Resources
Introduction As a group, we took multiple months to enact a vision Dr. Neomi De Anda, director of the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton, had because of her research around chisme and spilling the T. The Spanish word chisme loosely translates as gossip in English, and the phrase “spilling the tea (or T)” is an American English slang phrase that means sharing gossip or revealing interesting news about someone. While Gen Z has popularized this phrase in queer culture, specifically Black drag culture, the notion of "the T" is not simply a frivolous sharing of information, but a powerful form of sharing truths known by those who live in the margins." Coming out of our conversations and work was a presentation at “Imago Dei: Embracing the Dignity of LGBTQ+ Persons,” an assembly in June, 2024, at the Bergamo Center in Dayton, Ohio, which was a celebratory event hosted by the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative LGBTQ+ Initiative on the 50th anniversary of “The Gay Christian,” a conference in 1974, which was also held at the Bergamo Center, as a national meeting for training clergy and laity on developing a ministry to gay Christians. Our presentation was framed as an interactive theological experience with components familiar to persons who are generally described as part of the Gen Z generation. It involved a full service tea party, an opening choreographed movement with an invitation for audience participation, and a presentation on the connection between the phrase “spilling the tea/T” to the LGBTQ+ community and notions of T/truth. In the course of our presentation, we also connected the concept of chisme to the phrase “spilling the tea/T” through the card game Millennial Loteria: Gen Z Edition. Because the game creators chose to use the phrase “La spilling the tea” rather than “el chisme.” The choices made by the game creators show both a use of Espanlish and a feminine gendering in the new formulation of the phrase. As a way to enhance the theological experience in our presentation and connect having a tea party and the concept of spilling the T with scripture, we created a version of Mary’s “Song of Praise,” or Mary’s “Magnificat,” found in Luke 1:46-55 that we describe as a Gen Z version translated in Espanglish. Some of the team met together in person for an initial round of translation into a shared working document. That version of the translation was shared with the larger group, who then added and clarified various pieces. The final version follows. “The Magnificat: Gen Z Spill the T Version” High key, shoutout to the snatched chica who trusted the process, 'cause what the Lord said would go down is about to go down. Period. And Mary was like, Oh My one God, I can literally feel the Lord inside me! And OMG, my vibe is lit 'cause God's my Savior, bet! I’m not a pick-me girl, and God still noticed how humble I am. And get this, this glow-up is gonna have everyone calling me blessed in every generation! The one who's totally epic has done some seriously awesome things for me; and his name is the OG GOAT. And God's kindness extends to those who respect and honor Them, forever and ever. They flexed their arm – BIG YIKES for those opps … who thought they were all that. They totally canceled the powerful influencers and boosted up the SIMPS. God? It’s giving food that is bussin’ to the starving; and ghosting the peeps who were already living large by leaving them hangry and mid. They totally helped out their servant Israel, just 'cause they didn't forget how merciful they is. God has got Abraham and his fam for all time - no cap! Commentary The Magnificat is a prayer but more than that, it is an invitation. As a prayer, Mary shares the joy of the coming of Jesus Christ but as the prayer progresses, Mary invites the reader of the prayer to see God’s plan for the world. Mary speaks of a social transformation where the lowly are raised high and cherished by God. This is a message of inclusion that was important to express to those in Gen Z. Mary is not only sharing a message of praise and hope but also spilling some hot T in what she proclaims should happen. We found this prayer’s message to be too important not to share with Gen Z. Our methodology was to connect with Gen Z by playing with the language that Gen Z uses on a regular basis. For example, in our translation of Verse 52, where we wrote, “God has canceled the powerful influencers and boosted the SIMPS,” this was a way to connect to value systems that are prevalent in Gen Z culture. The high and mighty of our generation are the influencers who are paid to do as their title describes: “influence” behavior and perception. Gen Z is the first generation who grew up with the pressure to chase “likes” on social media platforms. For many Gen Z-ers, the push to be considered an influencer has led to a hollow search for self-worth where you often equate how many likes you have with how valued you are as a member of the community, or you confuse the number of followers you have with the number of friends you have. The term “SIMP” is a derogatory term used to describe those who have an excessive attachment and affection towards others when that affection is not reciprocated. To use the term “SIMP”—a term used to socially ridicule those who are not loved in return—is an intentional choice. God does not see those who others have labeled as SIMPs as worthy of ridicule, but rather as those who should be embraced. The Beatitudes say “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” This is what God promises to those who have been discriminated against for those whom they love: a place of comfort and belonging, where the love of God is free for all to have. The Kingdom of God is a place where it doesn’t matter how many followers you have in order to receive God’s love.
Disclaimer: We are human. All of our actions are imperfect. So, chisme is imperfect as is every form of human communication. Yes. Chisme can be harmful and sinful. However, I ask that while reading and engaging this call and response, please spend some time imagining and listening to the possibilities of what attention to chisme can teach us about God-talk. Before moralizing chisme and discounting it as only sinful, join me in examining how chisme can function in the creation of wisdom through its messy, interwoven, and affective existence. I invite us to embrace that which “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent: Working Document for the Continental Stage, Synod 2021 -2024,” page 102 has asked of us: “The free and gratuitous attention to the other, which is the basis of listening, is not a limited resource to be jealously guarded, but an overflowing source that does not run out, but grows the more we draw from it.” OK. Now, I am going to share some chisme... We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Humans only know through our bodies. As embryos grow in the womb and organs begin to develop, those organs begin to function. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Newborns recognize voices they hear regularly. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] The movement and swaying of dancing in womb, in arms, on one’s own can be understood as a form of teaching into our traditions. For some this teaching happens in all of these places and spaces. For others, this form of teaching happens only in womb or in arms or on one’s own. However, in these places and spaces, our bodies attain wisdom. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Our bodies learn. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Our bodies also know when someone has mistreated us or when we have experienced the mistreatment of others. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Many Christians believe in creation as Imago Dei – created in the image and likeness of God. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] And that image of God is three persons one God which we call the Trinity. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] We believe that God chooses to experience life as fully human so the second person of the Trinity, the Word becomes Incarnate. We believe that this Incarnate Word was conceived and born by Mary and did not just drop into earth as an adult. Although, as Sor María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio reminds us that God could have chosen salvation history to occur in any way. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] The Greek word for God is Theós Θεός [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Logos is Greek for both Word and reason. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] We can then build on the wisdom of Diana Hayes and say that theology is God-talk. It is also a nod to the Incarnate Word. It is also a nod to how we as humans grow wise – reason – in relationship with God. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] So, if theology is God-talk and the way we grow in wisdom and knowledge of God as scriptures say about the infant Jesus, then our ways of communicating are directly linked to our own incarnations, our own fleshly existence, our own human bodies. AND… [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Sure. Professional theologians study for many years to write and publish theology. But, everyone who engages in thinking about and communicating with the divine engages in God-talk, and in what I am calling theological languages. We engage theological languages through our own incarnations and with every difference and particularity which makes each one of us unique because… [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] We are people of God in places of God – el pueblo de Díos. Theological languages, therefore, exist in and through el pueblo de Díos. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] One of these theological languages is chisme. Chisme contends with Truth from an experiential perspective. Chisme is incarnational and can be found in Christian scriptures. Chisme is a language of lo cotidiano. Chisme is its own contextualized form of communication related to gossip and the T. Chisme related to gossip has historically religious significance. Chisme related to the T critically contends with structures of power. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know! [CALL] Phrases like “spilling the T”, “pouring the T”, and “the T is hot” connect our knowledge with many times unspoken truths known by our bodies. [RESPONSE] We, like Jesus, are incarnated and our bodies know!
Before March 2020, the seminary where I teach didn’t do much in the way of remote learning. Like many educators, my colleagues and I found ourselves rushing to take our teaching online at the same time that many of our students were taking courses remotely for the first time. My colleagues and I found this new mode of teaching terribly awkward. Most of them found that awkwardness frustrating. Not me, though. I was gifted from childhood with a certain awkwardness. It’s cozy. Still, the awkwardness of remote learning wasn’t the only concern being raised in faculty meetings, especially as we were discerning the extent to which we would offer remote learning going forward. That awkwardness was increasingly framed as the consequence of a claim that had more weight behind it in conversations about theological education: that remote learning was disembodied. It seems obvious. When teachers and students aren’t in the same space, but instead find our interactions mediated by a screen and who knows how many miles of cables or electromagnetic waves of various sorts, our teaching and learning are necessarily disembodied. We lose the nonverbal feedback on which we so often rely in conversation. The flow of our class discussions becomes awkward, either with one person talking over another or with everyone raising their virtual or physical hands and waiting just a little too long to be called on. It is difficult to keep students’ attention for hours on end if we aren’t physically in person, and it’s hard to foster that sense of classroom community that often grows over the course of a term. It seems obvious that remote learning is necessarily disembodied learning… but that’s not actually the case. Everything we do, we do as creatures of flesh and blood, pain and pleasure, energy and fatigue. When our teaching and learning aren’t practiced in a shared physical space, they are nonetheless practiced in physical spaces that meaningfully impact our learning, in bodies that each have their own mix of needs and abilities. Our reception, processing, and expression of ideas are embodied processes, wherever our bodies happen to be in relation to one another. Intellectual, emotional, and spiritual engagement with teaching and learning happens within and between bodies. Remote learning is not necessarily disembodied. It just turns out that teaching techniques designed to harness one form of embodiment don’t always translate well to a significantly different form of embodiment. If we can accept that no teaching and learning are necessarily disembodied, but that they must be embodied differently, it is possible to turn what feels like disembodied teaching and learning into teaching and learning that are embodied in particularly meaningful ways. For those who—like me—continue to wonder just what it means to engage in embodied teaching at a distance, I offer three suggestions: Let go of the need for controlled learning environments in favor of precisely the kind of adaptability students will need in their own work. Consider how you might model and promote such adaptability in your teaching. Reflect on the value of people working in their everyday spaces (e.g., offices, homes), rather than the constructed space of the in-person classroom. Discern how you might invite people to treat their everyday spaces as spaces for learning just as they are, rather than as something out of which learning space must be carved. Re-commit to the truth that being embodied together in ways that promote rich learning—marked by equity no less than serious intellectual engagement—requires intentional practices of community formation, whether we’re in the same physical space or at a distance.