Kittredge Cherry's Blog: Q Spirit, page 62

John of the Cross: Dark Night of a Gay Soul

"St. John of the Cross" by Brother Robert Lentz, OFM, trinitystores.com

“The Dark Night of the Soul,” a spiritual classic with homoerotic overtones, was written by 16th-century Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross, also known as San Juan de la Cruz. His feast day is today (Dec. 14).



Like other mystics, John of the Cross (1542-1591) used the metaphor of erotic love to describe his relationship with Christ. With Christ as male, his poetry inevitably celebrates same-sex love. Hear how passionately John speaks about Jesus in these verses translated by A.Z. Foreman:



O night that can unite

A lover and loved one,

A lover and loved one moved in unison.





And on my flowering breast

Which I had kept for him and him alone

He slept as I caressed

And loved him for my own.



(The whole poem is reprinted in the original Spanish and in English at the end of this post). John, a Carmelite friar who worked with Theresa of Avila, wrote these beautiful verses while imprisoned in a latrine for trying to reform the church.



“The Dark Night of the Soul” is open to various interpretations, but is usually considered to be a metaphor of the soul’s journey to union with God. John wrote the poem, which is recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful mystical poems, while imprisoned in a latrine for trying to reform the church.



Gay writers explore the queer dimensions of the poem at the following links:



Toby Johnson, ex-monk, gay spirituality author and activist, connects the Dark Night of the Soul with gay consciousness at TobyJohnson.com.



Terence Weldon explains why John of the Cross is important for LGBT people of faith at the Queer Spirituality Blog.



In the icon for this post, Brother Robert Lentz shows John with the living flames that he described in this poetry. The inscription by his head puts his name in Arabic to honor the Arabic heritage that John received from his mother.



New Age singer Loreena McKennitt created a lovely musical version of “The Dark Night of the Soul.” Watch the video with Loreena’s singing accompanied by images from nature.







The Dark Night of the SoulBy John of the Cross



From: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, revised edition (1991). Copyright 1991 ICS Publications.



1. One dark night,

fired with love's urgent longings

- ah, the sheer grace! -

I went out unseen,

my house being now all stilled.



2. In darkness, and secure,

by the secret ladder, disguised,

- ah, the sheer grace! -

in darkness and concealment,

my house being now all stilled.



3. On that glad night,

in secret, for no one saw me,

nor did I look at anything,

with no other light or guide

than the one that burned in my heart.



4. This guided me

more surely than the light of noon

to where he was awaiting me

- him I knew so well -

there in a place where no one appeared.



5. O guiding night!

O night more lovely than the dawn!

O night that has united

the Lover with his beloved,

transforming the beloved in her Lover.



6. Upon my flowering breast

which I kept wholly for him alone,

there he lay sleeping,

and I caressing him

there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.



7. When the breeze blew from the turret,

as I parted his hair,

it wounded my neck

with its gentle hand,

suspending all my senses.



8. I abandoned and forgot myself,

laying my face on my Beloved;

all things ceased; I went out from myself,

leaving my cares

forgotten among the lilies.





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Original Spanish

En una noche oscurapor San Juan de la Cruz



1. En una noche oscura,

con ansias, en amores inflamada,

¡oh dichosa ventura!,

salí sin ser notada,

estando ya mi casa sosegada;



2. a escuras y segura

por la secreta escala, disfrazada,

¡oh dichosa ventura!,

a escuras y encelada,

estando ya mi casa sosegada;



3. en la noche dichosa,

en secreto, que naide me veía

ni yo miraba cisa,

sin otra luz y guía

sino la que en el corazón ardía.



4. Aquesta me guiaba

más cierto que la luz del mediodía

adonde me esperaba

quien yo bien me sabía

en parte donde naide parecía.



5. ¡Oh noche que guiaste!

¡oh noche amable más que la alborada!;

¡oh noche que juntaste,

Amado con amada,

amada en el Amado transformada!



6. En mi pecho florido,

que entero para él solo se guardaba,

allí quedó dormido,

y yo le regalaba,

y el ventalle de cedros aire daba.



7. El aire del almena,

cuando yo sus cabellos esparcía,

con su mano serena

en mi cuello hería,

y todos mis sentidos suspendía.



8. Quedéme y olvidéme,

el rostro recliné sobre el Amado;

cesó todo y dejéme,

dejando mi cuidado

entre las azucenas olvidado.



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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, mystics, prophets, witnesses, heroes, holy people, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and queer people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

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Icons of John of the Cross and many others are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores

Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon

“Our Lady” by Alma Lopez

Our Lady of Guadalupe brings a message of holy empowerment that speaks to LGBT people -- and angers Christian conservatives. Queer art based on Guadalupe is shown here for her feast day today (Dec. 12). She is an Aztec version of the Virgin Mary that appeared to Aztec peasant Juan Diego outside Mexico City on Dec. 12, 1531. This year her feast happens to be on 12-12-12, seen by some as a date of spiritual significance.



In Juan Diego’s vision, the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe spoke to Juan Diego in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, addressing him as if he were a prince. It was astonishing because Mexico had been conquered 10 years earlier by Spaniards who claimed to have the one true faith. An icon of her, looking just as Juan Diego described, was imprinted on his cloak as a miraculous sign. Our Lady of Guadalupe became a popular symbol of dignity and hope for the native people of Mexico, and by extension to indigenous people everywhere.



The hill where Juan Diego had his vision used to be the site of an ancient temple to the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin. Her temple was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. Our Lady of Guadalupe (or in Spanish Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) asked for a church to be built in her honor right there, among the conquered people. That shrine is now the most popular Catholic pilgrimage destination, receiving more than 6 million visitors per year.



Even standard icons of Guadalupe are subversive because they show the Virgin as a dark-skinned Mexican, challenging the Euro-centric images of her as a blue-eyed white lady. The foremothers of the Mexican Guadalupe include the Black Madonnas, especially the medieval Spanish Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremdaura Spain



Those who took the liberating vision a step further to create queer Guadalupe art include Alex Donis, Alma Lopez, and Jim Ru.





"Our Lady of Controversy" cover
Erotically alive, feminist and lesbian versions of Our Lady of Guadalupe are a common theme in the art of Alma Lopez, a Chicana artist and activist born in Mexico and raised in California. A huge controversy erupted over her “Our Lady,” a digital print showing the Virgin of Guadalupe in a bikini made of roses, exalted by a bare-breasted butterfly. Lopez says she intended it as a tribute to Our Lady, “inspired by the experiences of many Chicanas and their complex relationship to La Virgen de Guadalupe.”





Encuentro (Encounter)

by Alma Lopez
Death threats, censorship efforts, and violent protests brought national and international attention to Lopez’ “Our Lady” over the years as artistic freedom clashed with freedom of religion. In one of the most recent conflicts, thousands of negative messages compromised the email system of an Irish university that dared to exhibit it in 2011. (For details, see my previous post Our Lady and Queer Saints art attacked as blasphemy - Show support now!).





“Lupe and Sirena in Love”

by Alma Lopez
In 2001 Catholic authorities tried to have Lopez’ “Our Lady” removed from an exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. The debate is covered in the new book “Our Lady of Controversy: Alma Lopez’s ‘Irreverent Apparition.’” It will be published in April by University of Texas Press. The anthology is edited by Alma Lopez and Alicia Gaspar de Alba. The two women were married in 2008, during the brief period when same-sex marriage was legal in California.



“Our Lady” may seem tame compared to some of the lesbian images of Our Lady of Guadalupe that Lopez made. Her website, almalopez.net, includes images of a romance between Guadalupe and a mermaid in artwork such as “Lupe and Sirena in Love.”



“Mary Magdalene and Virgen de Guadalupe” (from “My Cathedral”) by Alex Donis

Alex Donis painted the Virgin of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene as part of “My Cathedral,” a series that showed people of opposite viewpoints kissing in same-sex pairs. Donis was familiar with contradictions from his own “tri-cultural” identity: pop, queer, and Latino. Born to Guatemalan parents, he grew up in East Los Angeles.



His “My Cathedral” exhibit caused a frenzy when it opened in San Francisco in 1997. Heated arguments erupted in the gallery, followed by threatening phone calls and letters. Vandals smashed two of the artworks: Jesus kissing the Hindu god Rama, and guerilla leader Che Guevara kissing labor organizer Cesar Chavez. Most people overlooked his painting of Guadalupe kissing Mary Magdalene, but it remains a potent, beautiful expression of the union of sexuality and spirituality. It is included in my book “Art That Dares.”





"Virginia Guadalupe" by Jim Ru


Jim Ru painted a bearded drag queen version of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Titled “Virginia Guadalupe,” the painting was displayed in his show “Transcendent Faith: Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Saints” in Bisbee Arizona in the 1990s.



This bold painting certainly gives new meaning to the title bestowed upon Guadalupe by Pope Pius XII: “Queen of Mexico.” If the Virgin Mary could appear to an Aztec as an Aztec, then why not show up to a queer as a queer?



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Related links:

A Visit to Alma Lopez’ Studio: Finding lesbian saints, mermaids, revolutionaries and goddesses (Jesus in Love)



Decolonizing Sexuality and Spirituality in Chicana Feminist and Queer Art by Laura E. Perez (Tikkun)

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Various icons of Our Lady of Guadalupe and many others are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores







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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series and LGBT Holidays series at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, heroes 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 in the Saints series. The Holidays series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Pope blessing a gay marriage?! See it now in ad for power company

“Same power, different attitude” ad from Powershop


The Pope blessing a gay marriage?! This startling image is the newest ad for a New Zealand power company. It points to a whole different kind of power: the sacred power of love to overcome religious bigotry.



The two happy grooms make a handsome interracial couple as they exchange rings over an open Bible with a Papal blessing. Everyone is smiling and daisies surround them in a joyful burst of flower power.



I celebrate this bold image of the realm of God that is coming into being: A place where love between couples is honored and blessed by church and society, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. I believe that same-sex couples already have marriage equality in the eyes of God. This image provides a picture of what it can look like here on earth.



It’s part of Powershop’s ad campaign with the slogan, “Same power, different attitude.” Their main website shows other witty images with a progressive twist, including wartime President Nixon with an afro hairdo wearing a peace sign.



Powershop’s same-sex marriage ad appears on billboards in New Zealand and is being debated now at a micro-site that they set up to receive comments. A company statement there explains that Powershop’s founding principle of individual choice can apply to LGBT weddings as well as to electricity:



“The latest version of Powershop’s long-running campaign is intended to be both thought provoking and satirical. Kiwis have widely debated the issue of marriage equality over the last year, so we’ve used the issue to point out that large institutions can sometimes lose touch with their modern constituents. The power industry is dominated by crusty utilities, many of whom remain resistant to the changes happening in our world.”



Powershop granted me permission to share their ad on the Jesus in Love Blog, but asked me to state that the views I express are my own and not the views of Powershop as an organization. More power to them!



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Related links:

Pope gay marriage ad not targeted at Catholics (New Zealand Herald)



Cartoon shows Pope mad at nuns and Jesus for not condemning homosexuality (Jesus in Love)



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Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Patron saints for straight allies of LGBT people: Adele Starr of PFLAG and others

Adele Starr (photo by Brian van der Brug, Los Angeles Times)

After her son came out in 1974, Adele Starr helped launch the group that became Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. She overcame her negative perceptions about homosexuality to become an unflagging champion for LGBT rights and PFLAG’s first national president. Starr died two years ago today on Dec. 10, 2010 at age 90.



I am including Starr in my LGBT Saints series for her courage and dedication in speaking up for her gay son and for all LGBT people.



I started looking for “patron saints of straight allies” because I noticed that some of the most enthusiastic readers here are parents or children of LGBT people. Finding them has been difficult. One challenge is that the LGBT Saints series honors only those who have died, and many of the most prominent allies are still living. Two saintly candidates who come to mind are PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford, who turned 92 last week on Dec. 4, and Bishop John Shelby Spong, age 81. (Is there a link between long life and being a straight ally?)





“Saint Augustine and Saint Monica”

by Ary Scheffer (Wikimedia Commons)
Among the traditional saints, Saint Monica is a possibility because her son, Saint Augustine of Hippo, was in love with another man. But she was not exactly an ally for queer rights. Monica encouraged her son’s conversion to Christianity, which led him to condemn homosexuality in writings that are still influential today. Some Catholic websites even list Monica as the “patron saint of disappointing children.”



The life of Adele Starr may provide clearer, more contemporary inspiration for today. She was a mother of five living in Los Angeles, California, when her son Philip Starr came out to his parents in 1974. At that time many people still considered homosexuality to be a mental illness, and parents were often blamed for causing it. She was upset, so her son urged her to attend a support group that later evolved into PFLAG.



Two years later she started the Los Angeles chapter of PFLAG, loosely based on a group in New York. She hosted the first meeting in her home with 35 parents. The group grew quickly and soon moved to the Methodist church in Westwood where it still meets almost 40 years later.



Starr spoke at the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Two years later she was elected as the first national PFLAG president, serving in the early years of the AIDS crisis until 1986.



Starr explained her motivations with powerful eloquence at PFLAG’s 10th anniversary conference: “We did it out of love and anger and a sense of injustice, and because we had to tell the world the truth about our children.”



PFLAG is now a Washington-based national non-profit organization with 200,000 members and supporters and more than 350 affiliates in the United States and abroad. It provides support, education and advocacy for LGBT people, their families, friends and allies.



Please leave comments to suggest other patron saints of heterosexual allies. I’m looking for saints who are parents of LGBT children, children of LGBT parents, spouses married to LGBT people, and all the other variations. I am already planning to write a profile of Saint Paulinus of Nola and his wife Therasia. They have been called the patron saints of gay men married to women because they both did missionary work while he wrote homoerotic poetry.

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Related links:



Adele Starr dies at 90; unflagging gay-rights activist (Los Angeles Times)



PFLAG Mourns the Death of First-Ever PFLAG National President Adele Starr (PFLAG.org)



Jeanne Manford, PFLAG Founder, Turns 92 (Huffington Post)



Tribute to Mrs. Edith Allen (Mom) Perry, mother of MCC founder Rev. Troy Perry and thousands of people in Metropolitan Community Churches (revtroyperry.org)



Straight Parents, Gay Children: Keeping Families Together by Robert A. Bernstein



The Other Side of the Closet: The Coming-Out Crisis for Straight Spouses and Families, Revised and Expanded Edition by Amity Pierce Buxton.



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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, mystics, prophets, witnesses, heroes, holy people, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and queer people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Meeting Alma Lopez: painter of queer saints, mermaids, revolutionaries and goddesses

Audrey, Kittredge Cherry and Alma Lopez with her life-sized “Our Lady”

Artist Alma Lopez, who painted the controversial “Our Lady” and other queer saints, opened her studio to guests for one wonderful weekend in November. I visited with my partner Audrey, who wrote the following report on our experience.



A Visit to Alma Lopez’ StudioBy Audrey

After two years of Kitt’s efforts writing about artist Alma Lopez on the Jesus in Love Blog, we decided it was time to take a field trip to meet the artist in person and see her wonderfully wild and colorful paintings of Our Lady, mermaids, Dyke revolutionaries and Aztec-influenced goddesses.



She invited us to visit when she and her spouse Alicia Gaspar de Alba opened their studio to visitors during Inglewood Open Studios in November.



The adventure began as we navigated the usual Los Angeles freeways, dramatically driving past oil derricks pumping away. It was a beautiful post-election Sunday afternoon in November.



I must admit, I had ulterior motives. I’d seen Lopez’ stunning painting “Anima Sola Sirena” online. It shows a mermaid, or in Spanish a sirena—brilliant almost to the point of iridescence. The work was 3 x 4 feet, but even on a small computer screen, it stood out and drew me in.



Kittredge Cherry and Alma Lopez with her painting “Anima Sola Sirena”

The subject matter of the all-powerful Siren luring this intrepid lesbian duo, made it doubly worthwhile.



Alma’s studio was in a strip-mall complex with other studios just around the corner from the famous Randy’s Donuts restaurant with the giant donut in front. The Mapquest directions should have said “make a right at the donut,” but obviously the Shell gas station had paid for the ad in Mapquest, so it was right at the Shell station instead. Hey, a seashell is the symbol of the goddess of the sea, and she is cunning in how she communicates with mere mortals.



Helpfully, Mapquest pointed out that if we drove past Isis Street we had gone too far. Clearly lesbian goddess energy had a wild sense of humor in this department.



Alma welcomed us with a gentle sophisticated charm; her large one-room studio was alive with colorful mermaids, Che Guevara-era butch women, an erotic portrait of one woman licking the ear of her lover --- ode to love and revolution, and a large poster of Our Lady of Controversy herself.



We felt instantly at home.



Studio of Alma Lopez and Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Alma explained that an Aztec motif in the cape worn by Our Lady hinted at the matrilineal roots of Guadalupe. A large disk carved with the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui, dismembered, was literally dug up in Mexico City in the 1970s. The woman who made this historic anthropological discovery was a lesbian.



Alma’s eyes flashed in frustration when she told how people protested her vision of Our Lady with her belly and legs exposed, but Jesus is worshiped wearing only a loincloth.



As we conversed about monarch butterflies migrating from Mexico, as we gazed at a butch Siren holding a huge butterfly over her body, the power of women was alive in the form of insects, sea-women and political commentary about the meaning of immigration itself.



Audrey with big paintings by Alma Lopez, including a butch mermaid in the center.

Alma’s spouse Alicia was away during our visit, but Alma introduced us to her books, including the lesbian historical novel Sor Juana’s Second Dream. Other powerful lesbians drifted or maybe flew into the studio and were drawn into the circle of love. Alma introduced Kitt as the blogger who got people to write letters of support when an Our Lady show in Ireland was attacked by Christian fundamentalists. A film maker had us pose for a photo right in front of the life-sized Our Lady of Controversy. She got all of us to show off our dyke attitude with flair, just as Our Lady did.



To say that I was completely intoxicated with the power and mystery of the fish-women of the sea is an understatement.



Alma’s big banners of “queer saints” hung on one wall. The women in the studio grew quiet as Alma told us their stories, like how Santa Lucia’s eyes were plucked out when she refused to marry. Alma explained that these martyrs protected their virginity to the death not so much out of faith, but because they were lesbians--and that she would do the same if forced to marry a man!



Professor Lopez had triumphed over right-wing attacks on her work, and had stood as firm as the pre-Columbian Goddess herself. In fact, she stood solidly with just as much dyke attitude as Our Lady!



After our time travel to goddess-time, Alma and Kitt exchanged books and autographs companionably. The signed poster of Our Lady will make a welcome addition to our home, but the real question is, “How will we be able to handle all this powerful lesbian energy? And where do we go from here?”



Kitt with Our Lady___

This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery.

December Poem: What If the Sea Told Us

As the December nights grow longer, an emerging lesbian poet writes about the spirituality of darkness in the Poem of the Month at Writers at Work.



“What If the Sea Told Us” by Audrey Lockwood begins:

What if the sea told us

look to the eastern sky?

Look up at the moon through

a spider’s web spread delicately

backed by blackest night and

golden light?





What if we listened to its darkness?

Danced to its backlit spider’s moonlight?

What then would we feel?

Would we be shocked at the knowledge

of distant orange so slight? Awakened

the gentle, touched by the anvil

sheltered by light? ...

Audrey Lockwood

(photo by Jennifer Abod)
Click here to read the whole poem at Writers At Work, a creative writing center in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1997 by Terry Wolverton, author of Stealing Angel and Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Women's Building.



Lockwood will also participate in a poetry reading tonight (Dec. 6) at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center by members of the My Life is Poetry autobiographical poetry workshop. Steven Reigns teaches the workshop to help LGBTQ seniors find their voices and reclaim their pasts through poetry.



Full disclosure: I love this poem and I love Audrey, who happens to be my life partner. I’m so proud of her poetry successes!

Divine lesbians show we are all holy: Art by Verlena Johnson

“Inside Out” by Verlena Johnson, 2006. Acrylic, 40" x 30"


Lesbians in church and in touch with their own spiritual power stand out in the paintings of Los Angeles artist Verlena Johnson. Many wear halos to show their divinity.



“I believe part of my purpose is to remind myself and others that we are all divine,” Johnson said. She is an African American (biracial) lesbian artist who paints spiritual portraits, primarily women with halos. They gaze into the viewer’s eyes like the saints in Byzantine icons.



“One could say all of them are lesbians (although there are no visible markers of this, e.g. labrys, two women in an intimate embrace, etc.), as many of them to varying degrees are self portraits or in some way represent me. In fact, many of my portraits are self-portraits and I am an out lesbian,” she explained.



With verve and versatility, Johnson gives visual form to her unique fusion of mysticism, spirituality, feminism, queer theory and popular culture.



She explores the role of LGBT people in the church with “Inside Out,” pictured above. A woman gazes out at the viewer, stone-faced, with the rest of the church far behind her. A rainbow earring symbolizes her lesbian sexual orientation. The minister raises his arm while the choir and congregation are watching her. She appears to be emotionally and physically distant from the congregation. Her halo is almost invisible. The spiritual lesbian is in the church, but not of the church.



A stained-glass window of Mary with white skin dominates the worship space of the black congregation pictured in “Inside Out.” Not only does this church deny LGBT people, but members aren’t fully embracing their own ethnic identity either. The lesbian has dark skin but her eyes are blue and her hair color is light, making her an outsider on race as well as sexual orientation.



Johnson recalled that when she painted “Inside Out,” she was reflecting on the various ways that LGBT people are “out” or “closeted” in churches.



“I was also thinking about how many church communities to varying degrees embrace their LGBT members and how this conditional and limited acceptance emotionally and psychologically affects LGBT people,” she said. “What does it mean to be an outside member of a community? What does it mean to quietly listen to various church leaders and members express their homophobic views, specifically that homosexuality is an abomination? How do LGBT people reconcile these views from their church community and how do they know and experience true love?”





Sinister Wisdom

cover by Verlena Johnson

Born and raised in the Midwest, Johnson earned a master’s degree in Afro-American studies (art history, 1996) from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a master of fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (sculpture, 2001). Her work has been exhibited at galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities. A wide variety of publications have featured her art, including the Journal of Lesbian Studies and Sinister Wisdom, the oldest surviving lesbian literary journal.






“I Am” by Verlena Johnson, 2006. Acrylic, 36" x 36"


One of Johnson’s most powerful self-portraits is a titled simply “I Am.” An androgynous, brown-skinned figure stares boldly into the eyes of the viewer. Her golden halo glows within a circular mosaic of lavender. The title echoes the name of God in the Hebrew scriptures. When Moses asked the burning bush to reveal God’s name, the answer was: “I am that I am.”



“I believe the ‘I am’ statement is very powerful and acknowledging my own divinity in this way reinforces this knowing,” Johnson said.






“Spiral Woman” by Verlena Johnson, 2001. Acrylic,32" x 20"


Once again a holy lesbian gazes out at the viewer in Johnson's “Spiral Woman,” but this time she is surrounded with spirals. A black bird sits at her side. “This divine being depicted is shown with a faint halo,” Johnson explained. “Spirals for me represent infinity and change and in the case of the dual spiral emanating from her chest, LOVE. “






“Spirit Love” by Verlena Johnson, 2006. Mixed media with acrylic, 24" x 36"


The halo is particularly prominent in Johnson's symmetrical self-portrait titled “Spirit Love.” “I have taken the halo as a symbol found in early European and North and East African paintings and used them to more generally symbolize divinity and our connectedness with the Universe (or Love),” she said.






“Untitled” by Verlena Johsnon, 2012. Mixed media, 17” X 24”


Johnson’s currently evolving series of spiritual portraits include untitled painting above. “The paintings are connected thematically and represent various degrees of sadness and serenity, as well as, emotion generally,” she said. “I am thinking SO much these days about the issue of divinity, perfection, and how to reconcile what we think we know about ourselves and the world around us and what we KNOW (on a Spirit level).”



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Related link:

Artist’s website: www.verlenajohnson.com



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This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Queer Christmas gifts and cards

        

Sergius and Bacchus; Harvey Milk; and Perpetua and Felicity

From TrinityStores.com




Looking for just the right gift for that LGBTQ loved one? You don’t even have to be queer to love the innovative icons on sale til Dec. 9 at TrinityStores.com.



And for the hard-to-please queer who already has everything, check out the Top 20 Gay Jesus books. Nobody has them all!




                

Polyeuct and Nearchus; Brigid and Darlughdach; Boris and George



             

Jonathan and David; Hildegard and Richardis; and Wenceslas and Podivan

All icons from TrinityStores.com by Robert Lentz or Lewis Williams


I use Trinity icons of same-sex couples and queer saints all year long as part of the LGBT Saints series here at Jesus in Love. Now they are having a “Buy 2 - Get 1 free” holiday sale through Dec. 9. They have got cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, and framed prints with more than 850 images by world-class artists such as Robert Lentz and Lewis Williams. Nine favorites of Jesus in Love readers are shown here.  There are many more, from Joan of Arc to We-Wha of Zuni. Click the titles or click here to visit TrinityStores.com.





Gay Nativity

Don’t forget my Gay and Lesbian Nativity cards. They show two Marys and two Josephs at the manger with the baby Jesus. Right-wing religious blogs attacked the cards, so you know that they must be good! Click to visit the card shop or get info.





Lesbian Nativity



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This post is part of the LGBT Holidays series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of faith and our allies.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Advent: Queer face of God revealed

“Rainbow Mysteries" photo by Kittredge Cherry


Today marks the first day of Advent, a time of expectant waiting for Christ’s birth. Advent celebrates the mystery of the Word made flesh -- an important concept in queer spirituality.



“This Advent I am reflecting on what it might mean for us as LGBTIQ people to give birth to, and to reveal to the world, the Queer Face of God in our time, and in our culture,” spirituality author Michael Bernard Kelly told the Jesus in Love Blog. He is the author of "The Erotic Contemplative" video/lecture series and Seduced by Grace: Contemporary Spirituality, Gay Experience and Christian Faith.



Kelly will lead an Advent retreat for gay men Dec. 7-9 at Easton Mountain, an interfaith, gay spiritual retreat center in upstate New York. As he was preparing for the retreat, he offered these Advent reflections for readers of the Jesus in Love Blog:

Can we have the trust, the surrender and the courage of Mary, carrying the Divine Word within us in silence and hope, waiting for Divine Love to gestate in our hearts, allowing our bodies, our souls and our life journeys to birth grace for the world? Just as the body of Mary gave flesh, blood and bone to Incarnation of God growing within her, can we, in every choice we make, in every word we say, in every act we perform, and in the surrender of our very selves, give flesh and blood to God’s Word of justice, of inclusion, of embodied joy, and of queer holiness? Can our queer lives become the very revelation of God’s love in our time?



This is the mystery and challenge of Advent – and the great wonder is, this is not a mighty, exhausting project that we have to plan and execute. Rather, this is all about allowing ourselves to become pregnant with God, saying the radical “Yes” that will allow the Holy Spirit to do her own work within us, and trusting utterly that love is always born, moment by moment and breath by breath, in the most unlikely of places and in the most hidden of hearts. May we feel the Divine seed stir within us this Advent and may we rejoice with the queerest joy, as Christ is born for us, through us, within us, and as us.

Another queer way to celebrate Advent is offered by Chris Glaser, a gay Christian minister, activist and author of LGBT spirituality books including Coming Out to God: Prayers for Lesbians and Gay Men, Their Families and Friends. Here is an excerpt from his “Rite for Advent,” published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations:



One: The closet may be a fertile place:

creativity bursts out of a lonely hell,

and from a closet fertilized with hope,

the spirit leaps from a monastic cell.



Many: Those born in darkness

have seen life.



One: Out of dark soil sprouts new life,

from darkness springs embodied hope.

Both stretch for the illumination

of the cosmic landscape.



Many: Those born in darkness

have seen life.



One: Dear God,



Many: We seek your Word embodied

in life rooted in fertile darkness.

In life stretching for illumination,

we await your transforming Word.





For more info on the Advent retreat for gay men, visit Easton Mountain Retreat Center (www.eastonmountain.org).

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This post is part of the LGBT Holidays series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Saints bring hope on World AIDS Day 2012

Patrons of the AIDS Pandemic by Lewis Williams, SFO

www.trinitystores.com

World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 supports everyone affected by HIV.  The day is dedicated to prevention and treatment, and honors those who died of AIDS -- more than 25 million people worldwide.



World AIDS Day holds great personal meaning for me. I lost many friends to AIDS when I was ministering in the LGBT community of San Francisco in the late 1980s. Back then there were no effective treatments and many gay men were dying of AIDS.



For those who want to learn about -- or remember -- what it was like, I recommend the new documentary We Were Here. With honesty and grace, the film revisits the arrival and impact of AIDS on San Francisco, revisiting the devastation of a gay generation lost to AIDS. For me everyone in the movie looked like someone I knew. ALL the faces were familiar! Watching it is both heartbreaking and inspirational.



I wrote about some of my AIDS ministry experiences for Christian Century magazine in an article titled “We Are the Church Alive, the Church with AIDS.” The article is reprinted in the book The Church with AIDS: Renewal in the Midst of Crisis, edited by Letty Russell.



The icon “Patrons of the AIDS Pandemic” by Lewis Williams shows two pairs of medieval male saints who faced disease epidemics together with friendship and faith. Their man-to-man bonds speak to the gay community, where AIDS has a disproportionately large impact. The couples stand on each side of a chestnut tree, a symbol of life after death.



“It is hoped that they offer solace to companions who have survived a loved one’s death, or to friends\family burdened by the death of two companions,” says the text accompanying the icon.



On the left are 13th-century Franciscans who ministered in an Italian leper colony: Blessed Bartolo Buonpedoni and Blessed Vivaldo. Bartolo got leprosy while caring for the sick, so he had to live in segregated housing. His loyal friend Vivaldo moved into the leper house with him, even though he himself did not contract the ailment. They lived together for 20 years until Bartolo’s death. Today there are effective treatments for leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease. AIDS has taken its place as a dreaded and stigmatized disease.



On the right stand 14th-century Carmelite monks St.Avertanus and Blessed Romeo, traveling companions who died together of the plague. Avertanus felt inspired to go to Rome, so he got permission to take Romeo with him. They faced rain and snow as they made an adventurous pilgrimage over the Alps from France to Italy. No Italian city would let them in, for an epidemic of plague was raging. Avertanus died first, followed a week later by Romeo.



The icon was painted by New Mexico artist Lewis Williams of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO). He studied with master iconographer Robert Lentz and has made social justice a theme of his icons.



Let us join in the following AIDS prayer by Diann L. Neu, Diann, cofounder and codirector of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER). It was published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations:



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One Person: Compassionate Holy One, open our hearts and minds and hands so that we may connect ourselves to the global community of others responding to AIDS as we pray:

We remember all the women, men, and children in this country and around the world who are living with AIDS.



All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.



One: We remember all who care for people living and dying with AIDS in their homes, in hospices, and in support centers.



All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.



One: We remember all who are involved in research and hospital care that they may respect the dignity of each person.



All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.



One: We remember all partners who are left mourning for their beloved ones.



All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.



One: We remember all parents who learn the truth of their children’s lives through their process of facing death….

We remain vigilant,

Until a cure for AIDS is found,

Until those dying with AIDS are comforted,

Until truth sets us free,

Until love drives out injustice.

We shall not give up the fight.

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In memory of: Brian Dose, Rev. Ron Russell-Coons, Scott B, Stephen Clover, Richard O’Dell, Bruce Bunger, Scott Galuteria, Kevin Y, Harold O, Ric Hand, Paul Francis, Rev. Larry Uhrig, Rev. Jim Sandmire, David C, Wayne Mielke, Rev. Dan Mahoney, Bill Knox, Sue H, Tom, Jesse Oden, Jim Veilleux, John from Axios, Robert P, Daven Balcomb, Dave Eckert, Martin Lounsberry, Mark S, David Castagna, Kevin Calegari, Rev. Rick Weatherly, Don K, Michael Mank, David Ward, Rev. Howard Wells, Rev. Howard Warren, Ken Bland, Lanny Dykes, Rob Eichberg, Virgil Hall, Randy Cypherd, Charles Hosley... and all others who lost their lives to HIV and AIDS.****

More spiritual resources for World AIDS Day are available at:

World AIDS Day Campaign's Faith Advocacy Toolkit



MCC Global HIV and AIDS Ministry



Another beautiful artwork supporting people with AIDS is “Il Martir (The Martyr)” by Armando Lopez (pictured at left). For the story behind the painting, see my previous post, “Art honors AIDS martyrs on World AIDS Day.”



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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, mystics, prophets, witnesses, heroes, holy people, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and queer people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts



Patrons of the AIDS Pandemic and many other icons are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores