Way back in those days when I was young, I was an activist in the first political group in Australia, CAMP NSW. I was also a hurting Christian, one who had been barred from her church because of her sexuality. In those days, before even
I recall as young child, being verbally taunted for being a tomboy, for the clothes I wore and for being overweight. Verbal jabs were commonplace in my schooldays and unfortunately, the impact was present for many years to follow. My mother’s retort was “sticks and
We without God cannot, and God without us will not. (St. Augustine) God, as revealed to us by Jesus Christ, often uses fallible human beings to carry out “His” work in this world. Of course these human vessels in no way limit Who God is.
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” (Rom 12:17-19) “Do
A (small) personal joke of long standing: I’m a German Lutheran farm boy. We practice a more subtle affection. + + + Jill said it was the physical manifestation of my reserved nature. Misha said she finds it interesting, how we feel, think, act might
There was a time when I thought a clean heart and a right spirit meant denying my sexuality and gender ambiguity. That was my understanding of it. But that was not God’s understanding of it for me. In a strange way God can draw straight
When I met her, she was my best friend. We worked together as mental health counselors in a fundamentalist evangelical agency. I had known her for three years. (During that time, I had been married to a wonderful man whom I divorced due to our
Times get hard. 2007 was a tough year for me. At the end of 2006, I spent 6 nights in the hospital. I’ve always been rather healthy, so this was a completely new experience for me. This put me in a spin for most of
Some years ago, I tried a breathing meditation. The idea was to spend some time simply watching my own breath. Not breathing any special way, not trying to achieve anything but stillness. “If random thoughts emerge,” my teachers told me, “simply let them go.” Simply
After being accepted to the church and the church’s in-house seminary program (while taking another seminary program) I finally got baptized. I had been seeking baptism for about 3 years and the church I was attending just wasn’t all that interested in seeing to my