From: [email-masked] (Thomas W. Holt Jr.)
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 11:25:38 GMT

--- Forwarded message follows ---
From: [email-masked] (Mark E. Hricko)
Subject: Passion: Christian Spirituality From A Gay Perspective (long)
Date: 30 Jul 1994 06:15:59 GMT

i received this newsletter the other day.  i have permission to reprint
and distribute this.  please feel free to distribute this as you deem
appropriate.  you can find subscription information at the end.

--me
--

                                Passion
             Christian Spirituality From A Gay Perspective

Volume I * Number 7                                          July, 1994
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kicking and Screaming

Moving by uncharted paths toward the promise of a better life is fraught
with sadness, anxiety, jealousy, impatience, and fatigue.  These emotions
accompany anyone who is coming out of the closet, struggling to deal with
his/her addictions, fighting for civil rights, or responding to the AIDS
crisis.  This is a phenomenon that Moses and the Hebrew people knew well.

As a Hebrew who lived in the privileged environment of Pharaoh's household,
Moses agonized over the forced labor of his own people and the frequency of
Hebrew bashing.  One day, when he thought there were no witnesses, Moses
killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew.  The next day, he challenged a
Hebrew who was fighting with his own kin.  The man indignantly asked Moses
who had appointed him as ruler, and wondered aloud if he intended to kill
him as he had the Egyptian.  When Pharaoh heard of the murder, Moses fled.

In exile, with his past behind him, Moses was happier as a shepherd than as
a champion of his people.  Thus, he was not pleased to hear the message
flaming from the burning bush.  concerning his call to return to Egypt and
convince a newly resigning Pharaoh to free the Hebrew slaves, Moses asked,
"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Hebrews out of Egypt?"
[Exodus 3:11]  After offering a string of weak excuses, he pleaded,
"Please, send someone else." [Exodus 4:13]

Back among his own people, Moses delighted the Hebrews with his mission to
lead them to freedom.  His popularity, however, fizzled when Pharaoh
exacted more labor from his slaves.  The Hebrew supervisors accused Moses
of placing the sword in Egyptian hands to kill his own people.  Moses cried
out to God, "Why did you ever send me?" [Exodus 5:22] and repeatedly asked
God to explain: "If the Hebrews have not listened to me, how then shall
Pharaoh listen to me?" [Exodus 6:9, 12, 30]

Indeed, Pharaoh refused to listen throughout nine irritating and destructive
plagues, but relented at the death of his firstborn son, and allowing the
Hebrews to leave Egypt.  But when he finished grieving, Pharaoh realized he
had lost his work force, and decided to reclaim his slaves.

Fearing Pharaoh's approaching army, the people turned on Moses and asked,
"Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to
die in the wilderness?  Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt,
'Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians'?" [Exodus 14:11, 12] 
Providentially, the sea befriended the Hebrews but served as a deathtrap for
Pharaoh's army.

Unfamiliar with survival tactics in the desert, the Hebrews confronted
Moses: "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,
when we sat by dishes of meat and ate our fill of break; for you have
brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with
hunger." [Exodus 16:3]  So, God taught them to make use of the manna which
covered the ground every morning.

Dissatisfied, they accosted Moses again: "If only we had meat to eat!  We
remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the
melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now...there is nothing
at all but this manna to look at." [Numbers 11:5,6]  They soon discovered
that large flocks of quails, following the desert winds, provided
sufficient source of meat. [Exodus 16:12,13]

On the border of their promised land, the Hebrews accepted the report of
those scouts who felt they could not subdue the present inhabitants.  They
complained to Moses, "Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by
the sword?...Let us chose a captain and go back to Egypt." [Numbers 14:3,4]
For their lack of trust, the people remained in the desert for forty
years, and a whole generation died before the Hebrews entered their land.

This wandering only intensified their discontent.  Jealous of Moses'
influence and position, some leaders renewed an old grudge: "Is it too
little that you have brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey
to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also lord it over us?" [Numbers
16:3]

Again dissatisfied with the manna, the people complained: "Why have you
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?  For there is no food
and no water, and we detest this miserable food." [Number 21:5]

Although their fears were founded, the Hebrews unnecessarily sabotaged
their journey by consistently assuming the worst case scenarios, and by
refusing to trust in God's providence.  Nonetheless, the people finally
took possession of their land; it really did flow with milk and honey.
For all their obstinacy, they had the wisdom to preserve the story of their
journey, as unflattering as it is, so that it might benefit others in times
of transition.

In answer to their prayer for deliverance, God gave them the leadership of 
Moses.  This was not the answer they expected.  Yet, the Hebrews learned, 
by experience, that opposing an oppressive power, leaving the familiar,
adjusting to a different lifestyle, and facing new challenges, are the 
only paths to the promised land.

Moses learned that those who want to be free struggle with an attachment to
the familiar, however unpleasant; and a resistance to the unknown, however
hopeful.  They are impatient with the process, and desire immediate and
total success.  They find it difficult to remember and build upon small
victories, and have a penchant for naming the leader as the scapegoat for
every predicament.  Regardless, Moses learned, it's important to keep
moving.

These human dynamics hold true today.  People dream of a better life but
hesitate to make it happen; they get discouraged in the process, and even
blame others for their struggles.  People often get in the way of their own
growth.  Gays and lesbians lament the internal battles that go on while
promoting causes important to them.

Perhaps it is a part of human nature to walk toward freedom kicking and
screaming all the way.  God knows -- and so do Moses and the people he led
-- that the journey is something excruciating, but well worth the goal of
a better life.

--

A Closer Look

In a new book, _What The Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, author
Daniel Helminiak concludes that the Bible never addresses the question of
whether gay and lesbian sex is right or wrong.  If people wish to find that
kind of clarity, he says, they must look elsewhere.

In less than 100 pages, Helminiak summarizes the latest biblical
scholarship in everyday English, and suggests that the scripture texts
which people use to condemn homosexuality are not what they seem.  He
explains clearly the differences between a literal reading of the Bible
[i.e. what the words, usually in an English translation, mean to a
contemporary reader] and an historical-critical reading [i.e. what the
words meant, in the original language, to the writer].

Using this historical-critical approach, Helminiak addresses each biblical
text that has some clear or supposed negative reference to "homosexuality."
In place of this generic topic, he suggests for each text, a precise
concern of the writer, such as ritual purity, a cultural bias, or abusive
sexuality.

He also points out three positive relationships in the Bible that, as the
least, are gay and lesbian friendly: David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi,
and Daniel and the palace master at Nebuchadnezzar's court.

This book is a good resource for lesbians and gays who want to keep
informed themselves, are looking for an intellectual response to the
Religious right, or are searching for a helpful book to pass on to parents
and friends.

--
If not in your local bookstore, you can order _What The Bible Really Says
About Homosexuality_ by Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.D. from Alamo Square Press,
PO Box 14543, San Francisco, CA 94114.  $9.95 + $2.00 postage and handling.

--

Weeding Out Queers

Armed with knives, two elderly, Japanese women are out early in the park. 
Squatting, in what looks like an uncomfortable position, they are
harvesting the choicest of the dandelion crop before the mowers do their
damage.  Their resourcefulness does not reveal if the harvest is headed for
salad or for wine.

Gifted with an uncluttered vision, a young child's eyes widen to take in a
lawnful of tiny petalled, golden disks.  Because the lawn is not off limits
like the flower beds, a bouquet of dandelions is the perfect way to share
this wonder with his mother.

For most people, however, there is no worth nor wonder in weeds, which by
definition, are any plants growing where someone doesn't want them to grow. 
Dandelions burst the dream of the perfect lawn despite hours of nurturing a
uniform expanse of color, texture, and height.

Society often treats gays and lesbians like dandelions.  Homosexuality is an
affront to the illusion of sameness.  Gays and lesbians are *queer* only
because enough people find them where they do not want them -- as teachers,
ministers, and co-workers; in families, politics, and the workplace. 
Despite hours of weeding out those who do not conform by means of
spiritual, medical, psychological, emotional, financial, and legal
strictures, lesbians and gays remain.

For those with eyes to see, dandelions bear beautiful flowers, nourishing
leaves and joyful spirits.  For those with hearts to accept, lesbians and
gays are beautiful human beings whose diversity and resilience are worthy of
wonder.

--

Interdependence Day

"Nothing flatters vanity or confirms obstinacy in kings more than repeated
petitioning," wrote Thomas Paine in _Common Sense_ his popular pamphlet
arguing for independence from Britain.

So, six months later, on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress, "by the
authority of the good people of these colonies," declared independence,
citing the self-evident truths "that all men are created equal."

Two years previously, a group of slaves appealed to the Governor of
Massachusetts, declaring, "...we have in common with all other men a
natural right to our freedoms..."  Yet, when Thomas Jefferson presented his
draft of the _Declaration of Independence_, the delegates from Georgia and
South Carolina insisted that the Congress delete the paragraph that
condemned King George III for promoting slavery.

During the deliberations of the Congress, Abigail Adams wrote to her
delegate-husbands, John, warning, "If particular care and attention is not
paid to the ladies, we...will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in
which, we have no voice or representation."

Although Abigail and the Massachusetts slaves used the same logic as the
declaration from the Continental Congress, their equality has never been
self-evident.  The current debate over *civil rights or special rights* for
lesbians and gays highlight the phenomenon that those who have the power
define themselves as the measure for all people.

While the _Declaration of Independence_ awaits a comprehensive application,
its approach is instructive.  The Colonists were unwilling to allow the
King of England to define them as his pawns.  They no longer sought
approval, but on their own authority, defined themselves and were
determined to fight for their equality.

The African men and women, forced to labor in Massachusetts, were
unwilling to allow the Colonists to define them as slaves.  Abigail Adams
was unwilling to allow men to define her as subservient and
inconsequential.  Although for Blacks and women, their struggles continue,
they have gained most when, from their inner authority, they no longer
asked permission, but acted on their beliefs.  Likewise, gays and lesbians
need to define themselves, and act upon their own truth.

Perhaps one day, when the statement, "all people are created equal," really
is self-evident, a declaration of independence will give way to an
affirmation of interdependence.

--
Source: _The American Reader, Words That Moved A Nation_, ed. Diane
Ravitch, HarperCollins: 1990.

--

Make A Note of It

The following questions might serve as starts for prayer, journal writing,
or discussion with a friend.

--
What aspect of my life invites me to move by uncharted paths?  What is the
strongest emotion I feel when I am on this journey?

Do I find that I need the approval of others, or can I claim my own inner
authority?

How do I define myself?  Am I willing to affirm this definition in the face
of opposition?

What past experiences can help me through a time of transition?  How can I
support others who are sad, anxious, jealous, impatient, or tired?

--

Unknown, Mysterious God,
you scare me.
You work in the most unlikely circumstances,
you choose as your co-workers
the weak and hesitant,
and you invite oppressed people
to claim their freedom.
As you lure me into abundant life,
grant me joy when I long for the security of an oppressive past,
patience when I want the answers now,
a cooperative spirit
when I find it easy to blame others,
and confidence when I feel
I will not survive the journey.
You soothe me,
Unknown, Mysterious God
AMEN!

--
PASSION is published monthly.  Copyright (c) 1994, by David Schimmel, all
rights reserved.  David Schimmel has a M.Div and a M.A. [Theology].  He has
spent the past twelve years working in adult spiritual formation, as a
program director, speaker, writer, retreat director, and spiritual
director.  One year subscriptions to PASSION is $15.00 [US], $18.00
[Canada], $22.00 [Europe and Australia].  To request a free copy or to
subscribe, write to [and make check, *in US funds*, payable to]: David
Schimmel, 4520 N. Clarendon, #801, Chicago, IL 60640-6171.  The art in this
issue is by Mark Vincent Fairs.  For more information about the artist's
work, write him at: 814 Bridge Street, Sweet Springs, MO 65351.  Design
assistance by Harrington Communications.

--
-- 
* * * *     If you're dishonest about your sexual orientation, and
 * * *      dishonesty is a character flaw, then where does it stop?
  * *
   *        P. O. Box 1089 * Hiram, Ohio 44234-1089 * 216/734 0470