Written by: United Theological Seminary May 22, 2019

“Camp is Revelation!” Pastoral Insights on the 2019 Met Gala

Every year on the first Monday in May, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute holds a gala to celebrate the opening of their spring exhibition. This year’s exhibition is “Camp: Notes of Fashion”, inspired by a 1964 essay by the writer and social critic Susan Sontag entitled “Notes on Camp.” Like past years, the attendees to the exclusive social and fashion event were asked to dress to reflect the theme of the exhibition. From Billy Porter, dressed entirely in gold and held aloft on a golden platform carried in by anonymous gold-clad men, to Tiffany Haddish’s homage to the zoot suit style of Cab Calloway to Lady Gaga who “performed” four outfit changes during her entrance to the gala, guests brought their own interpretation of camp aesthetic for display. Following the event, I began to ask: How can camp contribute new ways of thinking and talking about God and theology? How can we interpret scripture through the lens of camp? What does camp have to say to those who have suffered greatly or who lack spiritual direction? I believe the ironic reverence, joy and humor of camp speak to our lives as theologians and pastoral leaders.

The Oxford Dictionary defines camp as “deliberately exaggerated and theatrical in style.” Sontag states that “the essence of camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration . . . of things-being-what they-are-not.” As a child of the seventies, my camp icons were Cher, John Waters films (Divine!) and David Bowie – luscious makeup, tongue-in-cheek, over the top performances and visual treats that questioned dominant standards of politics, class, sex, gender, taste, fashion and behavior. These people saw the hypocrisy of the “normal.” What drew me to camp as a kid and continues to excite me is the expression of the self through art and fashion that transcends traditional expectations. Growing up I loved sneaking into the bathroom, applying the most dramatic eye-shadow and lipstick combinations, and admiring myself in the mirror. My camp icons helped me not take myself so seriously, because they didn’t take themselves seriously and they looked like they were having fun! Camp has an element of humor, irreverence, even an ironic reverence. Camp loves history and tradition but does not make an idol of either.

Camp exaggerates the past by injecting it with a particular artifice – feathered, bouffanted, hair-sprayed, sequined, draped – while keeping it recognizable and relatable. It’s the outsiders’ version of tradition that makes the world look at culture in a new way – like performing a task with your opposite hand or picturing Moses in a big-shouldered pant suit. Camp creates new meaning from the “old” in creative and outrageous interpretations of shared historical references. We are in on the joke and cultural context.

In her essay, Sontag writes that “camp is a solvent of morality. It neutralizes indignation, sponsors playfulness.” I would add that camp can be a way to question moral codes that have excluded the experiences of those outside normative Western white male culture. Camp is a way of telling the story of one’s experience of history, playfully commenting on politics, power, society, ideas and values.

Camp helps us to re-evaluate and recreate new spiritual and theological stories for our time. I think camp is a way to hold the importance of tradition more lightly — to not make an idol of scripture, or to critique normative ideas about Jesus or his disciples. Last month United alum Rev. Craig Lemming preached a sermon, “Drag Queens, Mary, and Jesus: Lavish, Outrageous, and Extravagant Love,” at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. For Lemming, drag queens are marginalized people who respond to oppression with “a lavish, outrageous, extravagant display of joy that is ‘burnished by the fire of adversity, oppression and struggle.’” For Lemming both the Biblical Bethany and modern drag queens reflect the lavishness in the image of God, teaching us “ how to outrageously, unashamedly and unapologetically love ourselves and each other […] and God as extravagantly, lavishly and outrageously as God loves all of us!”

Camp is a way of breaking open new ideas about how we image embodiment, God, faith and scripture. If Ziggy Stardust is made in the image of God, what does that say about divinity? The pitfalls of life can make me feel completely alienated from the world around me, but Ziggy, the literal alien pop star, helps me see myself as a beloved part of creation. Imagine stories from scripture being performed in a Real Housewives format showing us conflict, jealousy, pain, beauty, forgiveness, disconnection and reconciliation so that we see how Biblical texts still speak to us today! The possibilities are endless. When we hold humor and irony in paradoxical relationship with reverence, we reveal faces of the sacred that have otherwise been hidden. Camp is revelation!

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October 9, 2026

Alums Homecoming News Releases

Rev. Dr. A. Leon (Lee) Tredwell (’06) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is excited to announce that Rev. A. Leon (Lee) Tredwell, PhD—who earned his MA in Theology and Biblical Interpretation from United in 2006—has been selected as a 2026 Distinguished Alum. An accomplished preacher, teacher, and published author, Dr. Tredwell has championed biblical narratives that affirm the divinity of all people, regardless of their race, creed, color, class, gender, or sexuality. Adopted at age four, Lee was raised in the Baptist faith and felt called to ministry as a child. Even so, after earning a degree in Political Science and Sociology at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, he spent the first ten years of his professional life as a grain trader for Cargill. After connecting with Drs. Ralph and Alika Galloway, Lee found United, and his call was reignited. He remembers Rev. Dr. Carolyn Pressler (Professor Emerita of Biblical Interpretation, 1990–2020) and Dean Richard Weis* with great affection. Both teachers, he observes, “taught us to wrestle with the biblical text until it opened up and spoke.” They also introduced Lee to Black and post-colonial hermeneutics, and Rev. Dr. Weis led him to passages in Jeremiah 38 (Hebrew Bible) that sparked his interest in learning more about a Black character named Ebed-Melech. Lee also cites the influence of Rev. Dr. Christine Smith’s (Professor Emerita of Preaching 1992–2013) preaching courses on his life. In Colorado, at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology, Lee completed a joint PhD program with a concentration in Religion and Social Change in 2017. Ronald Smith, a former United student who nominated Lee for this award, notes, “Dr. Tredwell has demonstrated that he is an innovator and compassionate leader who has served both inside the academy as a professor of African American Preaching at Iliff School of Theology, University of Colorado, Boulder, and in the larger community; he has served as [a] pastor, civil rights and human rights activist, and [a] chief executive officer in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, and Texas.” Lee’s new book—Black, Queer and Blessed: My Story and the Biblical Story Churches Don’t Teach—was published in June 2025. As the description reads, “For all who believe God-Yahweh is angry, mad, disgusted, and against LGBTQIA+ folx, regrettably, you been had, misled, took, hood-winked and bamboozled! Black, Queer and Blessed, through lived experience and the excavation of the subjugated biblical narrative of Ebed-Melech, demolishes society’s antiquated mores.” The book is part memoir and part theological reflection on the Ebed-Melech revelation. In addition to his roles as teacher, preacher, and author, Lee has specifically worked to promote adoption of Black children from foster care and create affordable housing. These days, he serves as the pastor of Theology and Community Engagement at Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. As Ronald Smith asserts, “Dr. Tredwell is the embodiment and an exemplar of United Theological Seminary’s mission, vision, and values.” * of blessed memory About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, explore multi-faith spirituality, and push the boundaries of knowledge.

Lena K. Gardner (’15) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

[caption id="attachment_11955" align="alignnone" width="1920"] photo by Bethany Birnie[/caption] United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is thrilled to announce that Lena K. Gardner—who graduated with an MA in Justice and Peace Studies in 2015—has been selected as one of our three 2026 Distinguished Alums. A highly respected social justice activist and community leader, Lena is the co-founder and executive director of Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), a nonprofit founded in 2015 that creates life-giving and life-saving opportunities for spiritual community and Black-centered organizing. According to Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel (’13), Lena has “been a force in the Twin Cities’ religiously rooted justice ecosystem for the last 15 years.” Dr. Voelkel, Lena’s nominator, traces Lena’s justice-organizing acumen back to 2011, when she served on the Faith Organizing Roundtable—a body that coordinated religious communities’ opposition to the anti-marriage amendment. Lena went on to champion marriage equality in the 2012–2013 legislative session. After a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown, Jr., an unarmed 18-year-old Black teen, in 2014, Lena played a key role in transforming the Faith Organizing Roundtable into the Multifaith Anti-Racism, Change & Healing or MARCH. “In that same period,” Voelkel notes, “Lena was a core team organizer of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and served on its steering committee.” Lena was deeply involved, quoted in many national and local articles, and interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio after former police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd in 2020. In April 2021, after a Brooklyn Center police officer killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, Lena co-wrote an article in the Sahan Journal demanding that Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecute the case, and that the Hennepin County attorney be removed. More recently, Lena embarked on another ambitious project. In May 2024, through the BLUU Cooperative Housing Initiative, she co-hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for an affordable housing complex for single parents in North Minneapolis. In a MinnPost article about the groundbreaking, Lena explained, “It’s really about trying to give back to one of the communities that made me…. We really see providing stable housing in a cooperative framework as one of the many paths to collective liberation and Black liberation. Ultimately, it’s about self-determination.” When Operation Metro Surge arrived in the Twin Cities in late 2025, Lena took action again. As Voelkel observes, she “returned to the MARCH steering committee…. When MARCH organized a clergy call (in five days) to which 700 clergy came, the ability to create and host such an amazing event owes part of its success to Lena’s relationships with communications specialists, graphic designers, and organizers.” Lena was also a driving force behind Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN), a mutual aid group she and Anna Stamborski founded in late 2025 to connect vulnerable ICE-targeted families with congregational networks whose members could provide shopping and transportation services. Through all of Lena’s indefatigable contributions to working for justice, Voelkel asserts, she “has focused on Black excellence, Black power, Black spiritual wholeness, Black beauty, and how non-Black folks can act in solidarity and followership of Black folks, particularly Black queer women. She has done so skillfully through building relationships across differences in ways that facilitate and deepen genuine relationships.”

Cori Berg (’98) Honored As a 2026 Distinguished Alum

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is elated to announce that Cori Berg (’98)—advocate, artist, and educator—is a 2026 Distinguished Alum. Cori earned her Master of Arts (MA) in Theology and the Arts in 1998, and for more than 27 years, she has integrated creativity, art, and spirituality into her field. Cori arrived at United in the 1990s, having majored in theater and minored in studio art during her undergraduate studies. “I knew I had an artistic voice,” she recalls, “but it didn’t make sense in any of the traditional contexts.” After seeing an advertisement for United’s Theology and the Arts program, Cori drove from Dallas to the Twin Cities to visit as a prospective student. A campus art exhibit by Merle Janis was all she needed to see—“this school had something I needed: strength, boldness, vulnerability.” For Cori, “life is liturgy.” She credits United with introducing her to “the freedom in a progressive faith.” At United, Cori learned to expand her creativity, which became a launching pad for a vibrant career. “United gave me a safe, nurturing space to explore, dream, and execute big things,” she writes. “I’ve continued that through the rest of my career as an artist, an educator, an administrator, and a speaker.” Art is central to Cori’s work and features prominently in her curriculum development for children. Her art was featured in the 2012 opening parade for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, TX, a project that involved “seniors, children, and adults in all aspects” from a local Methodist community program. Ministry with Children and Spirituality, courses taught by Rev. Dr. Barbara Anne Keely (Professor Emerita, 1991–2015), were particularly formative for Cori’s future in education. “I remember she taught us to get on the floor and view the church nursery from a baby’s point of view,” Cori reflects. “I use this today over and over as I teach early childhood educators…. She introduced the idea of seeing oneself not as a separate body, mind, or spirit, but when one part of my being is suffering, to use the other parts to help lift that part.” More recently, Cori has been an active community member at Dallas Meditation Center, where she is known for her moving dharma talks that weave Buddhist themes into contemporary storytelling. In public schools and congregational settings, Cori has applied what she learned as a United student to the field of early childhood education, for which—nominator Rev. Jim Peck (’99) points out—she has become “one of the nation’s leading advocates.” When facing challenges in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cori leveraged her ingenuity and creative vision to support educators with online training resources. As a teacher and an administrator in spaces where lack of institutional funding and support are commonplace, Jim observes, “she uses her [United] education to work for justice and equity,” to “nurture relationships in the early childhood settings where she has served, with an expertise in working in settings in crisis to encourage recovery, healing, and new paths for serving the future.” In May 2026, Cori completed her MEd in Curriculum and Instruction at American College of Education, where she immediately enrolled to begin her EdD in Early Childhood Education. She serves as an executive director at the University of Kansas (KU) and anticipates returning to Dallas to live near her family at the end of the year while awaiting her next opportunity. We are delighted to celebrate Cori and her decades of faithful, innovative leadership in the field of early childhood education and art. About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, explore multi-faith spirituality, and push the boundaries of knowledge.