Gay baby Jesus comes out on Christmas billboard

“Time for Jesus to come out” billboard from St. Matthew-in-the-City

A gay baby Jesus with a rainbow halo lights up a new billboard for a church in New Zealand.

“It’s Christmas. Time for Jesus to come out,” says the billboard installed this week by St. Matthew-in-the-City, a progressive Anglican church in Auckland.

I experienced joyous revelation when I first saw baby Jesus smiling at me with a rainbow glow from his manger. I have created and written about queer Nativity scenes since 2009, but showing the infant Christ as gay never even crossed my mind. The baby Jesus has been displayed with two mommies, two daddies, queer Magi and gay shepherds -- but this is the first time that I’ve seen the Christ child himself presented as queer.

And yet a queer baby Jesus actually makes more sense historically than some of the other queer Nativities, because some Bible scholars do believe that Jesus experienced same-sex attractions and perhaps even a male lover. And if Jesus was gay, he must have been born that way.

“This year we invited discussion and debate on the sexual orientation of Jesus,” said St. Matthew’s clergy Rev. Glynn Cardy and Rev. Clay Nelson in a statement about the billboard on the church’s website.

They got their wish as international controversy erupted over the billboard on the Internet and in news reports. The gay baby Jesus billboard appears at a time when legislation to allow same-sex marriage is being considered by the New Zealand parliament. Another new billboard on the subject shows the Pope blessing a gay marriage.

I contacted Nelson about the billboard and he gave permission to share it on the Jesus in Love Blog “with our blessing.”

His official statement on the church website raises a provocative question. “Some scholars have tried to make the case that he might have been gay” says Nelson. “But it is all conjecture. Maybe gay, maybe not. Does it matter?”

It does to me. Every community presents Jesus in their own way. There’s black Jesus, Asian Jesus -- and now queer Jesus to heal the damage being done by homophobes in Christ’s name. It makes my Christmas much merrier.

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Special thanks to Andrew Craig Williams for the news tip.

Related links:
Pope gay marriage ad 'unlikely' to cause widespread offence (New Zealand Herald)

Gay Jesus Ad Causes Outrage: Jesus Should 'Come Out,' Claims New Zealand Church (Christian Post)

Gay Nativity scene in Columbia sparks outrage

Top 20 gay Jesus books

Pope blessing a gay marriage?! See it now in ad for New Zealand power company

Rainbow Christ Prayer by Kittredge Cherry

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This post is part of the Queer Christ series series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others. More queer Christ images are compiled in my book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Billboards show gay-friendly Jesus

GLBT Christian billboards from WhyWouldWe.org

Gay-positive Jesus images are in the national news lately, thanks to billboards in the Dallas-Forth Worth area asking, “Would Jesus discriminate?” MSNBC, the Advocate, and other major news media covered these wonderfully effective billboards, which were posted by five local Metropolitan Community Churches in Texas. They send a strong message by putting a traditional portrait of Jesus with a simple statement based on GLBT understanding of the Bible. “Jesus affirmed a gay couple. Matthew 8:5-13,” states one billboard. It refers to Jesus’ healing a Roman soldier’s servant -- actually his gay lover according to progressive Bible scholars. “The early church welcomed a gay man. Acts 8:26-40,” says another billboard, based on the Ethiopian eunuch who was first Gentile convert to Christianity. Then the billboards ask, “Would Jesus Discriminate?” The question is a play on a phrase that is popular with evangelical Christians: What would Jesus do? (often abbreviated WWJD) “Our viewpoint is that discrimination was not a part of Jesus’ message, nor is it part of the best of any Christian church’s ministry,” says the campaign’s website, WhyWouldWe.org. “This campaign seeks to educate people through active dialog and friendly discussion.” The billboards are part of a larger Would Jesus Discriminate project sponsored by Metropolitan Community Churches at the national level. More billboards (shown below) were posted in the Indianapolis area in 2006. They include the following powerful messages: “Jesus said some are born gay. Matthew 19:10-12.” Jesus used an ancient term for GLBT people when he declared that some people are “eunuchs who have been so from birth.” “Ruth loved Naomi as Adam loved Eve. Genesis 2:24, Ruth 1:14.” The same Hebrew word for love was used for both couples. “Jonathan loved David more than women. II Samuel 1:26.” When Jonathan died, his friend David declared, “Your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.” The following three “Would Jesus Discriminate” websites offer detailed info on these Scriptures and other Biblical evidence affirming GLBT people and their relationships: WhyWouldWe.org WouldJesusDiscriminate.com WouldJesusDiscriminate.org These billboards are so inspiring that I had to post five of them. (I especially love the classic lesbian picture on the Ruth and Naomi billboard!) They also remind me of the debate about art versus advertising or propaganda. Critics have accused GLBT Christian art of being billboards, not true art. For example, a church leader declined to endorse my book “Art That Dares” because, as he wrote, “I felt like too much of the collection was agenda-driven more than necessarily good art…. The art which is most subversive is when the message is in the art itself, and not so much a billboard effect that often sets up opposition and dualistic thinking. Great art is precisely not dualistic but inviting into a much bigger arena where transcendence can speak.” Compare for yourself the billboards of the “Would Jesus discriminate?” campaign with the GLBT Christian art in “Art That Dares” on our gallery page. The difference is obvious. I celebrate our art AND our billboards. The “Would Jesus Discriminate?” billboards may be stirring some opposition, but they’re also making a positive impact. “Individuals who have seen the billboards… reached out to us to say that they have been struggling with coming out issues and the billboards gave them information and hope,” says Rev. Nancy Wilson, MCC Moderator.

GLBT Christian billboards from WouldJesusDiscriminte.com and WouldJesusDiscriminte.org