Pray Without Ceasing - You're Doing It Anyway

People are often confounded by the notion of prayer but I think it's very natural and can be quite effortless. Have you ever held your breath waiting for news, hoping it was better than many feared? Wasn't that your body and subconscious saying together, though silently, "My heart is holding this situation in love and I am wishing for the best possible outcome"? And wasn't that a prayer?
Has your heart ever broke open, or even shattered (it seemed) as you considered the agony someone else was experiencing, and in response didn't your tears flow? Wasn't that your spirit touching theirs and offering the blessing of compassion, and wasn't that a prayer?
Have you ever said or even thought "good luck" while truly wishing someone a satisfying experience or a joyful outcome? Have you ever said, "be careful" to someone driving away or leaving for a trip, and was that expressed wish terribly different from asking saints or ancestors or angels to watch over your beloved traveler?
Prayer is part head and part heart,
part logic and part love,
part mechanics and part mystery,
part poetry and part principle,
part faith and part formula,
part humility and sometimes even part hubris,
part courage and part comfort offered by outrageous hope and a sense that life is meant to be good and a realization that we are all, somehow, connected to all that is and all that ever has been.
And in one way or another, don't we experience or engage in one or more of these "parts" almost every moment of our lives?
"Pray without ceasing" may not be so much an instruction as an observation that we are doing that anyway.
I bet you have prayed in the last hour or so. You may not have offered your prayer to a deity, you may not have ended the experience with an "amen," but you undoubtedly have felt hope or gratitude or love or compassion in the last hour, and I would call that prayer. See, it's not so difficult after all. 

--Bishop Durrell Watkins, D.Min.

Don't Dis the Myths

I'm a big fan of myths, but one should be honest when dealing in myth. Myths are beautiful, speak a poetic language, engage the imagination, & point toward realities mere facts hint at only clumsily...don't dis my myths. 

Remind me if you wish that stories of global floods, virgin conceptions, spending half a week in a fish, conversing with snakes & donkeys, giants being angel-human hybrids, & people living hundreds of years are myths, but then let's sort out what the myths can teach us about life. Of course they didn't happen, but how DO they happen in us & in our lives? (dw)

Christmas Can be an Affirmation of LGBTQ People

 Christmas should, or at least can be, a special time for LGBTQ+ people. Consider this…think about the story itself…

In Luke’s Gospel, Mary becomes pregnant but not by the man to whom she is betrothed. The heroine of our story is the subject of scandal. Her promised husband has not fathered her child and he can leave her for this and if he does, she will be ruined. Condemned. Treated as an outcast. Destined to a life of poverty and scorn.

Now, we don’t know who the father is, but the writer of the tale would have us imagine that mary has been impregnated by the Breath of God (as a Greek philosopher had been in another myth). So, Mary hasn’t copulated with a man, but with a gender neutral spirit (or, if we take the Hebrew word for spirit, she has copulated with a feminine spirit). That means Jesus would not have a Y chromosome. Male in appearance, but not male by chromosomes. The Jesus of Christmas is intersex and conceived in what can be called a queer way.

And when this intersex child of a scandal ridden teen mom is born, angels sing about it. God loves the outcast, the marginalized, the queer. God sends choirs to serenade their birth.

We don’t have to take the story literally; it would be remarkable if we did, but we can take it seriously and see that in our sacred literature people who today would be part of our LGBTQ+ community are affirmed and celebrated, even considered to be chosen by God, even called child of God. That makes the Xmas Story our story, and we can celebrate that no matter who does or doesn’t want to celebrate with us. 

The Bible isn't what most people assume it is.

 The Bible isn't what most people assume it is.

The [Christian] Bible is the Hebrew bible plus a 4th century anthology of mid-1st to early 2nd century literature (New Testament). The Bible is written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and most of the Greek texts were written by Aramaic speakers. It is unlikely that anyone in the NT ever met Jesus (as every NT text is written 20-100 years after Jesus' execution and the earliest writer definitely never met him). The texts are oft' copied and edited and translated, and no original documents have survived. We have translated copies of edited hand copied copies of documents that no longer exist. I love the Bible but for the human product that it is. I do not consider it divine, inerrant, magical, or beyond question or critique. The Bible we have is the result of 4th century church leaders addressing 4th century questions and needs with tales and traditions that are 200-700 years old at that time. The literature was written by Jewish people to Jewish people and was canonized by people who hadn't been connected to Judaism for 4-5 generations at least. These are important things to remember when tempted to say "the Bible says" or the "the Bible clearly teaches"...the Bible isn't univocal, isn't super clear on much, and is the result of a long process involving many voices, agendas, experiences, needs, desires and even multiple time periods, locations, and languages; and, we can't cross reference a single biblical sentence to an original document. Love the Bible, but don't use it as a weapon and don't let it be weaponized against you. It's just not built for that. (dw)

Who Taught You the Bible?

From whom did you learn the Bible? I don't mean a couple dozen stories and 40 bible verses you committed to memory in Sunday School. I don't even mean frequent bible reading that has left you familiar with a great deal of bible content. When I say "learn the Bible" I mean on-going, deep dive, critical study of texts, cultures, idioms, traditions, textual inconsistencies, inaccurate cosmoloties, historical fallacies, pondering the almost unlimited lessons that may be learned and applied from myths and parables...I mean wrestling and with playing with and threatening to abandon and then reconciling with the ancient texts (as best we can knowing most of us are reading edited translations of hand copies of no longer existent documents that were compiled and canonized centuries after Jesus' life). From whom did you learn the Bible "that way"?

My teachers by book and/or lectern were: Alan Cooper, Angela Bauer-Levesque, Bart Ehrman, Bernard Anderson, Burton Mack, Elaine Pagels, Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Gale Yee, Hal Taussig, Joanna Dewey, John Dominic Crossan,
John S. Spong (though bible scholars often bristled to have him included among them insisting that he was a good teacher of their scholarship rather than a contributor to the scholarship), Lawrence Boadt, Lawrence Wills,
Mona West (Take Back the Work; Queer Bible Commentary eds.1 & 2; Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians),
Phyllis Trible, Toni Craven, Vincent Wimbush, Wil Gafney...
as well as M. Borg & Wm. Countryman, John A. T. Robinson & Karen King, A.J. Levine & Lloyd Geering.

What I love about critical study is that it's never done. I thought I had learned from the best and I'd spend the rest of my career (possibly my life) trying to refresh my memory on things I had forgotten or that had become hazy from all the knowledge that had been deposited into my brain by the great scholars of our time. But scholarship never gets to retire and there are always new perspectives and discoveries.

And so, in recent years, my list of teachers has grown (but unlike the older list above, these people don't they've influence me or that there is a me to influence, but their recorded lectures, discussions, classes, and their books are nevertheless mind-expanding and I am grateful to and for them).

New bible teachers in my life include: Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Jennifer Grace Bird, Joshua Bowen, Paula Fredriksen (Paula has been at it for decades but is new to me somehow...I seem to remember her from Living the Questions but only now am I enjoying her work), & Robyn Faith Walsh.

Do you know these people? Do you love them? Who have I not listed that I simply must add to my list (I already know Randall Bailey is a must). From whom did you learn the Bible and who would you recommend to me? And if you don't know any name listed here, please look them up, find their papers and books and YouTube discussions and talks...you'll be glad you did.

A Reflection/Prayer Treatment for the Miracle We Are

A Reflection/Prayer Treatment for the Miracle We Are

~ Bishop Durrell

It has taken billions of years for the unique expression of Life that I am to be made manifest. 

Light and energy, sound and star dust, minerals and atoms have all cooperated and conspired to show up as me. The same is true for us all. 

The universe is vast, and compared to it, I am nothing. 

And yet, the universe is vast, and I am an integral part of it, and as part of the vast universe, I am amazing. And so is every person I bring to mind today. 

Someone met someone, somehow, and they had a child who grew up to meet someone, somehow, and they had a child who grew up to meet someone, somehow, and they had a child…until I showed up. How many random, chance encounters took place to make me possible? How many sperm tried to reach how many eggs before one reached one and fertilization occurred and somehow that fertilized egg evolved into the thing that would become me? Randomness after chance encounter after lucky break after disappointment after biological process after ideal circumstance after human effort all merged and combusted into powerful creativity and from the flames of happenstance this phoenix arose!

How many ideas shared over millennia are now part of my consciousness? How many bodies have returned to the earth which provides nurture and sustenance to support more bodies that return to the earth which provides nurture and sustenance to support more bodies…?

How many artists, musicians, architects, farmers, philosophers, inventors, medical researchers, film makers, explorers, loving aunts and adopted children and good neighbors and geniuses and storytellers and peacemakers have contributed to the world that I have inherited? And how lucky am I that I get to contribute to and benefit from this world?

Do I call any of that God? I have done, but I don’t always. However, the marvel of it all is amazing and, in my estimation, sacred, divine even. I bow before the mystery. I am humbled by and grateful to the larger life that gives expression to my life.

Of all the planets and all the stars and all the solar systems and all the galaxies in the ever-expanding universe (which is almost 14 billion years old, at least, and may actually be eternal, without beginning or end, without cause or creator) …You and I are here on this rock, and we know we are. We are aware. We are conscious. Surely conscious life is rare in the universe. Even if 100 planets have it (and we don’t yet have evidence that they do), in the grand scheme, 100 isn’t very many. But we’re here, on one planet in one solar system in one galaxy, and we know that we are. With or without myth, with or without poetry, with or without religious vocabulary, that is awesome.

And so, my fellow miracles, my fellow unlikely events, my fellow self-aware life-forms (rare as we are), I remind you that you are part of grand and glorious realities. In the language I embrace, you have sacred value. I hope that brings you hope today, or peace, or joy, or comfort, or strength, or courage, or relief. Whatever blessing you need, you deserve it and I hope it comes to you in the best way possible; afterall, in a universe where you and I show up, almost anything is possible. And so it is. (dw)

Global Justice Institute TDOR Public Statement

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

November 20, 2024 

TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 

 

Every year, the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is observed on November 20. The week leading to TDOR is Transgender Awareness Week.  

 

GLAAD states on their website that TDOR is the “annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of 

anti-transgender violence.” 

 

An HRC report states that of the 36 transgender persons murdered in the last year, 78% identified as women, 61% were women of color, half were Black women, over 54% were under the age of 35, 22% were killed by intimate partners, and 9% were killed by a friend or family member.  

 

It is clear that Anti-trans violence involves intersections of misogyny, racism, and domestic violence. 

 

When Transgender people are demoralized and targeted by preachers and politicians, it fuels the unreasonable hatred against them. 

 

During this year’s Transgender Awareness Week, according to LGBTQ Nation, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia reportedly threatened to assault Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware if Ms. McBride were to make use of the women’s facilities at the Capitol. 

When asked if she had indeed made such a threat, MTG, without denying the report, said simply, “I shouldn’t have to” fight someone for using, in her opinion, the “wrong” restroom. 

 

This sort of threatening language makes Transgender people less safe. Sarah McBride is a person, and someone elected by her district to represent them in Congress. She is also a history maker as the first transwoman elected to Congress. Ms. McBride shouldn’t have to worry for a second that she might be bullied by a fellow Congressperson.

 

Today, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced a ban on transwomen using the women’s restrooms at the Capitol. Despite his very recent claim that everyone is treated with dignity and respect on Capitol Hill, this anti-trans bathroom policy seems disrespectful to transgender people in general, and to Ms. McBride in particular.  

 

When questioned by reporters about McBride specifically, LGBTQ Nation reported that the Speaker said, “For anyone who doesn’t know my established record on this issue, let me be 

unequivocally clear: a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman.” He wrongly claimed that his view is the teaching of scripture.

 

Mike Johnson is entitled to his prejudices and to his limited and outmoded understanding of gender, but he should not use his biases to discriminate against a duly elected member of the House of Representatives. And for this discrimination against and disrespect of Transgender persons to occur on TDOR is not only insulting, it also illustrates what fuels violence against Transgender people and why TDOR and Transgender Awareness Week are needed. 

 

The Bishops of the Global Justice Institute, under the leadership of Presiding Bishop Pat Bumgardner, call on all people of goodwill, and especially all people of faith to apply the Golden Rule toward our Transgender siblings.  

 

We ask that people who claim to embrace a religious tradition remember that love and kindness are the guiding themes of most religions, and to realize that Transgender persons are no less entitled to kindness than anyone else.  

 

And finally, we call on all supporters of the Global Justice Institute to continue your support during these uncertain and, for many, perilous times, and to join us in praying for the safety of Transgender people and all members of the LGBTQ community going forward.  

 

“…there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” St. Paul 

 

 

Wishing you blessings of hope and resilience, 

 

 

+Bishop Durrell Watkins  

on behalf of the Global Justice Institute’s Council of Bishops  

 

 

+Bishop Pat Bumgardner, Presiding Bishop & Executive Director 

+Jim Merritt, Auxiliary Bishop 

+Robert Griffin, Auxiliary Bishop 

+Durrell Watkins, Auxiliary Bishop