🏳️‍🌈 Happy Pride, and welcome to the very first installment of “One from the Vaults” — a recurring segment of The Musical Midrash Podcast where we revisit earlier sermons with fresh eyes and sacred context.

This week, we open the vault and travel back to 2017. The Trump administration was seven months in. Transgender military service members were under attack. And I was a 34-year-old talent agent — not yet an elder, not yet imagining ministry — preaching my very first sermon in a small but fiercely loving congregation in Seattle.

The passage: Ephesians 6:10–20, the “armor of God.”

The theme: what it means to stand — not in violence, but in courage.

The call: to come out, not only as queer, but as Christian.

Originally broadcast live on Facebook, this sermon was meant to be both a spiritual act and a public witness. The video quality is grainy. The intro was lost to time. But this episode includes a full restoration of the manuscript and a new reflection on what this moment meant then — and what it might still mean now.

While this isn’t a sermon about musical theatre, it lives in the spirit of La Cage aux Folles, and was originally paired with a performance of “I Am What I Am” sung by my husband, Jeffrey. We also visit Marie’s Crisis Café in a moment of post-Obergefell celebration. Theatricality. Testimony. Transformation. It’s all here.

📌 Highlights

– Reflecting on queer Christian witness in the Trump era

– Wrestling with the battle imagery of Ephesians

– Stonewall, ACT UP, and the spiritual discipline of standing

– Facebook Live as a pulpit

– Why sometimes it’s harder to come out as Christian than as queer

📖 Scripture: Ephesians 6:10–20

🎭 Musical Reference: La Cage aux Folles – “I Am What I Am”

📍 Location: Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, Seattle, WA

🧡 Wherever this finds you — may you find the strength to stand. May it be so. Thanks be to God.

This week, I had something quieter planned. But the world changed again. In this episode, I turn to the musicals that don’t offer escape — they offer resistance.

From the seductive silence of Cabaret, to the resurrected rage of Parade, to the looped lament of A Strange Loop, these stories don’t just entertain. They protest. They prophesy. They pray.

This is a theology of theatre-as-truth-telling. Of sacred memory and unfiltered survival. Of musicals that refuse to stay silent.

📖 Based on the essay published on Musical Midrash:

https://dustinwilsor.substack.com

Featuring:

🎭 Cabaret, Parade, A Strange Loop

🕊 Jeremiah, James Cone, and Black prophetic lament

🎶 “This Is Not Over Yet,” Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing, and psalms in survival mode

💡 Themes of memory, queer theology, fascism, and sacred refusal

With quotes from Prepare Ye, the Way of the Lord: A Theology of Musical Theatre for the Church, the Stage, and the Sanctuary

🔖 Topics: Musical Theatre | Protest | Process Theology | Lament | Queer Survival | Sacred Storytelling

🔔 Like, subscribe, and share if the revolution is already singing.

Not directly a musical…they can’t all be - but I could argue that the structure of many superhero movies mirrors musicals in many ways — but we’ll save that for another time. All are worthy of Love.

What do a first-century fisherman and a Marvel anti-hero have in common? More than you might think.

This sermon weaves together the story of Simon Peter—impulsive, loyal, flawed—and the Marvel character Bob Reynolds, a.k.a. Sentry and The Void. Through Scripture and pop culture, we explore themes of shame, unworthiness, and the unexpected grace that still calls us.

✨ Whether you’re a Bible nerd, a Marvel fan, a spiritual seeker, or someone who’s ever felt “too broken” to be called by God—this message is for you.

📖 Key texts:

Luke 5:1–11, Mark 14:66–72, John 21:15–19

💥 Featuring:

The Thunderbolts

Bob/Sentry/Void

Peter the Rock… and the Betrayer

The unforgettable call: “Stop Val. Save Bob.”

🔔 Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe if this message speaks to you. You can also find more sermons and reflections on faith, storytelling, and sacred performance at my Substack: dustinwilsor.substack.com

#StopValSaveBob #SimonPeter #MarvelSermon #ProgressiveChristianity #Discipleship #TheThunderbolts #SentryAndTheVoid #QueerTheology #GospelAndPopCulture

Dear friends,

It’s been a while.

When I first launched Musical Midrash, I hoped it would become a gathering place — a space where theatre and theology, song and Spirit, could meet in conversation. But like any creative project, it takes time to find rhythm, voice, and purpose. So I stepped back.

But I’ve never stopped listening.

And on Sunday night, something stirred me.

At the Tony Awards, Kara Young — accepting her award for Best Featured Actress in Purpose — took the microphone and spoke a word of truth that rang out like a call to worship. She said: “In this world, that we are so divided — theatre is a sacred space!It’s a sacred space that we have to honor and treasure, and it makes us united.”

“In this world, that we are so divided — theatre is a sacred space!It's a sacred space that we have to honor and treasure, and it makes us united.”— Kara Young, 2025 Tony Awards

I wanted to stand up and shout amen.

Because I believe that too — not as metaphor or sentiment, but as theology.

Theatre is sacred. Not just because it brings us together, but because it holds the power to transform. To unveil truth. To witness pain. To kindle joy. It is embodied ritual, sung prayer, prophetic protest, and radical communion.

This is the heart of the book I’ve been writing — a theology of musical theatre that treats the stage as sacred space. Just as churches gather around scripture and sacrament, I believe communities gather around musicals to rehearse hope, confront injustice, and imagine new worlds. These stories aren’t just entertainment. They’re sacred texts in motion — performed liturgies of liberation, lament, and love.

It’s church. Or at least, it can be.

That’s why I’m back.

Over the next few months, I’ll be writing here regularly again. Twice a month — sometimes more — I’ll share:

🎭 Reflections on musicals old and new📖 Theological insights sparked by song and script🕯️ Connections between stage and sanctuary🎤 Stories from a book I’m writing on all of this

Some posts will be short, others longer. Some personal, others more pastoral. All of them will circle back to this belief:

Musical theatre is sacred storytelling.And in a divided world, it’s worth honoring and treasuring — just like Kara said.

Thanks for being here. Whether you’ve been subscribed since the beginning or are just joining in, I’m glad we’ve found our way back into this sacred space together.

See you at the next curtain.

With grace and rhythm,Dustin

Thanks for reading Musical Midrash! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Some guidance leaves bruises. Some leaves bread.

In this sermon, we ask what it means to be guided by a God who remembers us into liberation — not control. Drawing from Isaiah 43, Abigail Adams, and 1776 the musical, we explore the difference between guidance rooted in fear and guidance rooted in presence. This isn’t about blind obedience. It’s about sacred memory, relationship, and the holy courage to say: “You must remember who you are.”

📖 Scripture: Isaiah 43:16–21

🎶 Inspired by 1776 and Abigail Adams’ prophetic voice

🌈 A reflection on control, compassion, and God’s many names

✨ Featuring:

A God who makes a way through the wilderness by remembering

Abigail Adams, writing wisdom and warning to the men in charge

A side-eye at the founding fathers and their dangerous certainties

Isaiah’s river in the desert — and what it means to trust again

A call to unlearn domination in favor of divine relationship

—

🧵 Musical Midrash is where Broadway meets the Bible — sacred storytelling for those at the intersections of faith, queerness, art, and justice.

📬 Subscribe for sermons and reflections:

🔗 dustinwilsor.substack.com

#ParentalGuidance #QueerTheology #AbigailAdams #SacredMemory #PropheticPreaching #MusicalMidrash

The message of Resurrection, remembered in this Easter season, is a message of apocalyptic proportions. The Good News of the community of Love springs to life and begins to spread as Dustin begins to say goodbye.

Sermon begins at minute marker 6:03

John 5:25-29; Acts 5:12–16; 2 Corinthians 4:13–15

Hymn: 478, I Come with Joy. Music: American traditional (USA), Southern Harmony, 1854, alt. Text: Brian Wren (England), 1968, rev. 1993, © 1971, rev. 1995 Hope Publishing Company Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-726929. All rights reserved.

Resources

A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (Year W): A Multi-Gospel Single-Year Lectionary, Wilda C. Gafney, Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021.

This sermon was written for Seattle Mennonite Church as they were preparing for a season of major transition.

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John 3:16 is much loved by many & much detested by many others. This Laetare Sunday, Dustin looks beyond verse 16 to find a way to rejoice it.

Sermon begins at minute marker 7:20

Song of Solomon 4.7-16; Psalm 135.1-16; 1 John 4.7-12; John 3.11-17

Resources

• A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (Year W): A Multi-Gospel Single-Year Lectionary, Wilda C. Gafney, Church Publishing Incorporated, 2021.
• Finding Fred Podcast: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-finding-fred-91432380/
• Baker, Elna. “This American Life.” Episode. The Problem with Ghosts no. 793: The Wedding Crasher. Chicago, IL, March 10, 2023. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/793/the-problem-with-ghosts/act-two-6.
• Sheeler, Jason. “Mister Rogers Encouraged Gay Costar Officer Clemmons to Stay in the Closet and Marry a Woman.” Peoplemag. PEOPLE, April 24, 2020. https://people.com/tv/mister-rogers-encouraged-gay-costar-officer-clemmons-to-stay-in-the-closet-and-marry-a-woman/.
• Hymn: Voices Together 298, What Is the World Like. Words: Adam Tice and Music: Sally Ann Morris; ©2009 GIA Publications, Inc.

This sermon was written for Seattle Mennonite Church as part of their Lenten Series: From Garden to Table exploring the ways in which we are called into communion with all of creation.

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