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Today I heard from an old seminary classmate. He said he’d seen my sermon shared so many times, he had to watch it. So he put it on in the background while he was trying to work on something else. But he kept getting drawn in...
He mentioned 2 things that blew me away:
- he said he thought that the most powerful thing was when I said my name.
- he said he remembers pretty clearly the sermon I preached my last year of seminary in chapel...
- he said he thought that the most powerful thing was when I said my name.
- he said he remembers pretty clearly the sermon I preached my last year of seminary in chapel...
So I’d never considered it before, but those two sermons share an exquisite connection...
My chapel sermon began with a reading from Romans 16, which includes a long list of names. Basically, Paul is saying hi to everybody he knows in Rome...
My chapel sermon began with a reading from Romans 16, which includes a long list of names. Basically, Paul is saying hi to everybody he knows in Rome...
The Scriptures do this a lot. I don’t know for sure how many name lists there are, but they’re all over - from genealogies to censuses to lists of disciples to the names of people who showed up at meetings.
Each of those names is a person. A human being. A life...
Each of those names is a person. A human being. A life...
For most of them, all we know is their names. It’s easy, then, to think of them as 2-dimensional.
Churches are like this too. If you go to church, there’s a good chance you’ll find a list of names somewhere if you know where to look...
Churches are like this too. If you go to church, there’s a good chance you’ll find a list of names somewhere if you know where to look...
When I see a list of names - in old records, or at the bottom of old photos, or posted someplace as a memorial, I like to think about how we are here now, in some small measure, because they were there back then...
So in chapel, I read Paul’s list of names from Romans 16. And then I ticked off my own list of names. Names of people that supported me during my 4 years of seminary. Good years, but years darkened by a fog I only recently learned to connect to gender dysphoria...
(It occurs to me that I could write a similar list of names, noting all the supportive people who’ve helped me during these past few years of merciful self discovery. They’re not church people, in general, and they’ve often chuckled at the irony of having befriended a pastor...)
Anyhow, I mentioned a connection between the seminary chapel sermon and the coming out sermon. And the connection has to do with the names. Well, one in particular.
These were the only two sermons I’ve ever preached in which I have spoken the name “Junia.”
...
These were the only two sermons I’ve ever preached in which I have spoken the name “Junia.”
...
Junia was an apostle. And she was a woman. Paul greets her in Romans 16:7. She and someone named Andronicus are noted as being “outstanding among the apostles.”
Yeah, a female apostle...
Yeah, a female apostle...
At some point, patriarchal male translators of the New Testament (the ones whose voices carry the most weight *to this day*) said, in a tone matching the very worst Star Wars fans, “GIRL APOSTLE!?! THAT CAN’T BE RIGHT! SHE SHOULDN’T BE THERE!!!”...
So they masculinized her name. They made her into a guy. Junias.
Only Junias wasn’t really a name in Paul’s world. But there were plenty of women named Junia...
Only Junias wasn’t really a name in Paul’s world. But there were plenty of women named Junia...
It would be like somebody getting hold of a company directory and seeing the CEO’s name was Jessica.
“Well, this can’t be right,” they’d object. “Jessica is a woman’s name, and a woman can’t be a CEO.”
So they scratched out “Jessica” and wrote in “Jessico” instead...
“Well, this can’t be right,” they’d object. “Jessica is a woman’s name, and a woman can’t be a CEO.”
So they scratched out “Jessica” and wrote in “Jessico” instead...
“Jessico” is, presumably, a masculine name. It also doesn’t exist.
So Junia, a woman called to be an apostle in the name of Jesus, became Junias, some guy with a totally fabricated name...
So Junia, a woman called to be an apostle in the name of Jesus, became Junias, some guy with a totally fabricated name...
This is what I mean when I tell you that, if very privileged people are interpreting Scripture, your 1st response should probably be skepticism. I’m not saying they’re in error. Just that they, like everyone else, make interpretive choices w/an agenda. So ask about that agenda...
The folks who gave us “Junias” (aka Jessico) had an agenda that said “women can’t be in charge.”
To this day, there are Christians who think women should never be in charge of anything, except nurseries & kitchens...
To this day, there are Christians who think women should never be in charge of anything, except nurseries & kitchens...
(And there are those who can look back and say “Oh wow, we really blew it all those years when we insisted the Bible doesn’t want women in charge. But today? Well, we’re totally, definitely, absolutely *not* blowing it when it comes to LGBTQ+ people.”...)
Junia was an apostle who had to assert her femininity across the ages, rebeling against interpreters who were certain femininity was irreconcilable with authority.
So when it was finally time to say my name, I knew what to say.
My name is Junia.
/thread
So when it was finally time to say my name, I knew what to say.
My name is Junia.
/thread
