Ramblings • Advent 1 • 01 Dec 2024
Reflections for the week of the first Sunday of Advent 2024, Year C
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.1
Hello, again!
Some of you just joined. I’m glad you’re here. Others of you have been waiting for me to write stuff for years! Thanks for sticking around.
I’m grateful for all of you.
I hope you’ve been taking care of yourself, letting yourself feel what you need to feel, and gathering strength for the ongoing work in the courageous face of uncertainty, fear—and hope. Be gentle with yourself. It’s totally okay for you to be just where you are.
Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s Ramblings:
01 December is also World AIDS Day
Queering Eros/Transforming Society
All That I Am: The 2025 Q Christian Conference
A Liberative Theology of Sex?
01 December is also World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day is an opportunity for every community and individual to honor the more than 32 million people who have died worldwide from AIDS-related illness. December 1 is a day for voices to unite by sharing experiences, remembering those lost, and standing together in the fight against HIV.2
Find out more at the World AIDS Day page at the Centers for Disease Control website (CDC.gov).
Queering Eros/Transforming Society
The day after the presidential election I got a message from Cassidy Hall of the Queering Contemplation podcast3 that a conversation we recorded was live on The Christian Century website. She told me that the episode, “Queering Eros with Jon Carl Lewis,” seemed timely.
I wasn’t sure why at first.
Even though I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, I could not recall what we had discussed that was so relevant. Apparently, I discovered, I offered my understanding (relying heavily on Audre Lorde) of the erotic as grounding for meaningful community-building and even political action. Click on the link, below to hear parts or the whole thing.
I’m grateful for the folks who have given me feedback on the conversation, and I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts if you get the chance to listen to it.
I want to explore more deeply how we can participate in the erotic as fuel for justice-making in community as well as a source of pleasure and joy. Let’s have a conversation about that.
One place I hope to begin that conversation is at the gathering of queer Christians and allies coming up in January in Atlanta, GA…
All That I Am: The 2025 Q Christian Conference
In January, I will present a workshop, “Erotic Self-Care” at the Q Christian Conference in Atlanta.4 Q Christian Fellowship describes the event as “an annual hybrid gathering where LGBTQ+ Christians, parents, and allies: gather for worship, fellowship, workshops, and keynote speakers; make lifelong friendships or reunite with those friends; experience healing, transformation, and hope; witness the fullness of God’s love and affirmation through each other.”
The theme for 2025 is “All That I Am,” and the conference scripture is from 1 John:
See what love the Creator has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know God. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when God is revealed, we will be like God, for we will see God as God is.5
I hope to encourage people to include in their whole self-concept as beloved children of God a sense that their erotic selves participate in that belovedness. I want to offer practices and grounding to help queer Christians mindfully and responsibly cultivate their own erotic energy and power as part of a spiritual discipline of life.
My segment is only one of the dozens of intriguing encounters and conversations one can have. Find out more about what’s on offer and how you can meet me there in person (or participate online) at qcfconf.org.
A Liberative Theology of Sex?
I am coming to realize the need for a liberative theology of sex to ground conversation and exploration about the fruitful intersections between our sexual and our spiritual lives. Christian individuals and communities need a foundational grounding place to begin discerning a healthy, joyful, responsible sexual ethic for themselves.
I have struggled with the dominant ways and categories of doing theology with respect to finding support for a full embrace of sex, relationship, and the body. I have come to understand from traditional Christian views on original sin and various theories of atonement and justification why the vast majority of people in Western society conclude that sex is somehow anti-(the Christian)-God and anti-(Christian)-holiness.
Although my personal, body-, sex-, and relationship-positive understanding of following Jesus remains a source of joy and comfort, I recognize that seems to be a stretch for many. While the Jesus if the Gospels and in my personal experience has remained the core, my theology and spirituality have been deeply informed by the more embodied strands of a number of world religious traditions (yoga and Taoism chief among them).
My personal, body-, sex-, and relationship-positive understanding of following Jesus remains a source of joy and comfort, yet I recognize that seems to be a stretch for many.
That said, my recent explorations into marginalized Christian theologies and spiritualities (indigenous, feminist, queer, eco and disability theologies to name a few) has allowed me to encounter rich sources for practicing a truly incarnational theology guided by deeply embodied, God- and Creation-honoring perspectives.6
I will have much more to say on this topic in this and other spaces, but I realize the limitations of one person’s theology—or even one community’s theology—to address the diversity, idiosyncrasies, and fluidity an honest, informed person encounters across the vast tapestry of human sexualities and relationships.
But I do not have to rely on my own voice—or thoughts, or cultural location alone. We collectively have the ability to invite a greater multiplicity of voices and perspectives to the table. Not all will agree. Not all will resonate. But we will experience the rich, generative potential for fruitful dialogue… which will lead to fruitful discernment… which will lead to right, just, and joyful action—individual and collective—as we welcome the beautifully upside-down kingdom of God Jesus wouldn’t stop talking about.
Let’s do this new thing.
Thanks be to God!
Thanks for being here
Please share your thoughts in the comments or you can send them to me directly at jon@joncarllewis.com. Other ways to connect with me are at “Let’s Connect!” below.
Book of Common Prayer, p. 211.
Source: CDC, “World AIDS Day,” World AIDS Day, November 26, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/world-aids-day/index.html.
Check out her new book Queering Contemplation: Finding Queerness in the Roots and Future of Contemplative Spirituality. *If you buy from this link I get a modest kickback.
The Q Christian Conference runs from Thursday, 23 January through Sunday, 26 January 2025, in Atlanta, GA. Find out more and register at qcfconf.org.
1 John 3:1-2, NRSVue.
Not to mention the additional fresh perspectives which flow out of a contemplative posture in the world.