March 31, 2024. “Biden erases Easter for Trans Day of Visibility,” the headline reads on my slab of glass. I scroll past. “How fitting Easter and Trans Day of Visibility are on the same day this year,” the caption reads, “both are days of resurrection.” I keep scrolling. Israel, Palestine, Trans Day of Visibility, Easter, Israel, Palestine, Ad, Trans Day of Visibility, Easter. Support and demonization. Buy this product. Support and demonization. Israel. Palestine. Trans Day of Visibility. Free sticker with purchase. Easter. Seven-hundred-and-ninety-three accounts, and each is the same.
And this, too, is more of the same. A piece, reaching for eyes and hoping to change a mind. But, Pharoah’s heart was hardened, and yours may be too. But, the yearning of the soul to be free is a melody sung through all time and shall be sung long after we two are gone. You can try to ignore it, and sometimes you will win, but the melody will never arrest.
While you build altars and idols to your worldview, the minds you try to limit still will dream. The child at your dinner table knows not why they hurt, but they know they do. They look upon your Holy Book and see only the stones you hold within. They may stay, quiet and subservient. Or, they may break free. Cast aside the profane stones and along with it the Holy love within. Your stones, cast or mere threats, will break their souls and it is you who must pass the eye of the needle, not them.
The gospel, predicated on love, is sullied by your hate. That narrow view is the Whore of Babylon, corrupting the land and the hope, surely you must see that? Six-hundred-and-thirteen swept aside by the message of One, and yet it too be broken? He preached love, forgiveness, and defiance against injustice. Casting stones on the queer is not love, your victims have no forgiveness, and you crush their defiance. Why else do you think they leave when Love is made to be limiting?
Love is transformative, my friend. Forgiveness is divine, my friend. And defiance against injustice is Christ-like, my friend. I implore you, you of faith strong and enviable, to take my words to heart. Strip aside the Holy symbols and what do you have? Kids who wish to die rather than hear another threat of stones. Kids who were made in the image of G-d, being told he made a mistake. Is this the legacy you want to leave?
On the Mount, did the sermon not say: “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” Did your savior’s Apostle not write: “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
They say that the Gospel is the greatest story ever told. But what is a story if not something to learn from? I said before that the melody can never be silenced, and it has been sung since before you and I sat down here in this space of binary. There are those before us who read those words, who heard those stories, and saw themselves.
They saw the Lamb sit with lepers and prostitutes and knew that he would sit with them. They were told we were made in the divine image and saw a divinity transcendent of sex or gender. In your savior, they saw the defeat of evil and knew the fullness of Love. While repressed for centuries, they still clung to it. It is them who are the blessed for they strove for the example of the complete Love of the man they called Anointed, whilst persecuted for their righteousness. That they are Loved by G-d does not mean that you are not, my friend.
Your theology must include trans people, my friend. It must include all. Those who are gay, straight, asexual, allosexual, Black, White, immigrant, citizen, believer, infidel, trans, cis, able-bodied, disabled, poor, rich, young, old, Jew, Greek, free, slave, man, woman, and every other variation, whether we can imagine it or not, were made in the image of the divine and are deserving of Love. And of reconciliation.
That is what this day is about, after all. That is what every word of the book you call Holy is about. It is about admitting our wrongs, accepting those who wrong us, and working to repair that which we broke or have found broken. Look upon your symbols and idols, prayers and sermons, texts and teachings, and see where you have harmed.
And know, we have all harmed others, my friend. That is the human condition: to harm and be harmed. But that is not the end, my friend. For to be human is to see these harms and work to repair them. To be human is to see those who harmed you, and to forgive them. To be human is to open yourself to love and Love, my friend.
As we watch the sun set this Easter, my friend, I ask we both move towards reconciliation. I ask that we move towards Love. I ask that you can forgive me and to know that I forgive you. May you reconcile with all who’ve been hurt by your theology.