Expanding Horizons
I’m sorry I wasn’t able to write anything last week, but I hope to catch up by offering two reflections this week. During this Pride month I’ve been thinking about queer spiritual gifts, the things we can learn from the experiences of LGBTQ+ people that nurture our spirituality and enhance our relationships with each other, with Creation, and with God. Today, I want to talk about the Gift of Expansiveness.
As we question and begin to know ourselves in deeper ways (the first two queer spiritual gifts), we realize that not only are we different from so-called societal norms, but almost everyone is different in some way. When we ask others to recognize, respect, and honor our wonderful, unique, God-created selves, then we come to realize that we are also called to recognize, respect, and honor the wonderfully unique value of people different from us.
Jesus modeled this behavior for us by practicing radical hospitality. He went out of his way to relate to those rejected by society, treating them with respect and compassion. He didn’t ask people to conform and fall in line. He asked them to love each other, to help and support each other. The gift of expansiveness is about practicing radical hospitality as Jesus did. It’s about letting go of prejudices and assumptions and any need to feel superior. It’s about expanding our horizons and opening ourselves to new ways of looking at and understanding the world without being self-defensive or judgmental.
Our assumptions and definitions are social constructions and not immutable laws of nature. For example, we invent the definitions of masculine and feminine so we can feel like the world makes sense. It reassures us when we think we know how everything is supposed to be. But when something doesn’t fit we get upset and become fearful that the world will stop making sense. We reject whatever doesn’t fit and call it sinful or taboo. However, when we let go of our assumptions and expectations, we open ourselves to the beauty and wonder of life’s diversity and complexity.
Consider the male and female binary that so many hold sacred.1 Our biblical creation story says God created male and female so that must be all there is, right? But, the creation story also says God created earth and sea and there isn’t just earth and sea. There is incredible beauty in between – swamps, marshes, and beaches. These wetlands, an ecosystem that falls in between earth and sea, are home to so much of the important, beautiful diversity of life. Wetlands don’t stand by themselves, either, but are an integral part of the earth’s overall ecosystem. The creation story also says God created night and day, but there isn’t just night and day. In between we encounter beautiful, awe-inspiring sunrises and sunsets. So, what do we find in the “and” of male and female? We find the beautiful diversity and awe-inspiring lives of those who are transgender or non-binary or don’t fit our gender assumptions in some other way. We find God’s children, cherished and loved as an integral part of God’s family.
The prophet Isaiah saw the beauty that resides in the “and” of male and female, explicitly welcoming and affirming the value of a queer person, the eunuch, someone who doesn’t meet the cultural norms and expectations of gender.2 Isaiah’s message is one of expansiveness, expanding the horizons of the people and teaching them that everyone is welcomed and accepted by God. Today, our current Republican government, backed by others who claim God’s authority, want to reject queer people, but God says queer people are welcome. Transgender, male, female, non-binary, lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, wherever we fall into the queer spectrum – we are all welcome and cherished for who we are.
God’s expansiveness doesn’t stop at human concepts of gender. Isaiah also singles out the foreigner as welcomed by God, which our society today would do well to note. Republicans say we should reject immigrants, but God says the immigrant is welcome, a treasured part of God’s kin-dom. When we use our bias and assumptions around race, nationality, and immigration status to exclude and reject people, even to deport or imprison them, then we sin against those people and against God because God’s house, Isaiah proclaims, is a house for all people.
For Jesus, expanding our hearts with compassion for others is how we love our neighbors. It’s the central tenet of our Christian faith. This means treating others with the respect and compassion they deserve as beloved children of God. We can start becoming more expansive by simply becoming more conscious of our biases and assumptions about people and trying to reserve judgments until we actually get to know them. We can practice being more empathetic, sensitive, compassionate, and flexible. We can take time to think about our words and how people hear them. We might also think of our own motivations. Are fear and selfishness causing us to treat people with less than the respect and dignity they deserve?
Jesus said that those who walk God’s Way of Love are those who practice a radical hospitality, who feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, and comfort the ill.3 When we do these things for others, Jesus taught, including and especially those who are rejected and marginalized by society, we do them for God. And when we fail to do them for others, we fail to do them for God. Each of us is created in the Divine image. Each of us is God’s unique and wonderful child. When we embrace God’s gift of expansiveness, opening and expanding our hearts so our compassion, empathy, and love include all of God’s children, then we begin to create hope, peace, and justice in the world.
1. Thanks to friend Em Norwood for teaching me this lovely metaphor asking what we find in the “ands” of life.
2. Isaiah 56:1-8
3. Matthew 25:31-46
I love this offering, Ken. Your writing is a great source of encouragement and honestly helps center my spirit and my emotions. Bless you dear brother! Also I highly recommend the new book by Brandan Robertson, "Queer and Christian." I am about 2/3 of the way through it and have found it to be a very cogent, accessible and hermenutically consistent treatment of the scriptures that are often used as weapons against queer people as well as bringing to light the positive examples in scripture of God's blessings toward all of us including queer people. Bless you, Ken!
Thank you. Many others, including chronically ill, mentally ill, and disabled also don’t meet the expectation of “normal.” If you look closely my guess is that the vast majority of people have some issue which doesn’t fit “normal.”