I had the rare opportunity to be in the pews for a Sunday morning worship service this past week, and I was thrilled when my colleague, Rev. Omega Burkhardt, told me it was Pride Sunday and the centerpiece of worship was a drag story hour.
What a delight.
The sanctuary in Pasadena, California (Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church) was alive with color and joy and laughter and smiles. There was openness, and welcome, and invitation. There was meaning, and commitment, and prayer. And yes, there was a dance party.
But here’s the thing: no one in the sanctuary seemed upset, suspicious, or standoffish about it. Everyone joined the dance party. Everyone did the fun drag version of “Wheels on the Bus.” Everyone sat in awe and then erupted in standing ovation as a choir member performed “Hell Together.” And nearly everyone approached the altar for a queer glitter blessing (and yes, it was so powerful I kind of ugly cried on my way back to my seat).
As I sat in the quiet moments, I remembered the day before, where we ordained Rev. Angeline Jackson, a queer Jamaican woman who will begin serving in Davis, California this year. We celebrated her significant contributions to the LGBTQIA community in Jamaica, her call to ministry, and the fullness of her beautiful traditions and beautiful spirit. Everyone celebrated, sang, danced, was moved. And after the ordination, everyone celebrated and danced some more.
As I considered the 24 hours I’d just experienced, I thought about all of the queer ministers we have ordained (myself included), the queer music directors and religious educators we’ve hired, the queer lay leaders we have built up and installed into positions of authority.
And then I remembered a congregant from a few years ago who insisted that we are not a queer church - that’s the MCC down the street, and we shouldn’t participate in this sort of thing too loudly.
Except…
We kinda are a queer church.
And not just because a lot of queerfolk find their place and their faith and their hope amongst us, but because by the very nature of who we claim to be and the way our theology has developed, we tend to queer the texts, queer the dogma, queer the ideas that no longer serve humanity.
When we talk about “queering” we are, on one level, examining and interpreting stories/texts/histories/ideas through a queer lens, challenging heteronormativity, looking for the gays and the transfolk hidden in plain sight. Queering is how we have come to understand British monarchs William II, James I, Anne, and others might have been gay. Queering is how we can read novels and letters from previous centuries and see the deep love stories of ‘good friends’ and ‘Boston marriages.’
But queering is also more broadly understood; as theologian Thelathia "Nikki" Young puts it, queering is a deconstruction of “the logics and frameworks operating within old and new theological and ethical concepts… queering “dismantles the dynamics of power and privilege persisting among diverse subjectivities.”
We’ve been doing this all along. Once we started thinking critically about what we were being taught about God, the Trinity, salvation, Hell, and other questions of morality, we were setting the stage for that act’s inevitable next steps: queering. It is our habit to keep learning the things that call us to keep drawing the circle of love wide.
That’s pretty queer of us.
So yes, in our congregations filled with people who are straight, and people who are cisgendered, and also filled with people who are not straight, and people who are trans, we collectively approach the deepest center of our faith - love - queerly. Openly. Inquisitively. Gracefully. Compassionately.
Isn’t that who and what we want to be?
One final note: among the songs we sang on Sunday was Jason Shelton’s “Answering the Call of Love,” which, as I have argued on Far Fringe, is a stronger statement than the song’s original title. But leave it to Neighborhood to push it a little further. On Sunday, we sang “Answering the call TO love.” Yeah… changing one preposition makes such a difference. I was moved to tears.
Happy Pride, y’all.
Thank you for this. It explains why my late husband and I chose the Unitarian Universalist faith in which to raise our children. Widening the circle and answering the call to love!
Just listened to "Hell Together" for the first time. Didn't know that David Archuleta finally came out. Good for him. Not sure that the message of that song is a healthy one, though. Seems to convey the idea that if you're queer you need to walk away from not only your church but faith in God altogether. Hopefully not many people will take that message from the song. I am blessed in that early on I was able to reconcile these truths: 1) I am gay AND 2) there IS a God that loves me very much AND 3) I doubt there is a hell, but if there is one, I don't think that's where I'm headed. Mormonism is quite severe.
Lyrics
Bow your head, don't be bold
You'll survive by doing what you're told
Said love is earned and we can't choose
But the more you grow, you know the truth
And all I want is to make you proud
If I would run would I let you down?
You said
If I have to live without you
I don't wanna live forever
In someone else's heaven
So let 'em close the gates
Oh, if they don't like the way you're made
Then they're not any better
If paradise is pressure
Oh, we'll go to Hell together
You and me, that's all we need
Blood is thicker than the pages that they read
I'm afraid of letting go
Of the version of me that I used to know
Crying tears in Sunday crowds
Took my hand, and we walked out
You said
If I have to live without you
I don't wanna live forever
In someone else's heaven
So let 'em close the gates
Oh if they don't like the way you're made
Then they're not any better
If paradise is pressure
Oh, we'll go to Hell together
Hallelujah, what's it doing for ya?
When it's in the way?
Hallelujah, wish we knew it sooner
Walking out with grace
You said
If I have to live without you
I don't wanna live forever
In someone else's heaven
So let 'em close the gates
If they don't like the way you're made
Then they're not any better
If paradise is pressure
Oh, we'll go to Hell together
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Archuleta / Jordan Sherman / Ryan Nealon / Sam DeRosa
Hell Together lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc