We’re going back to our roots and queering scripture for this week’s episode! We look at Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 where we explore themes of faith, community, and the importance of engaging with marginalized groups, particularly those who are incarcerated. We reflect on the radical message of this passage, and how it emphasizes the call to hospitality and solidarity. We also discuss the complexities of building relationships with those who are different from us, but the absolute necessity of doing so. We must be willing to be vulnerable, trust others, and practice embodied love in our interactions with others.

Takeaways

• The lectionary provides a framework for exploring faith and community.


• Hospitality is a divine encounter that can change lives.


• Solidarity with the incarcerated requires deep empathy and understanding.


• Trust and vulnerability are essential in building relationships.


• Engaging with marginalized communities can be uncomfortable but necessary.


• Solidarity is not just about charity; it’s about deep relationships.


• Practicing love means showing up for others in tangible ways.


• The messiness of life is part of the journey of faith.


• We must be willing to step outside our comfort zones.


• Engagement with others can lead to transformative experiences.

Chapters

(02:43 ) Radical Hospitality and the Divine in Strangers

(05:29 ) Solidarity with the Incarcerated: A Call to Action

(08:04 ) Practicing Vulnerability and Trust in Community

(10:47 ) The Cost of Solidarity: Embracing Messiness

(13:48 ) Transformative Relationships: Beyond Charity

(16:42 ) Engaging with the Uncomfortable: A Journey of Faith

Resources:

• Join our online community at  Sanctuary Collective Community 

If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology

This transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors or omissions.

(9s):

Welcome to the Queer Theology Podcast. I’m Brian G Murphy. And I’m father Shannon, T l Kearns. We’re the co-founders of Queer Theology dot com and your hosts from Genesis, revelation. The Bible declares good news to LGBTQ plus people, and we want to show you how Tuning each week on Sunday for conversations about Christianity, queerness and transness, and how they can enrich one another. We’re glad you’re here. Hello. Hello. Hello. Today is Sunday, August 30th, and the reason why that date matters is because we are kicking it old school style here in the podcast, and we’re gonna get back to our roots and queer, one of the passage, us from this week’s lectionary. If you have been a listener for only the past few years, you might not know that for the first like eight or so years, we went through the Christian Lectionary every week for those eight, eight years.

(56s):

So it’s a three year cycle. So we went through it almost entirely three times. Obviously we had a lot aqua to do, so we’ve been doing topics and deeper dives into whole books and interviews and things like that for the past few years. But we just really love the Bible. And there’s something about pulling up the week and seeing what speaks to us. This is also practice that Jews do through the weekly Torah portion. They, they, we go through the first five books of the Bible, the, the Torah, the first five books, ofm, Moses, Genesis, EXUS, Leviticus, numbers, and Deuteronomy on a yearly cycle. And so there’s something about like, it’s, it’s kinda like akin to pulling tarot cards where you just sort of, you pull the card and you see what comes up for you in that moment. And so this week we’re looking at Hebrews 13, one through eight, 15 through 16.

(1m 41s):

We’ll be reading from the common English Bible as is our practice. Keep loving each other like family. Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests because by doing this, some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place. Marriage must be honored in every respect with no cheating on the relationship because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. This is why we can confidently say the Lord is my helper And I won’t be afraid. What can people do to me? Remember your leaders who spoke God’s word to you, imitate their faith as you consider the way their lives turned out.

(2m 26s):

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So let’s continually offer up a sacrifice of praise through him, which is the fruit from our lips that confess his name. Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices. Oh man, this is so, so, so rich. I was like giggling because we, I, I have a book coming out in at this point, oh my God, like 18 days, 19 days. Ian Monogamy comes out on September 18th, and when we were looking, we were like, let’s just, it’s been a minute. Let’s look at the LEC to see if we might wanna do something of that.

(3m 6s):

And I, I don’t talk about this passage specifically in my book, but I do have a series of graphics for Instagram planned to promote the book that are a little bit spicy. So if you’re interested in some spicy Bible takes, follow me over at this is BGM on Instagram. And, and this is one of the passage us that I grabbed as around hospitality of Strangers. And in particular, like what, what stuck out to me was this bit about that like, because if you would like neglect to open up your house, you, you might miss out on hosting angels without knowing it. And so there’s like this something about angels, guests being angels, guests being God, seeing God in this stranger that really, that really sort of captured my attention.

(3m 57s):

And I have lots of sex positive and non-monogamous and polyamorous perspectives on that, but that I can, that I can certainly dive into. But I, I know also Shay, when I said, oh, oh, this passage jumps out at me, you also said that you were curious about this passage. So what are some of the things that come up for you? Yeah, I mean I, I’ve been doing a lot of work in, in regards to folks who are incarcerated lately. And so this Hebrews 13, three remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them really jumped out at me. You know, I think that’s a, it’s a verse on a lot of folks use in their kind of quote unquote prison ministry.

(4m 37s):

But I think about how often or how, how rarely I hear more progressive folks talk about this verse and, and really hold to that. And, And I, I, I was, I was actually thinking the other day about how how distant the lives of folks who are incarcerated are for so many people, particularly in like white, mainline more progressive traditions. Obviously that is not the case across the board, but in the, in many of the churches that I’ve been in, that has been the case.

(5m 18s):

Or if it wasn’t the case, the people who did have loved ones who were incarcerated or friends who were incarcerated, like didn’t really talk about that because they didn’t feel like they could or they didn’t feel like anyone could understand. Or maybe there was shame around that. And so I I, I’m just really struck by this, this line and, and especially like what it would do if we actually took it seriously to remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them. I mean, that’s a really strong statement of Solidarity. And I was also struck by, you know, I, I know that, I know in my experience, not a lot of people read out of Hebrews or spend a lot of time with this book.

(6m 9s):

’cause I think it is a little bit of a quirky book, but I, I was just really struck by like how kind of radical this whole text is minus the like weird purity culture thing in the middle, but like, engage in radical hospitality, love each other, like family, remember prisoners and people who are mistreated, don’t love money. Be content with what you have. Like pay attention to the fruit of, of your leaders, not just like doing whatever they say, but like, consider the way that their lives turned out.

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