On Church, Embodiment & The Gift of Queerness (with Kathy Kwon)

In this far-ranging and fluid conversation, Céline, Maria and Trixie speak with Kathy Kwon about church, hybrid identities, living in multiple tensions, the prophetic gift of queerness, and embodied social justice. They touch on many things including the fraught process of finding and making community, looking to the living world to learn change and transformation, and tuning into the work of liberation and justice on the margins of institutional power. We talk a lot about our Christian faith in this episode, so some of the language might get jargony for some listeners. Keeping this in mind, we’ve added some additional notes of explanation below.

Transcript available: https://resettingthetablepodcast.blogspot.com/2021/04/episode-7-on-church-embodiment-and-gift.html

Notes on vocabulary:

In the Christian tradition, the “prophetic” is that which speaks truth / the voice of God to God’s people, often into places and times of complacency and injustice. Probably the most well-known scholar on the prophetic is Walter Brueggemann (he was interviewed on the On Being podcast). Kathy, Maria, Céline and Trixie also all refer to “the kingdom,” short for the “the kingdom of God,” or in womanist theology, “the kin-dom.” In the Christian scriptures, this refers to what Jesus talks about bringing in as God’s renewed and transformative vision for creation: a radically upturned society where the marginalized are centred, systems of violence abolished, and resources and wealth are redistributed. We can think of this as similar to the concept of utopia in some radical political theory—a fully liberated future that is also actively manifesting in the present—or, the “community of creation” (Dr. Randy Woodley), reflecting the Indigenous worldview of deep reciprocity and relationship.

Episode References & Annotations:

Celine’s sermon for The Abbey Church, entitled “In Exaltation of Queer Bodies, Hybrid Bodies, Borderland Bodies,” on her blog, holyspit!: https://holyspitblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/14/in-exaltation-of-queer-bodies-hybrid-bodies-borderland-bodies-a-sermon-essay-for-transfiguration-sunday/

On embodiment, Kathy mentions Oppression and the Body: Roots, Resistance, and Resolutions by Christine Caldwell and Lucia Bennett Leighton. Celine mentions Resma Manekim’s My Grandmother’s Hands.

Kathy mentions trauma-informed therapist and educator Hilary McBride. Celine mentions Zen priest and activist Reverend angel Kyodo williams.

Transcript coming soon.

Episode References & Annotations:

Celine’s sermon for The Abbey Church, entitled “In Exaltation of Queer Bodies, Hybrid Bodies, Borderland Bodies,” on her blog, holyspit!: https://holyspitblog.wordpress.com/2021/02/14/in-exaltation-of-queer-bodies-hybrid-bodies-borderland-bodies-a-sermon-essay-for-transfiguration-sunday/

On embodiment, Kathy mentions Oppression and the Body: Roots, Resistance, and Resolutions by Christine Caldwell and Lucia Bennett Leighton. Celine mentions Resma Manekim’s My Grandmother’s Hands.

Kathy mentions trauma-informed therapist and educator Hilary McBride. Celine mentions Zen priest and activist Reverend angel Kyodo williams.