Find me on Post, FB, or Mastodon w/ same name. Pastor of Saint Junia house churches (https://t.co/VkuQ8CrFs4). Religion PhD, Mental health counseling MA student. he/him
Dec 9, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I actually like it when people put scare quotes around my title, like "pastor," or refer to me as a "so-called pastor." There's a larger theological point I'd like to make about the inappropriateness of religious leaders being called "pastors":
I mean, I do have a certificate of ordination. I was called by God and set apart by the church. But, no, I am not a spiritual leader for Christofascists. There are plenty of churches and leaders for those folks. They are a dime a dozen, unfortunately.
Nov 20, 2022 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
We've mixed our metaphors with disastrous results. "Shepherd" or "pastor" was the king's job description in Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34. "Pastor" was not a metaphor applied to clergy. It was the *ruler's* job to take care of the flock.
Ezekiel gets very specific: the "bad shepherds" have failed to keep the mother sheep safe, and have allowed the "fat sheep" to bully the "thin sheep." Moreover, the "fat sheep" have caused environmental destruction (34:18), muddying the drinking water for everyone else.
Oct 29, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Blister packs, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways:
I hate the way you cut my fingers.
I hate the pain - oh how it lingers!
I hate that you're so very wasteful.
I think your waste is so distasteful.
I hate the way you dull my scissors.
To open you is such a pisser.
I've wasted hours of my life.
I pry and use my pocket knife.
I lose my grip, I slice my hand,
My curses ring throughout the land.
How tightly do you hold your treasure!
My hate for you, it knows no measure.
Your contents often disappoint.
Is that your intended point?
Oct 25, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Good morning! Samson submitted to being tied up by Delilah 3 times, which today we'd refer to as bondage play. The story explores sexuality, power, and performance: sometimes strong, clever loners long to feel vulnerable and connected. His weakness isn't his hair: it's isolation+
Samson is the only judge who doesn't actually "lead" anyone. All the stories about him are about him alone and his own feats of strength or cleverness. He visits prostitutes because he's lonely. He chooses a dominatrix because he wants to feel helpless.+
Oct 13, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
1: I can't help think about Harry Frankfurt's essay, "On Bullshit" whenever I encounter white male pastors talking about a "third way" or being "centrist." Frankfurt makes the point that humbug (a form of bullshit) is not a claim about reality; it's a claim about the speaker.
2: Frankfurt quotes Max Black's definition of "humbug" — "deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody’s own thoughts, feelings, or attitudes." I'm suspect this describes many 3rd-way pastors these days. 2/11
Oct 10, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
"We will not offer to God/ Sacrifices that cost us nothing."
This was part of the regular liturgy at Iona (from 2 Samuel 24:24) that struck me deeply. I remember wondering, "How much of American Christianity is about offering to God a sacrifice that costs us nothing?" 1/4
Even financial tithing, in a capitalist culture, is not as much a sacrifice as giving up power, privilege, white supremacy, and misogyny, or the endowment wealth that enables the rich to do philanthropy that "costs nothing." 2/4
Aug 30, 2022 • 22 tweets • 3 min read
Spiritual parasitism: A thread.
So, here's the deal: parasites and predators exist. Their evolutionary strategy is to take advantage of the surplus energy acquired by other organisms. In the natural world, this is not a moral issue—it simply is.
Both hookworms and tigers evolved because they could survive by consuming the energy other beings gathered.
Aug 28, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Hey, left-leaning friends:
You may already know this, but a lot of the hate towards people with student debt is a just one tributary of hatred toward education in general. 🧵 1/7
The fascists have been waging a 50-year war against public & higher education because they are still bitter over Brown v. Board. They have been advocating abolishing the Department of Education for decades, because they want all education to be privatized and segregated. 2/7
Aug 20, 2022 • 14 tweets • 2 min read
TL;DR: As they are planning stewardship campaigns, preachers need to talk about economics and power; not just "giving."
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First, I want to reiterate that "church" is a German-derived word from the Greek phrase, Lord's house (kyrios + oikos = kyrkus > kirche). 1/14🧵
But the word used in Greek is ekklesia, "the called-out ones." Its roots were in Athenian democracy, but it was probably used tongue-in-cheek. 2/14
Aug 19, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Do you know why conservative Christians are so transphobic? I believe it's partially because it's become less socially acceptable to bully gay people, so they have to seek out an even *smaller* population with even *less* political power to use as a punching bag. 1/14
Their most recent target is a pediatric hospital specializing in care for trans kids. (I'm not sharing a link, because they are so hateful). Look, this is a desperately needed thing. Trans kids need trans-affirming medical care. 2/14
Jul 20, 2022 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
I’m increasingly perplexed by what it means to be, as @DavidDark puts it, a “professional god-talker” in the Anthropocene, when colonialism mixed with religion has already killed so much of our world. The doctrine of the Fall has been a self-fulfilling prophecy…
…alienating people from the more-than-human world and accelerating climate change. Rather than a radically egalitarian, self-emptying, and easy-yoke religion, Christianity became a hierarchical, dominating, tie-up-burdens-for-others religion.
May 8, 2022 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Once again, for those who object to my piece on "Advocacy for the Unborn" by claiming that pro-lifers do vital ministry for marginalized people — this is missing the point. 1/11
Such private charities are often a form of moral license. They allow Christians to feel good abt themselves while they oppose common-sense policies like universal healthcare & action on climate change. Research into the attitudes of white evangelicals on policy is shocking. 2/11
Dec 29, 2021 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
"No one comes to the Father except through me" is one of the most abused verses in the Bible. A dialogue intended to comfort grieving disciples gets weaponized for exclusion and missionary colonialism. 1/16 🧵
We need to read it in context: Jesus has just told his disciples that he's about to leave them, and they are heartbroken and confused. Thomas blurts out, "What do you mean we know the way to where you are going? We don't even know where you are going!" 2/16
Dec 5, 2021 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
As my FB post on the unborn is making the rounds again, just a quick note to let folks know: 1) Yes, I’m aware #notallprolifers. 2) Christian smarm is a bad witness. 3) People who actually do some form of advocacy already know these things. 🧵 1/8
White allies for black lives, men who fight misogyny, straight cis folks who advocate for LGBTQ folks— those who are already *about the work* don’t get defensive when black activists post about wypipo, or women post #yesallmen , etc. 2/8
Oct 31, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
The thing you think of as you is basically a story you are telling yourself.
Similarly, most politics is basically a struggle to tell our collective story in a way that centers our selves — these fragile things built of stories — as the heroes of our subjective universe. 1/6
Our attempts to make these two stories cohere, the self and the society, is why politics is so contentious — because it involves how we construct our own identity and everything we trust. 2/6
Oct 29, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
OH YES. Interpret the Bible using your favorite musical gif.
A is for Anthony, a real stand-up guy.
He kept telling the truth but was pressured to lie.
B is for Biden, for ending this curse.
(He wasn't my first choice, but we could do a lot worse).
A #2020abecedarium:
C is for Covid, this public health spectacle,
Which has clearly revealed just *how* America’s exceptional.
D is for Democrats, still stuck in limbo
Perpetually following the Overton window.
Jun 16, 2020 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
There is a strange, nonsensical phrase about charity that we say almost exclusively in church. Whenever we talk about doing direct service, I hear this phrase: "Feeding the homeless." People say it without blinking. 1/12
If you said "clothing the hungry," or "giving the naked a drink of water," people would look at you funny. But we will say "feeding the homeless" all the time. Because addressing the primary need, the thing that defines homelessness, is almost unthinkable. 2/12
