Gay scholar issues Bible challenge

Gay scholar and theologian Daniel Helminiak has “thrown down the gauntlet” to challenge Biblical literalists. His message is clear: Deal with the historical facts or abandon the anti-gay agenda. Helminiak is a professor at the University of West Georgia and the author of many books, including the bestseller “What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality. Visit his website, visionsofdaniel.net, to read his eloquent summary of the historical evidence behind the Bible passages that are often misused to condemn homosexuality. New material on the site also describes his frustrating recent conflicts with “so-called Christians” who oppose his pro-GLBT interpretations.

In memory of my editor: Stephanie Egnotovich

Stephanie Egnotovich

I was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Stephanie Egnotovich, one of the visionary editors who helped give birth to my book “Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations.” She died April 13 after a brief illness. Stephanie worked with Westminster/John Knox Press (part of the Presbyterian Church) since 1992, most recently as executive editor. I appreciated her knowledge, enthusiasm, intelligence, editorial sense, and commitment to building faith through books. “Equal Rites,” and by extension its editor, brought liberation to many lives and churches In recent years Stephanie continued to give me editorial guidance with kindness and professionalism. I will miss her. With her passing, the world loses a great editor. She lives on in the hearts of those who knew her, and in the good books she brought into being. I close with an excerpt from a funeral service in “Equal Rites,” words that Stephanie herself edited:

“Let the best that was her be renewed in strength in us. May we now give to others the love that we no longer can give to her. For the lives we lead are now her honor and her memorial. She would bless our courage. May we dwell in peace. She would wish it so.”

A Web page has been set up for friends to leave their cherished memories. It can be accessed at http://stephanie.wjkbooks.com.

Happy Easter from lesbian Christian author

Happy Easter! Be sure to watch the new Easter video of me speaking from a wilderness trail in the flowering hills of Los Angeles. I’m surrounded by wild mustard plants at the height of their blossoming. I admire the tall plants with their beautiful yellow flowers, and I remember what Jesus said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” (Matthrew 13:31-32) Jesus liked to talk about mustard seeds. On another occasion he said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20) Now every time I walk among the mustard flowers, I remember the power of faith. On Easter and every day, may we all stay in touch with our potential to grow, blossom and move mountains. To see the video, click here or on the image above.

Day 8: Jesus rises on the first Easter

The Resurrection

by Becki Jayne Harrelson

A queer version of Christ’s Passion is running in daily installments this week from Palm Sunday through Easter. Each daily post features a queer Christian painting and an excerpt from the novel Jesus in Love: At the Cross by Kittredge Cherry. Mary was sobbing at the mouth of my tomb. Her long, luxurious hair hung loose and she had torn her robe as a sign of mourning. When I drew near, she turned and looked at me. I would have been embarrassed by my nakedness in the past, but I had left all that behind at the cross. “Why are you crying?” I asked. “Sir, if you moved him, please tell me where you put him, and I will take him away,” she replied. I could not believe it: She was looking right at me, completely nude, and she thought I was the gardener! Tears couldn’t have blurred her vision that much. I understood then that resurrection had transformed my body into something new. When Mary looked at me now, she no longer saw me. She saw what she expected to see. I hoped that I could awaken her faith so she could see me more clearly. The waters of her soul had slowed to a sluggish ooze. I drew Mary’s soul to my divine heart and gave it a drink to get it flowing again. At the same time, I reached my hand out to her, aiming to comfort her. She recoiled in horror. “Whoa! That is a serious wound! What happened? You need to see a doctor immediately. Or maybe I could heal you in the name of— No, no, we have to get you to a doctor now!” I called her name out loud. “Mary. Mary Magdalene.” She gasped as she recognized me. Her soul convulsed and she grabbed me. “Rabboni! My beloved Rabbi!” She ran the palms of her hands over my arms and then my cheeks. We gazed at each other eye-to-eye, so close that our noses almost touched. “It’s really you,” she whispered. “You’re alive.”... [Later Jesus reunites with his beloved disciple John] …“Didn’t you hear me?” I half-shouted. “I said that you are forgiven!” His eyes flew open and he jumped for fright. “Rabbi! How long have you been here?” “Ever since you asked the Holy Spirit to come in my name. You heard my voice, didn’t you?” “Yes,” he answered uncertainly. “But I thought it was all in my mind.” He huddled in front of me, and his soul bowed before my divine heart. The curls on the back of his head shone like tarnished silver in the starlight. He began to blubber. “I ran away when they arrested you.” I waited one moment before I spoke, so we could both fully experience the way that his body and soul lined up in relation to me. “You’re here for me now. Begin again.” “But I failed you in so many ways…. I tried a different approach. “Do you know the Song of Songs?” John became more rational as he tried to remember. “I don’t think so.” “Well, ask Nicodemus to recite it for you sometime. It’s an ancient poem about erotic love, but it also symbolizes the love between God and each individual soul. Here’s how it starts: ‘Oh, if only you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!’” I leaned back a little and smiled at him, feeling full of mischief. John’s fiery, bejeweled soul was so alluring that I tried not to look at it. His dark eyes searched mine until a look of wonder dawned on his face. “You’re still flirting with me!” he accused happily.

Jesus Rises (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by F. Douglas Blanchard (counterlight@earthlink.net)

(Happy Easter from author Kittredge Cherry and the Jesus in Love Blog.)

Day 7: Jesus visits hell

Passio

by Gary Speziale

A queer version of Christ’s Passion is running in daily installments this week from Palm Sunday through Easter. Each daily post features a queer Christian painting and an excerpt from the novel Jesus in Love: At the Cross by Kittredge Cherry. My cross seemed to grow taller. I was looking down on my enemies and friends at Golgotha from a greater height. Then I realized that I could see my own body nailed to one of the crosses below me…. I found myself in Gehenna, a scrubby desert valley just southwest of Jerusalem. People dumped and burned rubbish here. I had avoided this valley during my earthly lifetime because of its stink, its seemingly endless fires, and its frightening history. Some of my human ancestors had killed and burned their own children here as sacrifices on high altars built to foreign gods. The prophet Jeremiah warned that God would take such vengeance here that people would call the place “the Valley of the Slaughter.” But now my own Father had exiled me to Gehenna as a sacrifice. I sat down and considered my situation in the shade of an old acacia tree whose thick branches spread in a broad circle above my head. I seemed to be in the real earthly Gehenna, not any supernatural place. It was a spring afternoon exactly like the one on which I had died. The heat and smoke from Gehenna’s fires bothered me more than they normally would. I felt like I had a high fever, especially when I remembered all the times that I myself had warned people about Gehenna—which was also our name for the place where souls suffer after death. My words came back to haunt me: “If your right eye makes you sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to lose part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” The word I used for hell was “Gehenna.” I heard Satan’s noxious laugh twanging like an out-of-tune harp. As usual, he was invisible to me. Satan is actually boring, with all the interest generated by the host. I tried to meditate calmly and just be in Gehenna so Satan couldn’t hook me. When my mind began to wander, Satan spoke. “Welcome, Little Brother. I’m glad you’re here.” (Please come back tomorrow for the next daily installment in the Holy Week/Easter series at the Jesus in Love Blog.)