PRIDE: A Protest Against Shame
Happy Pride Month, friends! To kick us off for OUR month, we have Season 2 Episode 3 coming at you with why Pride still matters in a world where some people claim progress has already gone far enough.
We talk about the small-town queer kid who needs to know there is a larger community, the difference between Pride as parade and Pride as festival, and the way Pride holds together celebration, protest, remembrance, and joy.
We also explore Pride through a theological lens: Pentecost, public witness, the ministry of reconciliation, the communion of saints, and the kingdom of God here and now. For us, Pride is not the opposite of humility. It is a refusal to agree with shame.
This conversation also looks toward the podcast's upcoming sapphic series and invites you to consider how you are entering Pride Month as people of faith, queer people, allies, or seekers.
In This Episode
Pride as public witness
Why visibility still matters
The connection between Pride, protest, and queer history
Pentecost, language, embodiment, and belonging
The Church's call to reconciliation
Why queer joy is sacred
What Pride reveals to the Church today
The difference between shame and holy pride
Showing up as your full self
What we carry into Pride Month
Quotes to ponder…
What if pride is not the opposite of humility, but a refusal to agree with shame?
Pride still matters because we have not yet gotten to a place where full reconciliation has happened.
Just knowing Pride exists can be life-giving.
Queer people have existed forever.
When we are able to show ourselves, we are better for it as a community.
Pride is public witness. It says: we exist, we are beloved, and we are not alone.
What if Pride Month is a mini revival?
Make our pride a witness of love, a protest against shame, and a glimpse of God’s many-colored kingdom.
Questions to answer…
What are you carrying into Pride this year?
OR…
What do you think about pride not being the opposite of shame, but a refusal to agree with shame?
OR…
What things does this podcast bring up for you this week?
We are stoked to celebrate this month with you - whatever you may be bringing into it!
Doubt, Becoming, & the Faith We Carry Together
Hey there, friends! Excited for another week together. Today, we return for season two episode two with a conversation about doubt, becoming, and what it means to keep showing up when faith feels uncertain.
We begin with the question: Can doubt be part of faith instead of the opposite of faith? From there, we reflect on the church traditions that shaped us, the difference between asking questions in safety and asking questions under authority, and how doubt can feel especially complicated for queer people who have been taught to question the truth of their own lives.
I (Tym) share about growing up in a church context where questions were technically allowed, but often answered in ways that made me feel like I should not have asked. Anny reflects on growing up in the Episcopal Church, where confirmation, catechism, common prayer, and liturgy created containers for questions rather than requiring absolute certainty.
Together, we talk about scripture, tradition, reason, experience, deconstruction and reconstruction, hell, the afterlife, Thomas, the Ascension, the baptismal covenant, and the power of saying, “I will, with God’s help.”
At the center of the episode is a deeply hopeful claim: doubt does not have to isolate us. When held in community, doubt can become part of our healing, part of our becoming, and part of a faith that is honest enough to be real.
Key themes
Doubt as part of faith
Queer becoming
Faith and uncertainty
Deconstruction and reconstruction
The Episcopal tradition and common prayer
Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience
Thomas and the need for “receipts”
The Ascension and “some still doubted”
The baptismal covenant
Community as a container for questions
Naming doubt without rushing to solve it
Faith that does not have to be fearless
Quotes to sit with
“Doubt is not the absence of faith. Doubt is what leads to greater faith.”
“Faith can’t exist without doubt.”
“Naming doubt can break isolation.”
“Community can hold questions we cannot hold alone.”
“Faith does not have to be fearless to be real.”
“The thing that binds us together is not common belief, but common prayer.”
“Doubt can reveal where theology has harmed us.”
“I will, with God’s help.”
Listener questions
How does this wondering feel to you: What if I don’t need certainty in order to keep showing up?
Or…
Jesus made room for Thomas. God mad room for all the Old Testament leaders and prophets - the ones who doubted their call, their place, and even God’s words… What would it mean for the Church to do the same?
Or…
What is this episode bringing up for you this week?
And remember: You belong here! <3
Back At It Again!
Welcome back to The Priesthood of All Queer Believers... Season Two is here.
In this first episode of the new season, we ease back into the podcast with honesty, humor, and reflection. We talk about taking a short break after a full year of producing this podcast, moving to a Wednesday release rhythm (and away from our Tuesday release rhythm), and what it means for the podcast to become more fully our own while remaining deeply shaped by our context at Church of the Redeemer in Cincinnati.
The heart of the episode centers on rest. Not rest as laziness. Not rest as avoidance. But rest as Sabbath, reset, deep listening, and spiritual practice.
We explore how rest shows up in scripture, in the Daily Office, in the Benedictine rhythms of stability and conversion of life, and in queer bodies that have often had to stay guarded in order to survive. Together, we wonder what it means to return to ourselves, to God, and to community with a little more tenderness and capacity.
This episode also marks a new season of connection. We invite YOU, the listeners, to interact, respond, and share what you are carrying as the podcast continues to grow. Share your comments here, whatever they may be.
In this episode
We talk about:
Beginning Season Two
Moving to Wednesday releases
The podcast becoming more fully their own
Church of the Redeemer as part of the podcast’s ongoing context
Being named on a top queer Christian podcast list (curated by Million Podcasts)
Rest, Sabbath, and spiritual reset
Martha and Mary
The Prodigal Son
Benedictine deep listening
Queer embodiment and the discomfort of becoming
The Daily Office as a rhythm of pause
Queer joy, relationships, weather, and rest
Listener questions
What does rest make possible for you?
Or:
Where do you need permission to pause?
Or:
What is this episode specifically bringing to mind for yourself?