent so much time on the clobber verses. But it's important to recognize that there are multiple factors at play. For many of us, what we believe about a few hot-button issues is tied up with identity. With words like "evangelical," "conservative" and "biblical"

       I believe there are many benefits to adopting an affirming theology. Perhaps the most important is that it yields a clear, consistent theology that makes sense. Inclusion intuitively fits our picture of Jesus as loving, and embracing the full diversity of humanity. Having a consistent theology is important to our faith. When we feel bound to a theology that doesn't make sense of our knowledge or experience of the world, we experience cognitive dissonance. This tends to distance us from God as unknowable. It tends to separate our heart from our head.

       But when we adopt a consistent theology—one that makes sense of our experience of both God and our world– our faith becomes real and invigorating. You can see your faith lived out in real life, in ways that matter.

       And yet, sometimes, when we change our view on a hot button issue, it comes at a cost. For most of us, it will at least shape your identity—how you view yourself. For some it will be the cost of a job. For some it may be a loss of a church family. It might be a loss of a friendship or even a family member.

       I hope I've given you good reasons to choose an affirming approach to LGBTQ inclusion. But I want to acknowledge those costs. So I'm going to invite you in this final week to think about what the decisions you will make on this issue might cost you. We will not ask you to decide today or next week or the week after that—you will decide when you decide. But I'm inviting you right now to  name the cost and bring it into your prayers for discernment.

       Loving God, we lift these things to you. We lift the concerns of our heart, because we know you care about all these things—our communities, our families, our friendships. We are worried and burdened.

       Lord, we pray for youth who are struggling. Who are struggling with shame. Who feel they need to hide who they are. Who may not feel safe at school or sometimes even in their  own homes. We pray for their protection. We pray for their hearts. We pray that they might know that they are worthy, beautiful, and loved. We pray that we might be someone who shows and reflects that to them.

       As we bring all that we have learned close to our hearts, I ask that you draw near. I pray that our faith may become real as we lean into the truth of who you are.

       In Jesus' name, Amen.