Gospel According to Pop: Episode 7 (I Will Survive: Gloria Gaynor

Why wasn't Thomas locked up inside hiding with the other disciples when Jesus comes back to visit them for the first time after the resurrection? Perhaps he was off doing all the work Jesus had taught them to. Perhaps, he was getting groceries to feed the others. Or, perhaps he was in the angry stage of the cycles of mourning and he was pissed off that the teacher who he believed would save the world and bring justice has died and left them alone. Today's Gospel According to Pop explores what it would feel like for Thomas if this was the case. And if Thomas was the disciple that Jesus loved, as some scholars speculate, this could be exactly the song Thomas would have had in mind. Check it out and see what you think:

Ascending gender

The stories of Jesus' new body that is unrecognizable to his friends and family, reminds me of the journey many trans folk take after their bodies and voices change after beginning to take hormones.  Others may have similar experiences after a dramatic hair cut change or by dressing in garments that are gender non-conforming.  

While trans' experiences may be a bit more dramatic than the typical coming home story.  I imagine that all people who journey back to their hometown after living in a different community, after years of a different job or with other families experience a bit of dysphoria.  

Going back to an old school as an adult gives a taller perspective.  As we change, the way we see things, even those most familiar to us changes.  

Passing as the opposite sex, gives us eyes to see the thin lines of gender in a new way.  To see the subtle sexism that we may not have noticed before.  

As Jesus returns to his hometown in a changed existence, with eyes that know physical pain and suffering, rejection and abandonment, I wonder how he saw his loved ones and those familiar to him in a new light.  

As Jesus ascends to heaven we assumed that he then takes on another form.  One, that Martin Luther imagines in his Table Talks, is without gender or sex.  Jesus ascends to a gender free reality.  

As easy assumption for someone who lives between genders to come to from this text.  

I wonder how the world looked from up there.  Far above the hubble telescope, where I imagine the earth and life on it looks smaller and smaller the higher he ascends.  The things that we argue about, for biblical correctness probably get smaller and smaller too (as we all do).

What are the things we need to ascend above?  What do we need to see with new eyes?