MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

Enjoy “Noah’s Gay Wedding Cruise”

“Noah’s Gay Wedding Cruise” can cheer us up in the face of the Maine election defeat.

Gay and lesbian animal couples and celebrities mingle on the ark while anti-gay activists such as Fred Phelps and Ken Starr drown.  Artist Paul Richmond says, “I chose to symbolize our inevitable victory in the fight for marriage equality by painting my own adaptation of the biblical flood.” 

Click here for the full story and details from the painting at the Jesus in Love Blog on GLBT spirituality and the arts.

Image credit: “Noah’s Gay Wedding Cruise” by Paul Richmond.  Visit his online store to order a limited-edition print.
Posted by lesbian Christian author and art historian Kittredge Cherry

Sergius and Bacchus: A pair of gay saints

Saints Sergius and Bacchus were Roman soldiers, Christian martyrs and gay men who loved each other. They were killed around 303 in present-day Syria. Their feast day is observed on Oct. 7. The couple was openly gay, but secretly Christian -- the opposite of today’s closeted Christians.

The close bond between the two men has been emphasized since the earliest accounts, and recent scholarship has revealed their homosexuality. The oldest record of their martyrdom describes them as erastai (Greek for “lovers”). Scholars believe that they may have been united in the rite of adelphopoiesis (brother-making), a kind of early Christian same-sex marriage.

A classic example of paired saints, Sergius and Bacchus were high-ranking young officers. Sergius was primicerius (commander) and Bacchus was secundarius (subaltern officer). They were tortured to death after they refused to attend sacrifices to Zeus, thus revealing their secret Christianity.

The men were arrested and paraded through the streets in women’s clothing in an unsuccessful effort to humiliate them. Early accounts say that they responded by chanting that they were dressed as brides of Christ. They told their captors that women’s dress never stopped women from worshipping Christ, so it wouldn’t stop them, either. Then Sergius and Bacchus were separated and beaten so severely that Bacchus died.

According to the early manuscripts, Bacchus appeared to Sergius that night with a face as radiant as an angel’s, dressed once again as a soldier. He urged Sergius not to give up because they would be reunited in heaven as lovers. His statement is unique in the history of martyrs. Usually the promised reward is union with God, not with a lover. Over the next days Sergius was tortured and eventually beheaded.

Sergius’ tomb became a famous shrine, and for nearly 1,000 years the couple was revered as the official patrons of the Byzantine army. Many early churches were named after Sergius, sometimes with Bacchus. They are recognized as martyrs by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. The pair was venerated through the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Latin America and among the Slavs. Sergius and Bacchus continue to be popular saints with Christian Arabs and now among GLBT Christians and their allies.

The icon above was painted by Brother Robert Lentz, a Franciscan friar and world-class iconographer known for his innovative icons. “Saints Sergius and Bacchus” is one of 10 Lentz icons that sparked a major controversy a few years ago.

Critics accused Lentz of glorifying sin and creating propaganda for a progressive sociopolitical agenda. They caused such a stir that in order to keep the peace between his Franciscan province and the Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Lentz gave away the copyright for the 10 controversial images to his distributor, Trinity Stores. Lentz had his name removed from those images on the Trinity website, but later reclaimed authorship. All 10 are now displayed there as a collection titled “Images That Challenge.” The group includes gay-positive, women-affirming and pagan-oriented icons. Lentz’ own moving spiritual journey and some of his icons are included in the book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.

To learn more about Sergius and Bacchus, check out “Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe” by John Boswell and “Passionate Holiness” by Dennis O’Neill.

Image credit: Saints Sergius and Bacchus By Brother Robert Lentz, OFM. Copyright 1994. Courtesy of www.trinitystores.com (800.699.4482)

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This post was written by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry. It is part of the new “GLBT Saints” series at the Jesus in Love Blog, where it is cross-posted. Saints and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.

Honoring the gay saint of 9/11

A gay priest is considered a saint by many since his heroic death in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

Father Mychal Judge, chaplain to New York City firefighters, responded quickly when Muslim extremists flew hijacked planes into the twin towers. He rushed with firefighters into the north tower right after the first plane hit.

Refusing to be evacuated, he prayed and administered sacraments as debris crashed outside. He saw dozens of bodies hit the plaza outside as people jumped to their deaths. His final prayer, repeated over and over, was “Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!”

While he was praying, Father Mychal was struck and killed in a storm of flying steel and concrete that exploded when the south tower collapsed. He was the first officially recorded fatality of the 9/11 attack. Father Mychal was designated as Victim 0001 because his was the first body recovered at the scene. More than 2,500 people from many nationalities and walks of life were killed. Thousands more escaped the buildings safely.

After Father Mychal’s death, some of his friends revealed that he considered himself a gay man. He had a homosexual orientation, but by all accounts he remained faithful to his vow of celibacy as a Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan order.

The charismatic, elderly priest was a long-term member of Dignity, the oldest and largest national lay movement of LGBT Catholics and their allies. Father Mychal voiced disagreement with the Vatican’s condemnation of homosexuality, and found ways to welcome Dignity’s AIDS ministry despite a ban by church leaders. He defied a church boycott of the first gay-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade in Queens, showing up in his habit and granting news media interviews.

Many people, both inside and outside the GLBT community, call Father Mychal a saint. He has not been canonized by his own Roman Catholic Church, but some feel that he has already become a saint by popular acclamation, and the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America did declare officially declare him a saint.

The above icon is “Holy Passion Bearer Mychal Judge and St. Francis of Assisi” by Father William Hart McNichols.  It shows Father Mychal with St. Francis of Assisi as the World Trade Center burns behind them. They hold out a veil to gather and help people who cry out in times of violence and terror. In the text accompanying the icon, Father McNichols describes Father Mychal as a Passion Bearer who “takes on the on-coming violence rather than returning it… choosing solidarity with the unprotected.”

Father McNichols is a renowned iconographer and Roman Catholic priest based in New Mexico. After earning a Master of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute in New York, he studied icon painting with the Russian-American master Robert Lentz. Like Lentz, he paints icons with contemporary subjects, as well as many with classical themes. Some of his icons express compassion for people with AIDS, based on his experiences working at an AIDS hospice in New York City in the 1980s. Father McNichols is one of 11 artists featured in “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ and More” by Kittredge Cherry.

For more info on Father Mychal Judge, visit his Wikipedia entry or the Saint Mychal Judge blog.

Image credit: “Holy Passion Bearer Mychal Judge and St. Francis of Assisi” By Father William Hart McNichols

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This is cross-posted at the Jesus in Love Blog, where it launches a new “GLBT Saints” series. Lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry will write about saints and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies on appropriate dates throughout the year.

Gay Holy Week readings start today

A queer version of Christ's Passion runs in daily posts from Palm Sunday (today) through Easter (April 12) at the Jesus in Love Blog.

Each installment features a GLBT Christian painting and an excerpt from Kittredge Cherry's novel "Jesus in Love: At the Cross."

The eight-day series covers the dramatic events of Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, and Jesus' arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.  Jesus falls in love with his disciple John and faces religious homophobia in "At the Cross."

The online Holy Week series includes paintings by F. Douglas Blanchard, Gary Speziale and Becki Jayne Harrelson.  More info

Click here to visit the Jesus in Love Blog for today's post

Image credit: "Jesus Enters the City"  (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by F. Douglas Blanchard

Gay artist links body and spirit

Sexuality and spirituality unite beautifully in the work of gay artist Stephen Mead of New York. 

Gay angels sleep wrapped in each other’s arms with naked vulnerability in “Angels Sleeping Unawares.”  Angels are usually presented as neutered, asexual beings.  Mead delights the eye and does great service by showing that the messengers of God can be erotically alive. 

Mead’s erotic angel paintings are part of “Blue Heart Diary,” a meditative series about the universality of struggle, both global and personal.  Like much of Mead’s work, it fuses art and poetry.  The actual written work is over a thousand lines long with several hundred images spanning over two decades.  A video sets some of the images to music, creating a meditative experience that is both soothing and thought-provoking.  The angel paintings also appear on his DVD “Captioned Closeness” at Indieflix.com.

Self-taught as an artist, Mead acknowledges that his art has been heavily influenced by both surrealism and expressionism.  His current project is “Swan Songs,” a film series that superimposes live footage over his images while using his own singing voice as a soundtrack.

For more info and images by Stephen Mead, visit the Jesus in Love Blog on glbt spirituality and the arts.

Image credit:  “Angels Sleeping Unawares” by Stephen Mead

watercolor pencil on board, incorporated into the series "Captioned Closeness"

Gay artist takes fresh look at Christmas

“Radiant Baby” strips the Christmas story down to its core:  A child is born.  It took a gay artist -- Keith Haring -- to get to the pure essence of Christmas.  He paints a generic baby.  The child is faceless, without any trappings of race, gender or family of origin.  The only thing special about this baby is its radiance.  Is “Radiant Baby” the Christ child, or every child?  Art historian Natalie E. Phillips makes an excellent case that Haring did indeed consider it an image of Christ in her essay “The Radiant (Christ) Child.”…

Continued at the Jesus in Love Blog, where a series of Alternative Christmas Art is running.

Image credit: “Radiant Baby” (from Icons series) by Keith Haring, 1990.
© Estate of Keith Haring
www.haring.com

12 queer days of Xmas art starts now

AltXmasArt, a groundbreaking exhibit of alternative Christmas art, will be posted online in 12 daily installments today through Dec. 25 at the Jesus in Love Blog.

Nine artists combine Christmas imagery with a progressive vision of gay, lesbian, bi and trans (GLBT) rights, racial and gender justice, and a world without war, poverty or environmental destruction. 

Click here for the announcement with all 12 images in small format.  Large images will be posted daily with seasonal meditations.

“We hope that people will visit AltXmasArt daily for progressive inspiration in the 12 days leading up to Christmas,” says lesbian art historian and minister Kittredge Cherry, curator of the show.  “Many people feel left out of the traditional Christmas scenes, but AltXmasArt breaks the stereotypes and shows Christ for ALL of us -- gay and straight, male and female, black and white, rich and poor.”

The series offers a superb fusion of high-quality art, deep spirituality and socio-political commentary.  Surprising variations on the traditional Nativity scene include black madonnas, lesbian madonnas, father-and-son scenes of Jesus and Joseph, and a multi-racial trio of female Magi.  The AltXmasArt series starts Sunday, Dec. 14 and ends on Christmas Day.

“Christian rhetoric is used to justify hate and discrimination these days, but AltXmasArt frees people to think differently.  We hope to stimulate dialogue and consciousness of love,” Cherry says.  It’s important to imagine the Christmas story in new and different ways because it empowers people to grow in their relationship with each other and with God.” 

The sometimes controversial art was created by a diverse group of nine artists, including openly gay or lesbian artists such as Keith Haring, Swedish photographer Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin and Becki Jayne Harrelson of Atlanta. 

Artists who dare to picture Jesus’ mother as a lesbian have faced censorship and even death threats, but now their liberating images can be seen and celebrated.  Explicitly queer Christian imagery in AltXmasArt includes “Annunciation” by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, in which a gay angel gives a lesbian couple a test tube for insemination (pictured here), and “Madonna, Lover and Child” by Becki Jayne Harrelson, where lesbian parents cuddle the baby Jesus.

Each image in the series will be accompanied by Cherry’s seasonal reflections on its artistic, political and spiritual significance.  Cherry is the author of “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.”  She holds degrees in journalism, art history, and religion.  She served as national ecumenical officer for Metropolitan Community Churches.   

Artists in AltXmasArt are:  Joseph Giuliani, Keith Haring, Becki Jayne Harrelson David Hewson, Robert Lentz, Armando Lopez, Janet McKenzie, William Hart McNichols, and Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin.

The show includes artists working both inside and outside the church.  Five of the artists are also featured in “Art That Dares,” which is filled with color images by 11 contemporary artists from the U.S. and Europe.  The artists tell the stories behind their images, including censorship, and a lively introduction puts them into political and historical context, exploring issues of blasphemy and artistic freedom. 

The Jesus in Love Blog promotes artistic and religious freedom by supporting spirituality and the arts for GLBT people and their allies. 

The schedule for the AltXmasArt series is:
Sun, Dec 14: “Annunciation” by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin (pictured here) www.ohlson.se
Mon, Dec 15: “La Anunciación (The Annuciation)” by Armando Lopez
Tue, Dec 16: “Mother of God: Mother of the Streets” by Brother Robert Lentz
Wed, Dec 17: “Black Madonna - Mitochondrial Eve” by David Hewson
Thu, Dec 18: “The Holy Family” by Janet McKenzie
Fri, Dec 19: “San José (Saint Joseph)” by Armando Lopez
Sat, Dec 20: “Joseph and the Christ Child” by Father John Giuliani
Sun, Dec 21: “Mary Most Holy Mother of All Nations” by Father William Hart McNichols
Mon, Dec 22: “Pacha Mama Healing the Earth” by David Hewson
Tue, Dec 23: “Epiphany” by Janet McKenzie
Wed, Dec 24: “Radiant Baby” by Keith Haring
Thu, Dec 25: “Madonna, Lover, and Son” by Becki Jayne Harrelson

Art honors AIDS martyrs on World AIDS Day

The agony of AIDS and its treatment is expressed in “El Martir” (The Martyr) by Armando Lopez.  It is posted here today for World AIDS Day.

Lopez reinterprets St. Sebastian as an AIDS patient suffering under harrowing modern health-care procedures. Lopez, a New Mexico folk artist, painted it as a tribute to all those who died from AIDS in the early years of experimentation by the medical profession.

St. Sebastian, a third-century Christian saint, is traditionally presented as a near-naked martyr shot with arrows.  Lopez’s martyr is punctured not by arrows, but by the many needles used for medical treatment. 

Read more about “El Martir” at the Jesus in Love Blog

Image credit: El Martir (The Martyr) by Armando Lopez

Matthew Shepard: A gay martyr remembered 10 years later

Matthew Shepard died 10 years ago today, bringing international attention to anti-gay hate crimes. 

In his memory I post this icon by Father William Hart McNichols.  The striking image is based on the report of the officer who found Matthew after he was beaten and left to die -- covered with blood except for where the tears ran down.

McNichols dedicated his icon The Passion of Matthew Shepard to the 1,470 gay and lesbian youth of commit suicide in the U.S. each year, and to the countless others who are injured or murdered.

Shepard was a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming at the time of his death.  He was brutally attacked near Laramie, Wyoming, on Oct. 6-7, 1998 by two men who later claimed that they were driven temporarily insane by “gay panic” due to Shepard’s alleged sexual advances.  Now the Matthew Shepard Foundation seeks to replace hate with understanding, compassion and acceptance.

McNichols’ own moving spiritual journey and two of his icons are included in my book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.

Image credit:
The Passion of Matthew Shepard
© William Hart McNichols
St. Andrei Rublev Icons

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Cross-posted at the Jesus in Love Blog

Honoring GLBT Christian pioneers

Today is the 40th anniversary of Metropolitan Community Churches, a denomination that ministers primarily in the GLBT community.  A set of historical photos is posted at the Jesus in Love Blog in honor of the occasion.

MCC was founded in 1968 in Los Angeles by Troy Perry, a Pentecostal minister who was defrocked for being gay.  He was incredibly brave and visionary to create a church where gays and lesbians were welcome back in 1968, when homosexuality was still considered a sin, a sickness and a crime.  He put an ad in the local gay newspaper and held the first worship service in his living room on Oct. 6, 1968.

I believe it’s important to preserve our history.  In the photo above, MCC members protested for gay rights in the church at a National Council of Churches “Faith and Order” meeting in Berkeley, California, in March 1993. The “Faith and Disorder” protest was led by Kittredge Cherry, third from right, who was MCC’s international ecumenical director at the time.  Signs say:  “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re going to church,” “Ruth and Naomi, Jonathan and David, me and my girlfriend,” “Thank God I’m gay” and “We’re everywhere.”

For more photos and the stories behind them, visit the Jesus in Love Blog.