What We’re Reading Feb 19 - Mar 19

Another round-up of what we're reading.  Pick an article or two and comment here!  What else are you reading?

What We're Reading for February 19th - March 19th, 2010

Let You Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer, a Quaker writer and activist with amazing insight

"Sexless in the city: a gender revolution" by Joel Gibson, Sydney Morning Herald

The Bible on the poor

"Does your race matter if you face the death penalty" by ishita, Racialicious

"The Ashburn/Perez Axis" by David Link, Independent Gay Forum

"Making It Legal" by Terrance Heath, The Republic of T.

"Queering the Lunar New Year" by Jason Tseng, The Bilerico Project

What do you hope for?

"What do you hope for?" My friend, and support team member, Sam Lundquist posed that question to me recently. And not just me, Sam is asking anyone who will stop and listen. The Hope Chronicles is Sam's dream project and it seeks to uncover the hope of our world. Sam asks deep questions to strangers and takes the time and attention to really listen. He's documenting hopes in journals, on camera, and second-hand through community listeners. While listening to my fellow human's hopes, I lower my shields and connect, somehow, with strangers. Our humanity links us.

Last month, Emily West wrote about healing and hope at her college, Hope. In many ways, hope is the currency of what we do with Sanctuary Collective. We envision the way things ought to be and we set about to realize our hope for a better, more justice society.

I hope that Sanctuary Collective becomes one of many partners to the Hope Chronicles. The best, truest sorts of hope inspire us to step outside of our dreams and create a new reality around us. The Hope Chronicles shines a spotlight on the things we all-too-often don't share with others. As our hopes come to light, let us partner with each other to bring them to life.

One of the most recent videos on The Hope Chronicles reminds me of what we already know: the quest for justice and equality spans this country and our world.

I lived in large cities my whole life and went to a secular university with plenty of affirming resources at my disposal. Our co-founder, Micah, had a different experience. He grew up in a small southern town and attended a small Christian university. His immediate community lacked adequate resources and though he desired to create change himself, he found few outside resources available to help him. Too often resources for LGBTQ folks are concentrated in centers where other resources already abound.

And so we do things differently. Sanctuary Collective supports the work already underfoot in communities around the country, we connect young folks to local mentors, and we speak and train for our own, varied experiences. I have personally been inspired by the hope which each of our Discipleship Program participants brings. And I am inspired by the hope which our supporters and prayer network, and donors invest in our work and the work of young adults around the country.

Take a moment to explore The Hope Chronicles, read them, listen to them, watch them. Soak them up and let them unlock your own hopes. And then find ways to put your hope into action!

Sanctuary Collective and the 2010 Equality Ride

The Soulforce Equality Ride is a somewhat annual bus trip involving 20 to 30 young people who make the decision to put their lives on hold for two months to travel across the country to colleges and universities that have policies or atmospheres that make it difficult or impossible to be out as queer or trans - or in some cases even as an ally. They travel to start dialogue with students and administration about how harmful and devistating these policies can be.

In January, right before our own Discipleship Program Gathering, Brian and I travelled down to Austin, Texas to help train the 2010 Riders on what the Bible has to say about justice, specifically for queer and trans folks. And last weekend I made the shorter journey down to Philadelphia to be with the Riders at their first stop at Valley Forge Christian College.

As I spent time with the Riders and had conversations both on the bus and out in the community of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, I reflected on the reasons why I think it's important for us at Sanctuary Collective to support and work with the Equality Ride.

First, and as a full disclosure, several of us on the Sanctuary Collective Leadership and Support Teams first met each other through participating on the Equality Ride ourselves. It's where I had my first experiences working for social justice on a broader scale, and also where I first had the support I needed to begin coming to terms with my identity as a trans man. In short, I support the Equality Ride because of the way it affects those who participate in it.

Second, I support the Equality Ride because of the conversations it inspires. Four years after the first Ride stopped at my alma mater, Eastern University, people are still talking about it. That's an awfully long conversation for a community where most of the people who were there at the time are now gone.

The final reason is perhaps more practical. It's important for us to partner with the Equality Ride because they are able to come in contact with people that Sanctuary Collective can not yet reach. As they travel, the Riders will come in contact with students and young people who are excited to work in their communities for LGBTQ justice. And the Riders will be able to pass along our website and our contact information so that they can receive the support they need as they do this important work.

I hope you'll join me in getting excited as those emails and phone calls start coming in!

The Divine Scoundrel

When we think of Biblical villains, scoundrels, vixens…questionable people,

Our knee jerk reflexes are often

Judas, Pilate, Pharaoh, Delilah…

 

You know, all the people we were taught were really sinful and bad in Sunday School.

 

However…what about GOD…YHWH…Elohim?

 

Perhaps a bit sacrilegious…escandaloso…profane.

 

As we read the stories of our faith,

We encounter a GOD who has done

some very “mysteriously holy good” things such as:

Destroying cities…wiping out whole communities of people…

smiting two boys for offering the wrong smoke…

sending plagues…hardening hearts…

giving leprosy to a woman who complained…

allowing the chosen people to be enslaved, tortured, and exiled.

 

It is this messiness and not so pretty face of GOD that

invites us to appreciate the divine humanity, confusion, and “amazingness”

within the one called  “I am.”  

 

The Almighty is complicated, quirky, and screwed up…

 

Just like me. 

 

Afterall, we are all made in GOD’s image.

 

Perfection is not the absence of flaw,

but the willingness to find and reflect GOD in the snarky and faithful.

 

It is this Divine Scoundrel who invites us and challenges us

into the trenches to wrestle with counter-narratives that go against hegemony and the status quo of

abelism, heteronormativity, whiteness, thin-ness and all the other isnesses;

to risk the scandal of widening the circle of celebratory acceptance and radical inclusivity by sitting at

the table to share with  the person living with AIDS, a person addicted to drugs …

a person who disagrees with us in our

theology, sexual ethic, political stances, or cultural practice. 

The scandalous divinity that created us, made us in HER image not to be comfortable

but to be just, to be prophetic …

to stand in sacred, sassy, social solidarity advocating for those who are raped by

society, our churches, our schools, our legal system, and by us. 

 

For despite all the power, wrath, and vastness,

GOD took the time to create me, stick with me, abrazarme, carry me, drag me…

 

Gave me a voice and the ability to create scandal not for mere shock value

But to be a partner and lover in creating justice and sanctuary.

 

Mi DIOS risked scandal by loving me and loving through me; and SHE would have it no other way!!!

 

Amen!!!

February 2010 Update

Here's what's been going on with Sanctuary Collective during the month of February!

This month was our first round of regularly scheduled blogs! We've had updates from our Discipleship Program participants as well as Sanctuary Collective staff. Here's a sampling:

Matt's post: Some thoughts on Prayer, and a Challenge for you
...I'm not talking about a quick Pater Noster as I brush my teeth, I'm talking about some quiet reflective time where I talk to God, with God, or at God followed by some time listening.

MarySue's post from Mississippi College
My immediate goal is to help create a safer atmosphere on campus by engaging in dialogue with other students on campus about the issues LGBTQ students face as well as continuing to foster safe community within our QSA.

Micah's post: The Things that Sustain Us
There's just something about sitting down over coffee and laughing about being afraid that the rapture had happened anytime I walked into an empty room as a child that is so therapeutic for me.

Delfin's post from Yale Divinity
Though the journey is just beginning, I am able to embrace and be Queer, American, Cuban, El Salvadoran, Catholic, Spanglish, catholic, Ecumenical, Mujerista, Eccentric, Imperfect, Curvaceous, and share a distinct quirky laugh that the world either likes or doesn’t like.

Emily's post from Hope College
All too often, the struggle for human rights feels like war to me, attacking or defending.  But who am I fighting? I label this person with words like “conservative,” “fundamentalist” or “close-minded.”  Recently, I have been invited to rethink this approach.

Brian's post on What We're Reading
If you're looking for a few good reads, check these out and then share your thoughts with us! 

 

We've also been busy this month connecting our Discipleship Program participants with some amazing mentors. Each participant gave us some guidelines of what qualities would be helpful in a potential mentor, and we've been working from those to make sure each person gets to be in communication with someone who will be a good fit for them. As of now, we're still looking for someone with a strong background of working with the intersection of sexuality within faith communities and communities of color. If you know someone who fits the bill, pass their information along - it would be really helpful!

 

Finally, it is our hope to be able to support a full-time staff member in 2010 so that we can continue to support our current participants, as well as to seek out new and innovative ways to support young folks organizing for LGBTQ justice in Christian communities. But we can't do this without your help. Please consider donating monthly so we can make this a reality. Any monthly contribute--whether $5 or $50--will go a long way to creating sustainable movements for justice.  If you can't commit to monthly giving, will you give $7 today. We honor and appreciate any gift you are able to provide - including and especially the gift of taking the time to spread the word! Will you tell four friends about what we are doing and the need for their financial support?

 

Love & Peace,
Micah