Today I wonder if you shared some insecurities with your mom,
If you told her you had to leave home,
and start to do all of the dangerous things
she sang about
when you were still in vitro–
and I wonder if you had imposter syndrome
Because your were–after all, fully human,
I wonder if you whispered that you didn’t want to leave home to her
in the middle of the night
or if you worried about leaving your brothers and sisters
when Joseph is so conspicuously absent from the picture now
You, the eldest, the man of the house,
would be leaving too, just to cause a revolution, that’s all
and here is your Mother’s blessing,
at a wedding,
I wonder if she wanted to give you a good memory to start your journey…
if these were good family friends
who had more friends than they could afford–and I can just imagine God
how you looked Jesus when you were like,
“Seriously Woman, this is not what God’s power is for!”
And Mary, Chosen of God, doesn’t even deign to answer her son.
Lord, I just imagine the Mom Look she gives Jesus.
God, I’d love to be able to see someone giving
Jesus, Christ our Lord and Savior, a Mom Look—
Because aren’t those Mom Looks affirming of all that we are, and can be–
they are the opposite of imposter syndrome, are they not?
Mary, gives the Mom Look and then commands everyone in the Room
“You will do as my son says” and gives a grand exit,
Beginning Jesus’s ministry with a flourish…of hospitality,
She blesses Jesus’s ministry with a Party–She starts the ministry as it must end–
with the outpouring of wine.
There is no formal communion narrative in John, but it fits in right here…
as we on the inter-webs argue about what can make communion..
telling us all we need to know about communion
God you turned water into wine,
you know the truth–
its all real,
every drop of Hospitality and Communion,
and identity Affirmation,
It
Is
All
Real
Ministry.
Don’t ever let us forget I pray.
In the name of your Partying Jesus Christ,
and his affirming Mother I pray.
Amen.
Feel free to use/adapt/Share with Credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
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Epiphany is being able to step back and see how all the puzzle pieces that have already been put into place form the picture–and realize what the picture makes. It doesn’t change the picture, it just allows you to understand the picture better!
That’s why, when big changes happen, a good thing to do is to go back to the things you know for sure: identity, facts, spiritual disciplines.
And of course, in the story of the Magi, the answer is Jesus! Same for John the Baptist and the Shepherds! And each of them figured it out by doing what they do best–studying the stars, baptizing and preaching, tending the sheep, etc. For the Magi, its a good news picture, for Herod, not so much. But when they look at the pieces of the puzzle and they go back and look at it, they realize, the answer is Jesus!
As we enter this year after 20 months of Monumental changes–people moving, changing jobs, retiring and dying. And all of these changes are happening on a huge global level, we can be pretty sure that humanity is ripe for an Epiphany, we are about to discover some things about ourselves.
So, now is a good time to hone in on the basics–who are we? what do we love? what are our spiritual practices?
So when we are finally able to step back and see how the puzzle pieces fit together, we are well grounded for that moment of epiphany.
All right, let’s go 2022. Let’s get ready for our Epiphany.
For those contemplating suicide because of their “Christian Families” we pray.
L’engle’s thoughts on those who are figuring out their identity and also her wisdom I use to pray for someone I don’t know (excuse the contextually-gendered language)….#LeelahAlcorn@UnvirtuousAbbey Name us Lord, we pray, Call us by name! Help us to name one another, Mother-Father God!
Names are important, Before this moment, God was known as the God of Abraham (and Isaac, and Sarah!)
The God who promises the stars to Abraham….
But here is Moses, In Midian, encountering God. Having the Burning bush experience, starting his relationship with God. Where just seeing God’s magnificence isn’t enough, being the God
Most of us would LOVE this moment: this compelling, overwhelming, this is where it ALL begins. But Moses, dares to ask questions…why? I think its because he is a human. A human being who was made to name things, a human being who needs to know…
And Moses has an identity crises. A human-what-is-the-meaning-of-my-life-and-who-am-I-anyway Identity crises. Moses, who has been living in Midian, after being born a Hebrew slave and raised as an Egyptian Prince. No wonder he’s confused….he asks who Am I to do this?
So God replies….don’t worry your MY messenger, and I PROMISE I’ll be with you the whole way. Don’t Worry.
And here is where Moses is human, again, asking the next, logical question. Ok, then so who are you to come with me? Not, what’s your name…but “Who are you?”
And God says “I Am, what I AM” This is at a time when most people, including the Egyptians, had different Gods for different things, but this God is claiming to be enough. Plus YWHW in Hebrew also has a future tone–I AM, WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE, what I WILL BE. Implying that God will be God, but in order to find out more, you need to sign up for….
(Here is a cute handy-dandy ref. chart to help us see the process of Call)
On Oct. 1st I’m going to be asking my sister Nat to help me to do a queer theology syncroblog since I am depressingly straight and normal (luckily my theological fascination with fantasy tends to make up for it)
Here are the questions I hope she will be answering…..
If you know someone who can enrich your perspective be sure to have them guest blog or interview them for Queer Theology!
Nat, in the Christian faith we are dedicated the job of “namers” in the world. To me naming has a lot to do with storytelling, naming things/storytelling helps us to real-lize our embodied experience…so I have a couple of questions about stories, being transsexual and embodiment…
What is your favorite series to read? How does it relate to your real life experience? Does it help to inform who you are/want to be?
The story God gives us is that we are both female and male in God’s image. Do you experience yourself as being in God’s image? (I like to think that transsexual’s have a more (w)holistic sense of what God’s image is)
How important was naming yourself as female? How did the naming effect the embodiment? Or how did the embodiment effect the naming? Was there an order to it, or did all come together?
What questions and wonderings do you have about God or the human existence that are informed by your being/experience/embodiment on earth?
In a world where too much ugliness happens every day–much of it on the internet for millions of eyes to see–let’s take a moment and celebrate how one young woman has transformed a moment of ugliness into one of beauty.
It all started when this photo, taken without the subject’s knowledge, was posted on a website that invited mocking and cruel comments.
Then this happened:
“Hey, guys. This is Balpreet Kaur, the girl from the picture. I actually didn’t know about this until one of my friends told on facebook. If the OP wanted a picture, they could have just asked and I could have smiled 🙂 However, I’m not embarrased or even humiliated by the attention [negative and positve] that this picture is getting because, it’s who I am. Yes, I’m a baptized Sikh woman with facial hair. Yes, I realize that my gender is often confused and I…
On Oct. 1st I’m going to be asking my sister Nat to help me to do a 
katyandtheword 