The New Progressive Christian Trans Woman

Is the bed a ward of the state? Do my genitals belong exclusively to the state? These are two questions posed by making marriage of one man and one woman a constitutional amendment. Why do we need to have the state sanction an part or facet of sex and or gender. I seriously doubt if the supporters of prop 8 really understand what they have done. Where is the freedom, where is the liberty, where is your heart.

I fear that a constitutional amendment defining the marital status or bed is a slippery slope to Hitler’s Germany and I pray that the courts will act appropriately.  Eventually God's justice, grace and enlightenment will prevail even on the die hard bigots and those that are ignorant.  For now we must continue to fight the good fight of faith knowing the God has ordained justice, grace and mercy for all of God's creation. 

Recently I was at a church meeting when I heard the news that proposition 8 passed.  It was the proposition to ban gay marriage in California. The supporters of prop 8 fought hard to disenfranchise,  dehumanize and even demean those in the LGBT community from being full participants in society. Some of the groups that supported prop 8 had experienced some form of sever oppression themselves yet chose to continue the equation of oppression themselves upon the GLBT community.  The situation begs the question – is the only thing our species really capable of passing on some type of oppression with glimpses of hope?   Maybe with the election of Barack Obama maybe so. 

Why do you and I fight oppression yet maintain oppression at the same time? What about justice? Is it all predicated on ignorance and self preservation or is it power? There are so many variables in the equation.

For me the question is about justice. My faith journey informs me that the practice of life is about justice and the actions that articulate that justice. If I believe that all of creation yearns to be whole and at liberty then my actions must stem from that basis. Romans 8:18-25 which states:

Indeed, I consider suffering of the present to be nothing compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. All creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the children of the divine. Creation was subjected to transience and futility, not of its own accord, but because of the one who subjected it-in the hope that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to corruption and would come to share in the glorious freedom of the children of the divine. We know that from the beginning until now, all of creation has been groaning in one great act of giving birth. And not only creation, but all of us who possess first fruits of the Spirit-we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free.

(Inclusive bible)

 All of my actions and models must be in line with making all of creation free. If my actions do not line up with the above scripture then I am part of the challenge, the problem and I prolong the groaning and birth pains of a creation longing for freedom. Creation longs to give birth, it longs for freedom.  If we look at Jesus of Nazareth we must ask ourselves certain questions 1) how did Jesus create models that exhibited Romans 8:18-25 2) what actions did he take to activate those models and 3) what were his intentions.  If Jesus is my example of how to walk my faith journey then I must also ask myself those same questions.

But of course Romans 8:18-25 can be used by a lot of groups to claim that same mission yet be completely opposed to prop 8 based on the same scripture. So let us look at Isaiah 55:8-9 which states the following:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

If we take Isaiah 55:8-9 as a beginning premise then what does justice mean, what does grace mean and what does prop 8 mean. If, as a Christian I seek to model Romans 8:18-25 I must also acknowledge that I really don’t know the thoughts of God, the ways of God and that the thoughts of God are beyond my thoughts. And if I don’t know then Iwhat does that mean for my actions in Romans passage.

In light of the Isaiah passage and the Romans passage what does justice mean in reference to prop 8?

To be continued

 The authentic you

I seek to live the mission of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ in my own life moment by moment to be the contagious agent of transformation in society.  This necessarily requires me to embrace the authenticity of my divine wholeness in relation to Jesus and not in relation to a dogmatic oppressive theology or ideology.

Through Jesus I find the power of life through authenticity and non else.  Hence when I reflect on my spirituality and sexuality I come to the realization that the authentic me, the I am, is the wholeness and most of all the truth of who I am, the reconciliation and integration of both.

It is crucial for me to reconcile and integrate my spirituality and sexuality because the power to transform society into the beloved community to a large extent finds itself in me.

As I am called to be a disciple of Jesus empowered to transform and heal society I can only do it through the wholeness that yields the fruit that manifests that vision.

The authentic mission of Christ

The struggle of the inclusion of those that are GLBTQQI etc. is an issue of identity and authenticity centered squarely on dogma. Dogma is the doctrine of the Church, the rules, regulations and precepts of the Church. While the common ground is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, son of the living God, the argument, the disagreement is over peripheral and  somewhat juvenile issues of sexual and/or physical identity.

Would the whole Church be discarded over peripheral issues? Did Jesus sacrifice his life only for the sexual and/or gender identity of humanity? Is this what the journey of the Church is about at least here in the United States? Does the foundation of the Church rest on its sexual/gender identity?

Are the arguments of Heterosexism, homophobia, Genderism legitimate arguments to have in the face of the cross of Jesus Christ that calls all of humanity to life? Are the aforementioned concerns the common ground of the Church or is Jesus the common ground? I submit that if Jesus is the common ground then all else is sinking sand.

Holy Scripture does not rest on the partial proof texting of dogmatic interpretation but the whole rest on the radical inclusive love of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. All scripture must be framed in the context of Jesus. In Mt 16:18 Jesus speaks to Peter and states the following:

“And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon the rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

As Jesus speaks to Peter he says (3) short words reflecting ownership. He says “I” – twice and “my” (once). These words mean originator, ownership. He then states that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He will defend his church against even the gates of hell. Why doesn’t Jesus just say hell? Why does he say gates of hell? The words say that Jesus defends his church and while the disciples take a junior partnership in that defense the primary defense rests with Jesus.

And verse 19 states that whatever the disciples need for the Church to grow, function and transform society Jesus will provide.   The Church is called and empowered by Jesus to live out the mission statement of Jesus of Nazareth the Christ.

Now who is the Church that Jesus refers to? Luke 4:18 describes who the church is in the following statement

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Here Jesus clearly and succinctly describes his church – the center of his heart.  The following people groups of the church are delineated below:

Those that are poor

Those that are brokenhearted

Deliverance of those that are captive

Those that are blind

To set at liberty those that are bruised

And finally in verse 19 Jesus says “To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The aforementioned community is transformed and transformative – it is the beloved community, it is Jesus and the disinherited. The Church relates to Jesus through relationship and that relationship is articulated through (1) prayer (2) empowerment of the Holy Spirit (3) authenticity and finally (4) minimal dogma.

If this is the Church that Jesus calls and ordains then what of discrimination, bigotry, and marginalization? Where is the Church in relation to Jesus? Shall the Church be servant of dogma and society? What or who is the common ground? If the Church is called to be that transformative agent in the community then it must return to its founder.

The Church must not conform to the culture or society, and it must not be a resource of political and social conformity. The church must be the Jesus in the community. And then, any and all dogma must be viewed in the context of Jesus of Nazareth.

In contrast if the Church is not about Jesus it should not call itself a Church. It must deny Jesus and embrace the state and society openly. Then the Church could openly practice Heterosexism, homophobia, Genderism openly and then those that are GLBTQQI etc. would be clear and honest in their decision.

Flower Theology

(A Process Theology of the Spring - Pollinization and fertilization of the Creator’s Gift)

Hebrews 11:1-13 states Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he^[a]considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

If, based on Holy Scripture and all creative consistency then it must be a logical conclusion that all life is in a state of continual and consistent revelatory truth within a divinely evolving process. The truth in the morning of creation as it relates to the beginning of earth’s existence and the truth in the afternoon of earth’s existence is different. While the logic of early truth remains as a building block it cannot be used to justify or even to identify the truth of today. This would necessarily determine how I look at God, how I see the processes of God and therefore it is necessary for me to look at life from the context of a total environmental conceptual point of view. It is my belief that God’s revelatory truth was revealed to each of the people is Hebrews 11 within the context of where they were within their environments and not without and therefore I must conclude that if God is unchanging and consistent and that the same processes are in effect today. If I put this progressive truth in the context of a flower then I find myself understanding the processes of God more readily as affirmed below:

As an example if we look at the flower we realize that there is a time of pollinization, and fertilization, a period of growth, an expansion, a change in the dynamics of the flower as the flower blossoms revealing the newness and character of life.

It is this pollinization or this imbuing of matter into the flower that causes an inescapable growth and change of dynamics in the flower that begins; this is the springtime of the flowers evolutionary existence. If my view of God rests in a truth that is a progressive reality, reflecting the dynamics of a flower versus a static truth that denies God’s dynamic infinite processes found in the flower, then I miss the wonders and blessings of a Holy God.

This life has been pollinated by Jesus Christ and the Cross with the love of God and therefore life is forever changed revealing the power and evolutionary dynamics of the processes of God. (This dynamic is an expansion of faith). Upon the acceptance and reception of God’s love the creation is then fertilized revealing that spring newness in the life of the created being.

As life evolves in its search for form and function it is incumbent upon humanity to choose to comprehend the enormity and complexity of divine evolution yet the simplicity of the divine evolutionary process primarily a mysitcal event.  Each moment in terra firma must be seen from the perspective of a divine evolutionary processes stemming from the divine. The simplicity of the divine evolutionary process is made complex because of humanities prideful need to somehow interpret life for its own not necessarily to comprehend its place in the divine. We must question the selfish identification and motives of humanity as the apex of the divine and reassess humanity in the context of life seeking form and function divine imperative.