Gospel Truths: Raptures and Hurricanes
Between the Lines of Not My Grandmother's Hymnal
When I moved to Florida for a fresh start in the fall of 2019, I expected hurricanes. I did not anticipate a pandemic or being reminded of my close call with the rapture.
Like many of us, I binge watched Netflix to help survive the loneliness and isolation of the early months of COVID. Even as social restrictions were lifted, my television viewing habits were forever altered.
Pray Away was released in August 2021. I watched this documentary about the horrible practice of conversion therapy used on LGBTQIA+ people with hurricane season in the background. The testimonies transported me back to a harsh season in my own life. While most of my religious experiences have been in the United Methodist Church, I spent a few years in and out of a pentecostal congregation.
I was lured in by bright lights and enchanting music. I was locked in by fear. The god they preached was full of anger and wrath. The hell they preached, prayed, and sang about was an eternal lake of fire. The only way to escape the inferno was by following their rules. There were endless lists of what not to do. There was also one particular demand of what not to be, homosexual. If there was anything stranger than their obsession with homosexuality, it was their fixation on the rapture, the idea that at any moment Jesus would burst forth from the eastern sky sucking selected christians up with him before the tribulation period began.
I was 18, depressed, and desperate when I walked through those doors. They knew this and used it to manipulate me. Watching Pray Away was like a replay of scenes from my younger life. Reruns of sermons that turned good news into a bad dream. Remembering people running around a sanctuary singing about being raptured while bodies were laid out on the floor covered in white sheets.
Christian understandings of good news are vast. The word gospel is often used interchangeably with good news. I memorized the names of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), long before I knew the gospel message. The god I first learned about as a child was one of love and kindness. With age, I encountered people that taught a jealous, vengeful, and violent god, who twisted us into obedience with threats of hell and promises of heaven.
My intention for publishing the poems of Not My Grandmother’s Hymnal is not to offer a theological statement about the gospel, but to give voice to the experiences that stirred my questions about good news.
What is it? How is it shared? Does it matter? What does it mean for us today, right here and now? What do we do when good news is hard to hear? What if good news for me is death for you…is it still good?
Pray Away gave me courage to speak about that specific religious trauma for the first time. In doing so, I realized I wasn’t alone. An important part of my healing was knowing it wasn’t just me. In part, I write poetry and reflections here at Wednesdays at the Well, that someone might know they are not alone, and be inspired to share their own stories of harm as a step toward healing.
In my seminary preaching course, every sermon submitted had to include a “good news statement.” These few sentences—clearly and succinctly offering the assurance of god’s transformational presence in our lives regardless of our circumstances—were usually harder to write than the sermon as a whole. It was especially challenging when the scripture text was not fluffy and sweet.
As we swirl closer to the release of Not My Grandmother’s Hymnal, I’m sharing more about the poems inside. The book includes 67 poems divided into 5 sections. This week I’ve introduced you to Section 1: Gospel Truths, anchored by the poem Raptures and Hurricanes, born from questioning scripture, theology, and the meaning of the hymns I sang with my grandmother.
If the section needs a good news statement, I offer these lines from the anchoring poem.
in event of rapture or hurricane
I’ll be right here
sharing hope and love
with others the church left behind
Tenderly, Rebecca
Want to hear some really good news? Pre-orders for signed copies of Not My Grandmother’s Hymnal: Composing a Curious Faith are now available. Visit our website 10CAMELS.com to get your copy today. As a small gift of gratitude for your presence here at Wednesdays at the Well, I share a discount code, good through February 8th. Enter GROUNDHOG10 at check out.
So looking forward to this. Your poetry is so beautifully rendered and understood.
So glad you continue “sharing hope and love” each week. It’s always a good thing to know that someone shares the shoes we walk in on our journey. Can’t wait to receive your new book of poetry.