God is Queer | 2025 Pre-Conference Devotional
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God does not faint or grow weary; God’s understanding is unsearchable.”
— Isaiah 40:28, NRSVue (adapted)
We’re continuing our exploration of our conference T-shirt today with our third phrase: “God is Queer.”
What does queer mean? In the context of LGBTQ+ identity, the Human Rights Campaign defines queer as “a term people often use to express a spectrum of identities and orientations that are counter to the mainstream. Queer is often used as a catch-all to include many people, including those who do not identify as exclusively straight and/or folks who have non-binary or gender-expansive identities. This term was previously used as a slur, but has been reclaimed by many parts of the LGBTQ+ movement.”
How, then, is “queer” a possible descriptor of God? We could explore the depths of queer theology (“Queer Theology” by Linn Marie Tonstad or Mihee Kim Kort’s book “Outside The Lines” are both great resources to start with) to theologically argue for how this claim is compatible with scripture. However, today, I want to explore something slightly different. I want to look at queerness and God through the lens of wisdom (or as Isaiah puts it, “understanding”).
As a person who identifies as queer, I find there is a deep wisdom in asking questions, and in not always having answers. There is something beautiful and enduring about mystery. Can I use words and labels to help me describe my gender? Sure. But no language can fully ever explain the internal experience that I have.
The way this verse from Isaiah starts reminds me of that mystery: “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” These questions point toward this truth that is expansive and beyond understanding. God is the Creator. Can you imagine trying to fully understand a relationship with the one that made everything? God is deeply wise, beyond what we can comprehend.
What if the very baggage that comes with the word “queer” is precisely what makes it appropriate to use for God? Consider that when God showed up on Earth, many found Jesus’ claims offensive and his cohorts included those who were most ostracized in society. His very complex identity is what landed him on the cross instead of Barabbas.
Perhaps God is queer because God defies our need for clear answers and full understanding. Maybe God is queer because God is Triune (a mystery to even the most wise theologians and biblical scholars) with personhoods that have been likened with feminine and masculine identities, like mother and father. We dare call God queer because miraculously, God is somehow both fully divine and fully human in Christ.
What mystery about God feels queer to you?
