Minister Blyth Barnow: Practicing Easter in a Good Friday World

What does it look like to practice and believe in resurrection when the world around us feels bleak and dim? What does it look like to live out Easter in our lives when the powers of empire stand against us, as they did against Christ? What does it mean to practice Easter in a Good Friday world?

Minister Blyth Barnow shares a message of gritty hope and resurrection, in honor of her favorite holiday: Easter!

A word from Minister Blyth Barnow (she/her):
I went to seminary to learn how to hold spiritual space for the communities I come from. Communities “the church” deemed crude, dirty, expendable, sinful…profane. Queers, femmes, people who use drugs, sex workers, working class people, organizers. But these are the people who taught me about the sacred and I know that we are holy. We deserve access to spiritual care that lifts us up, knows us deeply, and affirms our dignity.

I put myself through seminary by working at the Harm Reduction Coalition. For me, harm reduction is a spiritual practice rooted in unconditional love. It calls us to healing and demands justice. Just like the Gospel.

My faith and my queerness are about liberation. Both connect me to a long lineage of people who have fought to honor God’s promise to them and God’s beauty within them. I’m not queer despite being Christian. I’m Christian because I’m queer. Both teach me that the voice of the empire is not the voice of God. My worth, your worth, is not up for debate. We are beloved by God, made in the image of God.

About Minister Blyth Barnow (she/her)
Min. Blyth Barnow  serves as the Ohio Associate Director for Faith In Public Life in Ohio, where she works to bring clergy and people who use drugs together to end the racist war on drugs. She is a preacher, harm reductionist, writer and community organizer. She is the founder of Femminary, an online ministry, and is currently working to establish harm reduction resources for faith based communities. She has brought her worship service, Naloxone Saves, to several states. Blyth graduated from Pacific School Of Religion where she received a Master of Divinity and the Paul Wesley Yinger preaching award. She also serves on the National Leadership Team for Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), the Overdose and Drug Use Ministry of the United Church of Christ, and Faith In Harm Reduction.

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