Pen and Ink Reflections
  • Blog
  • about
  • other reflections
  • contact

queer holiness and human longing for transformation

2/1/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
a reflection for Midsumma (Melbourne LGBTI+) Festival, on the feast of Brigid & Darlughdach
 
First of all, may I thank you for the invitation to speak today, and, as an incomer, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land: the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation and pay respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging.  Our struggles and joys are bound together.
 
A ‘queer’ saint?

Is Brigid a queer saint, do you think?  I don’t just mean as a likely LGBTI+ sacred forebear, but in the sense of being a figure who challenges and transforms our conceptions and ideas of holiness.  Of course the word ‘queer’ is highly contested, and also disliked, for good reasons, among some sexually and gender diverse people.  Yet among the broad range of its meaning, ‘queer’ does, I think, have its value. As we meet on the feast of Saint Brigid, it is certainly one way into reflecting on what she has to say to us as we celebrate Midsumma Festival, and the lives and contributions of sexually and gender diverse people.  For, on the most obvious level, it is certainly apposite to remark on Brigid and her relationship with her intimate companion Darlughdach, with whom she shares this saint’s day, as she shared so much of her life, including her bed.  Whilst so much about Brigid is cast about with legend, it seems reasonable to me therefore to place her, and Darlughdach, high in the pantheon of LGBTI+ Christian saints.  Even if some might contest that however, Brigid undoubtedly offers us distinctive, transgressive, and mysterious paths into life and God: vital and vibrant queer ways, into holiness and transformation…

Picture
The Celtic Imagination
 
One would certainly have to say Brigid, and Darlughdach, stand in the great tradition of Irish Christian mystical faith.   With Padraig, Brigid indeed is the greatest of all the Irish saints, and embodies what the brilliant Irish priest, philosopher and poetic writer John O’Donohue called ‘the Celtic Imagination’.  This, as we see vividly in Celtic culture is not a ‘straight’ thing.  Rather, like a Celtic work of art it is full of circles, decorative knots and other features which weave difference beyond separation and tension into beauty and harmony.  In Celtic Imagination the binaries which straight cultures define and use to regiment life are rather invitations to creativity and transcendence.  Life and death, joy and sorrow, male and female, earth and heaven, the human and the divine: all are interwoven in the Celtic Imagination.  There can never be one ‘thing’ alienated from ‘the other’.  No wonder then that Celts in becoming Christians took powerfully to the reality of God as Holy Trinity.  For whilst the Trinity may puzzle the straight and narrow, it is a natural expression of the mutual interchange and indwelling of so-called ‘opposites’ and of the existential experience of the queerness of Celtic Imagination.  Brigid and Darlughdach for instance knew intuitively and instinctively that holiness and the world’s transformation lay in the transcendence of straight categories: in the mysteries arising from the depths of scripture, solidarity and soul. 
 
The human longing for transformation and spiritual sea-change
 
Such queer holiness is a gift for us too, and for our times.  For whether we look into religious or secular life, we find a desperate search for, and resistance to, such transformation.  We could for instance, reflect on this in relation to the vigorous resurgence of racism, sexism and nationalism, and many other forms of populist phobias and right-wing identity politics across the globe.  Being as I am a priest, and a church historian, however, let me reflect on the religious aspect.  For it is powerfully apparent that we are in the midst of a great sea-change in attitudes in spirituality: borne of tremendous and unprecedented shifts in science and technology, ecological pressures and the movement of different peoples and cultures across the world.  I suspect indeed that future historians will name this as one of those threshold times between one era and another.  So now wonder we are in turmoil!
 
Now, particularly from a Christian historical perspective, we have been through similar upheavals before, albeit different in character and scale.  Not least this includes what historians call the transition between the ‘medieval’ world and the ‘modern': the period in which a great upheaval took place in Christian life and faith, including the emergence of some of what we now call ‘Anglicanism’.  That sea-change also resulted from a powerful cocktail of forces: including new learning, communications and technology; the rise of the nation state and centralising authority; fresh world horizons and moral panics about death, the family and gender. 
 
A new Reformation?
 
As such, are we part of a second Reformation?  Some would say so, and some hope so, whilst some want to finish what they see as an incomplete first Reformation.  Why, we even have groups like the New Cranmer Society to that end.  Well, I hope none of those things. For whilst there is much to be thankful for in the Reformation era, it was, literally and metaphorically, also a violent mess, with blood on many hands, including Cranmer’s. Moreover, significantly, it was intellectually and spiritually imbued with deeply patriarchal and hierarchical assumptions, a privileging of pre-critical readings of the early church, and a hatred of pluralism on almost all competing sides.  A re-forming of Christianity on that basis might indeed appeal to some for those very reasons, but it is hardly an healthy prospect! It often seems more like a De-formation than a Re-formation.
 
Deformation today – betraying the best of Reformation
 
Actually, there is a huge De-formation of Christianity going on now.  This includes deformed forms of faith which, for all their appeal to the past and European Reformations, reject their better elements. The destructive schismatic global Anglican network GAFCON, for example, betrays the English Reformation in practice by denying the very centrality of grace and the flexibility of faithful expression which that tumultuous period established.  The Reformers thus embraced the ‘new learning’ and biblical re-interpretation of their own age, and made radical shifts in reshaping marriage and the family.  In contrast, so much of today's De-formed Christianity rejects looking again at scripture, with fresh eyes and findings.  It rejoices in the sujugation of reason, science and human experience.  It glories, with militant secularism (albeit for other reasons), in perpetuating religious illiteracy.  It proclaims its own self-interested ‘orthodoxy’, whilst jettisoning the depth and breadth of Christian Tradition, which is never simple, but always nuanced and changing (if slowly).  For Deformed Christianity seeks to freeze faith and turn it into stone tablets.  It does not nurture compassion written on human hearts and through the infinitely diverse bodies of human beings.  Deformed Christianity indeed seeks to destroy the fertile yet fragile ecology of faith, by, in John O’Donohue’s words, ‘laying down tarmacadam in our minds for the motorway of fundamentalism’ to roll through.
 
Transformation – Beyond Denial
 
So if not Re-, and certainly not De-, formation, what then?  How about Trans-formation? - after all, so many things which are trans are wonderful, and not just what I now see in the mirror!  For Transformation is not about rejecting all of the past but reworking what is and has been into something more glorious and healthy for the present and future.  It is not about going back, or forward on a similar or reactive trajectory, but going beyond.  It is not so much fighting against nature and/or culture as learning to journey across with them in new ways.  It is not about establishing red lines of defensiveness but learning to take the hands of others who are also seeking the metaphorical hormones of honesty, humility and hope.
 
For many years, I have to say that I saw the religious battles of our day as part of a contest between territorial religion (which seeks to control and define faith as narrow law and belief, and also to hold on, or increase, its power and privilege) and transformative religion (which seeks to be open to love and its subversive, dynamic, but very vulnerable, power of change).   Recently however I have come to feel there is another deep issue at stake.  For resistance to celebrating sexually and gender diverse people surely cannot be put down to seeking to safeguard power and privilege alone, nor even to fear and hatred of ‘the other’.  So I wonder if many Christians - and for that matter, other resistant and even persecuting, groups – are not in deep denial about their own need for transformation.  ‘Saul’, said Jesus, ‘why are you persecuting me?’  For it was pretty obvious, wasn’t it?  Saul was not simply persecuting because he had been brought up to defend his in-group, and from fear of ‘the other’.  Saul feared that of Jesus within his own self.  Only as Paul, the trans-formed human being, with a new name and identity, could he also be free.  For religion, in my view, is inescapably queer, in all kinds of ways.  Until churches and others admit that, they will continue to harm themselves as well as the rest of us. Until churches and others admit that, they will continue to harm themselves as well as the rest of us.  Take it from me: hiding from what you are won’t help, and suppressing your truth doesn’t make you easy to live with!  Churches, like the rest of us, cannot grow in holiness until they begin to allow themselves to be transformed, and to transform.  Trans people in that respect are but witnesses to the reality of us all.
 
Embracing ‘difference’ - sharing thresholds, liberation and eternal fire -  with Brigid & Darlughdach
 
This brings us back, in conclusion, to Brigid and Darlughdach.  Much more could be said about them, particularly Brigid.  Three transformative features however are particularly prominent… 
 
Firstly, Brigid is a threshold figure.  She crosses the binary boundaries of paganism and Christian faith (as both goddess and saint); of male and female (in heading a double monastery of both); of chastity and relational intimacy (as both a nun and intensely beloved mutual soul-partner of Darlughdach).  She thus embodies for us the life of faithful transformation to which we are called in Christ.  For as our Ephesians reading puts it for her saint’s day, it is only when we are strengthened in our ‘inner being’ with love, that we begin ‘to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth’ of the love ‘that surpasses knowledge’, including all binary constructions.  Brigid and Darlughdach show us that it is when we embrace ‘difference’ that we can truly ‘be filled with all the fullness of God.’
 
Secondly, Brigid’s life and faith is a story of liberation: from her own and her family’s slavery; in her (proto-feminist) agency in finding freedom from a marriage demanded of her; and, not least, in her solidarity and empowerment of the poor.  This is the ringing message of biblical good news which queer holiness brings and which the straight world seeks to deny itself and others: the message repeated in our psalm today – that God ‘raises up the needy out of distress… The upright see it and are glad…  Let those who are wise give heed to these things, and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.’
 
Thirdly, and most profoundly, the central image associated with Brigid is that of fire: the symbolic fire kept burning by women in Kildare for a thousand years until Henry VIII extinguished it in the Reformation; the fire of eternal resistance and liberation rekindled by the Irish and still alive today; the fire of sacred passion and the purifying flame of integrity.  This is the fire of the Gospel love of which we hear again today: that queer love of those who do not just love those who love them, but who love their enemies; the fire of queer holiness which does not judge but forgives so that forgiveness may happen, which gives so that giving may flourish, with ‘good measure… running over’.
 
Queer holiness – transforming love
 
It is sad that Brigid is not officially included in the Anglican Church of Australia’s lectionary for this day.  For she rightly appears in that of many others, including the Church of England.  Yet perhaps that is not really surprising, for the Anglican Church of Australia has such a divided soul, part of which often appears to be in deep denial of that to which Brigid, and Darlughdach, witness: namely this divine love which is so far beyond any binaries of which we can conceive; this liberating incarnation which embraces all the suffering and hope it touches; and this burning mystery which can never be confined, which both gives us passion to live and peace to endure.  This is the beauty of our own queer holiness, the fruit of transforming love, a profound gift for all.
 
May we therefore never be deformed, nor simply reformed,
but transformed, from glory into glory,
in the name of that even queerer fella Jesus, Amen.

by The Revd Dr Josephine Inkpin, Friday 1 February 2019, at St Mark’s Anglican Church Fitzroy

(photo of icon by Brother Robert Lentz; painting of Darlughdach & Brigid, painted respectively by Rowan Lewgalon and Tricia Danby (clerics in the Old Catholic Apostolic Church); for more see Kittredge Cherry's article)

2 Comments
Kittredge Cherry link
2/1/2019 08:38:56 pm

Thank you so much for writing this reflection, sharing it online and linking to my own piece on Brigid and Darlughdach. I just updated it with a link to this beautiful reflection of yours. I also received news today of an Inclusive Liturgy devoted to Brigid and Darlughdach for (British) LGBT History Month. It includes this prayer: Merciful God, source of all loving kindness,
you called Saint Brigid and Saint Darlughdach
to teach the new commandment of love
through their life together of hospitality and care;
may their example inspire in us
a spirit of generosity and a passion for justice
that, in our hearts and lives,
all may witness your fearless love:
– https://dignityandworth.org.uk/resources/

Reply
Jo Inkpin
2/2/2019 05:09:22 pm

Many thanks Kittredge. That prayer is very helpful too :-)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    sermons and reflections from Penny Jones & Josephine Inkpin, an Anglican married clergy couple in Brisbane

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    2 Peter
    ABM
    Aboriginal
    Abraham
    Abuse
    Active
    Acts Of The Apostles
    Adam And Eve
    Advent
    Advocacy
    African-American
    Aidan
    Alan Webster
    Albanian
    Alice In Wonderland
    Allegory
    All Saints
    Andrew
    Angel
    Anger
    Anglican
    Animals
    Anoiniting
    Anselm
    Anthony Bloom
    Antioch
    Apophatic
    Archbishop Of Canterbury
    Armenian
    Art
    Artist
    Ash Wednesday
    Asylum Seekers
    Atonement
    Augustine
    Australia
    Authenticity
    Baha'i
    Bakerwoman
    Baptism
    Barefoot
    Barnabas
    Bartimaeus
    Battle Of One Tree Hill
    Beach
    Beatitudes
    Becoming
    Bede
    Being
    Believing
    Belonging
    Beloved
    Berlin
    Betrayal
    Bible
    Birmingham
    Birth
    Bishop
    Black
    Blessed
    Blessing
    Blessing Of Animals
    Boat
    Bob Dylan
    Body
    Bonhoeffer
    Border
    Born Again
    Bread
    Bread Of Life
    Breath
    Brexit
    Bride
    Bridegroom
    Brigid
    Brisbane
    Brokenness
    Bruegemann
    Buddha
    Buddhist
    Buderim
    Bunyan
    Call
    Cambodia
    Campfire
    Cana
    Canaanite
    Candle
    Candlemas
    Cappadocian Fathers
    Careers
    Carefully
    Carnival
    Carol
    Catholic
    Celtic
    Centurion
    Change
    Cheesemakers
    Child Of God
    Children
    Christ
    Christian
    Christian Aid
    Christmas
    Christology
    Christ The King
    Church
    City
    Climate
    Climbing
    Cloak
    Cloud Of Unknowing
    Coin
    Colossians
    Commandment
    Common Good
    Communion
    Community
    Companion
    Compassion
    Condamine
    Conflict
    Connect
    Contemplate
    Contemplative
    Context
    Corinth
    Coronavirus
    Cosmology
    Cost
    Courage
    Covenant
    Covid 19
    Covid-19
    Crack
    Create
    Creation
    Creed
    Creek
    Crib
    Cross
    Crossing Over
    Crucifixion
    Csg
    C.S.Lewis
    Cuddesdon
    Culture
    Cunnamulla
    Cynthia Bourgeault
    Cyprian
    Dance
    Darkness
    Darlughdach
    Dave-andrews
    David
    David-mach
    David Steindl Rast
    David Steindl-Rast
    Deacon
    Dean Inge
    Death
    Demon
    Desert
    Desire
    Deuteronomy
    Devil
    Difference
    Disability
    Disciple
    Discipleship
    Donkey
    Dorcas
    Dorothy Soelle
    Doubt
    Duns Scotus
    Durham
    Earth
    Easter
    Easterfest
    Ecumenical
    Eden
    Education
    Egg
    Ego
    Egypt
    Elizabeth
    Empire
    End Times
    Environment
    Ephesians
    Epiphany
    Equality
    Eternal
    Ethics
    Ethiopian
    Eucharist
    Eugene Stockton
    Eunuch
    Evangelical
    Evangelism
    Evil
    Exile
    Exodus
    Exorcism
    Eyes
    Fair Trade
    Faith
    Fame
    Family
    Fast
    Father
    Fathers Day
    Fear
    Fellowship
    Feminist
    Fire
    Fish
    Fishers
    Flesh
    Flora And Fauna
    Follow
    Foolish
    Footwashing
    Forgiveness
    Francis
    Franciscans
    Frederick Barker
    Freedom
    French
    Friend
    Fruit
    Fruits
    Fulfilment
    Fundamentalism
    Fundamentalist
    Funeral
    Galilee
    Galileo
    Game
    Garden
    Gate
    Gateshead
    Gay
    Gaze
    Gazelle
    Gender
    Gender Variant
    Genealogy
    Generosity
    Genesis
    Gentile
    Gentleness
    George Fox
    Gerard Manley Hopkins
    Gift
    Gil Bailie
    Glennie
    Glory
    God
    Golden Rule
    Good Friday
    Goodness
    Gospel
    Grace
    Graeme Rutherford
    Graham Warren
    Gratefulness
    Great-commission
    Greenness
    Gregory-of-nyssa
    Growth
    Gungor
    Habel
    Haggai
    Happiness
    Harvest
    Headlam
    Healing
    Heart
    Hebrew
    Hebrews
    Hedgerows
    Helder Camara
    Hen
    Henri Nouwen
    Heresy
    Herod
    Hildegard
    History
    Holiness
    Holy Saturday
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Week
    Home
    Homophobia
    Hope
    Hosea
    Hospitality
    Humility
    Icon
    I Corinthians
    IDAHOT
    Imagine
    Immanence
    Incarnation
    Indigenous
    Indooroopilly
    Inspiration
    International Women's Day
    Interplay
    Intimacy
    Invitation
    Iona
    Isaiah
    Israel
    Jack-in-a-box
    Jacob
    James
    Jan Richardson
    Jar
    Jarowair And Giabal
    Jarrow
    Jeremiah
    Jerusalem
    Jester
    Jesus
    Jesus Christ
    Jewish
    Jews
    Jihad
    Joan Chittister
    Joel
    John
    John Coleman
    John Naish
    John O'Donohue
    John The Baptist
    Josef Zacek
    Joseph
    Josephine Butler
    Joy
    Judaism
    Judas
    Judgement
    Julian Of Norwich
    Justice
    Kaleidoscope
    Katherine Appleby
    Keble
    KIerkegaard
    Kindness
    King
    Kingdom
    Kosuke Koyama
    Labyrinth
    Lamentations
    Land
    L'Arche
    Laughter
    Law
    Lazarus
    Leadership
    Leap
    Learning
    Legion
    Lent
    Leonard Cohen
    Leper
    Lesbian
    Levertov
    Levite
    LGBTI
    LGBTIQ
    Liberation
    Life
    Light
    Liminality
    Lincolnshire
    Lion
    Literalist
    Living Dance
    Living Stones
    London
    Longing
    Lord
    Lord's Prayer
    Love
    Love Of God
    Love Your Enemies
    Luke
    Luther
    Macrina
    Mad
    Magi
    Magnificat
    Mahatma Gandhi
    Manchester
    Maori
    Maranoa
    Marcella Althaus-Reid
    Margaret Silf
    Marianne Williamson
    Mark
    Mark Copland
    Marriage
    Martha
    Martin Luther
    Martin Luther King
    Martyr
    Mary
    Mary Magdalene
    Mary Of Bethany
    Mary Poppins
    Mary Sumner
    Matthew
    Maundy Thursday
    MCC
    Meaning
    Meditation
    Meister Eckhart
    Mercy
    Messiah
    Michael Leunig
    Midwife
    Migrant
    Milton
    Ministry
    Minster
    Miracle
    Mission
    Moltmann
    Monastery
    Monk
    Morality
    Moses
    Mother
    Mothering
    Mother-in-law
    Mothers Union
    Mountain
    Multicultural
    Multifaith
    Music
    Muslim
    Mustard Seed
    Myrrh
    Myrrh Bearers
    Mystery
    Mystic
    Myth
    NAIDOC
    Nakedpastor
    Name
    Natalie Adams
    Nativity
    Neighbour
    Nelson-mandela
    Net
    New-age
    New Creation
    New Life
    New Zealand
    Nicodemus
    Noel Preston
    Nonjudgement
    Nonviolence
    Nungalinya
    Obedience
    Ocean
    Oil
    Ordination
    Orthodox
    Oscar Romero
    Overcoming Violence
    Oxford
    Pacific
    Pain
    Palestine
    Palm Sunday
    Parable
    Parent
    Parish
    Participation
    Party
    Pastor
    Patience
    Patrick
    Patrick Oliver
    Paul
    Peace
    Peacemaker
    Penitence
    Pentatonix
    Pentecost
    People Of God
    Perfume
    Persecution
    Perseverance
    Persistence
    Peter
    Peter Millar
    Pharaoh
    Pharisee
    Pharisees
    Philip
    Philippians
    Pilate
    Pilgrim
    Pilgrimage
    Plague
    Plato
    Poetry
    Politics
    Poor
    Pope
    Pope Francis
    Possibility
    Poverty
    Power
    Praise
    Prayer
    Preacher
    Presence
    President
    Pride
    Priest
    Prince Of Peace
    Proclamation
    Prophecy
    Prophet
    Prophet Mohammed
    Protecttion
    Protestant
    Providence
    Psalm
    Puppet
    Purification
    Purity
    Quaker
    Queer
    Rabbi
    Race
    Rachael Mann
    Racism
    Rage
    Raiinbow
    Rainbow
    Ramadan
    Reason
    Recapitulation
    Reconciliation
    Reformation
    Refugee
    Rejoice
    Relationship
    Religion
    Religious Experience
    Remembrance
    Repentance
    Resilience
    Rest
    Resurrection
    Revelation
    Richard Rohr
    Rich Young Man
    Righteousness
    Risk
    River
    Rock
    Roman
    Romans
    Rose
    Rowan Williams
    R.S Thomas
    R.S.Thomas
    Sabbath
    Sacrament
    Safety
    Saints
    Salt
    Salvation
    Samaritan
    Sanctus
    Sarah
    Sarah Bachelard
    Schism
    Schleiermacher
    School Of Hard Knocks
    Science
    Scotland
    Scott Stevens
    Scripture
    Sea
    Season Of Creation
    Second Coming
    Security
    See
    Seed
    Sermon The Mount
    Service
    Seth Godin
    Sex
    Shalom
    Shame
    Sheep
    Sheep And Goats
    Shepherd
    Silence
    Sin
    Sinner
    Slavery
    Soil
    Solidarity
    Son Of Man
    Soul
    Sower
    Spirit
    Spiritual
    Stan Grant
    Stewardship
    St Francis College
    Stillness
    St Luke's
    St Mary's In Exile
    Storm
    Story
    Success
    Suffering
    Suffering Servant
    Sunflower
    Sydney
    Synagogue
    Syro-Phoenician
    Tabitha
    Table Fellowship
    Taize
    Talents
    Tall Poppy
    Tears
    Teenager
    Temple
    Temptation
    Tennyson
    Test
    Thanksgiving
    The Glennie School
    Theodicy
    Theology
    Theosis
    The Way
    Thomas
    Thomas Berry
    Thomas Merton
    Threshold
    Thunderbirds
    Tillich
    Time
    Tomb
    Toowoomba
    Torres
    Torres Strait
    Tractarian
    Tradition
    Transcendence
    Transfiguration
    Transformation
    Transgender
    Transition
    Treasure
    Tree
    Trinity
    Trump
    Trust
    Truth
    T.S.Eliot
    Tufty
    Tutu
    Tweed
    Tyne
    Unity
    Universe
    Usury
    Veridiitas
    Victory
    Violence
    Virgin Mary
    Virgins
    Voice
    Waiters Union
    Waiting
    Wales
    Walking
    War
    Warrego
    Warsaw
    Watch
    Water
    Wear
    Wedding
    Weeds
    Welcome
    Wellspring
    Widow
    Wilderness
    Willliam Blake
    Wind
    Wine
    Winston Halapua
    Wisdom
    Woe
    Wolf
    Woman
    Womb
    Women
    Wontulp-Bi-Buya
    Word Of God
    World Council Of Churches
    World Youth Day
    Wounds
    Woy Woy
    Wrestling
    Yahweh
    Yoke
    Zacchaeus

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly