The Ketchup, Reborn

You may remember last year when I started a series here on the old blog that I called “The Ketchup,” which lasted all of about two weeks.

Well, I’ve reincarnated it as a newsletter on Substack!

I’ve been consistently publishing a post a week, full of fun and thoughtful little tidbits—art, articles, books, music, food—and it’s been a fun way to do a little writing and let people know what I’m up to. Substack has been a better platform than this website for that, it seems.

But I wanted to make a post here, just in case someone came looking.

You can subscribe here!

Why the Church of the Nazarene Should be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming

I’m very pleased to have a chapter published in this new collected volume, Why the Church of the Nazarene Should be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming, edited by Tom Oord and Alexa Oord.

Alongside over 50 other contributors, I talk about how a queer and liberative theology can be consistent with and faithful to the Wesleyan-Nazarene tradition, and how an orientation of openness on the part of our churches embodies the prevenient grace of God—the grace that always goes before us and makes possible a sanctified love of God and neighbor.

You can read my essay in its entirety HERE: Liberation Toward a Fresh and Faithful Nazarene Theology

It’s been so edifying to see confirmed the intuition I’ve had for years—that Nazarenes on the whole are an open, curious, and caring people who desire holiness in heart and life, and who are more willing to engage differences of gender and sexuality than we might have guessed.

I’m eager to see how these essays—both personal narrative and biblically and theologically reasoned—will spur fruitful discussion, a lessening of fear, and an increase of love in the denomination that I love so much.

Nazarene General Assembly 2023 Resolution Index & Tracker

So it’s a funny story.

During GA 2017, I was like, “I really wish there was a better way to view and track the resolutions besides the clunky list of PDFs on the General Assembly website!” So I made one. Purely for my own edification and because I am a little bit crazy.

But then other people wanted to see it. And they shared it with more people. And pretty soon hundreds of people were accessing my index, and checking it for updates as voting happened. So then it was my responsibility. And I spent the entire week watching the livestream and updating the spreadsheet.

Here we are 6 years later, ~5 weeks ahead of GA2023, and I’ve been getting messages. Am I doing it again? When will the resolution index be up?

Ask and ye shall receive.

I present to you: the Unofficial GA2023 Resolutions Index & Tracker.

Feel free to share!

Love y’all.

On Transitions

I started attending Blakemore Church of the Nazarene in late 2013. After visiting many of the Nazarene churches in Nashville, I was won over by the airy simplicity of the sanctuary, the gregarious cohesion of the community, and the warmth, sincerity, and generosity of the pastor. It took months for me to figure out which children belonged to which families, so seamless was the care of all for each. I made friends with Trevecca students, faculty, and alumni--just as I'd hoped to when I moved from one university region to this one. I found a group of Nazarenes who were kind and smart and curious and caring, who showed up to sing and pray and serve together. They welcomed me into membership on February 15, 2015, and it was truly (maybe embarrassingly) one of the sweetest, most meaningful moments of my life.

A lot has changed at Blakemore over the last 9 years. Parishioners, staff, and pastors have come and gone. Children have been born and grown. Trees have been planted and torn up. Through it all, I've shown up weekly, sat in my pew, attended and taught Sunday School, brought food to potlucks, cleaned out closets and cupboards, chased toddlers, made coffee, sang, prayed, cried.

I'm the last person who was here even 5 years ago.

And now it's my turn to leave.

I love this space and this church, but it has recently been made clear to me that I am not as welcome as I have been, or as I thought I was.

People ask me all the time why I stay in the Church of the Nazarene, and how. And my answer has always rested on the importance of my local church. The fact that I had a local community of Nazarenes as a site of mutual care and service and study, who loved and accepted me and fumbled with me toward holiness made the broader, more abstract concerns of dealing with a larger denomination moot.

Now that it is apparent (suddenly and shockingly so) that Blakemore will no longer be such a space of safety and comfort for me, it's an easy decision to move on.

I deserve to be in a community where I am a vital and valued member. Where I am embraced and celebrated. Where my talents are put to use, not hidden under a bushel. Where my consistent presence is considered a gift, not a burden.

This Sunday is the first day of Advent, the first day of a new liturgical year, and the first day I will worship with a new Nazarene congregation. I love the Church of the Nazarene, and I have work to do with them yet. It will just have to be as part of another local church.

The Ketchup

Happy Monday.

Here are the things from last week I’d talk to you about if you were trapped in an elevator with me today.

I finished Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence, which was smart and clever and moving. But it had this whole COVID/George Floyd plotline (it takes place in Minneapolis) that felt, I don’t know, forced? Unnecessary? Like, nothing about the story HAD to be set in 2020, so I felt a little weird about it. And I’m not a major “escapist” reader, so I don’t mind some real life references, but maybe I’m just not ready for COVID fiction. Maybe I’ll never be?

In last week’s New Yorker crossword (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!) there was a clue that said “Campaign manager?” and the answer was DUNGEONMASTER and I simply cannot get over it. There was also a very good article about the personhood of animals that I highly recommend. There was also an article about the structure and nature of cells, that even discussed particular organelles, but NEVER ONCE talked about mitorchondria as the powerhouse of the cell. Very disappointing.

Song of the week is Muddy Water by Skyway Man, because every time it came up on Spotify (do not at me) I was like who is this???

The Ketchup

Starting a little weekly (ish?) project to share what I’m reading, watching, working on, etc.

I love reading roundups like this, so I thought I’d try my hand at writing one. At the very least to have an outlet for processing and metabolizing all the content I’m ingesting.

So here’s what was up last week.

The cover of Lauren Groff's book, Florida

I finished Lauren Groff’s collection of short stories, Florida, in about two days because it was so engaging. The only time I’ve ever been to Florida it was in a haze of denial about the failing relationship that I was purposely-not purposely destroying on my own strength. So Groff’s vivid, emotional prose had some help from the layer of my own wrenching regret. But the stories still would have made me feel things without that. I really liked the portrayal of not-perfectly-likeable women, being one myself, and their saintly partners who put up with them. All of the children seemed a little overly precocious, but she’s the one who actually has kids so what do I know. And despite being autonomous and discrete, the stories still all hang together somehow, beyond whatever gestures they gave to the Sunshine State. It was good. I enjoyed it. And I don’t want to hear about Florida anymore for a while.

I love Gustav Klimt. I once spent an entire afternoon staring at his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer in New York’s Neue Galerie. But before last week I had never seen or heard of “Farm Garden with Crucifix.” And it is exactly my shit. So I got a print of it to hang in my office.

The Preds beat the Sharks EIGHT to zero on Saturday, and it was just wild. Every time I looked up, they’d scored again. The Preds lost to the Kraken, who are at the very bottom of the Pacific Division, on Wednesday, just going to show that this team is absolutely unpredictable and crazy-making and I hate them. Juuse Saros is the man, Jeannot for Calder, etc.

Song of the week was Thriving, by Diet Cig, who reminds me very much of early-2000’s Letters to Cleo.

OK that’s all.

See you next week maybe!