Chapter 3

J-SETTING AND JESUS – SPIRITUALITY AND SANCTUARY

Just as some young Black people with diverse sexual identities embrace religion (Chapter 2), others chose to embrace spirituality. The stories of the latter group are chronicled in Chapter 3. The chapter describes the safe haven provided by spirituality for many young persons in the book and contrasts spirituality with its more formal peer, religion. Spirituality is presented as a mechanism for self-definition and self-expression that often reflects intentional usage of certain dimensions of Black Church culture - as well as secular beliefs and behavior. Narratives suggest that being spiritual also means being comfortable picking and choosing aspects of religion that are relevant – and discarding the rest. Moreover, J-Setting emerges as a spiritual expression. And just as Javon, Solomon, and Jamie describe the benefits of spirituality, Denver, Jemma, and LaJohn provide examples of syncretism when religion and spirituality are proactively and intentionally combined

Exercise: Defining Spirituality by James and Moore (2005), the Spiritual Life Map and Discussion Prompts

This is a classroom activity designed to encourage students to examine spirituality as an ethos. Students are expected to have read Chapter 3 in preparation for this class. The exercise can be completed individually, in groups or as an overall class discussion. Ask students to read the quote below silently and answer the subsequent questions. A discussion of the quote and its implications for Chapter 3 (and as a comparison and contrast with Chapter 2) should follow. Following the discussion, students are asked to complete a Spiritual Life Map and discuss its’ implications for Chapter 3. The two assignments can also be completed on separate days. In addition to understanding how spirituality can be defined and linked to examples from the chapter, completing the Spiritual Life Map may enable students to identify both past life challenges as well as key things, people, and groups that helped them overcome those challenges. Additionally, the exercise may help them recognize and remember their spiritual skills, knowledge, and abilities that enabled them to navigate difficult situations. Facilitators should note that completing the Spiritual Life Map may result in some students’ remembering painful dimensions of their pasts.

The following quote and definition of spirituality from Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity edited by James and Moore (2005: 191) undergirds Chapter 3:

“Spirituality” is the understanding of how I am connected to all things – seen and unseen. It is the acceptance of my own impurity, imperfection: I am neither all good nor totally evil. Spirituality is learning that in fact such words have little to no meaning to ‘God.’ Spirituality is the acknowledgment that I am on a journey, along which I will stumble. I am not the master of the path onto which I was born, but I choose the acts and energies that I embrace...spirituality is undergirded by the acceptance of responsibility for my own actions and inaction. The first call of Spirit…is to grow. The charges that follow are to learn, to accept the things we come to know, to embrace the truth, to love and finally to leave the god in us behind…when we are gone.

Discussion Prompts

1. After reading the quote, underline the words and phrases that resonate with you. Why do they “jump out” for you? Answer the following questions about the above quote on a separate sheet of paper. Be prepared to discuss your thoughts.

1. What is/are the message(s) in the quote? What words or phrases support your observations?
2. How did you feel as you read the quote? What did you think? Why?
3. Compare and contrast the quote with your understanding of “religion”? How do you think the quote is connected to the lives and experiences of Javon, Solomon, Jamie, Denver, Jemma, and LaJohn? Explain.

2. Spiritual Life Map Exercise

1. In this exercise, you will depict those spiritually significant events that represent your spiritual journey on a path, a roadway, or a single line. There are no right or wrong answers. This exercise represents your spiritual journey.
2. Using hand-drawn symbols, cut-out pictures, stickers, and so on, mark the key events along your journey (e.g., birth, death, epiphanies, loss of a job, spiritual growth, spiritual crisis, spiritual encounter, etc.). Instructors can provide students with a variety of pens, markers, magazines, and stickers to use.
3. Indicate on your life map the various trials you have faced along with the spiritual resources you have used to overcome those trials. You may want to depict hills, bumps and potholes, rain, clouds, lightning, and so on, to portray difficult life situations. Feel free to use words that you write or cut out of magazines to highlight these events.
4. Indicate your age at the various spiritual milestones along your journey, both those that were difficult and those that were positive.
5. Somewhere on the life map, indicate three spiritual strengths that you have developed while on your journey.
6. Take time to go around the group and share life maps (as students are comfortable doing so). What patterns did you notice? What strengths emerged from your life map? What are some successful strategies that you have used in the past that can suggest options for overcoming some of your present (and future) struggles?

3. What are some of the features of spirituality? Are some of these features distinct from religion (as presented in Chapter 2)? Might some of them be considered “religious”? What do the following types of words mean for this ethos (church, mosque, synagogue, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism)? Explain your responses.
4. What are some of the reasons Javon, Solomon, Jamie, Denver, Jemma, and LaJohn embrace spirituality rather than organized religion?
5. Discuss how spirituality can be considered an example of “queering” organized religion.
6. What is a “sidepiece” in secular terms? What does a “spiritual sidepiece” mean for certain young Black people with diverse sexual identities like Denver, Jemma, and LaJohn? How is the concept linked to syncretism?

Additional Reading and Documentary Resources for Chapter 3:

Cathy Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 1997 (3): 437-65.

James, G. Winston and Lisa C. Moore. 2005. Spirited: Affirming the Soul And Black Gay/Lesbian Identity. New Orleans, Louisiana: RedBone Press.

Jeffries, W. L., Brian Dodge, and Theo G. M. Sandfort. 2008. “Religion and Spirituality among Bisexual Black Men in the USA.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 10(5): 463-477, DOI: 10.1080/13691050701877526.

Johnson, E. Patrick. 2008. Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press.

Documentary: “Two Spirits” by Lydia Nibley (2011) (https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/two-spirits/)