The Benediction from Rachel Held Evans’ Memorial Service:

Blessed are the agnostics. Blessed are they who doubt. Blessed are those who have nothing to offer. Blessed are the preschoolers who cut in line at communion. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.

Blessed are those whom no one else notices. The kids who sit alone at middle- school lunch tables. The laundry guys at the hospital. The sex workers and the night-shift street sweepers. The closeted. The teens who have to figure out ways to hide the new cuts on their arms. Blessed are the meek. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.

Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like. Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried. Blessed are they who can’t fall apart because they have to keep it together for everyone else. Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet.” Blessed are those who mourn. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.

I imagine Jesus standing here blessing us because that is our Lord’s nature. This Jesus cried at his friend’s tomb, turned the other cheek, and forgave those who hung him on a cross. He was God’s Beatitude— God’s blessing to the weak in a world that admires only the strong.

Jesus invites us into a story bigger than ourselves and our imaginations, yet we all get to tell that story with the scandalous particularity of this moment and this place. We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image of a storytelling God. May we never neglect that gift. May we never lose our love for telling the story. Amen

- By the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber

Queendom: The A/theistic Beatitudes

Although she began writing lyrics at the ripe age of nine, Aurora Aksnes (whose stage name is simply: AURORA) didn’t plan on getting famous; she didn’t even plan on letting her music see the light of day. That is, until she performed an original song for a tenth grade assembly in 2012 and someone recorded it, subsequently setting it free to the world wide web—which went wild for it. Now, at age twenty-three, the Norwegian native has several albums under her belt, including two that were released as a pair just this year. One song to grace the record is the hit “Queendom,” which has an accompanying music video that has been viewed over seven million times. The song features AURORA’s dreamy flute-like vocals, an array of string instruments, angelic choral parts, and an overall upbeat and hopeful tone. The sprightly arrangement is from the point of view of a god announcing her decrees for this universe. At first blush, “Queendom” may sound like a carefully curated anti-canticle, especially considering the singer’s likely descriptor as a “religious none.” However, its rumination on scripture—whether purposeful or not—actually operates as gospel to the longsuffering victims of patriarchal structures, and the majority of contemporary Westerners now sensitized to it. As such, “Queendom” shows Christians how easy it is to preach the gospel in a sensitive—yet no less radical—way.

Following a short somewhat-cacophonous but buoyant instrumental intro, the song immediately breaks into bold proclamation: “The underdogs are my lions / The silent ones are my choir / The women will be my soldiers / With the weight of life on their shoulders.” Already, the speaker addresses the scope of this supposed “Queendom.” Often in the New Testament, the Pharisees ask Jesus a question similar to that which this initial stanza seems to answer: who will inherit the Kingdom of God? At every turn, Jesus leaves the inquirers dissatisfied in one of two ways; he either says: well, not you, or, wrong question. In the tenth chapter of Mark alone, the question comes up multiple times. First, the disciples rebuke children who try to touch their teacher; in response, Jesus rebukes them, “indignantly” saying: “’Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not into enter it,’” as he takes the young ones in his arms and blesses them.[1] In another scenario, a man approaches Jesus and asks: “’Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” After ridiculing the question and then giving an easy answer, the rabbi adds: oh, and, “’go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” The story says the man was disheartened and “went away sorrowful.” Turning to his disciples, Jesus explains how difficult it will be for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God; yet those “with persecutions” will have eternal life: “’But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’”[2] The male religious elite is presumably left out of this imaginary Queendom as well. Here, the privileged class will be comprised of underdogs, silent ones, and women. The last demographic is visually represented in the accompanying music video which features five young females—in addition to AURORA herself—in continuous embrace (kissing included). They consistently redirect their attention to she who sings, as if one of twelve.

The next lines are sung in higher notes, rung in with positive delivery: “Drink until you’ve had enough / I’ll drink from your hands.” These words, too, harken back to the words and actions of Christ, but the subsequent couplet is even more heavy-handed: “I will be your warrior / I will be your lamb.” Here, AURORA seems to blatantly conjure—perhaps even subvert—Christian symbolism. The lamb is one of the chief motifs in scripture, a literal element of Jewish worship frequently coopted in the New Testament to describe Christ’s atonement in familiar terms (or, alternatively, as fulfilled prophecy). The arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus are all associated with the ancient customs surrounding the Passover lamb. Models such as Penal Substitution and the Ransom theory depend on this analogy to explain how Christ, “a lamb without blemish or defect,”[3] took on the sins of humanity, just as ancient peoples did with young sheep to appease their god and re-purify their hearts. With this single—yet richly and religiously connotative—reference, AURORA’s audience is left to ponder these themes; but only for a moment, and only while listening to music that makes you want to get up and dance in the light.

Because they are followed by a change of pace paired with a period of expressive vocal riffs, these first two verses function as a single unit within the wider piece. Though several comparisons have already been noted, as a collective, these verses interestingly resemble another chunk of Mark 10. Titled “The Request of James and John,” the passage reads:

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[4]

Underdogs, silent ones, women (servants, slaves, the last among you); I’ll drink from your hands (The cup that I drink you will drink); I will be your lamb (he came to give his life for many).

The chorus comes for the first time at the end of a wordless melody, as a sort of chant: “Till queendom come / Till queendom come / My queendom come / my queendom come;” and the latter line is repeated twice more. With each reiteration, the proclamation becomes more assured, as if the anticipated “until” actually comes to fruition. Jesus says, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is here, now, within you; just believe it.[5] The next verse turns AURORA into a bona fide Psalmist: “The sea waves are my evening gown / And the sun on my head is my crown / I made this queendom on my own / And all the mountains are my throne.” The queen is characterized as natural, cosmic, and sublime. Sandwiched between choral repetitions, the final verse is both vulnerable and missional: “I hunt the ground for empathy / And hate the way it hides from me / Of care and thirst I have become / You have a home in my queendom / You have a home in my queendom / You have a place in my queendom,” and finally: “you have a home;” the last word stretched, slid into a higher pitch, and emphasized; home.

When set side-by-side to Mark’s gospel in this way, “Queendom”’s theological framework becomes apparent—it is far too similar to be shrugged off as coincidental. However, it is because of this that the piece falls into neither theism nor atheism. It acts as an aerosol hovering in the stratosphere of sacred tradition and drawing vapor from its water source, while simultaneously raining it back down into historically secular spaces. This language is one of the constructs used by authors Kutter Callaway and Barry Taylor in their new book Aesthetics of Atheism to define the contemporary phenomenon they call “a/theism.” The term is purposefully ambiguous—an “expression designed to function as a kind of heuristic device, signaling not the simple negation of theism (as with atheism), but instead an irreducibly complex, dynamic, and emergent mode of making meaning in a world where there might very well be no meaning at all.”[6] This a/theistic impulse reveals a deficiency within the Christian imagination as it “signals a yearning within the human person that is for one reason or another not satisfied by traditional religious expressions.” Consequently, “the way forward cannot be a matter of choosing between either atheism or theism,” yet “neither is it to bring together both theism and atheism in a way that generates some kind of magical synthesis between two otherwise mutually exclusive realities;”[7] rather, we’re in the territory of neither/nor.

According to Callaway and Taylor, the cultural artifacts that evidence this phenomenon abound, and the song “Queendom” fits squarely in their description. In fact, an entire chapter of their book is devoted to the exploration of a/theistic music as exemplified by three icons: Nick Cave, David Bowie, and Leonard Cohen. Among other reasons, this trio was chosen due to the fact that—like AURORA—“throughout their careers, each utilized biblical imagery, scriptural references, and religious symbolism in his music,”[8] yet not one of them ever claimed to formally adhere to Christianity. As the authors rightfully note, the use of such themes is not necessarily shocking, considering the artists were “birthed and bathed in Western civilization," which has long been fused with Christianity. The musicians utilize Christian verbiage in a variety of ways: to critique or challenge God (as in Cohen’s lyrics: “Vilified, crucified, in the human frame / A million candles burning for the help that never came”[9]); disparage at the state of current affairs (as in Bowie’s Live Aid rendition of the Lord’s Prayer on behalf of a hungry African continent[10]) or even seek revenge, (as in Cave’s post-traumatic album The Boatmen’s Call[11]).

In many ways, AURORA follows in the footsteps of these three musicians, especially in her rejection of the artificial binary between atheism and theism, instead presenting her listeners with an alternative: “to engage theology by intentionally avoiding the theological.”[12] However, in “Queendom,” she offers something different. Not only is the song’s mood a far cry from the disconsolate lyrics just mentioned, but she is…well, a she. Womanhood is clearly the crux of the piece, which is what most sets this song apart from both the aforementioned hits in addition to the scriptures previously explored. When asked about the background of the song, the young singer explained that it was birthed out of a conversation with her friends regarding the change they wish to see in the world. As to the title, in a striking statement somehow suffused with both innocence and prudence, she said: “The term ‘Queendom’ came up because we don’t really hear that a lot.”[13] In a political climate that has forced even the most complementarian believers to open their eyes to the evils of patriarchal institutions, a text—and its accompanying creeds and cadences—steeped in the patriarchy will never serve as a salve. If nothing else, the song shows how a simple gender switch can clear away some of the residue polluting the gospel message. It suggests that people want to hear it, but not in that way.

This is not a novel concept in the Christian tradition, but has in fact been accomplished in the work of people such as Julian of Norwich (who in the 14^th century wrote about Jesus as humanity’s true Mother), Rosemary Radford Ruether (one of the pioneers of feminist theology), and a swath of womanist scholars (a term birthed by Alice Walker to speak to the marginal intersections of black womanhood). Additionally, a new discourse recently emerged out of the sphere of Christian feminism where the male-oriented, imperialistic word “king-dom” is simply replaced by “kin-dom.” In an article discussing the background to this switch, Reta Halteman Finger describes the new phrase as getting at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer (“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”). The prayer is a “radical political statement”[14] in which Jesus sets up an alternative to the repressive Roman Empire (thus the specificity of kingdom made sense to this audience). The term shows how God’s reign is radically different from Caesar’s, and it is here and now. In our society, then, ’kin-dom’ might better reflect the kind of society Jesus envisions; a shared community of equals who serve each other. In closing, Finger offers this advice:

Changing language that has been memorized and is deep in many Christians’ ritual practice is not easy. Perhaps the best we can do is teach and explain what we know whenever possible—and keep using kin-dom language ourselves.[15]

The popularity of songs similar to “Queendom” along with the increasing numbers of people (especially within AURORA’s age bracket) leaving church signifies this kind of theology (Jesus’ kind; i.e. radical, and inclusive) is due for a resurgence. A 2018 report by the Pew Research Center polled Americans who self-identify as “religious nones,” believing in “nothing in particular”: descriptors that have recently sky rocketed in America. According to the study, this group is primarily comprised of ex-Christians, who left the faith because they either “question a lot of the teaching” (51%) or because they “don’t like the positions churches take on social/political issues” (46%). However, in analyzing these statistics for a Fox News opinion piece, J. Warner Wallace points out that of the seven responses available, the majority of pollers chose the last one: that none of these reasons are that important.[16] When asked if she believes in God, AURORA answers in a similar way (translated from Norwegian):

I am very spiritual. And I think, I hope, it's something that is much cleaner and more beautiful than us, who can inspire us to be as clean and beautiful as that. But I do not think we are punished if we make mistakes. It does not sound like something a clean and wise power would do. But I think, I hope at least, that there is something bigger than us. Religion has been the cause of mass war, and it is yet. But faith can also give courage and hope to people who are far down. I think that's really beautiful.[17]

She notably refrains from using masculine nomenclatures for God; when asked if she has directly experienced what she describes in the above quote, she says:

I think so. The closest we get to the Divine, is the love. To be in love or to love someone. Even when they do not love us back, we just want them to be happy.… Also when we help complete strangers and people we've never met, only that we want them to have it a little better. There is something magical about it. So maybe I believe in man. Maybe we have something of the pure and beautiful in us.[18]

Yet again, whether conscious or not, this young women speaks in gospel. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’s project was to flip the script on who is worthy: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” he says; blessed are those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the persecuted.[19] All AURORA does is flip it again, a bit further, this time to match the yearnings—and avoid the triggers—of her demographic. Jesus’ statements here are referred to as “The Beatitudes.” One definition of “beatitude” is supreme blessedness. Going on this definition, “Queendom” is nothing but musical beautitudes for our time. In the benediction she penned for the memorial service of her dear friend and colleague Rachel Held Evans, Lutheran theologian Nadia Bolz-Weber does this whilst maintaining the particularity of Christianity. Among those she blesses are “the agnostics,” “the sex-workers and the night street-sweepers,” and “the mothers who miscarried.” In closing, she spoke these words:

Jesus invites us into a story bigger than ourselves and our imaginations, yet we all get to tell that story with the scandalous particularity of this moment and this place. We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image of a storytelling God. May we never neglect that gift. May we never lose our love for telling the story.

Bolz-Weber calls Christians to live into our inherent imago-dei; AURORA shows us how it’s done. Name the least of these in society, call them supremely blessed, and watch as the kin-dom comes.

Notes

[1] Mk. 10:13-16 ESV.

[2] Mk. 10:17-31, ESV.

[3] 1 Pet. 1:19, ESV.

[4] Mk. 10:35-45, ESV.

[5] Lk. 17:21 and Mk. 1:15.

[6] Kutter Callaway and Barry Taylor, Aesthetics of Atheism: Theology and Imagination in Contemporary Culture (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2019), 5.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid., 116.

[9] Ibid., 136.

[10] Ibid., 129.

[11] Ibid., 126.

[12] Ibid., 116.

[13] Andrew Trendell, "AURORA: 'If People Don't Understand Your Sexuality or Sensitivity, My Queendom Is for You'," NME, November 02, 2018, accessed June 15, 2019, [14] Reta" class="redactor-autoparser-object">https://www.nme.com/news/music... Halteman Finger, "From Kingdom to Kin-dom-and Beyond," Christian Feminism Today, December 26, 2018, accessed June 16, 2019, https://eewc.com/kingdom-kindom-beyond/.

[15] Ibid.

[16] J. Warner Wallace "Young Christians Are Leaving the Church – Here's Why," Fox News, September 9, 2018, accessed June 16, 2019, [17] Kristine" class="redactor-autoparser-object">https://www.foxnews.com/opinio... Hovda, "Danser Med Demoner," D2, March 03, 2016, accessed June 16, 2019. https://www.dn.no/d2/profil/aurora-aksnes/joakim-haugland/geir-luedy/danser-med-demoner/1-1-5589887?v=99690.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Mt. 5:2-11.

Bibliography

Callaway, Kutter, and Barry Taylor. Aesthetics of Atheism: Theology and Imagination in Contemporary Culture. Minneapolis, MN: FORTRESS Press, 2019.

Finger, Reta Halteman. "From Kingdom to Kin-dom-and Beyond." Christian Feminism Today. December 26, 2018. Accessed June 16, 2019. https://eewc.com/kingdom-kindom-beyond/.

Hovda, Kristine. "Danser Med Demoner." Www.dn.no. March 03, 2016. Accessed June 16, 2019. https://www.dn.no/d2/profil/aurora-aksnes/joakim-haugland/geir-luedy/danser-med-demoner/1-1-5589887?v=99690.

Riddell, Rose. "Interview: A Warrior Spirit, Aurora." Coup De Main Magazine. May 17, 2017. Accessed June 16, 2019. https://www.coupdemainmagazine.com/aurora/12534.

Trendell, Andrew. "AURORA: 'If People Don't Understand Your Sexuality or Sensitivity, My Queendom Is for You'." NME. November 02, 2018. Accessed June 15, 2019. https://www.nme.com/news/music/aurora-queendom-lyrics-video-meaning-sexuality-outcasts-2393976.

Wallace, J. Warner. "Young Christians Are Leaving the Church – Here's Why." Fox News. September 9, 2018. Accessed June 16, 2019. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/young-christians-are-leaving-the-church-heres-why.