A Transgender Advent
The time of Advent within the Christian tradition is a time of waiting, and expectation. It is a time when people await a better world, a setting right all that is wrong, and a new era of peace and justice. As a trans woman this Advent in particular has me exploring the depths of my faith and also feeling the profound sense of anguish that comes from expectations.
Over the last two years living in the United States of America I have born witness to atrocities on almost a daily basis. This year I remembered the 369 trans brothers and sisters I have that have been slain across the world, in America we have seen 25 trans women murdered. In addition to the 28 last year we have seen 53 lives ended because of hatred, and injustice. A hate and injustice that mirrors the religious persecution during the birth of Jesus. However, the very hatred lived out today has been enacted by the same people that claim to follow him.
The world that in many ways has become a mirror image of the town of Bethlehem some centuries ago. (Now we know Jesus was more than likely born in the Spring, but this season calls Christians to remember the birth as the Church year cycles.) Bethlehem was known as the City of David, it was supposed to be a place of remembrance of where God had acted for his people, and sent them a righteous ruler from. However at the time of Jesus’ birth many people were forced to become migrants for the census by occupying Rome. Jesus’ very family would be forced to travel hundreds of miles and search for a place of refuge for a mother to give birth. This alone is comparable to the ugly actions a “Christian” President takes against brown skinned people as well moving across the globe for a better and safer tomorrow. But additionally, the religious leaders were still up to no good. We know from historical accounts King Herod ordered the slaughter of babies because of his own fear of what Jesus could have meant to his power. And now we live in a country where religious leaders openly talk about killing, and do murder trans people because of what they as well represent to their worldview and power structures.
Trans people are considered chaos to the conservative world. We call into question flawed gender norms, oppressive patriarchal structures, and challenge how one carries forth theology, family, and more. Yet we as the marginalized people are the one’s with the target aimed at us. Presidential orders, memos, and Sunday sermons aim at erasing us from existence. We are a people that are heavy burdened, and often victimized by the religion and society that surrounds us.
And so was Jesus. Born to a woman that was unmarried, a teen, a migrant and considered a bastard Jesus would proclaim a message that sought to overthrow the oppressive systems of his own world. He called into question the exclusion of women, and welcomed Mary Magdalene, and Mary and Martha as close friends, and those who would finance and support his mission. Jesus would condemn a system that saw men and women born blind, or with diseases as less than human, and instead restored them to full status in his group. Jesus condemned politicians that acted as vipers, veiling their hatred in “God’s Word.” Jesus bucked the system and never married, again forgoing the Old Testament edict to marry and procreate. Jesus was a walking contradiction to the ways the world acted. He was a clear and present reminder that God is not owned by any nation, race, or gender. Further more he welcomed trans and non-binary, along with homosexuals to follow him. Two groups Jesus heaped the most praise on in his own time was a gay Roman man, and a group of transgender eunuchs living within the Israeli towns. As such Jesus represented a time when those who are victimized will be welcomed, and those who are oppressors will be downcast.
Within 30 years of Jesus death on the cross, the new Christian religion saw converts among Africans, Asians, Greeks, and Romans. There were women in leadership, homeless shelters, and some of the first care facilities in the world. All people deemed less than by the Jewish elite of his time.
As I set here during the forty days of Advent I am called to remember that there is a time of hope coming. The ways of this current administration will pass away. And the evils committed by people in the name of God will also be punished. As in the time of Christmas we mourn the slaughter of children, now we must mourn the slaughter of trans people. Like these precious children we want nothing more than to live our lives, and grow into our own beauty. As I am dejected in my heart, and soul this winter I await a time for renewal.
More than ever I feel the pain that comes from injustice unstopped. I cry over the anguish my sisters and brothers feel as they face rejection, employment loss, and loss of family. I am enraged that we must worry about weapons of protection because a stranger may just clock us. And I wait for the world to change with a passion of determination. Like Jesus I refuse to see this world as it is, and instead want to give voice to how it should be. Like John I want to shout down the leaders that are nothing more than evil, and I want to break every chain that holds shut cages. This Advent I wait. I cry. I plod on.
One day soon a child will be born. One day soon a sunrise will occur that will signal a new day. Even as a right this I can see the dawn breaking. I know of churches I have met with, and Christians I have interacted with that are changing their minds, and standing with me. It is still a time of waiting, but the light is coming. I promise.
