Behind the scenes on my last video
Added 2023-08-18 21:39:56 +0000 UTCHey guys! Here's the story behind my last video
Comments
You are a blessing, good sir!
Kae Strouse
2023-08-24 20:05:41 +0000 UTCThank you for what you do! I was just speaking of your experience with toxic spiritual systems to someone last night. It is so healing when we call out and move past the toxicity we find in each of our spiritual traditions. Human institutions are very prone to abuse. Challenging that abuse is a necessary and recurring act of liberation. Keep shining bright, Kae. We need you!
Jon Carl Lewis
2023-08-23 11:01:29 +0000 UTCSo so sooooo BEAUTIFULLY said, Jon. It's a good reminder for all of us that the loudest voices getting the most air time are not necessarily representative of the masses. I am thrilled to hear about the community you are fostering and finding. THANK YOU for being an example of Christ's teachings and what Christianity ought to be!!! Much love to you, brother!!
Kae Strouse
2023-08-23 03:52:29 +0000 UTC[Caveat: I'm sure Kae gets what I'm about to say, but I feel the following observation needs to be read in tandem with Kae's very accurate observation.] Thanks for this video. Last January I was present with 750 people of all identities under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella (and then some) who were attending a conference for Queer Christians. 750. People who paid a good sum of money for registration and travel to be there. That means there were thousands and thousands like them who didn't want to or couldn't make the trip. This summer, I hung out with a fairground's worth of Christians who were eager to explore ways followers of Christ could be a part of making a society a better place regardless of whether our actions needed to be seen as "Christian" or just the actions of good people who care about other people and the world. My first reaction when I watch a video like this is sorrow that our experience and our presence in circles which identify as Christian and in circles which identifies as Queer is largely ignored, dismissed, suppressed. Dudes, we are part of the solution. I'd appreciate at least some acknowledgement that we're busting our ass to bring the Christian brand back in alignment with the teachings of Jesus. It's fucking hard work and some of us do it every day. I understand deeply the hurt and shame in which Christians have drenched our society. But, just as some of the activists fighting for the dignity of people with AIDS were rightly calling out Catholic officials for their toxic and (quite frankly) deadly public stances on the issue, other people were working behind the scenes in religious institutions aiding and comforting the dying and advocating in the public sphere for policies that would be helpful. We are not all alike. But the people who get continual press from both the queer community and wider society are the wolves in sheep's clothing (Jesus' phrase, by the way) that he warned about. Jesus challenged the religious authorities of the day and sharply condemned them. What he did not do was lump people of good faith in among with those leaders. Jesus called out social ills at the same time he nurtured the spirituality of those who wanted a better world to live in. Some of us are committed to this work. This is Jesus work. I call myself a Christian not so much out of pride but because I feel for me to work within the institution means reaching those who want to do the work of Jesus and challenge the wolves in sheep's clothing on their own ground. We're taking the fight to them. I understand if others need to step away for a while or perhaps forever. Spirituality is a function of being human, not of being part of any organized religion, and there are many examples around the world and even in American society of people of deep faith growing and doing good int he world without any particular affiliation. I get it. But we exist, too, and we are growing and doing good. One of the things that would help us most is to let others know we exist. The queer, nonbinary kid growing up in a Christian home in Tennessee needs to know that people who read the same Bible as their parents and church know that they are in integral and important part of God's richly diverse creation. It is for them we fight. Taoist thought encourages us to see balance and paradox in the world. There is a black dot in the middle of the white and a white dot in the middle of the black to discourage us from thinking we can draw a simple line down the middle. It has been necessary for me to become a student of other traditions in order to realize not only duality, but the fact that paradox calls us to transcend duality and see a little bit of the opposites in each other. Paradoxically, I think this Taoist idea provides us a way of deeply evaluating any of the insitutions in our lives and helps us acknowledge harm while also discerning the best direction for our attention and support.
Jon Carl Lewis
2023-08-19 15:23:48 +0000 UTC
