Personally, I Love That The Pride Flag Is The Rainbow; I LOVE That It's The Same Symbol Used In The Bible

personally, i love that the pride flag is the rainbow; i LOVE that it's the same symbol used in the bible as God's promise of safety to noah. i am reminded of all the queer people of history; i am reminded of lives lived with no sign of land, of people shamed because they loved, killed because they loved, even in the name of God, and with no sign of the world ever getting better. every time i see a rainbow flag, it feels like a sign that the storm is finally passing over.

there are two men in my parish getting married in the cathedral later this year; i can almost see the clouds parting; i am starting to feel the sun coming in.

Mieko Kawakami, from 'Heaven'

i'm really sorry but you're gonna find god in the Other Stuff, too. religious trappings are nice. so is tradition. it's good to have buildings to go to and things to wear and holy texts to read and prescripted songs to sing. it's comforting to have lineage and instructions. bless the treasure map.

but god's Elsewhere, too: out on the tips of skinny branches and wading in the weeds, left of center, left field.

so if you decide to test this theory and go rambling around calling out innumerable, unpronounceable names, know that you won't have to look too hard. divinity does a terrible job concealing itself. god willing you will take a shine to the idea that god happens everywhere, in everything, all the time.

writing poetry comparing top surgery scars to Christ's side wound because i have a normal relationship to the world in general.

and yet we dance!

From a recent conversation with my mother, I got this idea from her into my own wording while talking about labels regarding spiritual beliefs.

« In spirituality, we can borrow from the LGBT community the idea that we can define ourselves not from the expectations of others nor the pressure to ultimately knowing ourselves in a given time, but a journey in which we remember that labels were never the most important thing. Even in the queer community, there exists the words and descriptions for people who feel that none of the current labels describe them, and they can exist freely without defining themselves through them.

» The LGBTQIA+ means "the existent" (the letters) and "the more" (the plus), all and everything it is, in which people recognize the limitation of language, words and labels. To use labels means navigating ourselves, since what comes most is that the interpretation of ourselves can change… and we ourselves can change, feel that a label doesn't suit us anymore, and that is completely normal and ok.

» In relation to this, of your worries as a teenager in a world were things can feel above you, living with that intellectual frustration, letting that pressure in the youthful mind of wanting to know and control everything can be hard. But in there is the Good News which means that in confusion there will come light and something greater, recognizing that it's reaching beyond common perceptions of the Good and the Right, but the Wholeness in the Beauty of our existence, beyond morality, beyond any notions of free will and devoutness, but of progress, of keeping going and just live and be.»

I am a queer christian, so the whole time I was "ermm… ofc mom, I understand that :)" however I'm incredibly glad she has gotten to the point of understanding that basic aspect of the queer community that is often so misunderstood, something that it was going to prove to be really hard to explain that to her myself, which makes me think that she's fond of gay people now (in reference to the homophobic dog meme, which she was once).

Perhaps she's been doing all of that for me, perhaps it's also for her close queer family members, I don't know, but it's a beautiful and relieving sight; knowing how hard it has been for me to reconcile my identity this has been transmitting into my mom in one way or another, God bless us 🤍🙏