Holiday greetings! As Christmas approaches, I celebrate the queer face of God born anew in art, in books and in our own lives.

Lesbians in church and in touch with their own spiritual power are painted by Los Angeles artist Verlena Johnson.

 

"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. More info 

 

(Credit: "Inside Out" by Verlena Johnson)

 

Advent, the season leading to Christmas, 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," author Michael Bernard Kelly told the Jesus in Love Blog.  More info

 

Blasphemy charges were filed against the actors, producer and director of a Greek production of the gay Jesus play "Corpus Christi" this month after violent protests forced cancellation of the show.

 

Greek Orthodox priests and ultra-nationalists joined in protests that forced the show to be canceled. More info

(Credit: Corpus Christi photo by EJ Camp, 108 Productions)

More books on the queer Christ continue to be published. Here's a Top 20 list with works of theology, anthropology and history as well as art, poetry, fiction, and drama.
Click here for Top 20 list

There's good reason to believe that Good King Wenceslas was gay.  Yes, the king in the Christmas carol.
 
The carol is based on real historical figures, a Bohemian duke and his loyal page.  Author Dennis O'Neill researched the love between the two men.  More info
 
(Credit: "St. Wenceslaus and Podiven, his Assistant" by Lewis Williams, trinitystores.com)

Blessed Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos is a 18th-century Spanish priest who wrote vividly of his mystical gay marriage to Jesus.  Bernardo was 18 when he had a vision of marrying Jesus, with all the symbols of a human wedding. More info

(Credit: "The Mystical Marriage of Blessed Fr. Bernardo de Hoyos y Sena, SJ" by William McNichols)

I am collecting a Christmas offering to support my work at Jesus in Love for LGBT spirituality and the arts. I still need $961 for the annual budget.

 

 

Thank you! I am also seeking generous angels to subscribe for $25 a month. 

 

"It's very, very important to reach LGBTQ's with the love of God, and I don't know anyone who does that better than you."

-- comment from a reader 

CAN GAYS AND LESBIANS BE TRUE CHRISTIANS? See the "Gay and Christian" website! It shows that a person can be both a Christian and a loving, sexually-active gay man or lesbian.

Looking for a new way to highlight the interactions of Jesus with women?  Trudie Barreras has written a series of dramatic monologues including 'The Woman at the Well Witnesses', 'Rescued by Jesus', 'Martha's Story' and more.  For more information, contact tbarreras@bellsouth.net. Photo by Shirley Cooper.

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Polyeuct & Nearchus, Brigid & Darlughdach, Boris & George.  Jonathan & David, Hildegard of Bingen & Richardis, Wenceslaus & Podiven.  Artists: Robert Lentz and Lewis Williams.