Description
Book SynopsisEvery story begins with a word. As a young woman, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew carried a word within her so potent that it spread through every artery and vein. But she carried it in secret until she was shown a different way and the word inside her turned restless and eager. A beautiful and powerful memoir of coming of age and coming out bisexual, SWINGING ON THE GARDEN GATE describes a period of time in award-winning writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew's life where she came to know her bisexuality as an embodied manifestation of divinity. Andrew not only reconciles her Methodist faith with her sexuality but realises that her body is holy, her sexuality is holy, and the word she carried within her has always been holy. The spark of spirit Andrew identifies in her body she also finds throughout the solid matter of life-in childhood, nature, creativity, loss, death, and especially the coming out process. In addition to being a personal journey through memory, Andrew brings a distinctly queer feminist lens to Christian teachings and answers the question hundreds of young people have posed to her over the years, "Is it possible to be both queer and spiritual?" The act of bringing hidden, personal truths to light is transformational, and for Andrew, a universal calling. This stunning second edition includes a new note from Andrew as she looks back on its twenty-year history.
Trade Review“In this beautifully written book, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew invites the reader into her life. With great vulnerability, she provides a window into her world as she seeks a path that will lead her home to herself as a bisexual woman and an at-one-ment with God. Elizabeth doesn’t sugarcoat or sweep things under the rug. Instead, she holds her many experiences up so that the Divine Light might reveal the dazzling beauty, unexpected grace, and sacred wisdom held within them. May Elizabeth’s story be an invitation to examine your own story.” —from the foreword by Bishop Karen Oliveto
“This intimate memoir of unfolding sexuality and spirituality invites us to behold and experience beautiful queerness manifesting the image of God. It is also gift for anyone, of any sexual orientation, who dares to imagine a faith conjoined with erotic longing and love.” —Rev. Heidi Neumark, author of Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan, and Executive Director of Trinity Place Shelter for LGBTQ+ Youth
“The most important decision anyone can make is to live ‘divided no more,’ to cease acting on the outside in ways that contradict truths one holds deeply on the inside. Swinging on the Garden Gate is a memoir of one woman’s journey into the undivided life. Written with honesty, grace and power, this book is a joy to read, and more. Read carefully, it will call us toward congruence in our own lives, toward an incarnation of truth that will set us-and our world-free.” —Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak, Healing the Heart of Democracy, and On the Brink of Everything
“Elizabeth’s words sing. Her life soars. This work will doubtless inspire others to claim the lush delights of their own secret gardens.” —Rabbi Debra Kolodny, editor of Blessed Bi Spirit: Bisexual People of Faith
Table of ContentsPreface to New Edition
Preface to 1st Edition
Skirting the Garden
A Childhood
Unlocking the Garden
Dormancy
Woman in a Wilderness
Into the Garden
Digging with a Pointed Stick
A Queer, Pretty Place
The Fear of Growing Things
Simon Emanuel
Thinking Only of the Magic
On Fire
Swinging on the Garden Gate
