"If we regard #Isaiah as speaking only of Jesus, as telling only our #Advent story, then what does our interpretation say about our [Jewish] friends and contemporaries? It is vital to affirm that God's presence—Immanuel—takes a different, but valid, form for our faithful neighbors."
-Tyler Mayfield

Hi there, I’m not sure I understand how your replies relate to my thread.

Even when others try to strip us of dignity, status, or autonomy, Christ brings us into joyous, abundant life. The cross is not the end of the story.

- Excerpt from the Blessed Are the Binary Breakers podcast, "A Queer Easter Vigil: resurrection after religious trauma"
#transgenderchristians

When we dare to be who God made us to be, society's spotlight may make us feel like one raw wound, exposed & vulnerable. We may even be subjected to social death. But we refuse to be ashamed any longer for being the beautiful embodied spirits, inspirited bodies God calls beloved. #queerchristians

But through the cross, Jesus transformed shame and death into new life. Though he was the one who was stripped, his execution exposed both the evil of Empire, and Empire's ultimate fallibility.

In school and at work, at home and in church, we face every manner of violence. And when these evils wound us to the point of suicide, or when we are murdered, our deaths are lifted up as a warning: "see what happens when you refuse to comply?"

Transgender & intersex persons are likewise made into a spectacle. Our bodies & private medical histories are broadcasted. New laws attempt to strip us of our God-given free will, denying us the autonomy to respond to God's invitation to participate in the ongoing creative act that is embodied life.

…who God made us to be, fully in good relationship w/ creation & other humans, when we Escape capitalism & its endless onslaught of “not enough,” of “work harder or you’re worthless.”)

Hope this makes sense & is clear I’m not disagreeing w/ you, just adding on! It is good to be in God, with you. 💚

Thus emerges an extension on our purpose being simply to Be:

To be in God. To be exactly who God made us. And to be /in relationship/ —with God, with other created things, and with one another.

As you wrote, we can Be in this way without producing a damn thing! (Indeed, we can really only fully be

However, I’d push that there’s a little more to our “purpose.” We see this by looking to the Being in whose image we are made:

Truly, God is God even if God never created a thing!

But, being Triune, God is NOT God outside of relationship. So neither are we /us/ outside of relationship.

You’re absolutely right that Being Productive, especially as capitalism defines productivity, is NOT necessary to fulfilling this purpose. And like all Creation, we do indeed glorify God simply by being whom God made us to be. Simply by /being,/ by resting inside our Creator, who is BEING.

I’m not usually fond of the older Reformed confessions, but I do appreciate Shorter Westminster Catechism on this topic [when edited for patriarchal language lol]:

Q. 1. What is the chief end of [humanity]?
A. [Humanity’s] chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy [Them] forever.