07-19-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
July 19, 2023
A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon that caused some folks to squirm, others to ask challenging questions, and still others to disagree. And to be clear, within our tradition, disagreeing is something you are more than welcome to do. I just encourage people to do more than disagree simply because something makes them feel uncomfortable. Within the large spectrum that is Christianity (both historical and current), it is good to know why one disagrees. Take the journey of understanding, and in the end, it's ok to continue to disagree, but now one’s faith has found greater strength because of the journey of discovery. Within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), there has always been a real emphasis on individual responsibility for one’s own faith, not to be confused with individualism. We believe our faith journey should always be done in relationship and conversation with others, both inside and outside the church.

In the sermon in which I talked about transgender individuals, people who self-identify as gender nonconforming, and drag performers (these are not the same thing), I spoke about stepping outside of the binary, the either/or. I used Genesis 1, the Hebrew Creation poem, where there are many binaries: night and day, sea and land, etc. Now, I do not believe the author of the poem believed those binaries were all there was. There is dusk, there are marshes, and there are many things found between the two that are mentioned. And then I took the next step, and talked about how God created them, male and female, and how God created them in God’s own image. Does God hold both genders within the divine nature? Interesting side note, a number of Indigenous Tribes here in the Americas believed that a person who carried both male and female characteristics were to be revered as they were a closer reflection of the Creator.

Some people might have thought that I preached the sermon as a way of defending my family, but it’s important for folks to know that I wrote a paper in graduate school (1991) in which I argued almost the same idea. It stirred up a few folks at that time, but if I remember correctly, I got an A. In that paper, I drew upon Matthew 19, where Jesus talked about eunuchs, specifically three different kinds of eunuchs: eunuchs from birth, eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and those who have made themselves eunuchs. To be clear, eunuchs and transgender people are not the same thing at all, but scholars are not necessarily sure exactly why Jesus even used the example of the eunuch in a teaching on marriage and divorce. Yet he seemed to speak very openly and graciously about eunuchs, no matter how they came to that reality. It's important to know that eunuchs fell outside of the traditional binary gender, and the initial response of ancient Israel was to simply say they were not allowed to participate in the temple rituals and experiences. By excluding them, it was just easier than trying to figure out where they fit. Of course, the Prophet Isaiah begins to change things as he speaks of the eunuch finding a place in the worshiping community that God has made uniquely for the eunuch (Isaiah 58). And then in the Book of Acts, we hear about the Ethiopian eunuch who was baptized by Peter, with baptism being understood as the entry point into community of those seeking to follow Jesus. The strange outsider is suddenly a prominent insider.

Alongside all this, and I mentioned it in the sermon, the Jewish Talmud (a sort of running commentary in the Rabbinical tradition, birthed from the theological and Biblical debates shortly after the time of Jesus) provides some challenging thoughts on the subject. According to the Talmud, there are eight genders. I didn’t know that until a local Rabbi pointed me to an article that described this (see link below). I mention that, not to blow your mind as it did mine, but to remind folks, as the article does right from the beginning, that such questions are not new. I raise it, not necessarily to change anyone’s mind, but to point out how faith communities, including Christianity, have been having these conversations for generations. And to recognize how some circles of Christianity are currently using transgender, gender nonconforming, and drag performers as the new boogieman that we are all to fear. I call this the enemization of Christianity. I didn’t use that word in the sermon because it was too hard a word to easily enunciate and would have required a lot of explaining in the context of the sermon. So instead, I talked about how unhealthy (anti-Jesus) it is to build an understanding of Christianity on the necessity of having an enemy. When people do that, Christianity becomes less about what you believe and more about who you oppose. In fact, I believe it has become the predominant way of understanding Christianity in our current culture.

This is a very lengthy Etching, but I wanted to revisit the conversation as a way of reminding folks of the more significant and main point of the sermon—how do we understand Christianity if we do not have an enemy? Remember, Jesus said, "Love your enemy," and if you love your enemy, I’m pretty sure that person is no longer an enemy.

For all the challenging parts of scripture, alongside the many ways scripture has been understood in every generation, we seek to find peace in you, Gracious and Loving God. Continue to challenge us on what it means to love as Jesus loved, stepping outside of a binary where our side is right and their side is wrong. This is our prayerful request in the name of Christ. Amen.

​LINK: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/