Reading the story of Jesus through a queer lens and exploring the possibility of seeing me and my experience reflected back in millennia-old sacred text is what has returned my faith back to me. Getting to explore text and ask ‘how would this change if I make it gay?’ is a new hobby. Here are a few examples of stories of Jesus read through a queer lens that I particularly love to prove to you that this is a great practice to try!

“Believing in Jesus does not mean believing doctrines about him. Rather, it means to give one’s heart, oneself at its deepest level, to the post-Easter Jesus who is the living Lord, the side of God turned toward us, the face of God, the Lord who is also the Spirit. Believing in Jesus in the sense of giving one’s heart to Jesus is the movement from second-hand religion to first-hand religion, from having heard about Jesus with the hearing of the ear to being in relationship with the Spirit of Christ.

To mark the historic Valentines' Day Ash Wednesday merger, we've created some downloadable VaLENTtines' Cards to share with your favorite mortal! This holiday season remind your loved ones that they are dust, and to dust they will return.

Today I ended a nine year relationship. It was one I entered into because it was convenient. I didn’t know any better, and then after a while it was comfortable and harder to get out of. This was my relationship with my bank; Barclays. However, today I switched. To an ethical, greener bank with the help of the JustMoney Movement.  

Jay Hulme is an award winning transgender poet, speaker and theologian. With a special interest in queer rights and theology, Jay’s work engages particularly with ideas of faith, place, and identity, with many of his poetry books for adults being published by one the UK’s foremost Christian publishers. Melody, Movement Editor, sat down with Jay to find out where he draws inspiration for his work and to discuss how the church can be more welcoming of queer people. 

I’ve heard people bemoan that there aren’t more good Christian films, or perhaps that Christian films are just no good at all. This will very possibly come from someone who has suffered through God’s Not Dead, amongst my least favourite films I’ve ever seen, or something similar. As you may be aware, God’s Not Dead tells the story of a Christian student who, upon enrolling in a philosophy class in his first year of university, is mandated by his professor to sign a declaration that God is dead before he can continue with the class.

Some of you may have seen that in December a new artwork by the infamous Banksy was left in Peckham, London, before being stolen not long after. It hit the news and inspired this month’s Creative Protest blog: Graffiti and Street Art.  

Warning: Spoilers Included

By Rosie Venner, JustMoney Movement Programme Manager

Ethical banking wasn’t on my radar when I started university back in the early 2000s. I’m slightly ashamed to say that when I needed to open a current account, I simply opted for the bank that gave me a free overdraft and a railcard.  

When we consider the place of Christian faith and human rights, one person of particular relevance is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For those of you who don’t know who Bonhoeffer was, he was a pastor and theologian who was part of the Confessing Church in Nazi Germany and who eventually became involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. You may be asking how Bonhoeffer justified his willingness to partake in such an act of violence, especially if you have read any of his earlier pacifist writings.