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This thesis challenges dominant narratives that assume that queer folk either abandon religion or escape to urban centers. Drawing heavily from qualitative data obtained from surveying and interviewing 12 queer Christians with lived experience within rural contexts, this study reveals how faith is sustained, reimagined, and reinterpreted despite exclusion, spiritual trauma, and in many cases limited access to affirming communities. Integrating queer and liberation theology as well as sociological analysis of rural religious and social contexts, this project emphasizes lived experience as a source of theological wisdom. The respondents speak to enduring relationships with God, separating divine constancy with failure of the religious institution, and engaging in reinterpretations through a queer lens that is rooted in love, justice, grace, and Jesus’ message.\r\n\r\nThe findings shine a light on how rural dynamics, especially the heightened visibility, social policing, and the centralized role of the church as a community institution, increase both the risks of exclusion but also speak to the transformative power of affirmation. Even with varying relationships to organized religion, all respondents shared a sustained faith commitment and a desire to ethically engage scripture, which is shaped by resilience and a deep hope for transformation among the church. 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The author, an openly queer ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, engages this topic as a self-examination of praxis and centers his research primarily within three Houston congregations. Before presenting findings, literary reviews include a queering of cishet scholarship in comic homiletics and an examination of queer theologians as cognate to further inform the contextualized praxis. Where cishet homileticians have studied stand-up comedians, the author bridges the queer research gap by exploring drag performers as muse. A four-part research approach—including surveys, focus groups, field observations, and interviews—serves to inform the developing praxis and prove the thesis: the comic spirit can enliven and enhance preaching in LGBTQ+ affirming contexts. Three homiletical strategies for a queer-informed comic spirit emerge from the project: (1) disarming tension to engage the listener, (2) fostering congregational connection, and (3) balancing depth and levity. 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