Goodness Embodied: An intersex, nonbinary first human and a disabled risen Christ

Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

Avery shares their sermon from a recent worship service centered around the goodness of all bodies - particularly those the world labels broken or lesser. When so many of us are made to feel imprisoned by our own flesh, how do we embrace embodiment as something holy? Let's look to ancient interpretations of the first human (ha-adam) as intersex; connect this human's story to gender affirming surgery; and explore Jesus's choice to rise in a physical body with disabling wounds to discover how what the world calls broken, God calls Good.

Click here for an episode transcript.

Talking Points:

(0:00 - 7:27) Intro: unlearning Greco-Roman dualism that pits spirit over flesh; learning how autistic stimming connects our minds & bodies
(7:28 - 12:15) Scripture readings from Genesis 2:7-25, John 20:19-29, & 1 Corinthians 1:18-29
(12:16 - 14:11) The sermon begins - our bodes become cages in a world that teaches us some bodies are normative and all others are deviant; but Genesis 2 & John 20 teach us differently
(14:12 - 16:41) The first human, ha-adam - an intersex being with no assigned gender - created good, but in need of a helpful counterpart
(16:42 - 19:21) God does not deny or dismiss ha-adam's problem of aloneness, but identifies the problem and fixes it - what if we did likewise for the disability and transgender communities?
(19:22 - 22:02) God the first surgeon, creating two bodies where there was one - affirming the steps we take to be more at home in our bodies & demonstrating our need for community
(22:03 - 23:42) Jesus's body is also labeled lesser; Jesus is connected to ha-adam by scar tissue - a surgery performed in love vs. a soldier's spear
(23:43 - 26:14) Jesus keeps his body to connect to Thomas; to show us that we are not spirits in flesh prisons, but inspirited bodies; for the sake of all who are told to hate & punish their bodies
(26:15 - 29:55) Jesus keeps his disabling wounds to show that disability and wholeness are not incompatible; what does it mean if disability will not be removed, but redeemed?
(29:56 - 31:17) Both Jesus and ha-adam show us that interdependence is not weakness, but strength
(31:18 - 34:29) Showing our bodies love even when we struggle to love them
(34:30 - end) Wrapping up with a prayer

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Blessed Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast Network. Find more shows, such as Bible Bash, at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of Jeremy SH Griffith's pieces "Mod 5," "Sept 15 Jam," "Camilla," and "Mod 2."