Tag: homosexuality

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Joy Oladokun’s gift

I was introduced to Joy Oladokun’s music a few months ago, and she’s an absolute gift. I got to see her live two weeks ago here in Perth, and as she introduced her song Jordan she gave the context: how she had “grown up religious, and very gay”.

Her music is beautiful. I’d encourage anyone to listen, but if you’re involved in any way in leading in churches and shaping their cultures, then you really should. She’s done us a huge favour by putting words and melodies together to capture the beauty and the pain of what it is to have faith, but also to know rejection at the hands of that faith community. And also the beauty of finding love and grace after all that.

Writing this honestly and putting it out into the world, and grappling with the pain and hope and disappointment out in front of everyone – that takes serious courage.

I can’t say it better than she does, but I’m going to share a video, some lyrics, and some links to songs on Spotify in the hope you’ll listen, and get a better feeling of what it’s like to grow up religious and gay. And maybe that’ll help us be kinder when we find ourselves, or the people we’re serving, on the same road.

Jordan

They told me he’s a good lord,
as they tied the shackles to my feet.
They drowned me in the Jordan,
then they walked away from me.

…

I don’t feel so young now
I gave the best years of my life
I tried to build an institution
Instead of trying to keep the faith

…

You kissed the curse from my lips
And taught them to rejoice again
Now we’re building our own promised land

sunday

Mama says I’m up to no good again
I couldn’t make her proud, though I did mybest
I feel like I’m a mess, I feel like I’m stuck in the wrong skin
I feel like I’m sick, but I’m having trouble swallowing my medicine

Sunday, carry me, carry me, down to the water
Wash me clean, I’m still struggling
Sunday, bury me under the weight of who you need me to be
Can’t you see I’m struggling?

Questions, Chaos and Faith

When my friend Casey died
I didn’t drive home for the funeral
I was prostrate, as they say to higher minds

Went to my dorm and cried
because I still believed in Heaven
And I was sure I wouldn’t see her when I die

…

Nothing is certain, everything changes
We’re spirit and bone marching to the grave
There are no answers, there are only
Questions, chaos, and faith

Dust / Divinity

Oh to be a man of faith
Never asking questions, never changing your ways
I’m a skeptic who still prays
If death leads me to Heaven, they’ll recognise my face

Cause though it hurts me to believe, it kills me not to
And I am trying to find my way through the middle
And I am desperate to receive every good thing
From now until eternity, from dust until divinity

Her last album also has some “observations” which feel half way between a podcast interview and a conversation over a cup of tea.

It has not been easy for me to be so vulnerable
For so long on such a stage
I think there is a part of me that sort of
Sees what I’ve given, and sees the places where it hasn’t always been
Respected, or treated with care…

…

When I’m looking back on my life
I feel like I’ll be able to confidently say
That so much of it was motivated by love
And actual care for the world around me
And hope that I could make it a different, kinder place
For people who don’t always feel welcome in it
And I sort of saw the world change, you know?

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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg on the scriptures in Leviticus used to justify homophobia

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has been one of my favourite religious teachers for a few years now. Recently she’s written up two posts exploring what she calls “clobber” texts: verses in the Bible (Hebrew Bible in this case) that are used to clobber the LGBTQ community and justify homophobia / transphobia.

Links to the two articles:

Her analysis is useful (and entertaining) and I imagine I’ll be coming back to these if I ever find myself in a discussion with someone trying to justify homophobia based on the Bible.

Beyond her unpacking of these verses and ways to interpret them, two things stood out to me. First: the role of scripture teachers in a world where religious fundamentalism is taking hold again. She lives in the USA where fundamentalist Christians are gaining significant political power and shaping laws to force their worldview onto others. The reality in Australia’s politics is different, but you see the same religious fundamentalism play out in power structures at the level of families and schools and communities.

Because in the days when drag bans are getting passed and gun bans aren’t, knowing your text inside and out matters.

We have to fight against the encroaching theocracy in many ways at once. One of those ways includes disemboweling bad readings of sacred texts—especially the bad readings that are used to harm people—at every available opportunity.

The other thing that stood out was her willingness to criticise the patriarchal and homophobic ideology when that’s what is in the text. Growing up evangelical, I had been taught “all scripture is God breathed”, and when something in there was completely out of step with our contemporary values, we either tried to change our values to match, or tried to reinterpret the text in some way that downplayed the parts we disagreed with. The Rabbi on the other hand isn’t afraid to question and criticise the scripture itself and the major rabbinic commentary through history – acknowledging it as tainted by human prejudices – even while somehow approaching it with care, treating it as sacred, and allowing it to speak.

As much as I love to hold up the more optimistic texts in my corpus, it’s still a very patriarchal tradition and we have plenty with which to reckon.

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An old article, but a sad one

This post left me sad:

Pastor supporter of gay marriage out in the cold.

After affirming same sex marriage in an online post, his church met together (without telling him) and decided they didn’t want him any more.  They didn’t even give him the chance to talk over his view point.  Because his house was tied to the job with the church, him and his family were faced with having to find new accommodation on such short notice.

Rodney Croome, whose Australian Marriage Equality website ran Mr Glover’s statement affirming same-sex marriage, said two gay groups would try to provide financial support.

When a church can’t love their own, and the community they condemn as “sinful” steps in with love… I get sad at what the church is supposed to be and the ugly reality of what it sometimes is instead.

Note to self: act the way I think the church should.  If our love isn’t the most extravagant going around, we’re not doing enough.  If we’re too concerned about the purity of our doctrine, and forget to love, we’re not so different from those Jesus was so infuriated by.  I wonder what would have happened if he rocked up at this impromptu meeting.

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.  He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Sad…