2.7.24 - Psalm 23:5
What are ways that you can affirm others and ask for affirmation so that you can be a part of the fight for healing within your community?
Look to them, and be radiant, so your faces shall never be ashamed.
Passages that mention shame always catch my attention because the Church is one of the places where I learned shame.
Growing up transgender and gay in a religion that told me that I was sinful at my core and God was monitoring my every thought and moment has wildly impacted me.
I think we sometimes normalize and underestimate the effects that religious messages of sinfulness and shame can have on people.
My ability to have a relationship with God and the church is a long, ongoing, and tenacious fight for healing that I could not do without religious leaders and communities who have affirmed me (like Juniper Formation).
In this passage, it says that when you look at God, you will be radiant. You will not be ashamed.
What messages are you healing from? What parts of you feel hidden and ashamed?
— Theo Isoz