All of life is a spectrum. God made it so. Now, some of the language in our scripture may seem more black and white: male and female, light and dark, land and seas, sheep and goats, life and death. But again, language doesn’t make things so, God makes them so.
I’m especially fond of dawn and dusk. I’ve never been a fan of afternoons, but when the bright lights of a blue and orange Colorado sunset appear it makes me happy for that fleeting moment of transition. A sacred time that’s neither light nor dark, even though God supposedly separated them in Genesis. Dawn and dusk feel like possibility.
Estuaries are another sacred in-between where the freshwater of rivers meets the saltwater of the ocean, even though God separated land and sea in Genesis. Similarly, mangroves and wetlands represent other transitional ecosystems. More than a geographical oddity, they are a miracle of God’s creativity. Many types of life thrive in these in-betweens, from oysters, blue crabs, crocodiles, otters and migratory birds.
And speaking of birds, the many types of flightless birds are another amazing in-between. There are approximately 60 species of flightless birds. A flightless bird barely qualifies in our mind as a bird, but life doesn’t conform to our rigid ideas. Emus, ostriches, penguins are all birds, yet they run on land or swim in the sea.
God’s love of diversity, of spectrum, is obvious in these in-betweens regardless of how you read scripture. Sometimes life speaks God’s word louder than the words of humans. Far from chaos, this diversity brings possibility.
Two Spirits
Indigenous cultures recognized a kind of sacred in-between that we might call gender-expansive, gender-fluid or transgender in our culture. This isn’t some recent conspiracy. Indigenous people have used the term, “Two-Spirit,” for ages to honor people who sit on a spectrum between male and female or may embody both. They aren’t seen as something dangerous or strange, they are seen as an important and intentional part of God’s design. Two-Spirited people are a living testimony to the endless creativity of the divine.
Two-Spirited people hold important roles in their communities as healers, mediators and keepers of tradition. Unlike our modern post-Enlightenment Protestantism, Indigenous wisdom has always respected that God’s creation resists strict categories.
Some Native American tribes considered Two-Spirited people to be a kind of spiritual connector, bridging not just male and female but physical and metaphysical. They weren’t shunned or simply tolerated, they were celebrated. Just as we might celebrate dawn or dusk, estuaries and flightless birds, Indigenous people celebrated the gender-expansive family members as a profound representation of depth, diversity and complexity.
Can you open your heart and mind to accept that not all of God’s diverse creation can be spoken of in a creation myth created thousands of years ago? This myth that separates light and dark has nothing to say about dusk and dawn, yet we can still celebrate those moments. It has nothing to say about places where land and sea meet or birds that swim in the oceans, yet we know they are God’s creation. Can you stop fearing transgendered people and accept them with love and celebration as part of God’s divine plan? Can you see that differences are not threats, but possibilities?
“Because it is such a powerful force in the world today, the Western Judeo-Christian tradition is often accepted as the arbiter of ‘natural’ behavior of humans. If Europeans and their descendant nations of North America accept something as normal, then anything different is seen as abnormal. Such a view ignores the great diversity of human experience.”
Walter L. Williams, The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture
I understand that new ideas are scary. But as the Two-Spirited people of Indigenous cultures show us, gender-fluidity is not a new idea at all. It may just be foreign to our own culture which has been steeped in an unfortunate fundamentalist narrative for over 100 years and an overarching violent patriarchy throughout most of our Christian history despite the inclusive and feminist action of our Lord. If you feel fear when you meet a transgendered person, remember that fear may be God’s voice calling you into deeper love, into a deeper relationship with all that God has created. I promise you that in your interactions they will not turn you transgender and you will not turn them cisgender. But you will find new connections and widen your idea of community, just as Jesus opened His table to marginalized people in His day. Transgendered people won’t turn you queer, but they do have a lot to share about isolation, abandonment, waiting, healing and authenticity. These are lessons we could all learn. These are the areas where we all need to grow. These are the reasons to step into the in-betweens.
If you fear the Two-Spirits for religious interpretations, I can help you set that aside as well. I’ve been writing on the many reasons I don’t think the Bible opposes loving, monogamous and committed same-sex relationships for a long time and you can find these Chrisitan LGBTQ+ articles here. The Bible even explicitly welcomes gender-expansive people, so maybe you can, too.
But Matt, I’ve read your stuff and what if you’re wrong? I don’t know. I and many others over the last two thousand years have been wrong about a lot of things. But in the end, what’s the harm if I’m wrong compared the harm being done to transgendered kids right now by people who disagree with me? Your relationship with God cannot possibly be determined by your interpretation of scripture. I know this because there are over 45,000 protestant denominations that disagree on almost everything you can imagine. I know you don’t determine your relationship with God because it is a gift through God’s grace:
Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.
Just like I can look at dusk and dawn, estuaries and flightless birds and see that creation is beyond the Biblical narrative, I can see the results of two philosophies with my own eyes. Narrow-minded, fundamentalist teaching has led to hate and destruction aimed at transgendered people, especially youth. Exclusion, alienation and increased risk of suicide cannot be God’s plan, and we cannot take part in it no matter how we read the Bible. But inclusion leads to restoration of individuals, families and entire communities of faith. I personally have no doubt that the Two-Spirited among us have been called by God to walk their path, teach us and heal us. But if you still have doubts, I simply ask that you put Jesus’ call to love first in your heart before anything else. Step into the beauty of God’s in-between spaces and even if your head is not transformed, your heart will be.
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This was a beautiful reminder of God’s love of diversity. I really resonated with the idea of finding God in the in-between spaces – the liminal moments and transitions that we often overlook. It’s important to respect our transgendered friends, but also don’t forget to focus on the areas in our lives that are those in-betweens. Too often, we get caught up in the big, dramatic events and milestones, when some of the most profound spiritual experiences can happen in the quiet, unassuming moments in between.
One idea that came to mind as I was reading is the concept of “thin places” – those locations or situations where the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds feels especially thin. Perhaps we can think of the in-between spaces as “thin times” – moments where we are more attuned to the sacred and the divine.
Another thought is the role of patience and presence in these in-between times. Rather than rushing through the transitions, what if we slowed down and fully inhabited those spaces? Maybe there are important lessons and insights to be gleaned if we’re willing to be still and attentive.
Thank you for your kind and thoughtful comments. I’m a big believer in thin spaces and also thin people. I think the purpose of seeking out sacred space and prayer is to thin ourselves out. Certainly dawn and dusk are moments where puzzling beauty break through and can only be described as divine. I’m very interested in your idea about being patient with the in-betweens. There’s a lot the contemplate there, both in how we experience the in-betweens and also in how we relate the the parts of creation that don’t fit our preconceived notions. We’re always in a rush to get to where we think we’re going or in a rush to change things we don’t yet understand.
Can I be picky with you? I love this article and I really do not like the new yellow background. Can you go back to the light blue? The light blue was so calming it felt like home when I’d visit.
Thanks Lila. You’ll be happy to know the blue is coming back next week. I tried to match the background to the liturgical season this year, so Lent was a lavender and Easter has been a yellow. Maybe next time I use a yellow I’ll pick something milder. Or then again, maybe not because I might forget or just not take a lot of time on it. Ha!