When I see terms like “flesh” and “sexual immorality,” my stomach tightens and grief rises in my throat. I know I’m entering scriptural territory that has been used for generations to exclude and hate. Sermons on texts like these have forced so many LGBTQI folks to leave churches, carrying trauma in their bodies, wondering if there is a God and if they are loved and whole.

Years ago as a teenager I attended a gathering focused on feminist, womanist, and queer theology. I didn’t yet know I’d end up falling in love with a woman and be called in spirit and body to a vocation of marriage.

At this gathering, a group of young activists and seminarians asked for a conversation with Catholic Worker and scripture scholar Laurel Dykstra. They were tired of having Bible verses condemning their sexuality spewed at them and wanted to know what Bible verses they could use to fight back.

Laurel listened to the pain and then responded, “The Bible should never be used as a weapon.” That was it. The conversation was over. Yes, we were receiving vicious attacks on our humanity, but we were not to return a shot with another shot.

So often, scripture is used as a weapon to harm, exclude, or deny another’s humanity.

So, friends, as we open these pages this week and every week, let us scrutinize the text to understand its historical and cultural context. But let us also take the words that summon justice, liberation, and community, while laying down our weaponized words by the riverside to study war no more.