Volume 8: Issue 4
January/February 2004

Cover Story

Homospirituality

Features

Transgender Spirituality

From the Pulpit

Bible Study and Inspiration

Holy Humor!

A Seal Upon My Heart
--By: Candace Chellew-Hodge

In our spiritual as well as our earthly marriages, we are to set our beloved as a seal upon our heart, as the Song of Solomon so eloquently puts it. Our married love is a love stronger than death, our jealousy for our loved one stronger than the grip of hell ­ it is an eternal bond to another person, as well as our maker.

 

Imagine
--By: John H. Campbell

As people who are Christian and LGBT are redefining the traditional idea of what marriage can and cannot be, I cannot understand why it is that so many are so apprehensive of the idea of a bisexual person in a relationship with two partners, provided such a relationship is entered into consensually and with the full agreement of all involved, and given as much reverence and meaning by all involved as a monogamous commitment between two members of the same or the opposite gender would be.

 

By The Power Vested In Me, I Now Pronounce...
--By: Rev. Don Southworth

The institution of marriage is not going to be harmed if we let more people into it, people who are as loving and as committed as anyone else. It could be argued that same sex marriage might even help the institution. We heterosexuals have not been doing too great a job.

 

Moses at the MCC:
God's Exodus International Isn't Ex-Gay at All!
--By: Steve Pearson

Even if God is in favor of gay marriage, we must be very careful how we go about achieving it: we must not simply adopt the political strategies that work in the secular world. What seems best from a political, moral, or ethical point of view is often not so from God's perspective.

 

Give Us a Chance
--By: Sheila Reuther

Is it really necessary to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marriage that the "tro's" (heterosexuals) guard so sacredly? Isn't there a Dick's Divorce Shack on every corner in every town right next to Bubba's Chapel of Bliss? The going rate for divorce is 50 % if I'm not mistaken. So that means in a room of 10 "tro's," 5 of them will stay married and 5 of them will divorce.

 

The Family Idol
--By: Rev. Fr. Robert Darrell Hall

The symptoms of the family idol's worship are very strange. It causes the equation of a heterosexual, dual-parent, child-raising family with some sort of moral ideal. While there is rational and empirical evidence that children may be better off in two-parent family, there is no evidence that a heterosexual pairing is any better than a homosexual pairing.

 

Rescuing Marriage
--By: Rembert Truluck

The obvious fact that same-sex couples can and do enter into loving committed lifelong relationships is challenging and shaking the foundations of abusive religion and unjust social customs and systems. All of our biblical research reaches one clear conclusion: Homosexuals are not an abomination to God, but wounding and destroying homosexuals in the name of religion is.

 

Gay Weddings: Is it a Marriage?
Is it a Union? Does it matter?
--By: Dean Eason

The U.S. Supreme Court, in their recent ruling regarding the Texas sodomy laws, has in essence validated gay relationships. They chose to leave the bedroom to the conduct and behavior of the consenting adults residing within. However, even this is a far cry from the benefits that a government recognized 'marriage' provides.

 

Tears of Joy for Richard and Eric
--By: Henry S. Juhala

I wasn't sad
Quite to the contrary
Two of my friends
Have decided to marry

 

First There Must Be Paper
--By: Joseph Schultz

The first anniversary is paper or clocks,
but there was no paper to give:
no invitations,
no license,
no wedding photos,
no thank you notes.

 

No Ordinary Epistle
--By: Richard Shumate

Working prayerfully under the influence of the Holy Spirit, two-thirds of the clergy and lay leaders of the church took the fateful step of saying no office in our church should be denied to faithful Christians because of their sexual identity. Those who would reject that decision as apostasy might want to stop for a moment -- just a moment -- to consider whether the Holy Spirit might be trying to tell them something. The Lord does work in mysterious ways.

 

Black Homosexuality Goes Mainstream with release of Spiritual Empowerment Book for Black GLBT, Clergy and Families
--By: Herndon L. Davis

In his new GLBT affirming spiritual empowerment book, "Black, Gay and Christian: An Inspirational Guidebook to Daily Living," author Herndon L. Davis sheds full light upon the numerous issues facing today's Black Gay Christian while bringing acute awareness to the Black mainstream as to the crucial need for broader inclusion, reconciliation and acceptance of homosexuality.

 

Exodus and Beyond . . . Hope and a Future
--By: Eileen Smith

I tried to "change." I underwent five years of intense counseling and "reparative" therapy that left me more insecure, unstable and guilt-ridden than I ever was before. But I lived behind a facade of happiness and wholeness because I didn't want to disappoint those who had prayed for me for so many years.

 

Deja vu All Over Again
-- By: Rev. Gilbert Caldwell

Despite the differences between racial identity and sexual orientation, those who oppose the consecration of Bishop Robinson concern me as they are reminders of the attitudes that once opposed the acceptance, inclusion and elevation of persons because they were of African descent.

 

We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For
--By: Bruce Mulkey

Many of us look around today and see a world in disarray. Many of us believe that our leaders have failed us. But the truth is, my friends, that the situation around us is our creation. If you want to discover what you really want, look at what you've got. The situation in our homes, in our community, in the U.S., in the world, is our responsibility. And if you want something different, it is essential that you think, say and do what is necessary to create that change. No one else can do this for you.

 

The Idol of Empire
-- By: James Wellman

As we sacrifice to the idol of survival we feed the system of empire that says whatever must be done to survive we will do. Whoever needs to be killed will be killed; whoever needs to be destroyed will be destroyed. This, as prophets of Israel, Islam, and theologians within the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches know, is a slippery road that is tremendously appealing to many people, but endangers the soul of the nation.

 

Soulforce Condemns Catholic Bishops' Marriage Document as Spiritually Violent
-- By: Laura Montgomery Rutt

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in November approved a document condemning loving relationships between people of the same gender, and defining marriage as "between a man and a woman." The document, entitled Between Man and Woman: Questions and Answers about Marriage and Same-Sex Unions, is intended to be made into a pamphlet and circulated among Catholic parishes and parishioners.

 

Letters To The Editor

The Contours of Gender
-- By: Jill Neimark

If gender has any message to give us, it's that we are complex and richly constructed whole beings. Human beings are made of a choreography of signals, from the intricacy of genes blending together, to the ebb and flow of hormones, to the fabric of culture-a choreography that we create and which creates us. From this tapestry comes a sense of self, an indivisible whole. Powerful, yes. Simple, no.

 

Ah! The Power of Prayer:
Part Five -- "Faith Healers, Snake Handlers, and Others Stories from Cheese Station C"
--By: Rev. Brad Wishon

What if prayer isn't in asking for anything? What if prayer isn't about a list of what is needed, even if they are good things? What if real prayer, true prayer, is the willing of good, the power of creative life flowing out of us, touching others?

 

People Suck
--By: Rev. Candace Chellew-Hodge

We suck when we believe that our misery, our suffering, is somehow unique. We suck because we, believing that we have the market cornered on pain and anguish, inflict our misery on others.

 

All Things Buffy
--By: Jim Checkley

The whole point is that Buffy is not what she appears to be. The whole point is to get beyond stereotypes and superficial appearances and discovery what lies beneath. As I will discuss throughout the rest of this talk, what matters is who we are inside our strength as a person and the choices we make when confronted with the challenges of the world.

 

Lepers, Loons and Losers: The Outcasts of the Gospels
Part 2: The Roadside Leper
--By: Tom Yeshua

Each of us, in our own way, have cried out to Jesus, "If you want to, you can make me clean." Often this is in the form of a prayer: "Make me like everyone else," take my lesbian or gay desires away from me. And Jesus is still "moved with pity" over the inability of his gay brothers and sisters to come to grips with their unique beauty and calling, and the giftedness of their sexual and emotional loves and desires.

 

Queering the Gospel
--By: Jerry S. Maneker

Increasingly, God's gay and lesbian children are recognizing that being queer is not a sin, but it is a sin to deny the value of what God has made! No longer are many queer people content to live their lives in quiet desperation, riddled with shame, guilt, and self-loathing.

 

The Power and Authority of Scripture
--By: Elizabeth McGee

Many Christians have decided to abandon the Bible for the most part. Some churches have even struggled with whether to include the Bible in their pews. I know that many of these people have been deeply hurt - but it seems that they have been mostly hurt by other people who have abused the Bible. It seems unfair punishment to the scripture to put it in the corner (so to speak) because of the actions of people.

 

How Faiths Fight Fires

The Lying Contest

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