Strange Theologies

It is interesting, being on a holiday trip at a resort on an island half a world away.  As I walk the grounds and listen, I sometimes feel like a ghost.  Let me record some of what I've heard and seen:

--Yesterday, I was on an elevator with two adults (1 male, 1 female) and a youngish teen girl and an elementary school aged boy; I assumed they were a family unit, because of how familiar they seemed with each other.  They had been talking about someone's gift of $1,000, which seemed to shock the adult woman.  The teen said, "Maybe it was only $700."  The adult woman said, "Anyone who can give that kind of money as a gift should be making a donation to environmental concerns."

--A few points, all of which I did not speak, as I do not go crashing into stranger's conversations anymore. I was intrigued that it was environmental concerns that should get our donation dollars.  I wondered how the worthy recipient of extra cash has changed through the years, how recently it has shifted to environmental concerns.  Did we ever think our extra donation dollars should go to food pantries or is that just me?

--This conversation was happening in an elevator at an exclusive resort.  Most of us here on vacation have flown across a vast ocean to get here.  In terms of environmental concerns, resorts on distant islands might be a better focus than who is gifting what amount of dollars.

--I spent the rest of the day occasionally wondering about the conversation I didn't hear--what was it about the gift that made the mom's hackles rise?  Why was the teen defensive about it?

--I also thought about how the world has changed since my teenage years.  I was a teen from 1978 to 1985, living in the U.S. South, in towns like Charlottesville, Virginia and Knoxville, Tennessee.  An airline flight was a rare occurrence, often happening when one needed to get somewhere quickly, like for a funeral.  Perhaps because of The Love Boat, a glamorous vacation might have been a cruise for a lucky one or two of us.  A trip to Disney World was a once in a lifetime family vacation.

--I am getting worse and worse at deciphering how old people are.  This woman with children:  are they hers or are they grandchildren?  After decades of people slathering on sunscreen and covering the gray hairs, I don't have much in the way of markers.  That, too, is a shift.  When we took multi-generational trips in my youth, it was clear which woman was my mom and which one was my grandma.

--We watched the Kennedy Center Honors show last night, just as we often have done as a family unit if we're together when it airs the last week of December.  Decades ago, the honorees seemed to have been making their art in a distant time before I was born.  This year, one of my favorite college bands, U2, was honored.  I don't really understand why the Borat character was seen as the best way to honor the band, which makes me feel out of touch in other ways.  Am I officially an old geezer now?

--Amy Grant was also one of the honorees.  Teen Kristin would be horrified.  I hated her music in the early days of her career.  Now I am in awe of what she has accomplished, even if I don't always agree with the theology.

--Of course, she may not agree with the theology of that early work.

--I spent part of yesterday looking at the syllabus for the Queer Theology class I'll be taking in 2023.  I am so thrilled.  It is not the kind of Queer Theology class that argues about how the Church should treat homosexuals.

--You might ask, what is it then?  Here's a quote from the syllabus:  "This curriculum is meant to ask other questions: how is queerness (whatever that means) a site of revelation? How has our imagination been malformed by regimes of gender and sexuality alien to the gospel? How does attending to queerness teach us about social differentiation in general, and how God wants to remake the world? What in the 'normal' patterns of life is called to change in light of a queer encounter with the gospel?"

--I am SO THRILLED to be able to take this kind of class in seminary.  I am likely one of the only people at the resort yesterday who floated through her day almost giddy in happiness that this class exists and that I will be part of it.  Maybe I am less a geezer, more of an outsider.  

--Or maybe I would be surprised if I could see inside the hearts and minds of my fellow resort residents.  Maybe more of us would be interested in what Queer Theology could create:  "Finally, queer theology and queer theory examine our imagination, our habits, our relationships, the ways our bodies exist and signify together, and the possibilities – those we hope for, those we haven’t yet fathomed – for our lives" (another quote from the syllabus).