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  Theology of Hope and Healing From A Bisexual Transman with Depression and Anxiety Introduction There’s a questionnaire that I answer often. It’s called a safety plan. The full gist of this questionnaire is that it will be used in case I have suicidal ideations or express suicidal behavior. There are two questions that stunt my progress. “Why do you value your life?” and “what brings you hope?”. I don’t know. I’m discerning if I’m looking for a theology of hope or a theology of healing. Formed in the Presbyterian tradition the answers are easy. I have hope in the resurrection and the life ever after. I value my life because God, creator, father, beginner knitted me in my mother’s womb and knew me by name. Fairly rehearsed. There’s something missing, a bridge from theology on paper to my lived experiences. My first quiz in Seminary was to rehearse John Calvin’s definition of faith which included the words “a firm and certain knowledge…both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our ...
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Home Beneath the Church - Poetry Collection - A Mini Review


You know that feeling when your emotions and feelings just received a jolt and are now on the fritz? It is a feeling when your quiet thoughts and aching memories find a similar soul to speak the same language. That is how Home Beneath the Church by Lauren Davis feels for me: a meeting of feeling and energy beyond any spoken word.

But this is a mini review, and this poetry collection is very much full of words, experiences, word play, and something mystical. Maybe even divine.

The poetry collection is broken up into three sections. Other than being a division of the poems, there is almost very little difference between each section. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Just a bit of nuance from an editorial perspective.

A bit of the poems are more prose poems, there are a few rhyming gems such as "But Most of All". Theologically, there are snippets of the Christ story where Davis reinterprets Mary, the woman who anoints Jesus's feet, as a mother. There is something so beautiful about this new interpretation in "On the Deck" that is a must read. Just for fun, you can juxtapose Davis's interpretation with John 12.

My most favorite poem is "Put Me to Sleep" because it is so vulnerable and so literary. I am a total sucker for literary! The narrative of the poem begins with a jolt! "Chef slams the skillet down," Davis writes, "yells for eggs." Eggs. Not eggs! It is a little play for the readers.

Do check out Home Beneath the Church with caution, but the good kind of caution. This poetry collection will speak to your soul.

 

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