By: rev. lacey hunter, Associate Minister of Faith Formation, First Congregational Church of Alameda, CA
What I am sitting with in my spirit and feeling in my bones this Advent is somewhere, everywhere, oppressed, enslaved, traumatized people are practicing freedom. Somewhere, everywhere, throughout all of time, amidst lives stolen and worlds crumbling, people and communities reflect “our intentional relationship to divine change in apocalyptic circumstances” (from Foreword by Alexis Pauline Gumbs in Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies). This is what it means to me to “put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.” No system, no empire, no institution is everlasting. The promise of God’s kindom, the promise of beloved-made-flesh is coming. This Advent, we are invited to put on that promise.
When I put on the name “gender queer,” “non-binary,” I am practicing freedom.
It is a name like “Godly Glory.” This name means another world is possible.
This name means that when social structures and systems ban identities and regulate bodies, we celebrate incarnation. We are divine change-made-flesh.
This name means that when institutions adhere to binaries for control and efficiency, we dance the name of the Trinity. We are divine change-made-flesh.
This name means that when empires erect borders to displace, separate and control peoples and lands, we flow like water. We are divine change-made-flesh.
So when you hear us speak these names,
even more, when you say these names:
gender queer
nonbinary
trans
gender expansive
gender non-conforming
may it be like the Holy One showing forth our splendor everywhere under heaven.
This Advent, may we practice freedom until freedom is Everlasting.
Prayer
I am divine change-made-flesh
You are divine change-made-flesh
We are divine change-made-flesh
I am another world possible
You are another world possible
We are another world possible
God’s kin-dom lives in me
God’s kin-dom lives in you
God’s kin-dom lives in us
Artwork: “We Are Irreplaceable” by Jordan Alam and Jess X Snow.
Used with permission CC BY-NC-ND
Find more at Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative
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