Sunday Reflections: Where Is The Healing Pool?
- L.Thomas
- May 21, 2022
- 5 min read
Welcome to Sunday Reflections. Each week Lou shares their thoughts on a passage found in the "lectionary." The "lectionary," known as the Revised Common Lectionary, is a three-year cycle of passages that mainstream Protestant churches follow. The RCL is built around the seasons of the Church Year and includes four lections for each Sunday and additional readings for significant feast days.
Seven years studying theology with lingering questions of "What is your call?" and "You are a minister? Isn't that contradictory?" Like many people who break rank in what is now can be deemed a "traditional ministry call," i.e., a minister called to a brick-and-mortar congregation, I wonder if there is room for me at the table, or in this case, at the side of a healing pool like Jesus in John 5:1-9. What if I share what I am hoping for? What is the ultimate price of being outside the box? Am I any less Christ-like than I was before?
Love is infinite; societal standards should not limit it; we house it in us next to where we house
the holy spirit. Love drives me. I love humanity, love for people who speak their truth, and love for those around me like the many I serve.
I recently walked into the building with a partner and his partner, and I held back a bit by practice. It's not unusual for me to walk a step behind or be very aware of who is around me. I feel his hand holding my hand, pulling me a bit forward. His other hand grasps his live-in partner. We take a few more steps, and I hear it, "He always wants to stir the pot." His other partner releases his hand and walks to the door. She looks back at me, saying, "He likes to get a rise out of people. You'll get used to it."
We weren't walking into a church. We weren't pulling ourselves to a pool hoping for healing. We didn't even meet anyone else's eyes as a "test."
What do a trip to a Movie Theater and a Church have in common? Both venues want to live up to their organizational "No expectations" plan. If we live into that, we are more ready to accept that one in nine Americans have been in at least one non-monogamous relationship, and one in six would like to explore non-monogamy. In one of the theaters, we sat at least 50 people in the theater that day. Statistics say that at least two other individuals in the theater have been in a non-monogamous relationship. There would have been at least eight people who would have been interested in exploring it. (1)
I can indeed say that I have been barred from entering doors, doors blocked, and doors held open so that I could leave involuntarily. In spaces where one hopes healing would occur: In a Gay-Straight Alliance as a college kid, on a national board, and in spiritual direction. In these spaces, I am "the other person," the individual whom some deemed stepping on safe church policy and who re-traumatized a trusted confidant. Churches may not "remove" someone from a church pew, but the wider non-monogamous community is made aware of not being welcomed. Safe space is a hollowed-out term as life does hurt. The political term "cancel culture" is viewed as applicable when the "law of the land" validity is blindly accepted and creeps into what the ____-normative population pats themselves on the back for the showing of "acceptance."
Alternative sexuality communities are not assured or have the right to "safe space." We seek out the "brave spaces" where we recognize some affirmation of our existence and how others love us. Brave spaces that accept someone into their community and work together to create and have invested equity of ownership. These brave spaces are spaces individuals identify, allowing them to open up and share what they carry with them. Those are the healing pools we need.
It is not the place of the church to declare itself what can be referred to as a "brave space" anymore. Is it the place for someone to declare themselves an "ally?" This statement does not discourage churches from putting their energy into the Opening and Affirming Process. ONA (2) is a valuable and needed study for any congregation regarding the affirmation of others' sexual identities, sexuality preferences, and genders as part of the entire life of the church. The shortcoming of a congregation is not to declare that the poison is in the healing pool. Any pool will require upkeep, and in these changing times where gender and sexuality are continuously in flux, we can maintain a fertile ecosystem for brave space by embracing this education rather than declaring it's too complicated.
The pool is so close yet so far. One cannot identify themselves as an ally while missing the
mark of equity. It is not by a person's decision that they are an ally; it is the actions of the person around making space at the pool and asking how they can be of assistance moving others to the pool, which is allyship. The healing moment will come, but we need to remember till then that the ecosystem is far from just a local congregation. An ecosystem needs water to survive because water is life. The pool of healing is water and what we need is to recognize that we have each other at the fray. I am at the fray with you with water to spare and share.
About the Gospel of John:
The author of the Gospel of John is John the Apostle, known as the "disciple whom Jesus loved." It's dated to around 85-190 AD while John served the church in Ephesus. It is the fourth Gospel, and the information in the Gospel is taken from material from the other three Gospels. John's writing is not chronological but writing that honors Jesus. John introduces Jesus as the Word of God, the Son of God, and in that spirit, the writing is considered more theological and historical. John puts life with Christ in the spotlight in this biblical book. John's writing only includes seven miracles considered "signs" to demonstrate Jesus as a deity. John's intended audience was those who couldn't touch Jesus' wounds or witness the miracles for themselves.
Lou's "Cutting Floor" Last Thoughts:
1) This number could be larger depending on the definition of non-monogamy. Depending on who you speak to who identifies as non-monogamy, the non-monogamous community agrees that two people do not need to be having a physical sexual relationship to be non-monogamous. Infact, a non-monogamous person can have a monogamous sexual relationship with one person. Non-monogamy includes relationships that are deep emotional bonds that feeds two people on a very sacred level. These bonds, now identified as some as queer-platonic, can even be stronger than sexual relationships.
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