Speaker 1: I'm the reverend Brianne Swan, and this is sermons from the East End for Monday, 06/30/2025. Welcome to sermons from the East End, a podcast from East End United Regional Ministry in Toronto. This episode features a reflection for pride, a poetic meditation on the queerness of God, the sacredness of queer bodies, and the wild, untamable love that still speaks through the word made flesh. So wherever you are listening, on the subway, doing dishes, walking through the city, we invite you to take a deep breath, open your heart, and join us on the journey. You will hear some gendered language in today's scripture readings.
While I generally lean towards gender expansive expressions of the divine, these particular recordings were chosen with care. The reading from Jeremiah was voiced by my son, Simon, when he was a much younger boy than he is now. The gospel of John comes from the First Nations version, which brings a rich cultural and spiritual depth that is expansive of the word in a different kind of way. I honor both the integrity of these voices and the complexity of language and sacred spaces.
Speaker 2: Jeremiah chapter one verses four through 10.
Speaker 1: Read by Simon
Speaker 2: Myers. No. Read by Simon Myers. Read by Simon Myers. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
And before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Then I said, oh, Lord God, truly I don't know how to speak for I am only a boy. But the Lord said to me, do not say I am only a boy for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and I you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.
But then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, I now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
Speaker 1: He shows goodwill, tells the good story. Chapter one, verses one through 18. Long ago, in the time before all days, before the creation of all things, the one who is known as the word was there face to face with the great spirit. This word fully represents creator and shows us who he is and what he is like. He has always been there from the beginning, for the word and creator are one and the same.
Through the word, all things came into being, and not one thing exists that he did not create. Creator's life shined out from the word, giving light to all human beings. This is the true light that comes to all the peoples of the world and shines on everyone. The light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it or put it out. Into the wilderness of the land of promise came a man named Gift of Goodwill.
He was sent by the great spirit to tell what he knew about the light so everyone could believe. He was not the light but came to speak the truth about the light. The true light that shines on all people was coming into the darkness of this world. He came down into the world. And even though he made all things, the world did not recognize him.
Even his own tribe did not welcome or honor him. But all who welcome and trust him receive their birthright as children of the great spirit. They are born in a new way, not from a human father's plans or desires, but born from above by the great spirit. Creator's word became a flesh and blood human being and pitched his sacred tent among us, living as one of us. We looked upon his great beauty and saw how honorable he was, the kind of honor held only by this one son who fully represents his father, full of his great kindness and truth.
Gift of goodwill told what he knew about him and cried out with a loud voice, the one I have told you about is here. He comes after me, but is much greater, my elder. He has more honor. For even though he is thought to be younger, he existed before I was born. From the fullness of his being, we have all had many gifts of kindness poured out on us.
Drawn from the water gave us our tribal laws, but the gift of great kindness and truth came from creator sets free, the chosen one. No one has ever seen the great spirit, but the one son who is himself the great spirit and closest to the father's heart has shown us what he is like. In the beginning was the word, and the word was not safe, not polite, not palatable. The word was not binary. The word was not beholden to straight lines or narrow minds.
The word was fluid, like water, like spirit. And the word was with God, and the word was God. The word was wild, untamed, overflowing. The word was a whisper, a rumor, a thunderclap. The word was a body.
The word was breath. And the word was with God, and the word was God. And what does that mean, beloveds, but that God is more than we were ever told? That the divine does not just tolerate the queer body, the queer mind, the queer soul, but radiates with queerness, creates through it, incarnates it. In the beginning was something so expansive, no doctrine could cage it, no creed could contain it, no pulpit could pin it down.
Before you were formed in the womb, before your pronouns were politicized, before your body was called a lifestyle, God knew you. God knew you. Not in spite of who you are, but because of it. You are not God's footnote. You are God's exclamation.
Think of the prophets. Some of them wore robes with flare. Some of them changed their names and changed them again. Some of them named truths too dangerous for scrolls. God says, do not be afraid.
But let's not pretend that this is easy. Do not be afraid when the church that baptized you tries to burn you. Do not be afraid when your own kin call your holiness heresy. Do not be afraid when you walk into a sanctuary and feel the air change? You're not imagining it.
But know this, the sanctuary is yours. The table is yours. The altar is yours. The body of Christ is not whole without your body. You, beloved, are the Imago Dei.
The image of God is not limited to those who fit cleanly on census forms. The image of God has stretch marks and scars, binders and breastplates, glitter, and grief. The image of god walks in pride parades and holds protest signs and passes the cup with chipped black nail polish saying, this is my body broken for you. What if Jesus was never meant to be the exception? What if Jesus was the prototype?
What if divinity has always looked like queer love surviving anyway? What if the body of Christ includes drag queens and asexual mystics, leather dykes and questioning seminarians, trans teenagers who hear God clearer than any bishop? What if the word made flesh still walks among us, but this time in Doc Martens and dysphoria still full of grace and truth? In the beginning was the word, and the word said, you are my beloved. Not in theory, not once you conform, but as you are right now, beautiful, holy, necessary.
And the word was with God, and the word was God. So let the church be transformed by those it tried to crucify. Let the steeples shake with the sound of your laughter. Let the stained glass reflect your light. Let the pews bear witness to a love too wild for liturgy, too fierce for fear, too sacred for shame.
God is queer. And if that sentence makes some folks squirm, maybe they should. God is queer because God is always breaking binaries and boundaries between divine and human, death and life, flesh and word. God is queer because God is always expanding what we thought was possible. God is queer because God is love, and love when it is real is never tame.
So hear this, you radiant reflection of the divine. You are not just welcome here. Here is shaped by you. You are called to speak, to sing, to preach, to rage, to kiss, to dance, to heal, to build, to resurrect. Do not be afraid.
You were born for this. You were born from this. You were born of the word, and the word was always queer. Amen. Those are our dear friends, the many, with their song all belong here from their 2017 album of the same name.
You can find the many online at the manyarehere.com. At East End United Regional Ministry, we believe that faith should mean something in the real world, that it should feed people, house people, advocate, accompany, and agitate for change. We seek to live God's love out in public. We also know that in a world that can feel so overwhelming and frightening at times, we need spiritual nourishment and opportunities to connect with the divine and with community. We run two worship services each week, Sunday mornings at our Eastminster campus and Thursday evenings at our Glenroads campus.
We offer programming for children and youth and provide some of East Toronto's most vital food justice and shelter programs, including our nourish East End Food Bank and Out of the Cold Outreach Ministry. But we can't do any of this alone. If you believe in the work of an affirming, justice seeking, community rooted church, we invite you to support East End United. You can give online at eastendunited.ca/donate. Every gift helps us keep going and keep growing.
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Sermons from the East End. If this reflection moved you, challenged you, gave you hope, please be sure to subscribe and share it. Let someone else know there are churches out there shaped by the wild, witness of queer faith. You can learn more about East End United, our ministries, and upcoming events at eastendunited.ca. We are also on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Come find us, follow us, and be part of what's unfolding. Until next time. Walk gently, love fiercely, and don't be afraid. You were born from the word, and the word breaks every box we