burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

Apparently our current Rest and re/New series topic is "ways to/of faith," and this Wednesday (April 11) we began with our bodies/senses.

This upcoming Sunday (Easter 2), the lectionary Gospel is the story of Thomas who refuses to believe without touching the wounds of the Risen Christ.

Jeff said he thinks Thomas gets a bad rep. (I was reminded that at EDS' Second Sunday ~service on Easter Sunday, Eda said she wishes we would call "Doubting Thomas" e.g. "different epistemology Thomas" -- he just has a different learning style :) )

First he pointed out that no one else in John's post-Resurrection story had believed without evidence. Mary finds the empty tomb, runs and tells Simon Peter and the beloved disciple, who come to the empty tomb and also do not believe.

(I pointed out that John tells us the beloved disciple believed, he just didn't understand -- at H!PS on Monday, Becky had preached on Ecclesiastes 3 and John 20:1-16, and in reading the John I was struck, as I always am, by John telling us that the beloved disciple believed and then in the very next sentence telling us that they did not yet understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead [which makes me ask: so what did the beloved disciple believe?!].)

Jesus appears to Mary in the garden, who goes and tells the disciples: "I have seen the Risen One!" John doesn't explicitly tell us that the disciples don't believe Mary, but the next story we read is of Jesus appearing to the disciples locked up in the room, who THEN go on to proclaim, "We have seen the Risen One!" And Thomas just has the misfortune of not being in that room.

Jeff M. went on to say that Thomas wants more than to just see -- Thomas also wants to touch; Thomas wants a Close Encounter not just of the First kind but of the Third kind (though looking at that scale, I think it maybe doesn't mean exactly what Jeff M. was presenting it as meaning).

He said there's lots of art of the scene -- with Thomas sort of poking at Jesus' wounds, and that seems almost pornographic to him... that he imagines it as more of an embrace.

He talked about Jesus' willingness to let Thomas touch Jesus' "most intimate, most vulnerable, most wounded places," which I found a really powerful framing.

I was reminded of the "Jesus and Kink" series we'd talked about last week*, and the thoughts/conversations I'd had since then about how to do such a series. I'm less interested in proof-texting that Jesus condones/endorses kink than I am in the really queer ways people have engaged with Scripture/Divinity -- like the polyvalences of Christ's wounds ... interaction with bodily orifices as sexual, interactions with wounds as kink, the ways in which Jesus' blood on the Cross can be coded as generative/reproductive, the ways in which fluid-producing orifices can be coded as feminine, etc., etc.

I'm making my way through my best friend's copy of Queer Theology: Rethinking Western Body (ed. Gerard Loughlin), and in Chapter 7, Gerard Loughlin says, "for all these elements [Averil Cameron's 'central elements in orthodox Christianity -- the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, and the Eucharist'], the body is not just a symbol of their truth, but the site where it is realized."

---

*Before Rest and re/New last Wednesday (April 4), Keith and Jeff M. were talking about doing a Mindfulness series next (in a way which suggested it was continuing a conversation they'd had previously). Keith talked about maybe using the upstairs Sanctuary space. And then I don't know how we got there exactly, but Keith was joking about Jesus on the cross and hitting people with reeds.

me: "I don't think that would exactly draw the kind of crowd you're looking for."
Jeff M.: "Oh, it would definitely draw a crowd. (This is Davis Square, after all.)"
me: "Oh, I know -- that's what I was getting at. I just don't think it would be quite the crowd you're looking for."
Keith and Jeff M.: [make noises about being an inclusive and welcoming, big tent kind of church]
Jeff M.: (deadpan) "Jesus and Kink is our next series after Mindfulness."
me: "If I thought you were being serious, I would be so excited -- but you're not."
Jeff M.: "How do you know I'm not?"

I did not take a nap today and I was FINE. Take that, eustaciavye and eponis :P

***

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [more info]
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2, Handel's Messiah)

( Read more... )

H!PS Sophia Circle starts tonight, and Becky sent her text out in advance.

***

Sirach 6:18-19, 23-33

^18-19 Discipline yourself from childhood, and Wisdom will accompany you through old age. Come to Her as a farmer comes to the soil: plow and sow and wait for Her to arise. Do not try too hard, for there is a naturalness to Her coming, and you will eat of Her fruit at the right time.

²³ Listen, my child, and accept my judgment;
    do not reject my counsel.
²⁴ Put your feet into her fetters,
    and your neck into her collar.
²⁵ Bend your shoulders and carry her,
    and do not fret under her bonds.
²⁶ Come to her with all your soul,
    and keep her ways with all your might.
²⁷ Search out and seek, and she will become known to you;
    and when you get hold of her, do not let her go.
²⁸ For at last you will find the rest she gives,
    and she will become ecstasy for you.
²⁹ Then her fetters will become for you a strong defense,
    and her collar a glorious robe.
³⁰ Her yoke* is a golden ornament,
    and her bonds a purple cord.
³¹ You will wear her like a glorious robe,
    and put her on like a splendid crown.

^32-33 If you are willing, you will be taught. If you are diligent, you will progress. If you listen, you will learn. If you pay attention, you will become wise. Stand in the company of the elders, and apprentice yourself to the wise. Listen closely to every discussion, and let not the parables of understanding escape you. Visit the sages often, let your feet wear grooves in their walkway.

***

Yeah, I need to find myself some Wisdom literature to preach off of this year -- where I won't get distracted by The Bible As Porn.

Rowan (of faith-sharing) shared a facebook link for Registration for Hosanna! People's Seminary 2011-12 Programming.

How excited am I about "Fully Broken, Fully Healed: Building Accessible Justice Movements and Communities"? Because I was part of Luke and Us last year, I just transitioned into the next season's women's preaching circle. I'm a bit disappoint that the H!PS organizers didn't keep us more abreast of what other programming H!PS was doing, in case some of us were particularly drawn to something new over and above the new season's iteration of what we'd been doing before. Though yes, part of that onus is on me -- if it's not on my LJ/facebook/Twitter feed (or my GoogleReader) or one of the email lists I'm on, I'm likely not gonna be aware of it; I'm just not good at checking back at websites/message boards.

The new website (which, erm, I'm not sure how Accessible it is) says:

Fully Broken, Fully Healed:
Building Accessible Justice Movements and Communities
Meeting: Third Thursdays, 8-9PM EST

What are the barriers to building accessible justice movements and intentional communities for each of us, regardless of ability? What would awareness, accountability, and solidarity look like between people living with disabilities and allies? We're determined to find out!

We're pleased to announce the formation of a new Steering Committee, Fully Broken, Fully Healed: Building Accessible Justice Movements and Communities. Gathering monthly for one hour meetings by video conference from September 2011- May 2012, members will meditate on liberating theologies for people living with disabilities, gain exposure to the history and legal context of access in faith and justice communities, witness/share personal testimonies, and contribute their own insights to the H!PS leadership team to the development of a new H!PS program (slated for 2012-2013) to address these issues.

No previous experience necessary in the area of disability rights however there are limited slots open for participants. We hope to have good representation among people living with disabilities and allies. In fact, we won't move forward without it! Please write us by August 31st to let us know of your interest in joining us- registration and a brief tech training is required!

So, I preached at H!PS tonight.

( Luke 7:36-50 )

Hosanna! Preaching Seminary's "Luke and Us" program had its first conference call tonight.

I was joining by phone only, but most everyone else was also joining via webcam chat.  The following conversation ensued at one point:
"I look so huge."
"That's just to yourself, probably."
"That's so meta!"
" [...] and that might make you smaller to yourself."

We did intros, and one woman talked about the background noise where she was -- "Which isn't the ideal setting, but I guess you preach where the world is."
And, having been recently diagnosed with celiac disease, she said, "literally being fed is difficult for me."

During the intros, I found myself pulling out my pad of drawing paper and the colored pencils I had bought last time I was at CVS, because people were talking about the story of the woman with the flow of blood and I felt compelled to sketch about that.  (Inorite?)  [Edit: Link to photos. /edit]

The woman who preached tonight said that preaching is "an encounter with the Holy Spirit in which our words become the Word" -- which idea she apparently got from some guy, whose name I failed to write down.
She lifted up example after example of women being the first (and the last) to recognize Jesus, and to love him.