An unseen source of all beauty, truth, and goodness was seen by many early Christians as pointing toward God.

As a gay man, a Filipino American, and someone born in Hawai‘i with indigenous roots, I know firsthand how rare it is to feel fully seen in mainstream media.

When those sitting at the table come from similar backgrounds and hold similar assumptions, we risk falling back into old patterns.

I don’t write these things to shame anyone. I write them to name something that is often hidden but very real. Microaggressions may seem small, but over time, they pile up.

Standing behind him, in spirit if not on stage, were his warped “faith advisers”—Evangelical extremists who treat the Book of Revelation like a war manual.

This patch of land—between water and chapel, between movement and stillness—is where I find alignment again.