Volume 16, Issue 1
Trust
Cover Stories
Trust in Waiting
By Rev. Candace Chellew
I believe that trust — and trusting God, in particular — is the most difficult thing a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person can do.
A Hole Is a Hole
By Lori Heine
To sustain our own sense of trust, we must ourselves be trust-worthy. Those who cannot trust often turn out to be those who cannot be trusted.
Where’s the Trust?
By Rev. Suzie Chamness
Trust in God to find the faith for faith is trusting what our eyes cannot see. You may see in the mirror a promise-breaker, or less than successful person. But by faith you can see in the mirror a robed prodigal bearing the ring of grace on your finger and the kiss of God on your face. But you ask how can I trust?
Be Still and Know
By John H. Campbell
Trust in God and Faith in God to me are one and the same; they are complementary and need one another to exist.
Muddying the Waters of Trust
By Robert Moore
God stands on the edge of creation with his back to everything he has made and says your name just so he can hear it.
Features
More Believers Are Saying “It Ain’t Necessarily So”
By Dr. Robert N. Minor
There is little question that the number one answer usually given when asked what is holding us back on these social issues is religion. That’s why the news here is especially encouraging.
The Vatican, LDS, and Religious Antipathy to Gay Rights
By Rev. Dr. Jerry S. Maneker
Those who seek to deprive Gay people of equal rights, and who defame them as much as they can, and who give money to keep them as second-class citizens who are often viewed as pariahs precisely due to the lies promulgated by homophobic clergy and their blind followers, are doing nothing short of serving the demonic!
Marriage Equality: National Versus States’ Rights
By Warren J. Blumenfeld
I argue most emphatically that marriage rights in general, and more specifically, legalization for same-sex couples is indeed a federal governmental issue.
So, What Are We Going To Do About It?
By Dr. Robert N. Minor
Make no mistake. We need people who bring to light the latest selfish, shortsighted, bigoted strategies of the religious-political-economic-military right-wing. We need to know what’s really going on with them.
The Possible Arrogance of Beliefs
By Tom Durst
As I read the “This we believe” statements of various religious organizations I’m astounded how arrogant that they can appear to be.
Facing the Stigma: The Increased Psychological Struggles of LGBT Individuals
By Annie Bowen, Amanda Gurtis, Michael Martinez, and Sarah Tallentire, University of La Verne, Psy.D. Program in Clinical-Community Psychology
The process of coming out, bullying and discrimination from others, mental disorders, and suicide are all factors that this community faces, often at higher rates than non-LGBT individuals.
From the Pulpit
The Strip-Tease: Take It Off! Take It All Off! Living Without Shame
By Rev. Ray Neal
It’s time that you and I realize that we need to get rid of the shame that controls our lives and live in the love of God in Christ. It’s time to take it off, take it all off!
To Divinity and Beyond! Wisdom
By Rev. Candace Chellew
As both seekers and doubters, living in a both/and world instead of an either/or world, we soon realize our divine Wisdom comes from that Holy within us all — and if we’ll trust in the Holy, She will show us the way — the path of life.
To Divinity and Beyond! Hospitality
By Rev. Candace Chellew
Through Isaiah, we are reminded that God is still in the hospitality business — and to go to divinity and beyond — we must embrace our own divine characteristic of hospitality.
To Divinity and Beyond! Playfulness
By Rev. Candace Chellew
Our games point out the hypocrisy of the Very Serious People of this world, it undermines their power over us, and breaks the chains of bondage. We are called to engage this world in “serious-merry play.”