EPISODE 730 YOUR OWN PERSONAL MULTIVERSAL JESUS
And a Thousand Coming Outs
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
MULTIVERSAL JESUS
Ezra Miller, the cinematic DC Universe’s speedster the Flash, was recently quoted as saying the Flash “is the one who brings the multiverses together, just like Jesus.”
Now, at this point it’s probably not a good idea to give Miller much attention, because, as that article brings home once again, they are a total mess, destructive to others and themselves.
But as someone who is interested in the intersection of pop culture and spirituality, I must say it did get the juices flowing. Like, is Miller saying that the Flash in the maybe-upcoming-but-stay-tuned somehow saves the entire multiverse, and so that’s how he’s like Jesus? This would represent a pretty classic misunderstanding of Jesus—the man showed up during the Roman occupation of Israel and absolutely did not free the Jews or overthrow the Roman Empire. In fact (spoiler) he got executed. But it is a very understandable interpretation.
In fact—*deep breath*—it could be that Miller is really implying that the Flash is going to die to save the multiverse, which is a thing that happens in the comics (sort of), but again, that is actually not what Christians mean by Jesus died to save us, as the continued existence of pretty much every tragedy including the sudden and complete (and multiverse ending-like) destruction of whole homes, communities or islands kind of proves.
(When people say “Jesus saves,” it’s always worth asking the question, “Saves what?”)
Or is Miller saying that the Flash inspires people/beings across the multiverse to be their best selves, and so is like Jesus in that way, which would be a more nuanced take on Jesus?
Or perhaps their point is that by virtue of Flash’s ability to travel across dimensions he’s like Jesus, which would be sort of like saying the airline pilot who flew from Los Angeles to New York is American Jesus. “I have united the coasts and so now I am your savior!”
An even more interesting question for me came from Twitter.
Is there a Jesus for other dimensions? If not, what’s up with that, God?
And if so where does that leave our Jesus? Does the very possibility of a multiverse itself show how ridiculous it is that any Christian group might insist that there is only salvation through Jesus, or even that Jesus is the only full revelation of God?
These are very silly questions that can really get some people wound up. The bottom line is, it’s God. Everything is possible.
ICYMI, Queen Elizabeth died last week.
It’s been a week of events, way too many for me to follow, honestly. Probably the biggest one as the week has gone on is that people have been waiting 24 hours to pay respects at the Queen’s casket, and the BBC has been running a 24-hour livestream of the people waiting.
As the funeral is happening this morning at 6am that’s all over now. But I happened to pop in for a bit yesterday. And at first I was just struck by all the people, who again have waited a day to get here, just sort of uncertainly bowing for a moment before walking away. And then there were others who just walked past, like they were passing through on their way to Tesco. I saw one older lady step back behind the main queue and quietly blow the Queen a kiss, which was sweet. About two minutes three middle aged people stood in front of the casket and made this weird set of gestures like they were reps from Hogwarts casting a spell.
But you know, the longer I watched, the more I found myself sort of sucked into the space. It was very quiet in the chamber as people passed through; you heard no talking, no cell phones, just the echo of feet and the ambient sound. And there was power in that silence. It was inviting. I actually stopped watching for a bit and just sat in that silence.
I wrote an article last week for America about the faith of the Queen. Mostly I read through her Christmas addresses, and I found within them a great plain-spoken faith. As much as she might be remembered for her fabulous outfits, when it came to religion and life she was not much for ornamentation.
Watching the livestream was like that. There’s nothing flashy here, just a great silent simplicty. And yet that itself offered something profound.
I love the Modern Relics newsletter. Rohan Salmond does lots of fun and interesting stuff around religion and pop culture. This week he has a great bit about this people on Twitter saying before she died Queen Elizabeth converted to Islam and whether or not she might have been a descendant of the prophet Mohammad. Highly recommend!
The Queen’s funeral starts at 6am EST. Find the livestream from the BBC here.
A BROADWAY PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
The new season of Broadway has begun, and no one paid $150 to hear you sing. So, um, don’t.
COMING OUT, AND OUT, AND OUT
There was a great interactive article in the New York Times last week about how television shows have covered coming out stories over the years, and in particular the focus on listeners’ faces.
It’s a wonderfully crafted story. A truly visual essay. Well worth checking out.
But I also loved the point that coming out is not a thing that happens once and is done with, that you’re constantly doing it. When I wrote about being gay a couple years ago I very much thought of it as an end point of sorts, an expression of something that I had been working with for a long time.
But in fact coming out more sets a bar for yourself. I am open about who I am. And living up to that can be challenging at times. It’s risk, and that’s not easy. But if you don’t do it, I am finding, you’re basically just returning to a very familiar and comfortable closet. And that is not a path to life.
Here’s how Maya Salam put it.
As I’ve learned incrementally, painstakingly, coming out is more a grand moment shattered into a thousand coming-outs—sprinkled over a lifetime, swept together into once great truth. Each fragment requiring a leap of faith.
The other thing that Salam’s article reminds me is the way in which coming out is a way in which we that are queer (or holding back any other part of ourselves for that matter) are choosing to affect the world. When you come out, you create ripples, many of which you cannot anticipate or will ever know about. That’s a gift that we offer to the universe.
I think for me a big part of the ongoing process of coming out is allowing myself to claim space—that is, saying that my own needs and story have merit and are worthy of a space in existence. Living in a closet teaches you to accept less, and working in the church often teaches you should be happy to have even that. Don’t rock the boat; be grateful we let you onboard at all.
And so any act of claiming space feels uncomfortable, if not just plain wrong. If I can think of it in terms of the good that it might do for others, it’s a little easier to push through.
THREE TWEETS
If you understand this tweet you are very old.
So if I play this backward can my baby have a conehead?
The truth we’re afraid to face.
I BET IT’S GOOD THOUGH
I really liked that article on the New York City park. It had great storytelling and also a really top notch insight—if you take a space that is abandoned and you use it, it actually improves the quality of the neighborhood.
It’s true, bad things can happen anywhere, but you know what’s a real magnet for bad stuff? Abandoned, fenced off places.
In this case it’s not first and foremost a space per se but a building that had been used for activities and is now just an ugly eyesore storage station. But what’s interesting is the sort of social cancer phenomenon that the article depicts. First there was the station, which changed the vibe of the park. And then that brought some pretty bad stuff going on there, which the city tried to correct not be fixing the use of building but by fencing off certain areas. But then the park has only gotten less safe, and the problems have spilled out further into the local community.
This week, an article about a comedian I don’t know but I’ve been hearing a lot about, Kate Berlant.
Have a great week! Happy Fall!
Thanks for the shout out!