By Jamie Arpin-Ricci —
On June 12, 2016, a 29-year-old security guard named Omar Mateen entered the Pulse nightclub in Orlando armed to kill. In what became the deadliest act of violence against LGBTQ+ people in American history, Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 58 more, before being shot and killed by police.
Like most gay bars and nightclubs, Pulse was a place of refuge and community for many LGBTQ+ people in Orlando. In a world where they were never quite sure who around them was safe to be open about who they were, Pulse was a place where they could let their guard down and be themselves. And in an instant that was all taken away in the most horrifying way possible.
As quickly as the headlines swept across the nation, sadly, so too did the public commentary by those who believed being “queer” was wrong. Much of it amounted to: “What did they expect? If you are going to flaunt your lifestyle, things like this are bound to happen.” Some even went so far as to say that such an outcome was God’s justice. The terror from the event, combined with the all too common public criticism, pushed many LGBTQ+ people deeper into silence and isolation. To many, it felt dangerous and foolish to put themselves out there.
Having written (cautiously) about my own journey as a bisexual pastor, I found myself suddenly inundated by emails, messages, and phone calls from LGBTQ+ Christians. From transgender youth trying to live authentically to middle-aged pastors struggling to come to terms with being gay, the desperate cry for support, understanding, and safety nearly overwhelmed me.
I also heard from pastors, parents, and friends. They were all broken by the tragedy and conflicted that so much of the negative public response was coming from Christians, making them hesitant to express even the most general public support or sympathy. They wanted to understand. They wanted to learn without being beat over the head with unhelpful claims that “the Bible clearly says…”. And I tried, as best I could, to offer what support and encouragement I could provide.
More than anything else, the sense of fear and isolation was the most common thread in all the stories I heard. After much prayer, I realized that I could help by making space and stepping out. And so I decided to be more bold, clear, and direct in telling own story, sharing my conviction that my bisexuality was no less a reflection of the image of God that I was created in than any other part of myself. And I hoped that, in putting myself out there, I might make it even a little easier for some others to do the same and get the help and support they needed.
However, when my wife & I discussed it, we also realized that to do so would put us at risk. As missionaries who reply upon donation to do what we do, we knew all too well that such a decision would likely cost us financially. With one child and another on the way at the time, it seemed like a foolish risk to take. In the end, however, we decided that our foolish risk was a small price to pay to help the countless we’d seen suffering.
Since that decision, our lives have changed significantly. The ministry supporting fellow LGBTQ+ believers walk into celebrated wholeness has become a central focus of my time and energy. I even received an award for my efforts (which, in turn, ended up costing us). We have been humbled to see lives transformed, inviting us to walk their courageous journey with them.
The foolishness of Christ is precisely this: When we love with the radical abandon of Jesus, we are freed from self-serving fear that holds us back, and we encounter Him in one another in ways that we can hardly imagine.
by Christine Sine
Today is International Women’s Day, a day that you can imagine I find particularly relevant. I love to reflect on the maternal images of God, and always replay this video I made several years ago.
This year it has seemed particularly meaningful as we all struggle with the implications of the #metoo movement and the growing recognition that equality for the sexes is still far from a reality.
I also love to reflect on some of the strong women in the Bible who are increasingly providing role models for me and other women. Women like Mary Magdalene whom I talked about in my post Why Do We Abuse Women?
Then there are the women of today, like Michelle Obama and the 2 year old she inspired, who stand out as examples of strong and beautiful role models.
Official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama in the Green Room of the White House, Feb. 12, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
Then there are the role models of women friends who have stood with me through the years like my friends Ruth and Cheryl in the photo at the beginning of this article.
Last but not least, I love to reread this prayer, which I came across several years ago based on the Franciscan prayer Make me an instrument.
by Christine Sine
I wrote this prayer above a couple of years ago during Lent. I was reminded of it again last night as I looked up at the moon, shining brightly in the sky. Lent is a time when we all feel we stumble in the dark towards the light of Christ and the rich glow of Easter’s sunrise. We are about half way through the season and I don’t know about you, but this is when I feel I am stumbling. I am sick of the dark nights and I am aching for long days. This is when I need renewed energy to see me through.
This morning I had a special time of reflection thinking about my Lenten practices and what I need to change or revitalize to see me through the season. Then I spent time in the garden. We had a rather severe cold spell over the last couple of weeks and I was prowling around, examining the growing buds and wondering if all of them will survive. Some of them too need a fresh boost of energy, a few warm, fine days to get them growing again. Others, like these daffodils, delighted me with their sunny radiance, as they already joyously turned their faces to the sun. 
My prayer above reminds me that at the beginning of Lent, I stumble in the dark because the days are still short, but now when I take my dog out at 6 am there is a faint glow of light, and in the next couple of weeks it will grow until my morning trips are taken in full light. Perseverance draws us into the light. If we continue through the dark seasons of life, light eventually emerges. That is the promise of spring and in many ways also the promise of Lent.
by Christine Sine
For Love of the World God Did Foolish Things. As you can imagine I have thought a lot about this over the last couple of weeks and I find myself asking some challenging questions as a result. Who are the witnesses that our “foolish God” has sent to proclaim the message of good news.
Slaves Become Chosen People.
First I think of the slaves that became a chosen people and I wonder who are the slaves today that are God’s chosen ones? Are they those enslaved in the sex trade? Is it the children enslaved to grow coffee and tea or mine diamonds and gold? It’s easy to get irate at these forms of slavery and imagine that God wants to create chosen people of these marginalized ones.
Then however I think of those who are enslaved in poverty because of our desire for cheap goods and services – the farmers who often get only a pittance for their produce, the minimum wage earners who do not earn a living wage without working two or sometimes three jobs, the factory workers in China who often work in even worse conditions. I wonder how long will their cries for freedom rise as prayers before God until they are set free? I wonder too what am I can do to help them break out of their slavery.As I walk through Lent this year I wonder: Are there ways that I can become a spokesperson for people on the margins whose poverty I contribute to by my consumer choices?
Despised Are the Best Advocates
Next I think of the shepherds, the despised in their society whose testimony was not admissible in court and I wonder who are the despised today whose voices we do not listen to. Is it the homeless living in increasing numbers on our streets? Or possibly the indigenous people whose voices have been silenced in so many of our countries. Or is it the children crying out against yet another gun massacre here in the U.S.? What can I do to make sure I listen to the possibly exciting news about God they are wanting to proclaim?
Foreigners Welcome
Not surprisingly, my next set of witnesses that our “foolish God” sends are the wise men, foreigners from a distant land. They too challenge me to expand my vision – who are the foreigners – immigrants, those of other faiths or other races. Who are the foreigners kept out by walls – maybe not a physical wall like the one begin built between the U.S. and Mexico, both excluded by the walls in my mind that tell me these foreigners are not worth listening to. How can I educate myself more effectively about their viewpoints and build bridges not walls?
Forgotten Ones Come First .
Next I am reminded of the women who were the first witnesses to Christ’s resurrection. We so easily forget them or disparage them. Especially Mary Magdalene. She has been so maligned over the centuries. Instead of the awe due to the one who was the first witness to the risen Lord we condemn her as a prostitute. Who do we misjudge today? Is it people of other sexual orientations whose viewpoints we are closed to on whom we heap condemnation? Is it the poor that we condemn by fallaciously saying “they don’t work hard enough”? Or is it those in prison, gang members, drug addicts? We all have our lists of “condemned” people, those we want to keep hidden in our society. How can we make sure their stories are listened to with acceptance and love?
Unlikely Leaders
“Can any good come out of Galilee” the religious leaders say when Jesus comes on the scene. I am sure they kept saying it when Galilean fishermen became the leaders of this new movement too. Our foolish God has always chosen unlikely leaders, people that most of the world would reject as uneducated, irreligious, unworthy. God takes such people and molds them into a new community. How too can I be open to God’s unlikely leaders and look not to the rich and powerful but to the marginalized and the poor who are God’s primary spokespeople?
So as I continue to walk through Lent I am asking myself what new practices I should take on in order to be open to the “foolishness of God” in choosing people like me and you, the poor and the marginalized, the forgotten and the foreigners. I am looking for new ways to engage the unlikely people of God all around me.
By Lilly Lewin
This week at thinplaceNASHVILLE, our Sunday night community, we are looking at Sabbath as resistance to anxiety. As a high anxiety person, this is powerful to me! What if Sabbath REST, and actually having margin, is a gift that can help us all be less fearful? Less anxious, more trusting? That is powerful! What if God provided us with the Gift of Sabbath in order to set us free from the anxiety and stress of the daily grind? Would we think about practicing Sabbath, and actually consider resting if we believed it would help us be less anxious?
- What things make you anxious & cause you to worry? To fret? To toil & spin? Rather than rest & trust?
- What things are keeping you up at night? What things are driving you crazy and making you anxious? Actually take the time to make the list!
- How can you see Sabbath as gift that brings peace to your life instead of anxiety? What could that look like in your life?
- What would you like to do to put a little Sabbath rest into your life this week? What you like to do, or not do, in order to have some Sabbath time? Make a plan!
In Matthew 6, Jesus invites us to consider the lilies, the wild flowers. They don’t work or worry , yet God dresses them in glory finer than King Solomon’s! If God cares for the little flowers in the field, consider how much more God cares for you! Today, take some time to consider the Lilies! Actually look at the photos of the flowers, or better yet, go buy a lily or two and spend some time gazing at them. Enjoy their beauty. Consider how God has taken the time to bring beauty into our world and takes care of things as small as flowers!
Take time to pause, to breathe, to have a moment of sabbath rest in your day! And let God hold your anxiety like God holds the flowers!
By Talitha Fraser —
I do not aspire to be holy…
only human.
Holy Fool – I think but do not act, believe but do not live, choose a way but do not walk the way.
I aspire to be human… but I guess a ‘good’ one.
Choices. Time. Needs. Expression.
Who do you say that I am?
…that is not who I am
Fear and love,
fear and love.
The Holy Fool then
alone in bed dreaming
yet not asleep
would you have things
as they appear they are
or be what they could be?
lonely fool…
No one is listening.
We follow a fine, radical tradition of human and holy fools. English royal courts often had someone in the role of Fool or jester – an entertainer – the etymology of that word being from the Anglo-Norman (French) gestour meaning storyteller. Fools would speak truth (exaggerated and satirical but truth all the same), be comedic performers or might give bad news no one else could deliver, their “role” a voice perhaps to say what everyone else was thinking… what no one else dared to say to the seat of power. The Easter story reminds us every year of the invitation, and the challenge, to live our lives playing a role outside of the normal rules.
Being foolish enough to believe we can make a difference – with our voice, our stories, our truth, where we put our bodies… – is a tradition of our faith and it’s faithful and we have many examples to look to. The Apostle Paul described himself as “a fool for Christ” (I Cor 4:10, NRSV), a spectacle to the world going hungry, thirsty, beaten, falling into disrepute for the sake of the cause. Theological animator Ched Myers tells us Paul’s “theology of radical inclusion was disconcerting to both Jewish ethnocentrism and Hellenistic ideologies of superiority. In Greco-Roman antiquity the cultural, economic and political enmity between Jew and Gentile was profound… But Paul refused to abide by the social divisions around him, instead trying to build bridges called churches.” (Myers & Enns, Ambassadors of Reconciliation, The Mennonite, March 2011)
American prophet of nonviolence and social change Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was called a fool by some for trying to change centuries of racism. “He built a movement that desegregated our society, yet he didn’t stop there. In a famous speech he made in New York exactly one year before he was shot in Memphis, Dr. King drew connections between the violence in the streets of US cities and the violence of the war in Vietnam…” shared peace educator and activist Elaine Enns, reflecting on walking in a Palm Sunday Peace Parade with some of her students from the Peace and Justice Academy, on teaching a new generation of youth about alternatives to violence to resolve conflict. (Enns, Fools for Peace: A Palm Sunday Peace Parade Reflection, BCM Enews, March 2012).
Travelling arts troupe Carnival de Resistance perform personifying elements: air, water, earth, fire – through music, song and dance – colourfully and creatively giving voice to the natural world to speak for itself. When they come to town they set up a village, stage and school for social change to educate and engage on issues of ecological justice. Jon and Kim Cornford of MannaGum, a small Australian organisation, work to educate and promote alternative, biblical economic principles. An economist, Jon Cornford writes that, “…there is little doubt in my mind that wherever capitalism has come to dominate that bonds of community have been undermined, people have become more isolated from one another and the earth has suffered. And far, far too many people have suffered unconscionably as casualties of capitalism’s advancement. While capitalism’s capacity to produce wealth is undeniable, its contribution to human wellbeing is much more problematic.” Living simply by the practices they promote MannaGum offer a course in living a Different Way that invites participants to explore slow, sustainable and Sabbath ways of living.
Our peers, elders, and our elders’ elders… we share a common truth and a common story. You may well not have heard of all this work or the workers “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.” (Proverbs 23:1). I can’t idealise this way of life, if you are able you might like to consider accessing resources from or supporting the work of these Holy Fools this Lent, they do good work but they don’t make a lot of money at it. Truth-speaking and storytelling to political powers is a chancy business and rarely are the messengers rewarded. For many of us who call ourselves Christians we know and understand the way our faith calls us to live differently – we know the invitation and the challenge of it, the impossibility and the importance. Living in community I ask of myself both: How do you wake up each day and remind yourself to love the other well? and How do you wake up each day forgetting that? From the outside looking in it looks like a fools game and I, I am being foolish too. What stories might you tell? What truth might you speak? Reconnect with the provocation of being Foolish this Lent, or rather, as Paul began his letter “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.” (I Cor 4:1, NRSV)
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