Social Constructs, transgender, transracial, transformational, transcendent, transubstantiation.

for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart

The Old Testament reading, for those following the Episcopalian lectionary for this coming Sunday, is 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13. It is about Samuel anointing David and talks about how the Lord sees mortals.

It is interesting to think about this in light of the big discussions online this week about Caitlyn Jenner and Rachel Dolezal.

A week and a half ago, a friend posted on Facebook:

I'm wondering if Caitlyn Jenner was to come to your church would she be embraced or rebuked? I'm preaching the Gospel this morning and you don't have to say amen....

I responded,

I know that God loves me more than I can understand or comprehend. I know that God loves me in spite of things I have done that others, and perhaps even God, doesn't approve of. I know that God has commanded me to show that love to all.

I am sure that the church I attend would show the same love from God to Caitlyn, to myself, or to any other Jew or Gentile that comes.

Now, people are arguing about Rachel Dolezal. I wonder what some of my friends are thinking now. Does God love Rachel Dolezal the same way God loves Caitlyn Jenner? How are we called to love one another? If you want to be really radical and really muddy the waters, throw Eric Casebolt into the mix.

Concerning Rachel Dolezal, a friend posted,

Chances are, if she had been honest about her actual race, she would have been sidelined as a candidate for any type of diversity-related positions she applied for. It's a little disingenuous for anyone to say, "She could have done such good work if she'd just been honest with everyone."

For good or ill, my observation has been that white applicants are *never* seriously considered for these types of jobs.

I responded,

As a white male who was named a CT Health Foundation Fellow in the fight against racial and ethnic health disparities and as co-chair of the communications committee of CT Multicultural Health Partnership, I've found that white people are often accepted and welcomed in diversity related positions, at least here in Connecticut .

Another friend posted about being more concerned about Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas saying,

"My sadness is that we are probably today more race and difference-conscious than I was in the 1960s when I went to school. To my knowledge, I was the first black kid in Savannah, Georgia, to go to a white school. Rarely did the issue of race come up."

Here, I go back to some of my experiences with the CT Health Foundation Fellows class and the idea of the Conscious Competence model.

To me, this fits nicely with the Conscious Competence model. For any issue, we start off unconscious and incompetent. Then, we become consciously incompetent. Then, we develop competence and become consciously competent. Ultimately, it becomes second nature and we become unconsciously competent.

The discussions these days seem to be around the painful awakening of our country's history of racism. Yes, in the sixties activists fought for civil rights. Blatant racism such as around segregation and voting rights were addressed, but subtle racism around driving while black and white privilege perhaps wasn't confronted by most people. Now, more and more people are seeing their unconscious racism and getting to the point of struggling with it. That is, with the exception of people like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

So, where do we go with all of this? I’m not sure. What does it mean to be male, female, black, white, transgender, transracial, racist, sexist, or part of so many other constructs?

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.