God Did Not Make Us to Fit into Boxes

Sunday, October 4, 2026

Rev. Br. Ian Boden, OLF

LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith

LOVEboldly Board Member

Quote

“Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted.”

~Psalm 80:14-15 (Evangelical Lutheran Worship Hymnal)

Devotion

We are the vine that God tends. God formed us and nurtures us. God cares for us and delights in us.

Authentic is one of my favorite words to use to describe Saint Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is today, October 4th. It seems to me that he could not be anything less than wholly and authentically himself. Perhaps it is this authenticity that we recognize in him that makes him one of the most famous and popular saints in history. In fact, it is Saint Francis’ unwavering authenticity and utter determination to follow God with his whole being, whether it made sense to others or not, has and continues, to inspire me not only a person of faith and a gay man, but also a vowed sibling in the Order of Lutheran Franciscans.

Saint Francis was born to a rich family and in his early life he was what one could call a “party boy” and he was determined to be a knight. After he was held as a prisoner of war for several months, he abandoned his dream of being a knight and was discouraged and confused. He was wandering the countryside one day when he found a small chapel, so he went inside to pray. As he was praying, he heard God say to him “Francis, rebuild my church.” Taking this literally Francis went to his home and sold some of his father’s items so he would have money to rebuild the church he was praying in. After a very heated exchange between Francis and his father, Francis left without any money, without his clothes, and felt misunderstood and abandoned by his family.

After begging for stones, and food he slowly began to rebuild the chapel he heard God speak to him in and in time others joined him. He may not have had a biological family, instead he now has a chosen or found family. Those who loved him as he was, not as they expected him to be. Francis realized that this call to rebuild the church was larger than one chapel, it was about something bigger. And Francis brought his whole self to this mission. He preached to birds, he stood up for the poor and marginalized, loving those whom society deemed untouchable. He refused to touch money, insisting that money should be used for the poor and marginalized. He stowed away to the crusades to try and get the Christians and Muslims to stop fighting, only to be told by a Sultan “If all Christians were like you, we would not be in this war.” He meditated on a dispute between a wolf and a village. He was an eccentric who would pray and starve on top of a mountain for days at a time. He was a poet who loved cookies. He was a brother who insisted at times on being called mother, because he felt motherly towards some of those who followed him. Saint Francis loved others, and loved God, and never stopped being authentically himself. He is a saint that refuses to fit into boxes because he chased after a God who was larger than any box he could conceive of. Without Francis’ example of radical authenticity and willingness to take up the call to rebuild the church, the church would not be in the place it is today.

My own life and faith journey looks nothing like that of Saint Francis of Assisi and that is okay. Because we already have Francis, I have been made to be me. God desires me to be nothing more and nothing less than completely and authentically, me.

We are the vine that God tends. God formed us and nurtures us. God cares for us and delights in us, wholly and authentically as we are.

Reflection

1.    In what ways is being authentic easy? And in what ways hard?

2.    Whose beautiful authenticity inspires you?

3.    What boxes are you tempted to try and fit into?

Action

This week I invite you to journal and/or spend some time outdoors and ask the question that was a beloved prayer of Saint Francis, “God who are you? And who am I?”