Queering Ministry

There are two things that makes my nerd heart sing: liturgy and communal worship. While I love both of these things, I often find myself avoiding worship due to being uncomfortable. Uncomfortable about what? You may ask. Uncomfortable to know when I walk into a worship setting there is a high likelihood - even in a queer-affirming church - that something will speak to my exclusion. Not the type of exclusion where I can’t come in. In fact most progressive churches would be more than welcoming. It’s the type of exclusion that revolves around language. When you sing a hymn that speaks about brothers and sisters - I am excluded. When you don’t change brothers and sisters in a Biblical reading - I am excluded. When the pastor consecrates the elements for communion and says brothers and sisters - I am excluded.  One may tell me that I am being hypersensitive, but I don’t think that is the case. These words that we use create our reality of who is included in the realm of God and who is

Let us pray. O Holy, Most Gracious God, You are the Great Healer.  Be with those who are effected by COVID-19.  Be with them as they seek to find healing for their sickness.  Open their ears and hearts to listen to medical professionals as they seek to control the virus as much as possible. Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer. O Holy, Most Gracious God, You are the Great Physician.  Be with medical professionals that seek to treat people.  Use them for the good of your creation and give them strength and peace in these troubling times.  Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer. O Holy, Most Gracious God, You are the Great Innovator.  Be with those who seek to find a vaccine for this virus and push science forward for the world that You so love.  Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer. O Holy, Most Gracious God, You are the Great Comforter.  Be with all who lose someone due to this virus.  Encircle them in your everlasting presence.  Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer. O

Every time I go to begin writing this, the words seem to fall short.  In the midst of these challenging times, what can I, one person, say to help encourage love and compassion over all during the pandemic?  People are scrambling for some sort of control in a circumstance where we have none.  This need to control is part of who we are as humans.  The need to control our environment and those around us pervades how we interact with the world. It is from this aspect that we will approach the readings for the fourth Sunday in Lent.  In the Gospel reading from John the issue of control is real - what did the blind man’s parents do or what did he do to cause this blindness?  It is important to note that the light/dark imagery  (Ephesians reading) and the sight/blind imagery (John reading) are often oppressive to people of color and people living with disabilities.  I invite you to wrestle with how these oppressions exist in your context and what it means for your preaching of these tex