From the blog of the late Rachel Held Evans: Thoughts about how to "love like Jesus"
“There’s a blog post circulating around Facebook written by a conservative Christian woman who encountered an old friend at a retail store who had transitioned - the writer remembered her friend as a man, but the friend had since embraced her identity as a woman. The writer says she was initially surprised, but sensing her friend’s fear of judgment, decided to simply “love like Jesus.” In a follow up post, the writer compared her own Christlike love for her trans friend to the love Jesus showed the woman caught in adultery.
Now, I don’t want to heap any more criticism upon this writer than she’s already received. (A quick glance at the comments serves as a sad reminder that in some religious circles, simply being decent to a trans person is considered highly controversial.) Grace recognizes that this woman’s choice of kindness over judgment and compassion over condemnation – particularly when those choices are unpopular in her community – is noble and good. I want to honor that.And yet…
I can’t help but imagine things from the old friend’s perspective. The encounter appears to have made this trans woman nervous, and I suspect it’s because her past includes a lot of fear, heartache, and judgment. That she too responded to the encounter with decorum and grace represents an act of Christlike love.
In my conversations with LGBT people, particularly LGBT Christians, I’ve learned that many have grown understandably tired of being compared to the infamous woman caught in adultery depicted in John’s gospel – not because they believe themselves to be without sin, but because it’s not their sexuality or gender identity that makes them sinners. (Rather, it’s the stuff we all deal with, like pride, apathy, materialism, selfishness, binge-watching Netflix to the point that we neglect basic grooming and relationships outside the living room, etc.) Furthermore, having their identities, or their most cherished relationships, compared to the devastation of adultery is understandably offensive and hurtful.
A lot of straight, cisgender Christians have this habit of making these comparisons, of putting ourselves in the position of the loving, forgiving Jesus and LGBT people in the position of the beloved sinners. Even more liberal folks like myself like to argue that “being like Jesus” means embracing LGBT people as they are.
And yet…
Focusing so much on “being Jesus” to others means missing the moments when someone is “being Jesus” to you. I remember this about fundamentalism—the pressure and the pride of bringing light to an otherwise dark world. It never occurred to me that other people outside my conservative evangelical tribe had blessings to give me, that I might learn something from them too.
My point is this: LGBT people are not the woman caught in adultery. They are not the leprosy patients Jesus healed or the demon-possessed he rescued. Each is a unique individual whom Jesus loves and ministers to uniquely.
But if I had to make a comparison, I think a more accurate one may be the Good Samaritan. We’ve become so familiar with the story it’s easy to forget that to the religious community from which Jesus emerged, Samaritans were the ones whose supposedly errant theology and questionable ethnic history meant they “needed God.” And yet Jesus makes a Samaritan the hero of his story, the one who embodied what it meant to keep the greatest commandment of loving God and loving others well. Rather than telling a story about a Jewish man who saved a helpless, sinful Samaritan, Jesus told a story about a Samaritan showing grace and love to a stranger. Jesus didn’t condemn the “other” or pity the “other.” He centered the “other.”
I have no idea how this trans woman from the department store, who has unwittingly gone viral, feels about the interaction she had with her old friend. I don’t want to try to speak for her. And I have no judgment for the writer of the piece. But I would suggest that, perhaps, it was the trans woman who showed the forgiveness of Jesus that day, who chose not to cast a stone, who extended unconditional and sacrificial love to her neighbor…even when it was hard, even when it was undeserved.
Time and time again I’ve witnessed this from siblings in Christ who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, or questioning. Despite sometimes vicious and abusive treatment by religious people and institutions, they go on loving—often for the sake of their own survival. With all the fear, misinformation, and hate being spread about trans people in the wake of this North Carolina “bathroom bill,” I can’t help but feel that any trans person who responds graciously to someone who considers their very identity a sin is a) going above and beyond what should be required of them, and b) practicing the very “radical” grace and forgiveness Christians talk about but so seldom practice.
Yesterday on the blog I shared the work of just a few transgender Christians who have been Jesus to me. I hope you will allow yourself to be ministered by them too.
…Cause we’re not always the heroes of the story.”
Reconciling Scripture: Examining Inclusion, Welcome, and Radical Grace
Pastor Tina created a resource to help work through some of the common scripture passages used to exclude or marginalize people. We had excellent discussion using this packet at our latest Faith Friends & Fellowship group on Sunday. You can join us at "FFF" on the 2nd Sunday of each month, where we discuss various topics related to social justice, equity, and inclusion.
Reconciling Scripture:
Examining Inclusion, Welcome, and Radical Grace
Faith, Fellowship, and Friends
May 2025
Lutherans and the Bible
The Bible is the Word of God
The Bible is our best source for what God wants to say to us. Even ancient messages
can continue to speak to us.Word of God is:
Jesus
Law & Gospel
Written word
Where did the Bible come from?
God: divinely inspired word
The church
The church as an institution is who decided what books were included in the
canon and what was excluded.The books of the Bible ARE NOT the only written examples that we have of
divine stories, but they were the only ones chosen by human institutions to be
included
Humans
Divinely inspired BUT written by humans, dominantly written by and from an
educated, male perspective“Plain sense:” we aim to not wrangle scripture into something that it is not. We
aim to not make it something the original authors didn’t intend
Interpretation
Luther encouraged the church to read the Bible with interpretation, to look at the context
and what was going on while it was being written in order to fully understand the layers
that are at play in scripture. It cannot be taken at black and white face value, but
examined with a critical eye to understand nuance and what cultural, political, and
economic factors were at play.
Lutherans do not believe in the “inerrancy” of scripture
God’s word is perfect, humans are not
There is no way to separate scripture from the human influence upon the text
Creation
“So
God created humans in God’s image, in the image of God, God created
them, male and female God
created them.” ~Genesis 1.27
What else does God create during the Genesis 1 creation story?
Day & Night
Evening & Morning
Sky & Land
Earth & Seas
Plants with seeds, trees with seeds
Stars, Moon, & Sun
Birds & Living Creatures
What about………
Dawn & Dusk
Afternoon
Clouds & Atmospheres
Lakes, Marshes, Estuaries
Root plants, non-fruit bearing trees
Comets, Meteors, Planets
Dualities
are the literary device used in creation, so it isn’t surprising
that the same idea is applied to
humans.
“But
this verse does not discredit other sexes or genders, any more than
the verse about the separation
of day from night rejects the
existence of dawn and dusk. 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 reality—they invite us
into thinking about everything between and beyond.” ~Transforming,
Austen Hartke, pg. 51
In
the same way that we say God is the Alpha and the Omega, that doesn’t
mean God isn’t also
everything in between, God is more than the
beginning and the end.
The creation story is no exhaustive, but an opening scene on God’s overwhelmingly creative powers.
“I
am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive
it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
~Isaiah 43.19
God is always creating something new…
Let’s Talk About the Law
“A
woman shall not wear a man’s apparel, nor shall a man put on a
woman’s garment, for whoever
does such things is abhorrent to
the Lord your God.” ~Deuteronomy 22.5
This
text is often quoted in direct contrast to the transgender community
and people who engage in
drag culture.
But what about other laws that are also laid out in Deuteronomy?
“You shall not wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.” ~Deut. 22.11
“If
someone has a stubborn or rebellious son who will not obey his father
and mother, who does not
heed them when they discipline him, then
his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out
to
the elders of his town at the gate of that place. They shall say to
the elders of this town, ‘This son of
ours is stubborn and
rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’
Then all the men
of the town shall stone him to death.” ~Deut.
21.18-21a
What would the Jesus and the Parable of the Prodigal Son say to this?
“You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice.” ~Deut. 24.17
“You
shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full
and honest measure.”
~Deut. 25.15a
“You
shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall
not keep for yourself the wages
of the laborer until morning. You
shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind.”
~Leviticus 19.13-14
“You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin.” ~Lev.19.17a
“When
an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the
alien. The alien who resides with
you shall be to you as the
citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were
aliens in
the land of Egypt.” ~Lev.19.33-34
“You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you.” ~Lev.19.28
Each
and every one of us can find something in scripture that speaks
against our lives, experience, and
existence.
Start at Exclusion, End with Inclusion
“No
Ammonite or Moabite
shall
come into the assembly of the Lord even to the tenth
generation. None
of
their descendants shall come into the assembly of
the Lord forever, because
they did not meet you with
food and water on your journey out of
Egypt and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from
Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. (Yet the Lord your
God refused to heed Balaam; the Lord your God
turned
the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your
God loved you.) You shall never
promote
their welfare or their prosperity as long as you live.”
~Deuteronomy 23.3-6
“Then
Naomi started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of
Moab, for she had heard in
the country of Moab that the Lord had
considered the Lord’s people and given them food.” ~Ruth 1.6
Ruth is one of five women named in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew1.5)
“No
one who
testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to
the assembly of the Lord.”
~Deuteronomy 23.1
“As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ Philip commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water and Philip baptized him.” ~Acts 8.36-38
“But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the people of Samaria had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.” ~2 Kings 17.29
“But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.” ~Luke 10.33
Diving Deeper: David & Jonathan
Who? King David (post-anointing, but pre-ascension to the throne
Jonathan, son of King Saul, David’s rival
Where? 1 Samuel 18.1-5, 19.1-7, 20.1-42
What does this story tell us?
What stood out to you?
Is this story new to you?
What was meaningful to you in the story?
Diving Deeper: Philip & the Ethiopian Eunuch
Who? Philip, one of the 12
Court official of the Queen of Ethiopia, in charge of her treasury, a eunuch
Where? Acts 8.26-40
What does this story tell us?
What stood out to you?
Is this story new to you?
What was meaningful to you in the story?
Freedom from Binaries that Bind
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” ~Galatians 3.28
From the time of our baptism, God’s children share the identity and destiny of Christ. We are no longer defined by race, social class, or even gender.
When are some times in your life you have been excluded because of some part of your identity?
How would you feel if you were excluded from baptism? From communion?
Context Matters! Freedom from Violence
“Do you now know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.”
~1 Corinthians 6.9-10
Issues of translation
“Male prostitutes” in Greek “malakos” meaning “soft” or “lacking self-control”
“Sodomites” in Greek “arsenokoites” literally “one who beds a male”
BOTH terms are specific examples of injustice. The “soft” person takes more than his or her due. The “arsenokoites” is a term used for someone who rapes and shames other males to increase his reputation for power.
The issue here is not sex, homosexuality, or who is engaging in intercourse with whom, the issue is violence and unbalanced relationships.
There was a significant issue within Corinth of older men seeking out younger male children for prostitution and taking advantage of them. This does not refer to consensual, loving relationships, but power dynamics.
Jesus as the Last Word
“‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” ~John 13.34-35
This happens after Jesus has just washed the disciples’ feet, including Judas’ feet. If Jesus calls for love in the hours before his death, even love of the one betraying him, that is the commandment that overrides all.
Clunky Questions
In our monthly Faith, Friends, & Fellowship discussion group we have begun working through the "Clunky Questions" online resource from Reconciling Works. Come join us on the 2nd Sunday of each month, immediately after services, to join in on the learning and discussion. You can also take a look at their website for yourself if you'd like to learn more.
"We often hear people with good intentions feel they aren’t able to ask questions about what it means to be LGBTQIA+ because they are afraid of offending someone or they don’t have the right words with which to ask. If this sounds familiar, or if your faith community is interested in how to better support LGBTQIA+ Lutherans, then the “Clunky Questions” series is for you. Visit the ReconcilingWorks website to watch some short videos where Lutherans answer some of the most common questions asked about their LGBTQIA+ identities."
Watch Clunky Questions - Season One: LGBTQIA+ Lutherans and Season Two: LGBTQIA+ Lutheran Pastors HERE.
Who Is Trinity? - A list of art, imagery, and objects that represent our faith community
Last spring we put out a survey asking the Trinity congregants to provide some examples hymns, scripture, and imagery that they felt represented our faith community. This was done in an effort to help TLC understand more about who we are and who we want to be as a faith community. At our next FFF discussion group on Oct 13th, we will review the third and final category: art, imagery, and objects. Here is a list of what our congregants submitted.
Discussion topic: "For Our White Friends Desiring to be Allies"
Our Faith, Friends, & Fellowship group met in September to discuss the article "For Our White Friends Desiring to be Allies." Take a look and discuss what you think with someone you think would find this topic engaging.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
