SIM News

Poetic Resistance - The Rev. Phil Hooper

12/05/25

Poetry, Prophecy, and the Power to Resist Erasure - The Rev. Phil Hooper
The Rev. Phil Hooper, Rector of St. Anne Episcopal Church in West Chester, OH and SIM alum (CDSP) shares from his poetry of prophetic and poetic resistance against “the continued erasure of LGBTQ+ people” using the name of Jesus to justify it. He invites a vision of Jesus who is “unafraid of truth’s many vivid hues” – in members of the Body of Christ and in the world at large. The ministry of prophetic and poetic resistance has always been a part of the church’s mission and SIM is an important harbor and nurturer for those engaged in the same, who are reaching out to those who might otherwise feel “stranded or outcast.” Sounding a bit like John the Baptist – and like Jesus – he urges, “Give yourselves every chance to change your life.”

 

To Those Who Paint Over Rainbows

 By Phil Hooper, 2019

 Church Divinity School of the Pacific 

 

It’s difficult, I’m sure,

 an inconvenience,

 to see how black and white

 are not the only colors.

 

 It’s surreal, surely,

 to walk on a path

 paved with the shades

 of someone else’s stories.

 

 Believe us, we know.

 We have been walking

 on yours

 for years

 

 and we were merely

 trying to cross over

 to something closer

 to safety.

 

Or actually, forgive us,

 perhaps it was

 an agenda

 after all:

 

 for you to stand

 upon reconciliation;

 to see how light

 breaks through storm;

 

  to feel how fierce

 joy can be

 when it has already

 faced every fear.

 

 Believe us, we know.

 we have been living

 with ours

 for years.

 

 So just one request:

 paint slowly, friends.

 Give yourself every chance

 to change your life,

 

 styled as it is

 by the refusal

 of truth’s many

 vivid hues.

 

 And some day,

 if you cross over

 to something farther

 from safety,

 

 we’ll be there,

 incandescent,

 saying,

 welcome.