QUEER(ING) SAINTS: Week 3
A weekly devotional for Pride Month
Throughout Pride Month, we invite you to meet surprising saints whose lives reveal God’s boundless love for all people. Drawing from scripture, history, poetry, and prayer, each reflection introduces a different saint whose life and witness challenges us to see God at work beyond the confines of our own human limitations.
As Lutherans, we believe that saints are not perfect people, but ordinary people through whom God’s grace shines in extraordinary ways. May their stories deepen our faith and remind us that God’s welcome is larger than we could ever imagine!
WEEK 3- THE SOLDIER SAINT
SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Ephesians 6:10-17
10Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. 11Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil.
12We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.
13Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand. 14So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your breastplate, 15and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace.
16Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.
WHO WAS ALBERT CASHIER/JENNIE HODGERS?
Albert Cashier, born Jennie Hodgers in 1843 in Ireland, lived one of the many hidden stories of the Civil War era. Like hundreds of other people who were assigned female at birth, Jennie enlisted in the Army to fight by presenting as a man. As Albert Cashier, he joined the 95th Illinois Infantry. Many women who disguised themselves as men in order to fight in the war returned to living as women afterward. But Albert did not. He lived the rest of his life as a man, working, voting, and collecting a soldier’s pension.
Albert lived quietly in Illinois for decades after the war. He was known by neighbors and employers as a hardworking, if private, man. In later years, when failing health forced him into a veterans’ home, his birth identity was discovered. Despite public scandal and legal challenges, many of his fellow soldiers fiercely defended him, testifying to his honorable service and helping ensure he continued to receive his military pension. Albert Cashier died in 1915, buried in uniform under his chosen name.
A READING FROM JANET MOCK (from Redefining Realness)
“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community. I hope that my being real with you will help empower you to step into who you are and encourage you to share yourself with those around you.”
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Ephesians speaks of “putting on the whole armor of God.” How does Albert Cashier’s life of courage and integrity reflect this kind of spiritual armor in a world that often demands conformity and penalizes difference?
Albert lived as his true self in a time when doing so meant risking everything. When in your own life have you had to take significant risk in order to live with integrity?
The “armor of God” isn’t about violence but spiritual resilience. How might Albert’s life invite the church today to protect and affirm those who defy gender norms, not just with words, but with the “full armor” of radical love and justice?
PRAYER
Almighty and ever-living God, we give you thanks for those who have served and defended our country and the values of freedom and justice we hold so dear. Guide us to be mindful of the sacrifices they made and the hardship endured, so that we never take for granted the privileges they have secured for us. Hear us, we pray, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen
BLESSING
May God our defender bless us now and forevermore.