Resurrection song: “Sometimes religion rubs me wrong”

A queer sensibility shines through revolutionary new lyrics about resurrection in a song performed on Easter at LGBT-affirming Founders Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles.

Lucia Chappelle, minster of social justice at Founders MCC, wrote new words for a melody made popular by Paul Simon as “American Tune.” The same music is also  known as the traditional hymn “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.”

Chappelle's version begins:

I think of the questionable history,
I think of the fascination with death,
I think of the role of Christianity
In spreading human distress,
But it's alright, it's alright,
The Resurrection's here!
Though the institution may be our cross to bear,
We're called to persevere, we're called to persevere…

(Full text is at the end of this post.)

Titled “The Resurrection’s Here,” the song premiered on Easter morning when singer-guitarist Garrett Wolfe performed it during communion.

Garrett Wolfe

In typical MCC style, communion was served with touch and personalized prayer to individuals, couples and groups, thereby affirming queer families along with everyone else.

In a video of the song’s debut, Jesus in Love publisher Kittredge Cherry can be seen receiving communion with her partner Audrey Lockwood starting at minute 1:45.

Founders MCC is the first church in a denomination that has served the LGBT community since 1968. Chappelle has been part of MCC since 1972. She pastored DeColores MCC, a lesbian feminist-womanist collective congregation in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The DeColores MCC Hymnal includes more of her new lyrics to familiar hymns, such as her Christmas carol “Silent Night, Raging Night,” plus songs and liturgies contributed by many other women from DeColores and beyond.

There is also a queer connection to the tune's better-known hymn lyrics, “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.” Those words are based on a homoerotic poem by Bernard of Clairvaux. For more info, see Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy: Honey-tongued abbot and the archbishop he loved.

Thanks, Lucia, for writing these liberating lyrics and sharing them on the Jesus in Love Blog!

Lucia Chappelle, center, shares a joyous moment with Kittredge Cherry, left, and Audrey Lockwood after the Easter premiere of her resurrection song

The Resurrection's Here!

By Lucia Chappelle

I think of the questionable history,
I think of the fascination with death,
I think of the role of Christianity
In spreading human distress,
But it's alright, it's alright,
The Resurrection's here!
Though the institution may be our cross to bear,
We're called to persevere, we're called to persevere.

Sometimes the church just drives me crazy,
Sometimes religion rubs me wrong,
Sometimes the meaning gets so hazy,
Like I don't really belong,
But I'm alright, I'm alright,
The Resurrection's here!
Even when you seem to get crucified again,
It always reappears, it always reappears.

And I live in the vortex --
A place where my faith grows exponentially,
Experientially,
Blessed dichotomy!
And I dream of the promise --
I honor a voice crying inside of me,
Full of complexity,
"Here's where you need to be."
So I live in the vortex.

We look for the Resurrection morning,
We look for a supernatural event,
We look past the simple springtime flowering
For some new sacrament,
But it's alright, it's alright,
The Resurrection's here!
So when it seems to be playing hard to get
Just use your eyes and ears, just use your eyes and ears.

___
Related links:
eclecticlucialand.blogspot.com (Lucia Chapelle’s blog)

Art museums explore queer Christian themes in new exhibits

“The Resurrection” by Eny Roland (Courtesy of ArtCenter/South Florida)

Queer new visions of Jesus and the saints are explored by Latino artists in two major art exhibits at museums on both coasts in March:

* “In His Own Likeness” illuminates divinity and its relationship with gender, including sexuality “expressed beyond the hetero norm.” It runs through March 16 at ArtCenter/South Florida in Miami Beach. Tonight (Wed., March 12) a conversation with the curator and special guests will be presented there. The exhibit features four artists from Guatemala, Mexico and Cuba.

* “Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners at the Margins of the Americas” examines sacred figures who walk the fine line between sinfulness and sanctity, including Catholic saints reworked from a lesbian Chicana perspective. It will be on display at the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from March 30 to July 20. The show features work by more than 20 artists from Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Argentina, and the United States.

Details about each exhibit are presented below, along with an exclusive interview with the curator of the Florida show.

In His Own Likeness
“In His Own Likeness” aims to reaffirm all existence as equally divine through its diversity. The exhibit uses the concept of a male God to take a fresh look at men’s power, explore male sexuality and eroticize men as objects of desire for both men and women in the sacred union of the body and spirit.

The exhibit draws its name from the creation story in Genesis 1:27: “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  The scripture itself contains complexities about gender and sexuality..

"The photographs, video, painting and sculpture work together -- and individually -- to show how male sexuality can be expressed beyond the hetero norm that has traditionally defined the 'rules' of gender roles," says curator Marivi Véliz, a contemporary art lecturer specializing in Central and Latin American Art who moved to Miami last year. This is her first exhibition in the United States. Véliz is originally from Cuba with experience curating and lecturing throughout Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, El Salvador and Honduras. In recent years, her focus has been gender studies.

In an interview with Jesus in Love, the curator identified the most frankly homoerotic works in the show as “The Resurrection” and the “Sweet Mortification” series by Guatemalan photographer Eny Roland and “Very, Very Light… and Very Dark: A Police Officer with Alzheimer’s” by Cuban painter Rocio Garcia.

“Bleeding Heart (Sangrado Corazon)” by Eny Roland (Courtesy of ArtCenter/South Florida)

In his 2013 “Sweet Mortifications” series, Roland redefines the standard “Sacred Heart” iconography in which Jesus reveals his physical heart burning in his chest. The artist photographs a Christ figure in a business suit, opening his shirt almost seductively to unveil a heart tattooed on his supple skin. The title “Sangrado Corazon” (Bleeding Heart) is a play on the Spanish phrase Sagrado Corazon (Sacred Heart).

Roland eroticizes Christian imagery in line with the exhibit’s stated purpose of revealing the divinity within the sensual side of human nature. He also critiques Catholicism for imposing a culture of death by celebrating Christ’s Passion and suffering instead of his resurrection, thereby inflicting a sense of sinful guilt that serves as spiritual and social control.

The Christ figure in Roland’s “The Resurrection” is embodied, attractive and alive on every level, uniting sexuality and spirituality. The photo comes from his 2013 “Fabrica de Santos” (Factory of Saints) series.

Eny Roland is a self-taught artist who began his career in Guatemala City as a photojournalist and progressively found himself working with portraiture and urban photography. His photos combine kitsch, pop, religion, and eroticism.

“Very, Very Light… and Very Dark: A Police Officer with Alzheimer’s” by Rocio Garcia. (Courtesy of ArtCenter/South Florida)

Rocio Garcia shows male nudes in a style that echoes ancient Greek pottery in “Very, Very Light… and Very Dark: A Police Officer with Alzheimer’s.” García was born in Santa Clara, Cuba. She received a Master in Fine Arts degree at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia. Internationally acclaimed, Garcia began working with erotic themes in the early 1990s and mostly paints men in sexual tensions.

As curator Véliz drew together a variety of art to examine divinity, gender and power. She discusses the exhibit in an exclusive interview for the Jesus in Love Blog with Kittredge Cherry, art historian and author of “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.”

Kittredge Cherry: You say that you wanted the exhibit "to show how male sexuality can be expressed beyond the hetero norm." Please explain more. The focus of the Jesus in Love Blog is LGBTQ spirituality and art, so my readers will want to know: How does this exhibit express the homoerotic?

Marivi Véliz: In many ways, especially the work “Very, Very Light… and Very Dark: A Police Officer with Alzheimer’s” by Rocio Garcia, and the photos in the series “Sweet Mortification” and “The Resurrection” by Eny Roland. In Rocio’s case, it’s very clear because there are no women represented, only men in sexual situations. For Roland, the men (chosen as models in the photos) almost always follow Greco-Roman standards of beauty, and seek to puncture the delicate line between sexual ecstasy and religious ecstasy.

KC: How does the exhibit change the traditional image of Jesus Christ to affirm the whole spectrum of human sexuality?

MV: The exhibition uses the concept of God as man (masculine-macho) to discuss the power that has been bestowed upon males in society, the power from which has been constructed a history of what is beautiful and what is erotic. I wanted to steal this primary power and take hold of it, identifying it, and then proceeding to eroticize the males in the imagery as objects of desire not only for women, but also for men, without instilling any sexual labels, but instead in communion between the erotic and the Divine.

KC: Do any of the artists identify as gay or queer?

MV: Yes, some of them are.

KC: What special insights do Latin American artists bring to the theme of sexuality and spirituality, especially the Christian tradition?

MV: A deep Catholic tradition exists at the very foundation of Latin American culture in general, especially as part of the primary education system in the early years of life and as a tool of repression of the body and sexuality in general. This might help explain the various reinterpretations of martyrdom, resurrection, etc., that are most notable in Roland’s artwork.

Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners at the Margins of the Americas
“Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners at the Margins of the Americas” examines a series of crucial and often counter-cultural spirits at the border between sin and sanctity. In worship and artistic representation alike, these entities both reflect and affect the lives of people who regularly struggle with harsh and frequently dangerous economic, political, legal, geographic, gender, and racial realities.

The exhibit includes three paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Alma López from her ongoing series Queer Santas (Queer Saints): Santa Liberata, Saint Wilgefortis and Santa Lucia. All three of these "virgin saints" resorted to extreme methods to avoid heterosexual marriage.

“Santa Wilgefortis” from “Queer Santas” series by Alma Lopez

Power and womanhood are addressed in the exhibit by works such as López’s Queer Santas and Judithe Hernandez’s Luchadores (Mexican female masked wrestlers). They will discuss their artistic practices, their interest in these figures, and feminism at an “Outspoken Conversation” lecture April 5 at the Fowler Museum.

Lopez is married to author Alicia Gaspar de Alba, who contributed an essay to exhibition catalog. The book will be distributed by the University of Washington Press this spring. Gaspar de Alba’s essay focuses on the work of Lopez, Hernandez, Liliana Wilson and Delilah Montoya.
___

To read this post in Spanish / en español, go to Santos Queer:
Los museos de arte exploran temas cristianos queer en nuevas exposiciones
___
Special thanks to Terence Weldon of Queering the Church for the news tip about “In His Own Likeness.”

This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery.

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

Resurrection added to LGBT Stations of the Cross: Jesus rises with marriage equality

“Station 15: The Resurrection Of Christ” from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button, courtesy of Believe Out Loud

Jesus rises from the dead as the Supreme Court rules for marriage equality in a new painting that completes the series “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button.

The Tennessee artist unveiled the 15th and final painting in series last week. The first 14 paintings made their debut earlier this year during Lent, but Button waited until the Supreme Court decision before creating the last picture.

It shows the risen Christ greeting Mary Magdalene against a kaleidoscope of scenes related to the Supreme Court’s June 26 decisions legalizing same-sex marriage. Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case, marry each other at a wedding that finally gives legal status to their love. Edie Windsor, plaintiff in the Defense of Marriage Act case, is shown with her late partner Thea Spyer, whose bequest prompted the landmark lawsuit. Behind Jesus is text from the Supreme Court ruling: “DOMA’s principal effect is to identify a subset of state-sanctioned marriages and make them unequal….” Jesus even appears to be holding a rainbow banner.

The resurrection image provides a celebratory and suitable ending for the LGBT Stations series, which shows that Jesus suffers with LGBT people. Button juxtaposes his journey to Calvary with milestones from the last 100 years of LGBT history, including Nazi persecution, the Lavender Scare, the Stonewall Rebellion, the assassination of gay politician Harvey Milk, the AIDS pandemic, the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester, and LGBT teen suicides.

Resurrection scenes are the rarest images in queer Christian art. Button’s version makes the glorious connection between the crucified Christ coming out of the tomb to new life and persecuted queer people coming out of the closet to celebrate our love with weddings that are just as valid as any other. The resurrection of Christ is the ultimate act of God’s triumph over the forces of death and destruction. Likewise the legalization of same-sex marriage is a contemporary example of love’s victory over hate. The idea of a gay or lesbian couple getting married used to be unthinkable. It seemed as unlikely as a dead man rising from the tomb.

“The grouping of Perry, Stier, Windsor and Spier with Mary Magdalene carries with it a deep theological significance,” Button wrote in her reflection on the painting at Believe Out Loud, an online network empowering Christians to work for LGBT equality. She points out that Mary Magdalene was a trusted disciple and “apostle to the apostles” who has been unjustly stigmatized as a harlot.

“It is only fitting that Mary Magdalene would accompany the women in this painting, who together challenged systematic discrimination against LGBT people in our nation’s highest court,” Button concludes. “With faith, I pray that this image will signify a greater shift in public opinion as we move beyond baseless stigmatization of the LGBT community to embrace our diversity as a blessed gift from God.”
____
Related links:

“The Resurrection Of Christ: Mary Magdalene Meets Supreme Court Plaintiffs” reflection by Mary Button (Believe Out Loud)

LGBT Stations of the Cross show struggle for equality (Jesus in Love)
____
Special thanks to Colin for the news tip.

This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery. It is also included in thee Queer Christ that series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.

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

Ascension Day: Jesus Returns to God (Gay Passion of Christ series)

22. Jesus Returns to God (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” -- Acts 1:9 (RSV)

A winged man carries Jesus skyward in “Jesus Returns to God” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. The loving couple seems to dance in a mystical homoerotic union. Jesus, shirtless and wearing blue jeans, swoons in the arms of someone who appears to be an angel. But a close look reveals that they both have crucifixion wounds on their wrists. Jesus is embraced directly by God!

Detail from "Jesus Returns to God"

“Jesus Returns to God” is Blanchard’s vision of the Ascension, the transitional moment when the resurrected Jesus left earth and was taken up into heaven. Churches commemorate the event with the Feast of the Ascension, a major holiday that comes 40 days after Easter (May 17 this year). Christian tradition emphasizes that the resurrected Jesus ascends bodily -- in the flesh -- up into the clouds of heaven. Therefore it is appropriate for this image to have a physical, erotic component, even though many viewers find it disturbing.

Beams of white light stream from God’s head in a sunburst so bright that it almost obliterates the blue sky. His wings look muscular, like God has to work hard to lift the dead weight of Jesus up from the earth. The wounds in Jesus’ wrists and feet were dark before, but now they glow like hot-pink jewels. This is the lightest painting in Blanchard’s series, dissolving into white at the top in stark contrast to the pitch-black panel of “Jesus Among the Dead.” Now the misty clouds even spill over the frame on the lower left. The position of their arms suggests a ballroom dance, perhaps a waltz, with God’s hand planted firmly on Jesus’ buttocks.

People tend to react strongly to this image. Some find it too sexual and are horrified by the thought of “God’s hand on my butt.” (At least God has no body below the waist here!) Others love the painting because it removes the shame of sexuality, showing same-sex love as holy. From this point on, Jesus is more visibly gay. He is also less natural and more supernatural.  With this image Blanchard’s series truly becomes a “gay vision” as the title proclaims. There is no longer any doubt about whether Jesus was simply a tolerant ally of queer people. The full revelation of his gay sexual orientation does not happen in his lifetime, but is disclosed in the afterlife by Blanchard. Some people wish the series stopped right before this image. Others would prefer it started here.

In Christian theology the Ascension serves to emphasize the reality of Jesus as both human and divine. It is seen as the consummation of God’s union with humanity. “Mystical marriage” is a separate Christian concept in which the love between God and people is compared to a human marriage, including the sexual ecstasy between bride and groom. Erotic union becomes a metaphor for union with God. Blanchard breaks new ground by combining the Ascension with the mystical marriage and a gay viewpoint, making this one of the most original paintings in the series.

God appears here for the first time in Blanchard’s series. He gives God some extraordinary attributes: He has wounds, wings, and the same face as Jesus. God with wounds is virtually unprecedented. It is rare to see a painting of God with wings, even though there are many Biblical references to humanity being protected or carried by God’s wings. Usually God and Jesus are shown as Father and Son, but Blanchard makes them look like gay lovers or the same person in two places, further emphasizing his theme of God in solidarity with humanity.

The mystical marriage and “Christ the Bridegroom” are rare subjects in art history, but the Ascension has been painted many times over the centuries.  Ascension images usually have two zones: a crowd of apostles watching from earth below and Jesus rising up into heaven above. Jesus is frequently shown with his right hand raised in a gesture of blessing. Sometimes just the feet of Jesus are shown as he disappears into the clouds. It is almost unprecedented to show only Jesus and God without the people below, as Blanchard does. A notable exception is “Ascension” by 20th-century surrealist Salvador Dali, which is dominated by the soles of Jesus’ feet as he flies upward.

“Jesus Returns to God” can stand alone as a gay-affirming vision of ecstatic union with God. The mixed response to this painting raises the issue of how artists can visually code Jesus as queer without being too literal. For some viewers, anything more than a subtle hint is too sexually explicit or reduces the mystery of Christ to a billboard. Others need a flagrantly out-and-proud Jesus to clearly say that God loves LGBT folk. Conservative Christians have made many LGBT people think of Jesus as their enemy. How far should an artist go to counteract the that? Blanchard strikes a balance here by showing Jesus as an ordinary man swept up in a homoerotic dance with God.

“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” -- Isaiah 62:5 (RSV)

We can only imagine the bliss that Jesus felt when he returned to God. No words or pictures can express all the joy of a soul’s union with the divine, but some have compared it to sexual ecstasy or marriage. Perhaps for Jesus, it was a same-sex marriage. Jesus drank in the nectar of God’s breath and surrendered to the divine embrace. They mixed male and female in ineffable ways. Jesus became both Lover and Beloved as everything in him found in God its complement, its reflection, its twin. When they kissed, Jesus let holy love flow through him to bless all beings throughout timeless time. Love and faith touched, justice and peace kissed. The boundaries between Jesus and God disappeared and they became whole: one Heart, one Breath, One. We are all part of Christ’s body in a wedding that welcomes everyone.

Jesus, congratulations on your wedding day! Thank you for inviting me!

___
Bible background
Song of Songs: “O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!”

___
This is part of the series “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision.”

The Passion series features 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. It is also available as a book and prints.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.

Jesus Appears to His Friends (Gay Passion of Christ series)

21. Jesus Appears to His Friends (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard (Collection of Bill Carpenter)

“And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see.’” -- Luke 24:38-39 (RSV)

[Note: This month I am posting new text on the resurrection images from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Douglas Blanchard.]

Friends react with joy -- and some doubt -- to the return of the risen Christ in “Jesus Appears to His Friends.” Jesus allows himself to be embraced and examined by his diverse friendship group. He gets hugs from his Beloved Disciple and an elderly woman with a cane as a young black woman smiles beside him. Meanwhile a bald skeptic in a suit inspects his wounded wrist. Other disciples watch from behind. The red gash in Jesus’ side stands out against his handsome physique. The same room is pictured in Blanchard’s Last Supper, but here the mood is transformed from a dark-toned goodbye to a happy hello lit up with lavender and with warm flesh tones. Misty moonlight pours in from the back window in the shape of an ascending dove, hinting at the presence of the Holy Spirit.

As usual in Blanchard’s series, Jesus attracts a surprisingly varied group. The imagery and title emphasize that the people around Jesus were his friends, not just his disciples. As he told them at the Last Supper, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) Some of the faces are familiar from previous paintings: The young black woman looks like Mary Magdalene in “Jesus Appears to Mary.” The same Beloved Disciple wrapped a loving arm around Jesus in “The Last Supper.”

Blanchard’s progressive politics are evident in the way that Jesus focuses on those who are gay, black and disabled, while ignoring the old white guy. It’s almost humorous how everyone else is delighted to see Jesus, while the pragmatist in the tie and glasses is busy fact-checking. But Jesus doesn’t push him away. The Doubting Thomas figure is welcome to check the wounds scientifically. Many people, queer or otherwise, share the skeptic’s desire to make decisions based on direct experience and not get caught up in all the hoopla about Jesus. Thomas provides a positive role model of someone who is not going to fall for any religious trickery -- and yet Jesus still welcomes him into his circle of friends.

The painting belongs to Bill Carpenter of Soulforce, a civil-rights group that works to free LGBT people from religious and political oppression. He picked out the painting when Blanchard’s Passion series was displayed at the 2007 National Festival of Progressive Spiritual Art in Taos, New Mexico. Carpenter was there to teach nonviolence resistance in preparation for anti-LGBT attacks which fortunately did not materialize.

He explains why he selected this painting from the series of 24 panels: “I chose ‘Jesus Appears To His Friends’ because, through it, I connected with the humanity of Jesus…He had friends! And, because Doug showed Jesus’ friends as a beautifully diverse collection of humanity…just like our world…and I felt that Jesus truly welcomed each and every soul into his world…with no qualification or judgment and I wanted to be reminded of that potential within me.”

The painting fits into the long artistic tradition of Doubting Thomas, a common subject at least since the sixth century. Formally known as the Incredulity of St. Thomas, the scene has been painted by famous artists from Caravaggio to Georges Roualt. The Bible says that the disciple Thomas rejected reports from others who saw the risen Christ. “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe,” he insisted. His doubt turned to faith when Jesus returned and invited him to do just that. Modern dress and a contemporary cast of characters bring Blanchard’s version alive. LGBT people may appreciate the same-sex affection depicted between Jesus and the Beloved Disciple, which is Blanchard’s new contribution to the standard repertoire of Doubting Thomas iconography.

“The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.’” -- John 20:26-27 (RSV)

Jesus’ friends were hiding together, afraid of the authorities who killed their beloved leader. The doors were shut, but somehow Jesus got inside and stood among them. They couldn’t believe it! He urged them to touch him, and even invited them to inspect the wounds from his crucifixion. As they felt his warm skin, their doubts and fears turned into joy. Jesus liked touch. He often touched people in order to heal them, and he let people touch him. He defied taboos and allowed himself to be touched by women and people with diseases. He understood human sexuality, befriending prostitutes and other sexual outcasts. LGBT sometimes hide themselves in closets of shame, but Jesus wasn’t like that. He was pleased with own human body, even after it was wounded.

Jesus, can I really touch you?

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus Appears at Emmaus (Gay Passion of Christ series)

20. Jesus Appears at Emmaus (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” -- Luke 24:30-31 (RSV}

[Note: This month I am posting new text on the resurrection images from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Douglas Blanchard.]

Three travelers share a meal together in “Jesus Appears at Emmaus.” Jesus is hard to recognize with his hair hidden under a blue ski cap. He sits at a restaurant table with a man and a woman, breaking a loaf of bread as they touch in an attitude of blessing. The setting looks like a contemporary airport lounge with large windows and a table nicely set with a red rose and generic salt and pepper shakers. Suitcases in the foreground confirm that they are traveling.

It is an unremarkable scene of friends eating together, until the viewer recognizes Jesus. And that is the point. The painting illustrates the Biblical story of two disciples who meet the risen Christ, but don’t know it is him. They encounter a stranger on the road to Emmaus, a village seven miles from Jerusalem. They tell him about their sadness over Jesus’ crucifixion and the disappearance of his corpse, and the stranger uses scripture to explain what happened. Impressed, the disciples persuade him to join them for supper in Emmaus. When Jesus blesses and breaks the bread, they suddenly recognize him.

The Supper at Emmaus has been a popular subject in art history for centuries. Jesus is commonly shown in a hat to explain why his disciples fail to identify him. Artists of the past have assumed that both disciples were male, but Blanchard brings the scene into the present and makes one disciple female, subtly communicating that Jesus’ connection with people was not limited by gender.

The Emmaus story has intriguing parallels with queer experience. The disciples discover Jesus after they leave their spiritual community in Jerusalem, where the leaders of the Jesus movement are hiding in fear, refusing to believe in the resurrection. The disciples on the road are like LGBT people who turn their backs on institutional religion -- and then find God on the outside! In the Bible narrative  the disciples return immediately to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples that they met the living Jesus. Likewise, many LGBT Christians feel called to return to the church to proclaim their fresh understanding of the all-inclusive Christ.

“They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?’ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.” -- Luke 24:32-33 (RSV)

A couple of Jesus’ friends met a stranger on the way to a village called Emmaus. While they were traveling together, they told the stranger about Jesus: the hopes he stirred in them, his horrific execution, and Mary's unbelievable story that he was still alive. Their hearts burned as the stranger reframed it for them, revealing how all things can work together for good. They convinced him to stay and have dinner with them in Emmaus. As the meal began, he blessed the bread and gave it to them. It was one of those moments when you suddenly recognize the presence of God. The stranger was Jesus! He had been with them all along. Sometimes even devout Christians are unable to see God’s image in people who are strangers to them, such as LGBT people or others who have been marginalized. Sometimes people are blind to their own sacred worth as incarnations of the divine. But at any moment, the grace of an unexpected encounter may open our eyes.

God, help me to recognize you.

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus Appears to Mary (Gay Passion of Christ series)

19. Jesus Appears to Mary (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus…. Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended.” -- John 20:14, 17 (RSV)

[Note: This month I am posting new text on the resurrection images from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Douglas Blanchard.]

Two friends meet at sunrise in “Jesus Appears to Mary.” They circle each other as Mary gestures with happy surprise at finding Jesus alive in the graveyard. The colors are suddenly much brighter. The morning star shines in a gorgeous blue sky while the first rays of dawn awaken the spring-green grass. The frame itself is green -- even the faux wood has sprung to life! A patch of sunlight catches the risen Christ, but Mary remains in shadow.

On the horizon are excavating machines and a body of water that separates them from the distant city skyline. Jesus and Mary are surrounded by numbered gravestones. The one behind Jesus is marked “124” -- the same number on the mysterious tag around Jesus’ neck in the first painting of this series. The artist confirmed that he chose “124” because it has no special meaning in Christianity. Jesus died as a human castoff, stripped of his name and labeled with a random number. The gravestones and setting look like Hart Island, a public cemetery for the unknown and indigent in New York City. Operated by prison labor, Hart Island is the world’s largest tax-funded cemetery with daily mass burials and more than 850,000 buried there.

The contrast and dynamic tension between the figures suggests that this is the moment known as “Noli me tangere,” the Latin version of Jesus words to Mary when she recognizes him after his resurrection. In the Bible story, Mary Magdalene goes to visit Jesus’ tomb before sunrise. She is distraught to discover that his corpse is missing -- until she sees the risen Christ. Overcome with emotion, she starts to hug him, but he stops her with a request that has multiple translations. The original Greek is best translated as “Stop clinging to me” or “Cease holding on to me.” But the Latin translation is embedded in cultural tradition: “Don’t touch me (noli me tangere) for I have not yet ascended.” The scene has been an iconographic standard for artists throughout the Christian world from late antiquity to the present.

Jesus made his first post-resurrection appearance to a woman in an era when women weren’t even allowed to testify at legal proceedings. And yet the risen Jesus chose a woman as his first witness. This is good news for all the disenfranchised, including today’s LGBT people. Mary Magdalene has an undeserved bad reputation. The church mistakenly labeled her as a prostitute for centuries, but the Bible does NOT say she committed sexual sins. Progressive theologians are reclaiming her as a role model. The Bible portrays Mary Magdalene as the most important woman follower of Jesus. She supported his ministry with her resources, traveled with him on his last journey to Jerusalem, witnessed his crucifixion, and hurried to his tomb before sunrise.

“Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.” -- Mark 16:9 (RSV)

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of her friend Jesus early on Sunday morning. It was empty! She started crying and someone came up to her. Mary thought he was the gardener until he spoke her name. Her heart leaped as she recognized Jesus! People had wondered about her relationship with Jesus from the start. The bond that springs up sometimes between a gay man and a woman is incomprehensible to most. They don’t understand how a man and a woman can love each other without being sexual. And why would Jesus, who had many powerful male followers, pay so much attention to a woman? Yet he chose Mary as the first witness to his resurrection.

Jesus, where are you now? Will you speak to me?

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This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.