God is Love

Episcopal religion nerd | she/her | queer | Follows back from darkxromantic

[hymnsofheresy]

Advent & Christmas Carol Playlists

christ mass part 1 & part 2 - these are hymns & carols you might hear at a church. part two is a bit slower and more meditative.

blue christmas is a carol playlist for when christmastime doesn’t really feel all that jolly, when the darkness of the winter feels too overwhelming.

play me a carol is a selection of soft piano carols to put in the background while relaxing after a long day.

lofi bells to holly and jolly to is a lofi christmas playlist that you can easily use while studying for those finals. anime girl bopping along not included.

joy to the world contains a multitude of christmas songs from all over the world, from east asia to the americas.

old timey christmas has all the classic christmas carols that people in the 50-60s churned out like they were working at the christmas carol sweatshop.

yuletide is a celtic-inspired christmas playlist. a selection of folk-tunes, jigs, carols, and gaelic hymns.

rise up shepherd is a collection of spirituals, carols, and gospel songs from the black american spiritual tradition.

glory to the newborn kin(g) is a selection of christmas orchestral music

emmanuel quite literally translates as “god with us” so this playlist is a selection of american-folk carols.

ye olde christmas is a playlist for all the tumblr medievalist girlies. although before anyone attacks me, i did put some renaissance carols on there as well

bodacious gnarly hella tubular christmas is a 80s-90s pop christmas playlist. yes it does feature the queen of christmas herself.

dulcimer christmas is self explanatory. if you don’t like the hammered dulcimer, i fear that this playlist will be extremely disappointing.

a-caroling provides all of your wassailing needs. i promise you there is no pentatonix. all my playlists are pentatonix free. let me liberate you from their chokehold on christmas music.

[penandinkprincess]

if anyone needs some good news and a reminder that there's good people everywhere still fighting the good fight and doing the best they can to make things better: a church in texas responded to the governor's threat to withold funding from any cities or towns with a rainbow crosswalk by painting their front steps rainbow

[once-upon-a-reblog]

From the image of text: “According to a Tuesday statement from Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, a

"long-standing inclusive faith community in Dallas," the move isn't an act of defiance against state lawmakers- rather, it comes from a place of deep faith and understanding that "Silence is not neutral."

"Silence in the face of harm always sides with the oppressor," said Rachel Griffin-Allison, the church's senior pastor. "Painting our steps in the colors of the rainbow is a visible witness to the gospel we preach: that every person is created in the image of God and worthy of safety, dignity and belonging."

[botheryourreps]

Image ID: A picture of a church with the doors and steps painted. The doors are painted with rainbow stripes. Each step of the stairs is painted a different color of the progress flag, including every color of the rainbow, the shades of pink, blue and white that go with the transgender flag, black, and brown. End ID

[queerlittlelamb]

happy pride month to queer people of faith! God loves you for who you are, not for what other people think you should be.

[god-is-in-shambles]

My Lady, help those who are out protesting right now across the globe. Let them continue to find strength and resilience. Protect them from any violence from the state. I know that you are along side them, please stay at their side. Amen.

[thewhimsyjaxcenteral]

Hearing Vincent Benitez say “I am what God made me” felt like what hearing Born This Way by Lady Gaga for the first time should’ve felt like

[sassydefendorflower]

Not me scrolling through the Conclave tag only to see no one talk about the deliberate positioning and framing of the women in this movie.

Pulling up this movie I completely expected to only encounter Sister Agnes as the one woman we see in the trailer, the conclave a space that has been kept from the female members of the church. Now, color me surprised when I started the movie and most of the establishing shots we got were focused on all the women working in the Vatican.

And it is such a deliberate choice, it does the film a disservice not to talk about it.

Because while Cardinal Lawrence is having his fifteenth breakdown during sequestering and Bellini finds the ambitious asshole within himself, Ray does all the leg work, and Bel---- we see the women work.

We see the kitchens, we see them cook, we see them stand aside. Most of the time when the Cardinals are conspiring it is the women who interrupt because they are busy working, walking, running errands.

And there is power in that.

I think it is very deliberate how often (and with such lingering gaze) the camera shows us the lives of the other half - partially to connect to the wider themes of the movie, on how Bellini asks for women to get more power but never thanks them, and how Benitez stumps them all by thanking the women preparing their meals when asked to say the prayer (considering his own probably tumultuous relationship to gender within the church).

But it also stands in direct opposition to a long tradition in story telling: servants don't exist. How often the heroes of a regency romance are "alone" because the two hand maidens and three maids don't really count.

Conclave doesn't do that.

It doesn't let us look away.

Between all the petty drama, the politics, and the real life consequences of the conclave, we never stop looking at the people doing all the work.

Yes, we follow the ups and downs of Lawrence and Co, but in doing so the movie reminds us again and again of the women working the kitchen.

And that was just such a powerful artistic choice in a movie about a famously misogynistic church... I loved it. And I had to talk about it.

[polkaonapen]

God bless Sister Agnes. She is such a queen.

The nuance environmental storytelling of this movie is just magnificent.

Sister Agnes' line about the nuns being there to support the cardinals and stay hidden, but also have a part to play because they see everything and hear everything but do not say a word. And when they did, it's something that stirs the plot and challenges the men in the movie.

And I also kind of noticed that during the confrontation with Tremblay during the revelations of his misconduct, we can only see the top of Benitez' hair. I was waiting for Benitez' reaction to everything that was going down, but very subtly, he was also just there, hidden, but sees and hears everything. But when he finally said something, it also stired the plot.

He is a man as well a woman of faith and the way the movie framed Benitez and the nuns just shows how deliberate everything is.

[I also want to point out that the first shot is an anxious, grieving man and the final shot are three joyful women which could probably indicate a shift in the Church. I don't know. Maybe I am reading too much into it.]

[srtatropicalia]

YOURE NOT READING TOO MUCH AT ALL

[sassydefendorflower]

Not me scrolling through the Conclave tag only to see no one talk about the deliberate positioning and framing of the women in this movie.

Pulling up this movie I completely expected to only encounter Sister Agnes as the one woman we see in the trailer, the conclave a space that has been kept from the female members of the church. Now, color me surprised when I started the movie and most of the establishing shots we got were focused on all the women working in the Vatican.

And it is such a deliberate choice, it does the film a disservice not to talk about it.

Because while Cardinal Lawrence is having his fifteenth breakdown during sequestering and Bellini finds the ambitious asshole within himself, Ray does all the leg work, and Bel---- we see the women work.

We see the kitchens, we see them cook, we see them stand aside. Most of the time when the Cardinals are conspiring it is the women who interrupt because they are busy working, walking, running errands.

And there is power in that.

I think it is very deliberate how often (and with such lingering gaze) the camera shows us the lives of the other half - partially to connect to the wider themes of the movie, on how Bellini asks for women to get more power but never thanks them, and how Benitez stumps them all by thanking the women preparing their meals when asked to say the prayer (considering his own probably tumultuous relationship to gender within the church).

But it also stands in direct opposition to a long tradition in story telling: servants don't exist. How often the heroes of a regency romance are "alone" because the two hand maidens and three maids don't really count.

Conclave doesn't do that.

It doesn't let us look away.

Between all the petty drama, the politics, and the real life consequences of the conclave, we never stop looking at the people doing all the work.

Yes, we follow the ups and downs of Lawrence and Co, but in doing so the movie reminds us again and again of the women working the kitchen.

And that was just such a powerful artistic choice in a movie about a famously misogynistic church... I loved it. And I had to talk about it.

[polkaonapen]

God bless Sister Agnes. She is such a queen.

The nuance environmental storytelling of this movie is just magnificent.

Sister Agnes' line about the nuns being there to support the cardinals and stay hidden, but also have a part to play because they see everything and hear everything but do not say a word. And when they did, it's something that stirs the plot and challenges the men in the movie.

And I also kind of noticed that during the confrontation with Tremblay during the revelations of his misconduct, we can only see the top of Benitez' hair. I was waiting for Benitez' reaction to everything that was going down, but very subtly, he was also just there, hidden, but sees and hears everything. But when he finally said something, it also stired the plot.

He is a man as well a woman of faith and the way the movie framed Benitez and the nuns just shows how deliberate everything is.

[I also want to point out that the first shot is an anxious, grieving man and the final shot are three joyful women which could probably indicate a shift in the Church. I don't know. Maybe I am reading too much into it.]

[srtatropicalia]

YOURE NOT READING TOO MUCH AT ALL

[fierysword]

[catholiccandles]

There’s something so.... powerful.. about having a Creator who is an artist and also being an artist. When my hands are covered in paint I feel so much closer to my God who covered His hands in dirt and mud creating me. When I feel overjoyed with a piece of my artwork I think about how it’s just a fraction of the joy He felt creating me.

[bonyassfish]

Idk maybe I’m just a bitter queer Jew but it is entertaining to me how many Christians will trip over themselves to be like “our church isn’t like that!!” Which is like…yeah, it probably is like that.

What are the largest christian sects in the world? The Catholic Church? Long history of antisemitism. Protestantism? Long history of antisemitism. The Orthodox Church? Long history of antisemitism. The church of latter-day-saints? A younger religion with its own history of antisemitism. Jehovahs witnesses? Another younger religion with its own history of antisemitism. And all of these, broadly, are still mostly hostile to queer and trans folks.

So yeah, it is you. It is your church. My ancestors in the former Russian empire experienced pogroms that we’re actively encouraged by the Orthodox. Catholic Churches stole thousands of Jewish orphans during world war 2 and forcibly converted them. Protestantism was founded by a guy who wrote a book called “on the Jews and their lies”. The Mormon church was, as recently as a few years ago, posthumously converting victims of the holocaust. And pretty much every single Christian denomination, with a few exceptions, still actively proselytize to Jews, still view us as either primitive Christians who need to be brought into the fold or as an evil cabal that has to be killed and sent to hell, or (in the us especially) a politically convenient group that needs to be exported to Israel ASAP so as to begin the resurrection of Jesus or whatever.

[rotgospels]

a masterpost of my reading lists and recs: 

medieval women mystics

catherine of siena 

joan of arc

frankenstein, mary shelley

early christianity and early christian writing

lesbian nuns, monastic life

theology, the bible and horror theory

early modern european witch hunts + my goodreads list

[theist-nerd]

saving to come back to later

[heresylog]

I don’t want to see a single Chr*stmas post until Advent

[heresylog]

I really feel for non-Christians during November because I’m tired of it and I actually celebrate the holiday.

[hymnsofheresy]

Your blog description states that you are a homosexual lifestyle enjoyer and a Christian. How do you reconcile these two seemingly contradictory labels ? I'm sure you've gotten this question before .

I am a baptized person who practices the Christian faith. I also enjoy gay sex, culture, and people.

[hymnsofheresy]

I do find it strange that wealthy people never get questioned about how they reconcile accumulating and hording their assets with their Christian identity. But gay Christians can't just exist without being questioned for breathing.

[hymnsofheresy]

Truth be told, I do see wealthy Christians as Christians. I am however curious about how they reconcile their faith with their wealth. I am also curious as to why straight Christians are so particular about letting gay Christians exist in the church, yet unconditionally welcome wealthy Christians in with open arms. Especially since Christ explicitly said that it is almost (if not entirely) impossible for wealthy people to enter into the Kingdom of God. All the while, Jesus Christ never said anything about gay sex or people.

[thefruitthatgodforgot]

One good thing about catholicism is the amount of bones. Another good thing is the not inconsiderable amount of those bones which are bedazzled

[chirhos]

just being the only Christian in your gay friend group things!

[queeerbutch]

there's always a lot of talk about how being gay or trans is a "sin." and a lot of people have reclaimed this, have joked about their "sin," have held it up yourself so it can't be held against you.

but to all of the religious queers, the ones trying to find or create a home in themselves where their identity and their religion don't contradict... i see you. i've been you, i am you, i love you.

your orientation is not a sin.

your gender is not a sin.

you are not sinful or wrong or bad just for being who you are.

your identity does not contradict your religion.

you are beautifully and wonderfully made, just as you are.

you are loved by your creator, just as you are.

nobody can take any of that away from you.

[ please do not tag or censor my use of the word queer. do not derail this post by talking about how much religion sucks. ]

[tortiefrancis]

also i know I've said this before but if you're queer, a poc, neurodivergent, disabled, etc and Christian i love you so so so much