Some folks replied saying things like, “That’s no different than saying ‘God is straight,’ because God encompasses all things.”

I totally get where they’re coming from (and appreciate the support), but it misunderstands what we mean by “God is queer.” (thread 👇)

https://twitter.com/faithfullybp/status/1671252699285958657

When I say, “God is queer,” I don’t mean that God has a queer sexual orientation or gender identity.

God is God. God does not have a sexual orientation or gender identity.

I mean God defies tidy definitions, shatters supposedly fixed borders, exposes the lie of simple binaries.

Someone told me we should shut down public libraries so churches could run them.

I asked, “What about people who don’t want to go in a church to read?” He told me it was a great opportunity for them to learn about Jesus.

The violence of taking away a public good for evangelism. But it’s also the underlying reason so many people prefer charity to just policy: Because it gives power to the people who do the giving.

So you can make people sit through a sermon for a meal or place to sleep.

Or “help folks meet Jesus” for a book.

Want to hear something amazing about crying?

Emotional tears have higher protein concentration than irritant tears, which makes them fall down your cheeks more slowly—increasing the chance they’ll be seen and solicit care.

In literal ways, your body is built for community. Anyhow, if you think this is a beautiful as I do, I have a book all about crying coming out in May!

But you can preorder it now (and be a huge help to a first time author trying to push a queer and tender little book into the world.)
broadleafbooks.com/store/product/…

@rabbimarkiz Absolutely! In the beginning I was so emotionally numb that I had to do really extreme things like picturing my parents dying, imagining what I’d say to them.

Or I’d watch videos of refugees talking about what they endured; their hopes for the future. @rabbimarkiz Gradually, though, (and this is the part that fascinates me!) my entire threshold for crying got lower and lower.

So, soon, I would cry when I was watching internet videos of owners reunited with their pets, or someone performing an unexpected act of kindness.

We talk a lot about how toxic theology harms queer folx—how false teaching about God creates shame, depression, can even lead to suicide.

But people like myself don't talk enough about how growing up in an affirming faith community helped us—so I want to share some of my story. It's an incredible privilege for which I am overwhelmingly grateful. And it wasn't something I chose—any more than I chose to be bisexual.

But @BedfordChurch made me proud of who God created me to be. And it built the bedrock of faith that still sustains me.

1. I’ll never forget sitting in the cafeteria with my friends, anxiously waiting for their parents to call from the city. That day, and those that followed, were horrifying and traumatic. Some kids I knew never got that call.

These past months are worse. 2. 9/11 was a discrete calamity—bounded in time. It tore my 11 year-old world at its seams, but afterwards we were able to mourn. We came together as a community, participated in the rituals of grief. I began to heal.

These have been hard months, but yesterday I got to officiate a wedding in the park for the most amazing couple.

It was a reminder: Love can still triumph. Seize joy where you can find it. And community matters so, so deeply. I’ll share here some of the words I offered the couple:

You won’t always be able to dictate or control the vicissitudes of fate, but you can control how you react to them. Remember, you always have this choice—to stare hardship head-on and respond by cuddling closer together.

1. Demanding teachers risk their lives is really our relationship to education in microcosm.

We expect heroism from educators in fixing *our* problems—without providing adequate support—then blame any teacher who protests. 2. Folks who have never taught a day in their lives create standardized tests and learning standards—forcing teachers to design curricula to arbitrary goalposts—then blame teachers when students don't receive a well-rounded education.

1. In his interview with @jonathanvswan, the President flatly rejects police accountability. He says of the secret police terrorizing Portland: "Why should they have identification?"

These are the words of a thug, not a democratic leader. 2. Letting police shroud themselves from oversight openly invites violence—just like concealing Presidential financial records openly invites fraud.

This isn't surprising—it's the same corrupt and fascist instinct that has always guided Trump. It's also profoundly idolatrous.

The US didn’t deserve John Lewis’ courageous love, his fierce commitment to justice, his profound dignity and determination to make this country live into its unfulfilled promises. But, like God’s grace, we received them all the same.

How much poorer is our world this morning. All prayers with his family in this moment as they grieve, and our country as we mourn someone who simply cannot be replaced. One of our guiding lights has carried its radiance on. But his legacy should indict each of us to live with deeper purpose.

1. My brother and some friends are organizing in my hometown, getting it to confront its own white supremacy.

On Wed., a (pretty moderate!) antiracist resolution was proposed to the town board. Shockingly, the response was super racist. So, let's talk white "progressive" racism. 2. What immediately grabs attention is the guy who says "Go fuck yourself, Blue Lives Matter!" but I don't want to talk about him. Because that's the racism we're somewhat better at identifying and confronting.

1. This tweet has been on my mind all weekend, because it so perfectly frames how:

a) white, affluent people already enjoy defunded police departments

b) white, affluent suburbs have an incredibly racist history and present

So, let's talk.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1271429352933208072

2. Now, it's pretty clear that "Suburban Women", references white suburban women—because the President only cares about white people, and because Black suburbanites have a more fraught relationship with police. So, I'm talking about white folks here.

1. I can't stop thinking about this section @RevJacquiLewis' sermon yesterday.

White identity—and police identity in particular—has become so fundamentally intertwined with the oppression of our neighbors that talk of ending this violence causes existential panic. 2. White identity has become so enmeshed with unjust power that when you talk about ending racism, people react as if you're talking about shattering white society itself.

Which, in a very deep sense, I suppose we are. But it's long-past time to smash the idol of whiteness.

1. Queer communities offer a beautiful lens through which to view the relationship between Jesus and his disciples.

The lines between affection, attraction, intimacy and sex are far blurrier than white evangelicals would like them to appear.

Let's talk about a bisexual Christ.

https://twitter.com/FaithfullyBP/status/1255694287012073472

2. As Marcella Althus-Reid notes, "all theology is sexual." Our broader culture has crafted Jesus "from [our] own assumed heterosexual contraints: we projected them into Jesus, and taught him them."

But what if we cast these assumptions aside?

1. "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

This is the gospel of Mark's original ending, the first record of Christ's resurrection—and perhaps fitting words this Easter as well. 2. The ending is so unsettling that other writers later added a longer ending in which Jesus appears to the disciples. And yet they're the words that immediately leapt into my heart.

Christ is risen. Love will emerge victorious over death. And, yet we are still terrified.

1. Stopping the GOP plundering the country for corporate handouts isn't "blocking action," it's blocking theft.

Throughout COVID-19, Republicans have lied about its danger, sought profit from suffering, and tried to further slash our civil liberties and social safety net. 2. I'm so angry to read this garbage framing by the @nytimes my head hurts. It's absolute malpractice. Look at the full picture 👇

GOP Senators dumped millions in stock after private briefings, then continued to carry water for this administrations lies.
nymag.com/intelligencer/…

1. Sharing some liturgy that @RevMicahBucey of @judsonchurchnyc posted on FB, which he inexplicably hasn’t shared with you all on here:

“A Prayer of Gratitude for Those Who Have Known a Plague All Too Well.” 2. “Thanks to my forequeers, I have hand-me-down knowledge that is threadbare, but covered in glitter.

I have the promise that no rainbow bends the arc of justice unless it’s regularly pressed to further queer itself.”

1. Last night, I found out I may have been exposed to the coronavirus through a friend I had dinner with on Tuesday.

I'm a minister: I work with old people, babies, immunocompromised folks, people who lack insurance. I can’t risk their health.

So, today I tried to get tested. 2. I called the CDC hotline and spent more than an hour on hold. When I reached a representative, they told me to call my doctor.

I called my doctor. They told me that, since I'm asymptomatic, I'm not eligible for a coronavirus test.

Sitting with these two articles right now, how our government enforces deadly policies with deadly force. Already, I’m seeing responses blaming the man who was shot today; saying that he shouldn’t have interfered with his brother’s deportation.

How can you ask someone to stand idly by his brother’s persecution?

I'm feeling nostalgic, so here's a roundup of my favorite threads I've written for @UnionSeminary 👇 1. The Queer Faith project is definitely what makes me proudest. Mohammad Mia's photography and Union's incredible students made it a joy to edit and curate. (It also gave me the nudge to come out publicly!)

God is queer, and this what She looks like.

https://twitter.com/UnionSeminary/status/1105468069021913088?s=20

Some personal news: I'm leaving @UnionSeminary to accept a call as the Minister of Outreach and Media Strategy @middlechurch! The moment is bittersweet, for sure: I love Union with all my heart. This place has molded me in so many ways, as both a student and a minister. And, It's been my honor to help shape its public voice for the past 3 years.

I've had such fun causing good trouble here on Twitter!