During 2016, we’ve heard inspiring words that have called us deeper into our work for justice. Here are just a few of our favorite quotes from this past year’s CLGS events:
Joy dares us to live a deep spirit and spirituality. Joy dares us to live justice. Joy takes us out of the folds of the old wounds that make all of us perform unnatural acts like transsexism, sexism, and heterosexism. Joy means creating communities that are bodies of hope and righteousness that spit in the face of the cultural production of evil.
– Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes, “The Dancing Mind/Queer Black Bodies,” John E. Boswell Lecture, April 21, 2016
Our challenge each and every day is to try to refuse to be a part of this mess and be about the business of crafting moral thought that is not terrified of the curve of our hips, the arch of our backs, the slow swing in our walk, the glide of our fingers, the fire in our eyes, the coil of our hair, the deep moans and shouts of our ecstasies, the voluminous well cries of our sorrow, the slow bend of our smiles, the precision of our minds, the sass of our talk. Not terrified of my body and your body that carry our past, our present, our future, perfectly and imperfectly.
– Rev. Dr. Emilie M. Townes, “The Dancing Mind/Queer Black Bodies,” John E. Boswell Lecture, April 21, 2016
I will not take any more crumbs. No more crumbs. I’m done with begging for a place at the table. In fact, I don’t want just a place at the table. We’ve got to throw this table out. We need a whole new table.
– Rev. Israel I. Alvaran, Webinar with United Methodist clergy who signed the Come Out Letter in May 2016, September 27, 2016
I think it’s important that people take this opportunity to really expound on things like equality, inclusion, diversity. These words need to become transformed into our lives in a relative way that they are applicable, that we are actually working it, that people can actually say well if this is what I believe, if I truly believe in equality, if I truly believe in justice for all, it is justice for all, not justice that is selective, because … a justice that is selective … is an oxymoron, that’s not justice at all.
– Rev. Mykal Slack, Trans Voices of Faith Speak Out: Webinar on North Carolina HB 2 Repeal Campaign, September 22, 2016
The crux of what we’re talking about is not so much about how to get into a Bible battle with someone, because that’s not what we’re going to be doing, but it’s about highlighting our humanity and our kinship.
– Rev. Roland Stringfellow, Umoja Project Training, October 22, 2017