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April 2014
Jesus in Love Newsletter
LGBT spirituality and the arts
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In This Issue
Gay Passion of Christ
Mystic same-sex marriage
Way of the Cross with black Jesus
Centurion's boyfriend
LGBT Stations of the Cross
Queer Kuan Yin
Adrienne Rich
Gay Passion book
Holy Week offering
Gay Passion prints


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Vision statement

Jesus in Love supports lesbian, gay, bi trans and queer  (LGBTQ) spirituality, with an emphasis on art and literature. It promotes artistic and religious freedom and teaches love for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. It is based on these beliefs: God loves all people, including sexual minorities. The creative process is sacred. The queer visions, especially the gay Jesus and LGBT saints, will free people to experience the divine in new ways and lead to a more just world.

 

Jesus in Love was founded by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry as her personal gift to the world.  

 


Today Palm Sunday begins a week of reflection on "The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision" at the Jesus in Love Blog. Connect with Christ by seeing him as a gay man of today in a modern city.
Gay Passion of Christ series starts today
 
Jesus Enters the City by Douglas Blanchard
Last Supper by Douglas Blanchard A gay vision of Christ's Passion starts today at the Jesus in Love Blog. New posts will run daily through Easter.

The series includes all 24 paintings in Douglas Blanchard's "The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision," with text by Kittredge Cherry. The paintings show Jesus as a contemporary gay man in a modern city. Click to see:

Overview    Jesus and the prophets    Jesus Enters the City

Book         Prints & cards

(Credit: "Jesus Enters the City" and "The Last Supper" by Douglas Blanchard)

Mystical same-sex marriage affirmed      

  Calling of St. John from 12th Century

Many paintings of male-male intimacy with Christ are included in the new book, "Saintly Brides and Bridegrooms: The Mystic Marriage in Northern Renaissance Art" by Carolyn Diskant Muir. An entire chapter concerns St. John as the Bride of Christ, "a veritable Renaissance wedding album" with sumptuous images of their marital bliss, says scholar Kevin Elphick in a new review at the Jesus in Love Blog. Another chapter is devoted to Bernard of Clairvaux. More info   

  

(Credit: Detail from "The Calling of St. John," 12th-century)   

Black Jesus rises in new Way of the Cross

Resurrection by Janet McKenzie

A black Jesus lives, dies and rises again in "The Way of the Cross," a new book with art by Janet McKenzie and text by Joan Chittister. A mixed-race man and his African American mother modeled for Jesus and Mary, bringing the Passion of Christ alive for the 21st century. Chittister includes LGBTQ people in her compassionate text. More info 

 

(Credit: "15. The Resurrection" by Janet McKenzie)

Jesus heals a centurion's boyfriend

Traces of His Presence by Eric Martin
Jesus praised a gay soldier as a role model of faith and healed his male lover in the gospels, according to many Bible experts.

Both Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10 tell how a centurion asked Jesus to heal the young man referred to in Greek as his "pais." The word commonly meant the younger man in a same-sex relationship. More info

(Credit: "Traces of His Presence" by Eric Martin)
LGBT Stations of the Cross shows struggle for equality
 
Jesus falls 1st time -  Nazis persecution
"Stations of the Cross: The Struggle for LGBT Equality" is a set of 15 paintings that link the crucifixion of Jesus with the history of LGBT people, including the Stonewall Rebellion, Harvey Milk's assassination, AIDS, ex-gay conversion therapy, the same-sex marriage ban, and LGBT teen suicides.

Click to see the series at the Jesus in Love Blog.

Mary Button painted the LGBT Stations series for Believe Out Loud, a group empowering Christians to work for LGBT equality.

(Credit: Station 3: Jesus Falls / Nazi persecution by Mary Button)
Kuan Yin: Queer Buddhist Christ figure

Avalokitishvara by Tony OConnell
Kuan Yin, the androgynous spirit of compassion in Buddhism, is sometimes thought of as a queer Christ figure or LGBT role model.

Jesus in Love highlights Kuan Yin (also known as Avalokitishvara) with art by Tony O'Connell, Stephen Mead and William McNichols, and writing by scholars Patrick Cheng, Toby Johnson, Robert Shore-Goss and Hsiao-Lan Hu. More info

(Credit: Detail from "Avalokitishvara" by Tony O'Connell)

Adrienne Rich: lesbian poet of spirit

Adrienne Rich by Sharon McGill

Adrienne Rich was a lesbian feminist and one of the most influential poets of the 20th century.  

  

A tribute at the Jesus in Love Blog includes her unpublished remarks on spirituality as well as beloved quotations such as: "Art means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of power which holds it hostage." More info 

 

(Credit: Adrienne Rich by Sharon McGill)

 

Gay Passion of Christ book coming soon

Passion of Christ book cover

 

An art book based on the gay Passion is coming soon.

 

"The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision" by Kittredge Cherry with art by Douglas Blanchard will be published in 2014 by Apocryphile Press. More info  

 

Sign up to be notified when the book is available

Holy Week offering for Jesus in Love

  Kittredge Cherry with Jesus Rises by Douglas Blanchard 

I am collecting a Holy Week offering to support my work at Jesus in Love for LGBT spirituality and the arts. Click to give now.

 

Donate button    

Thank you!  

 

(Image: Kittredge Cherry with "Jesus Rises" by Doug Blanchard) 

Gay Passion of Christ prints and cards

 Hands holding Passion greeting card

Prints and greeting cards of Doug Blanchard's 24 gay Passion of Christ paintings are available now for the first time ever. Order at:

  

 

High-quality giclee reproductions come in many sizes and formats. More info 

Please visit the Jesus in Love Blog every day this week for my Holy Week reflections on the gay Passion of Christ.

Click for Holy Week highlights from years past at Jesus in Love:

Excerpts from "Jesus in Love: At the Cross," novel by Kittredge Cherry. Christ's Passion happens in the context of a gay love story between Jesus and his beloved disciple John. Illustrated with LGBT Christian art by various contemporary artists. Book info 

 

Crucified Christa embodies female Christ

Click to see recent highlights from the Jesus in Love Blog this month:

John Boswell: Historian of gays and lesbians in Christianity
 
Jesus shows us how to remember with compassion the endless crosses upon which people continue to be crucified. Together we can move from suffering to freedom. May we be inspired by love that is stronger than death!
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