Bear Witness

At the end of January, I found my painting, “The Gulf of Empathy,” going viral, quite by accident. I want to tell you a little about what I learned through going viral — and for what “going viral,” I think, means for the larger moment in time.

After the painting went viral, seen by hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people around the world, I knew this moment was bigger than me, and the outpouring of love and support I received as an artist was as much a testament to Bishop Budde, speaking truth in the face of malevolent power. Her words that day spoke to millions of people.

Her message was profound — and we need to hear more of this side of Christianity, rather than the hate-filled rhetoric of exclusion, racism, sexism, and violence that seems to be what the evangelical side of Christianity, the ones who get to voice the “Christian response” in the media, offers. The one that’s also been promoted to Trump’s Office of Faith, which will be searching for “anti-Christian bias” in the United States. But whose Christianity, which bias?

The rest of the world — the people I heard from — felt more promising. They are full of empathy and compassion, and I got the emails and responses to prove it. From everywhere.

The world is with you, Bishop Budde, and with those who stand up for the marginalized, the unprotected, and who stand up to tyranny and megalomaniacs and oligarchs. People around the globe understand, on an international diplomacy level, on a war-mongering level, that everyone is in danger with Trump and Elon Musk in power. And they find hope in reminding him, and us, what the role of a leader should be.

This is why, I think, a little painting went viral.

“The Gulf of Empathy,” is an 11 x 15 watercolor and mixed media painting based on how I felt about the real-life moment Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde delivered her sermon at the inauguration. In the painting, I show the Bishop standing with hundreds of people, her arms outstretched to protect them, as Donald Trump, his administration and the billionaires stand on the other side of a great gulf, which I call “the Gulf of Empathy,” a play on the Gulf of Mexico, something he purposefully refuses to acknowledge as well. It is another great gulf that he has trouble bridging.

The Bishop and her Plea for Mercy

In her sermon, in those words directed at the President but also for millions in other countries, I heard her protection over me, a gay artist and writer, as well as over all the other groups of people scared, anxious about how he would use his second Presidency, something he’d been plainly describing for years.

I saw her plea for mercy in a clip first.

I didn’t want to see the inauguration, see manipulation, hatred, sexual assault, fascism and nationalism get the rewards of seemingly limitless power. I was at home in West Texas, visiting my parents for my birthday. I didn’t want them to feel like they had to miss it because of me. So I went over and did work at the church building. I literally hid out at my parent’s Southern Baptist church, where my dad is the minister. I realize the irony. But an empty church building felt more safe than watching the inauguration.

So I didn’t know that someone stood up for us, the rest of us, on this day that was designed to be all about him. I didn’t think that would happen — and I think folks on both sides of the political divide didn’t think that would happen either, given the strong reactions, both positive and negative.

I think the Bishop was respectful. She was a Bishop delivering a sermon to one of the most powerful men in the world on the brink of his ascendancy to a position he had already hinted would give him the chance for vengeance. What she said to him, what she asked for? She asked for mercy.

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.

And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, and temples.

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands, to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. The good of all people in this nation and the world.” — Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Inauguration Sermon on Unity.

I felt moved and hopeful about her message. Someone spoke for us. Someone asked for protection, even though I didn’t have confidence that the President would truly listen. What I was happy about is that her message went viral all over the world.

People connected to her message. They connected to mercy, compassion, empathy. It gave me hope that all those who really listened agreed. We had come a long way in the rights of LGBTQ+ people around the world, and though we still had far to go, the response to her sermon — -to protecting LGBTQ people, specifically trans children, and undocumented immigrants and refugees — all of that gave me hope. I believed Tyranny was making its last stand here, and it had a foothold in many places (lets be clear), but the numbers will always be against it. There are exponentially more people for equality, inclusion, mercy, empathy and love than there are against it. They are not always the ones in power, but if we realized how to wield our collective power — in our numbers — together, we could still change the world.

Going Viral

From reading articles after the inauguration, this one from the Washington Post, I know that going viral was not something the Bishop was trying to do, nor was it something she found completely pleasant. The amount of mail looked overwhelming for anyone. She received lots of support, lots of love in letters, emails, calls. But her actions also attracted a lot of hate, first from JD Vance and the President who called her “nasty” and then, of course, the army of lock-step Republican Senators and Representatives had to genuflect in his direction by condemning her in various ways. This was followed by the trolls who worship Trump, who through anonymity were gave her their vitriol, and even threatened her life.

When the House drew up a bill condemning her actions as “political activism,” she responded to that in the Post article, ‘“It isn’t political activism for a pastor to ask for mercy,” she said. “It is an expression of Christian faith and the teachings of Jesus.”’

Yeah, Jesus didn’t want to go viral either.

There are many times in the Bible that Jesus asks people not to tell others what he’s done. Theologians call this the “Messianic Secret” and I believe it was so Jesus could have more time spread the teachings of God and not have to deal as much with the virality of Jesus’s power, the hate. Spreading word about his miracles and power could alert the Romans far faster than would give time for Jesus to do what he needed to do.

Many times he is reluctant to “start” the ministry, especially with miracles. He tells his mother, Mary, at the wedding that it isn’t his time yet when she suggests he do something about the wine shortage. Still, he tells those working the wedding to fill vats with water, and that becomes the new wine.

We sometimes forget that Jesus had only 3 years to do his ministry before he was arrested, tortured, and killed because he threatened the balance of power in the region.

Surely Jesus realized this early and this is partly why he asked disciples who discovered he was the “Christ” (who they’d been waiting for) to not tell anyone. Why he tells demons who want to rat him out to the crowds to “be silent.” Why he tried so hard to squash the uncontrollable spread of news of his power. It should not be faster than his message could take hold. He needed the message to travel faster and farther first, to travel deep into people’s souls. Would even 3 years be enough?

But Jesus went viral, and then he had to embrace it, knowing that he couldn’t stop what was happening.

When we talk of following Jesus, we normally do not talk about a short ministry that ends in murder. All the talk of evangelical Christians today, and of “prosperity gospel” Christians, would lead you to believe that a Christian has everything to gain if God is on your side — all gold and sunshine shall be yours — and that you will have wealth, power, prestige — because you have the faith to have it all. But that wasn’t Jesus’ life. He had the most faith — why wasn’t he rich then? Why wasn’t he blessed with 40 years of ministry?

Because he gave power back to people.

Because he gave an oppressed people hope.

Because he gave people a way to endure, and even ignore, the pressure of the powerful.

Because he took away even the power of Death itself. The threat was gone.

Because he scared the powerful.

He attracted listeners, large crowds, and as we know from the last four election cycles, crowd sizes scare people. If someone’s crowds are too big, then they threaten the status quo. It means people are listening, people can be organized together to make major changes. Bernie understood that, but his crowd sizes also looked threatening to the status quo. Now we have billionaires controlling the Presidency from the Oval office chair. But we need those crowds again, now more than ever. Our government needs US to save ourselves with them, and we need them to be strong.

We have to offer hope.

We have to highlight those who are pushing back.

We have to help people find their teams, help them organize, help them know their rights.

We have to encourage our representatives to do the right things for everyone.

People want Empathy to be part of their government.

Evangelicals call it “the sin of empathy” now.

Empathy as a sin? Empathy is the work of Jesus himself.

I received such heartwarming thoughts from people. Not whole letters, perhaps, as the Bishop did, but so many kind words and appreciation for creating this painting.

More than one person remarked, “This is the church I want to a part of.”

I want to hold on to that line for a moment.

People saw the church they wanted to be a part of — -NOT the church they WERE a part of. This is key.

1. What is in this painting that they want the Church to become? What is missing in the Church, the at-large Church, that the painting provides?

2. Visualization is an important strategy in creating what you want to see in the world.

Let me offer some ideas of what folks might be seeing in this painting that they want the Church to become. First, we should realize that the “church” is not monolithic. It’s not ONE thing. It has so many pieces, broken off from each other, taking this belief or that practice into a different direction, partially to answer the needs of people who just want to practice their faith in different ways, and partially to feed into silo-ism, or an echo chamber that reinforces the power of the hierarchy and its desire to wield its own moral warriors for its own ends. There are progressive churches and there are conservative ones and there are dangerously fascist ones. Not all churches are alike.

But when we speak of the Church collectively, Christianity as a whole is what we mean. We want to see Christianity — no matter who practices it — be certain things — things associated with Christ: The church in this painting is seen as protective, not harmful. It is seen as powerful in its ability to stand up to tyranny. It fights for the poor and marginalized as central to its mission, not peripheral, not photo opportunities. It wants the privileged and powerful to protect the weak, the powerless, the unprivileged in society. It’s mission is to bolster and strengthen our collective community, not line our individual pockets or the pockets of our friends with money.

The painting has trans-children directly around her, something specific from her plea for mercy, and people who are being unheard, unrepresented, in the negotiations over their own bodies. This painting has an immigrant family to the left of the Bishop, a group that is too easily targeted by any President but which, along with trans people, were among the very first targeted again. ICE raids started up immediately. But undocumented immigrants have rights too, and ICE is not all powerful. Chicago showed how to slow them down by teaching immigrants their rights. AOC has made it her goal to get out pamphlets about knowing what to do when ICE comes to your door.

People want their church to have a mission that extends beyond themselves, which seeks not to just make other Christians, but to help people in whatever way they can, without requiring any conversion.

We are not here to create other Christians. We are here to spread the good news that help is here. The good news creates Christians in its own way. The message is the powerful thing and how we reach out to help everyone else in view.

Our goal is not increasing church membership, mass conversion to a specific faith or a specific practice. We should be doing what God tells Micah to do: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” This is what the Bishop was alluding to at the end of her sermon that day. We are all asked to act with justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Her sermon spoke not to just THIS President, but to every world leader. Every world leader had a chance to hear it. Certainly the people of every country had a chance to hear it with as much play as the clip got around the world.

It told us what kind of people we need to be — especially if we call ourselves Christian. But also made a plea for mercy as a long-term strategy for success. If Republicans show mercy they might stay in power longer. By cutting off mercy they are building a resistance immediately.

The Power of Visualization

Therapists, psychologists, neuroscientists, even manifestation gurus will tell you about the power of visualization and how it works on our brain. It is real science. It can help us reach our goals. If we can visualize ourselves in that job, in that place, it cements our goals and keeps us more focused on accomplishing those goals. Some would even say it brings us quicker to those goals. I’m not talking about prosperity gospel — I’m talking about people recovering from traumatic experiences, people working through fears, looking for stability, improving a relationship. I’m not talking about making millions of dollars — just visualizing safety, stability, or even having a job that you love.

When we apply visualization to our religion, let’s say, we imagine what it could be. But when we see a painting of those possibilities it crystalizes the kind of visual that can propel that into being. People saw the potential of the church being the kind of church filled with compassion, with mercy, with love. They wanted that so much.

I put it “The Gulf of Empathy” on Facebook on Thursday, Jan 30, and by Feb 1st, it was all around the world, with hundreds of thousands of shares, way beyond counting. I received a lot of email and posts from people who wanted to thank me for making it, and immediately asking if prints were available. They wanted their own version of this visualization — -so that they could help bring that image into reality.*

How the Church has been illustrated before

The larger Christian Church has a marketing problem because the most vocal parts of the faith, the ones sought out by media, are also the most conservative, often the least merciful. They aim to shock us with their misogyny, racism and homophobia — as “tough love” — and this very shock is what makes them “great” for news coverage. They are the counterweight in the media for every small step forward that a marginalized group tries to take. The worst expression of Christianity gets the airtime.

Further, when illustrators cover Christian topics, it is usually about where individuals within Christian communities have failed, have harmed others, or where that toxicity within the faith is found. So the illustrations about Christianity tend to be negative — memorably negative. Some for good reason, but there’s not much balance. This isn’t illustrators faults, no. It is the lack of good stories being told about priests and bishops and religious leaders — those that need illustrators. And artists are notably some of the first people a toxic religious leader will go after — — for lewdness, for sensuality, for iconography that challenges the church. Artists are powerful, and they scare leaders.

The Catholic Church is slowly repairing the marketing damage to its reputation caused by the revelation of long-held secrets. Pope Francis has even issued a strongly worded encouragement to Catholic Bishops that takes some very obvious, but slightly veiled, reprimands of new catholic JD Vance’s ridiculous summary of Christian doctrine as a me-and-my-family-first doctrine. Jesus was never “me-first” — and neither should we be.

But while the Catholic church suffers from a poor media image, mainline protestants suffer from being almost completely invisible in the news and in media. Their message of warmly accepting everyone is passed over in favor of the shocking — -either the mistakes of religions, or the hatred from them (or of them). Sometimes it is just drowned out by the negative critique. Some of that is justified. Movies that bring a “Spotlight” to the cover-up of indiscretions should be made. Movies that show religions hurting the LGBTQ community should be shown. In order to bring that out into the light. But change doesn’t always happen because we are able to show fault.

We must also find a way to visualize the change we want.

We must show a way forward.

What should an inclusive religious practice look like? What should leadership look like? We need to pull out of the cynicism and the post-modern urge to dismantle and criticize religious belief and practice to death and be brave enough to offer solutions, or at least a vision of what we need.

At the core of religious faith is building a community and looking after each other. We have to activate that part more. We have to celebrate and focus on that more. Organizing together to help us all.

Madeleine L’Engle on finding those who are fighting for us

“Who have our fighters been?” Calvin asked. “Oh, you must know them, dear,” Mrs Whatsit said. Mrs Who’s spectacles shone out at them triumphantly, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” “Jesus!” Charles Wallace said. “Why, of course, Jesus!” “Of course!” Mrs Whatsit said. “Go on, Charles, love. There were others. All your great artists. They’ve been lights for us to see by.” “Leonardo da Vinci?” Calvin suggested tentatively. “And Michelangelo?” “And Shakespeare,” Charles Wallace called out, “and Bach! And Pasteur and Madame Curie and Einstein!” Now Calvin’s voice rang with confidence. “And Schweitzer and Gandhi and Buddha and Beethoven and Rembrandt and St. Francis!”

― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time (lifted from Goodreads quotes)

I have always loved Madeleine L’Engle. I just devoured the Time Trilogy, identifying with both Meg and Charles Wallace, and wishing I could own a big Newfie dog like Ananda from Book 3. I was privileged enough to get to interview Madeleine L’Engle myself in 1996 at the Glen Eyrie retreat center in Colorado during a meeting of the Chrysostom Society (members you can see that year in the photo, plus two eager young fellows, me with the felt hat in hand standing next to Madeleine L’Engle and someone I’m glad to call my friend, the mystery novelist, Naomi Hirahara).

But I almost didn’t get to the do the interview because Ms. L’Engle had been through the backlash of Christian Evangelicals when they discovered that very passage above. How dare her put Jesus on an equal plane with other spiritual leaders!

A Wrinkle in Time won the 1963 Newberry Award, the “going viral” for children’s books of its time.

“Going viral” for L’Engle was not so different than for Bishop Budde. It brought a lot of new devotees, lots of support and joy and praise, but also brought a backlash from white Christian Nationalists and Evangelicals. I’m pretty sure that the backlash from evangelicals on spiritually-gifted leading women is much harsher than it ever is on men. We can see the way that Evangelicals treat Trump — — and wonder if they are even applying the same standards. As long as someone promises them power, they will hand over the Pulpit. When someone takes that power away — or disseminates it among others, those they consider less worth, then the ire rises within them and they threaten, challenge, and pushback.

When Ms. L’Engle met me, I was a young Southern Baptist 20-something writer. She’d been burned by Evangelicals, Southern Baptists. Her book was the most-challenged book in libraries and schools in the 80s and 90s. Before she met me in the late 90s, she had no reason to believe I would be any different. Here was a Southern B coming straight to her at a retreat for writers who happened to be Christian.

It made our interview very difficult because she believed I would be out to critique her book all over again. Our first interview was one-word answers, evasion, simply a blockade, and I felt crushed. She was my hero — and I hoped one day to be a fantasy writer like her who could inspire others to fight back against dictators and the presence of growing darkness in the world.

Eventually, my friends and mentors came together and talked with Madeleine about who I was and how much I loved her work, and she realized that not all Baptists were the same kinds of people. She had good reason to mistrust my background. I should have mistrusted my background. It hid from me the fact that I was gay for 34 years — and I have been recovering ever since. But we do not know what we do not know sometimes.

I got a wonderful interview with her the second time, and I treasure every second I could spend with her. She had to overcome her fear, and eventually I had to overcome my own ignorance.

She overcame her fear of the far-right rather quickly and urgently spoke out for creative people. She had a lot of encouraging words to share with writers and those who faced down people who wanted to challenge their message of inclusivity, of community, of empathy.

“We need to dare disturb the universe by not being manipulated or frightened by judgmental groups who assume the right to insist that if we do not agree with them, not only do we not understand but we are wrong. How dull the world would be if we all had to feel the same way about everything, if we all had to like the same books, dislike the same books…

Perhaps some of this zeal is caused by fear. But as Bertrand Russell warns, “Zeal is a bad mark for a cause. Nobody had any zeal about arithmetic. It was the anti-vaccinationists, not the vaccinationists, who were zealous.” Yet because those who were not threatened by the idea of vaccination ultimately won out, we have eradicated the horror of smallpox from the planet.”

and later in the same book, she writes,

“We find what we are looking for. If we are looking for life and love and openness and growth, we are likely to find them. If we are looking for witchcraft and evil, we’ll likely find them, and we may get taken over by them.” — Dare to be Creative, Madeleine L’Engle.

Look for those who are helping. This is what Mr. Rogers advised too!

While Mr. Roger’s quote “Look for the Helpers” has been dismissed as enough for a child, but not for adults, who need to BE the helpers, I think those that criticize the way it’s been used as an excuse not to be part of the help, miss an important part of “Look for the helpers” which is “look” and see.

We get so caught up in the people who are doing the damage, that we forget to look for those who are repairing the damage and fighting against the perpetrators. We must NOTICE that our world isn’t all chaos; that Trump and Elon don’t have invincible powers. We must NOTICE those things that are being successfully fought — so that we can understand that all is not lost yet and that all of us can still BE helpers.

Look for those who are fighting back and celebrate them and join them!

Trump wants to own the news cycle. There’s only so much time in a day to report, and to digest, all that he’s doing. It seems like there’s no time for any other news in the world.

But people are hungry for good news of fighters who are fighting back. Tell your own stories of how you are fighting back too.

Journalists, illustrators, writers please show us the judges, the legislators, the attorneys, who are pushing back, pulling away Trump and Musk’s power from them. Show us how to fight by showing us how they fight back. Make the stories about those who are defeating Trump in small ways, and in these collective ways, we can interrupt his broadcast of megalomania.

This is what my virality taught me.

People need to see more than Trump chaotically powerful — — they need to see Trump stopped, in every way that he is stopped, every small way that we can fight back together as a people. Because we don’t know how, and we are human, and we feel exhausted by the never-ending Trump Strut in the news.

We face real overwhelm.

We face real personal shutdown from the shitshow.

But I saw hundreds of thousands of people embrace a little painting that gave them hope because it illustrated something they wanted to see — it helped them visualize the kind of people they want to be. And if we can help people visualize a way out of a situation, they can take it.

This goes for those who are posing as our enemies too. Some of them may not see any way out of the disaster they have opened. And they feel defeated, or threatened. Help everyone visualize a way to come together — — conservative, progressive, middle of the road politicians (?) — — help them find allyship by working with them on a game plan to stop the wholesale fleecing of our country.

A neuroscientist took my painting and talked in a post about how art interacts with our brains. I found this fascinating, and I want to know more about the power of images to help us strengthen empathy.

Shonté Jovan Taylor, Neuroscientist, Success Trainer, Speaker writes,

“From a neuroscientific perspective, our mirror neurons responsible for empathy — are activated when we witness emotions, expressions, and intent in others. This means that simply looking at an image of suffering, protection, or unity can subconsciously stimulate empathy, growing our ability to connect not just to those in the painting but also to people in the real world.

Engaging with art activates the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for perspective-taking, emotional regulation, and critical thinking. It helps diminish the brain’s fear response and strengthens our capacity for understanding, tolerance, and compassion. Art can shift us from a scarcity mindset to a more abundant one, from me vs. them to community-centered — we & us.”

From Shonté Jovan Taylor, Neuroscientist, Success Trainer, Speaker posted on Linked In.

Crowd out the overwhelming chaos and disorder with images and stories of those fighting back. Let’s use our platforms to promote strategies of working together not just becoming Trump’s alarm system, spreading fear and worry everywhere.

We SHOULD be alert, yes.

But we should not give up hope.

Thank you to everyone who shared their stories with me about their feelings towards Bishop Budde and her courage. Thank you to everyone who expressed such love for my work and my painting! Thank you to those who gave me donations through ko-fi while I was learning how to build a print shop online to get folks what they needed. You sustained me. Thank you to everyone who bought a print (and if you still want one, information is at the end of this essay.) Thank you for the outpouring of your love. I felt both that love for me, and for the Bishop, and in some ways, I feel like I’m a messenger being handed your messages to her — -hundreds and hundreds of them that you gave me — so that I could deliver them. I’m not sure that I did it well, but I know that I could tell how supportive you were of her, and of any artist who is trying to spread that same message. 

The message is what traveled. The art was just the medium. The artist just a messenger. And somehow, despite my own misgivings, the painting did what it needed to do. 

I will keep producing art that tries to promote hope and strategies for fighting back. Who knows what will connect with people, what will inspire them. I didn’t. You may not either. Produce your art and your writing anyway and see what happens.

We can make hope go viral. We can make strategy and planning go viral. We can make those who are effectively resisting tyranny go viral. We need that kind of virality.

There are more people for mercy, inclusion, empathy in the world than there are against it. We have the numbers. If we can work together, we can create the world we visualize. Visualize it. Visualize the path to it.

For Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, please know that the World is still standing with you in the face of tyranny and power.

My painting is not just you, alone, protecting us.

It is us, together, protecting you.

We love you. We stand with you.

___

*Prints of “The Gulf of Empathy” are available right now at my online print store. Part of the proceeds will go to charities that defend the rights of immigrants and LGBTQ+ folks in the US.

If you’d like to have a mug, t-shirt or other merchandise from the Gulf of Empathy sent to you, please visit my Redbubble shop. Part of the proceeds from merchandise will also go to the charities representing immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community. Thank you.

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Jerome Stueart (2007 Clarion Workshop) is a queer illustrator and writer. His writing has appeared in F&SF, Tor.com, On Spec, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Geist, and elsewhere. He was a finalist for a 2020 World Fantasy Award in Short Fiction for “Postlude to the Afternoon of a Faun” (F&SF). His PhD in English (Texas Tech U) with specialties in Creative Writing, Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Spiritual Memoir put him forever in debt, but has allowed him to live and work as a teacher part-time for more than 25 years, running writing workshops in academia and through city programming, in schools, in churches and online. These days, though, he is a struggling artist living on art sales while he waits for steadier work. Both American and Canadian (Yukon), he lives now in Dayton, Ohio. Follow him on jeromestueart.com and at his substack: The Whimsical Jambearee