Second Friday of Advent
“Does God hate me?” I received an email with this one question from a junior at the Catholic high school where I teach and minister. I wept. I wept for this young person who felt hated; I wept for the Church’s failure to bear witness to 2SLGBTQIA+ people; and I wept for God, whose love for all creation is being co-opted by a myopic commitment to doctrine.
This student went on to tell me that they identify as non-binary, saying “I am hella queer” with a slight smile. They came to me as the only out, queer teacher on campus. I came out to the school the day after Trump was elected at a protest organized by the student body. There was great risk involved. I still worry about my job, but I don’t regret it.
God is our redeemer (Is 48:17). The resolute knowledge of God’s unconditional acceptance should never be illusory to the very people that Jesus loved most. God entered into the muck of human life as Jesus: the rebel, the marginalized, the Holy One. This flesh we bear is an embodiment of the proclamation of the Gospel. We, too, are the good news!
God delights in every hella queer teenager! God dances to the rhythm of our pride. God accepts all of who we are – beyond the gender binary – and says to us, in our chosen names, “[your] name never cut off or blotted out from my presence” (Is 48:19).
Just as Jesus actively challenged bigotry in radical acts of defiance and friendship, so we – the people of God – must embrace the power of love; how to turn toward, while still turning over the tables. I pray for a world in which wisdom is vindicated, and I never have to stare into the eyes of an anxious teenager and say, God does not hate. God hella loves us in all of our lavish queerness.
This collective prayer written by my 12th grade Theology class says more than I can say on my own:
Blessed be…
all people of color.
the feminists who fight oppression.
those who accept change.
those who face discrimination because of their gender identity
or sexual orientation.
the questioning and confused.
those who listen.
those who face injustice because of their race, socioeconomic status,
or their courage to stand on their own for what they believe.
the tired; tired of excuses; tired of being let down;
tired of history repeating itself.
Amen
