2.12.24 - Psalm 119:33-34
What assumptions about scripture or God’s will are you still working to unlearn? What tools do you need to engage in this work?
Living God, teach me what your statutes are about, and I will guard every part of them. Help me understand so I can guard your instruction and keep it with all my heart.
Too many of us know the anguish of being told that something about us — be it gender or sexuality, race or disability — is an affront to God.
When we resist this lie, we’re often told we aren’t “taking scripture seriously.” Our detractors don’t see that many of us take scripture very seriously, studying hard, imploring God for wisdom — because for us, discerning the truth becomes a matter of survival.
I thank God for making me queer, and Autistic, and otherwise unable to stomach normative Bible readings. Otherwise, it’s possible I might have remained ignorant to how many traditional beliefs bring death to disenfranchised peoples.
None of us should ever be made to question our belovedness. None of us should have to become biblical experts to “earn” our place or “prove” our faith’s legitimacy. But we who have wrestled come out with gifts, fresh insights that the Body of Christ desperately needs.
What assumptions about scripture or God’s will are you still working to unlearn? What tools do you need to engage in this work?
— Avery Arden
It's tough to unlearn things, but easier to build complex scaffolding so that when the easy, sometimes harmful theologies return, there's something there to contain them.