MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

It's Almost New Year's Eve, Bridge of Light!

{By Joe Perez, author of SOULFULLY GAY}

A Gay Winter Holiday

For each of the past six years, I and small clusters of people have lit six colored candles to bring in the New Year. They are the colors of the gay community's Rainbow Flag; they are the colors of the chakras; they are the colors of the great evolutionary Spiral. And this year, on December 31, I will once again remember, honor, hope, and heal.

I've been reminded time and again by well-meaning onlookers that new traditions need to evolve organically and not by fiat. Since I published newspaper columns and blogged about the Bridge of Light, I've wondered if anyone else is lighting the candles. I've heard at times from dozens of individuals who have kept the tradition, and had my spirit lifted.

But at other times, I've felt this was a quixotic, virtually impossible chance at shifting gay culture into more mature and evolutionary practices as well as shift American and world cultures into fuller appreciation of the LGBT community's spiritual dignity and distinctiveness. What am I really hoping to achieve? And what sort of crazy idea is this as a way of shifting culture?

Bridge of Light 101

Before I dive into these questions, this is what you need to know. The holiday was founded in 2004 as a winter solstice celebration called Yuletide and by the next year was renamed Bridge of Light and moved to the New Year. Soon thereafter it allied with the World Spirituality Day, an event founded by the San Francisco-based Integrative Spirituality about the same time. World Spirituality Day is imagined by some as "The Earth Day for the Spirit," and Bridge of Light is imagined as the distinctive LGBT community contribution to the international holiday.

The central tradition for Bridge of Light is the lighting of candles in six colors, one for each color of the rainbow flag. According to followers of the tradition, each candle honors a universal spiritual principle. In 2009, with the assistance of Kittredge Cherry, the principles were defined as follows:

I'm not joining a convent anytime soon but...

Not much chance of this gay man joining the Sisters of St. Joseph Convent in Peterborough, Ontario, but if there was ever a convent to attend based on its beauty and charms, it would be this one!

Designed by Teeple Architects, Inc. (teeplearch.com), this modern gem is also green.  The convent will have a LEED Gold standing for sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere,  materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

There's an in-depth article and photo tour over at Greensource.Construction.com.

Thanks to Dwell Magazine for the head's up!

All photos by Shai Gil, http://www.insitephotography.com/

Is Your Church on Manhunt?

Okay, I pick on Manhunt a lot, but would you have read the article if it was called "Is Your Church on YouTube?"  The real question is, "Are you taking your ministry to LGBTQ people or are you simply holding an affirming space if they choose to find it?"

If you want to grow your ministry and help lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning people find their way back to god (however you define the terms "ministry" and "god"), then you need to consider undertaking a new mission to LGBTQ people.

Did Mother Teresa open an orphanage and then sit back and wait for people to find it?  No, she went out into the poverty-and-disease-ridden streets of Calcutta to bring unconditional love and care to those who needed it most.

In contemporary Christian circles, this approach is described as an "Incarnational Ministry" because it requires ministers to plant a new ministry where the underserved community lives.  To create an Incarnational Ministry is to enter into deep relationship with the people who need you most by moving into the neighborhood. 

You can do this literally, like Rev. Megan Rohrer, queer Lutheran minister (one of the "Bay Area Seven") and Executive Director of The Welcome, who goes on street retreats among San Francisco's homeless and plants gardens to feed the hungry.  Andrew Marin, a self-described former "straight, Bible-beating homophobe" incarnated a ministry in Chicago's Boystown, not to change anyone's sexual orientation but to build bridges, deep relationships, and to share his belief that "Love is an Orientation" (the title of his book - no, I haven't read it yet).  (Both of these folks desperately need financial support right now: Donate to The Welcome | Donate to The Marin Foundation)

You can also now incarnate a ministry virtually, by taking your mission work beyond Facebook and into the online social networks where 61.2% of men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) now find their first sexual partner - and millions of MSM find their next.  These sites include Manhunt.net, Adam4Adam.com and Gay.com, among many others.

Why take your church onto gay hook-up websites?  I certainly don't suggest it because I think sex between consenting adults is bad/naughty/sinful!  Don't assume every MSM on those websites needs or wants your spiritual input or support.  You should take your ministry there, not to preach against those websites and their function, but to enter into Incarnational Ministry with MSM who are in crisis.  Through my own memberships on these websites I have counseled a young gay man facing chemotherapy alone (he hadn't even told friends and family he was sick), drug addicts, escorts and prostitutes, the lonely and the suicidal. 

Many MSM on these websites are healthy, happy men just using the service to network, date and hook up.  However, many others are dealing with huge life challenges like cheating on their wives with men, coming out, coping with a health crisis, poverty, loneliness, depression, despair, or flailing about begging for someone to make them feel loved, even for just a few minutes.

I'm not saying you should create a ministerial profile on these sites and then start banging on the virtual door of anyone who you think must be in crisis - besides being rude, it might also get you kicked off by a website administrator!  But I challenge you to incarnate your ministry in these online communities; just create a profile explaining that you're available if anyone needs support or guidance, and let people in crisis come to YOU.  Use a simple photo that doesn't reveal much about how you look - you don't want them distracted by how gorgeous you are!  (And, of course, even if you don't show your pretty face, it goes without saying you'll need to be prepared to field some very angry or sexual messages.)

You know, when I published the test issue of MyOutSpirit Magazine in Austin, we distributed them for free all over town, but can you guess where they were claimed the fastest?  Gay men snapped up the copies we left in gay bars and clubs faster than anywhere else.  Our plan is to expand this print incarnational ministry to 100,000+ people in the USA in 2011.

The point is, the LGBTQ people who need you most aren't necessarily going to stumble into your church (sangha/temple/retreat center/yoga studio/counseling center) on their own.  But you can create an Incarnational Ministry right where they are, online or off.

Oh, and the other thing about Mother Teresa?  She didn't do it alone.  If you feel called to do this incarnational work, talk to your peers and members and students about it and build a team of people to go there with you!

Do you already have an LGBTQ Incarnational Ministry?  What are some that you've heard about?  Post in the comments below!

Love,

Clayton

P.S.  Another "Incarnational Ministry" that ALL LGBT-affirming body/mind/spirit resources are invited to join is just getting started on YouTube.  You are asked to make short instructional videos offering step-by-step advice to help LGBTQ youth "MAKE It Better" today.  Learn more at YouMakeItBetter.org.

P.S.  Finally (really, I promise!), you can also become a distributor of MyOutSpirit Magazine to spread LGBT-affirming inspiration and guidance in your local community.  You'll be joining a Movement of people, organizations and businesses dedicated to helping each LGBTQ person "Live Your Best Gay Life," today and for future generations.  Go ahead and sign up now at GaySpiritCulture.com.

(And if you are the dream investor we've been waiting for to take this ministry to the next level, please get in touch with me!)

 

Meditation Fights Depression, Study Finds

Drugs like selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are effective treatments for the scourge of major depression, but what about the many patients who are reluctant to stay on the medication indefinitely, risking serious relapses? A new Canadian study suggests that a novel alternative – a form of meditation – actually does as good a job in preventing such relapses as the drugs.

Evidence suggests that major-depression patients will often discontinue their medication far too soon. So a team at Ontario’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health looked at whether mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) would work as a replacement. It teaches patients to regulate their emotions, monitor possible relapse triggers and adopt lifestyle changes that help maintain mood balance.

Participants in the study, published in Archives of General Psychiatry, were all treated with antidepressants until their symptoms went into remission. The 84 subjects were then divided into three groups: one that stayed on the drugs, one that took placebos and one that stopped taking the drugs and received MBCT. Relapse rates after 18 months for patients in the MBCT group did not differ from patients on antidepressants, both being in the 30% range, compared to a  70% relapse rate for those on placebos.

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/12/07/meditation-as-good-as-drugs-for-depression-study/#ixzz17eh9XzAJ

photo: Lisa Omarali/Creative Commons

Gay artist censored by Smithsonian for ants on crucifix video

{Kittredge Cherry, JesusInLove.org}

In an outrageous and unprecedented act of censorship, the Smithsonian Institution recently removed a video by gay artist David Wojnarowicz from exhibition after a few hours of pressure from religious and political conservatives.

Titled “A Fire in My Belly,” the video combines various images of loss, pain and death as a metaphor for the suffering caused by AIDS.  The four-minute video was denounced as anti-Christian “hate speech” by the Catholic League because it includes a scene of ants crawling over Jesus on a crucifix.  Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the incoming House speaker, called it a misuse of taxpayer dollars. 

The video had been on display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC since Oct. 30 as part of the LGBT-themed show “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” the first national art exhibit about sexual orientation and gender identity in American art.  Smithsonian president Wayne Clough decided to pull the video on Nov. 30, claiming that he didn’t want controversy to distract people from the rest of the exhibit.

A Smithsonian spokesperson said that this was the first time that the gallery has pulled an artwork from an exhibit because of complaints from the public.  About 100 people protested the removal with a silent march to the Smithsonian on Dec. 2 organized by Washington’s Transformer Gallery.

The Body of Christ has AIDS

{Inspiration for World AIDS Day, December 1, from Rev. Megan Rohrer, LivingLutheran.com}

If we are all a part of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12) and some are feet, some are ears, some are elbows (Romans 12:4), then if any one of Christ’s parts is infected with HIV or AIDS, the blood that runs through Christ’s veins is also infected and affects all the parts of the body.

And while we don’t think of communion wine as literally transformed into Christ’s blood, certainly the infected bits of Christ are in, with and under the bread and wine we ingest into our body. If only for this reason, we should care about AIDS as if we ourselves are infected.

For those who think I’m being overly dramatic, or have gone too far with my biblical and liturgical metaphors, I remind you that the taboo in Jewish culture about drinking blood (Genesis 9:4-5; Leviticus 7:26-27; 17:10-12, 14; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-24; 15:23; and Acts 15:19-20) made Jesus’ comments about consuming flesh and blood just as provocative.

I’ve been thinking about how communion has lost its sense of danger ever since Richard Swanson, my religion professor when I was a student at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. (an ELCA college), pointed out that he believed that the disciples were probably so disgusted by Jesus’ request that they eat his flesh, that they probably refused. He believed this was probably why Christ waited to tell the disciples that the wine was his blood until after everyone had taken a drink (Mark 14:22-24).

Because communion is radical, it leads to radical grace, undeserved forgiveness and creates a kinship with all who worship with us. Being a part of the same bloodline with those in our community helps us to be like family to each other. And if we are not ourselves infected, then many, many members of our family are. If only for this reason, we ought to care about AIDS as if our own mother, child or partner were infected.

Even if it is only within our spiritual imagination, thinking about Jesus and communion this way adds health status to the Galatians list (Galatians 3:28) of things that do not separate us from God or our neighbor. It helps us to remember that in God’s eyes there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, positive nor negative.

At St. Francis Lutheran Church in San Francisco’s Castro district (one of the five churches where I’m called as a pastor), during the midst of the AIDS crisis when little was known about the disease, members were deeply afraid of sharing communion with each other. Much scarier than concerns about sharing a common cup during cold and flu season, this community not only had to learn how to educate each other about how HIV and AIDS is spread but to savor life as they walked with those who were dying.

Their communion liturgy took on new meaning, because the congregation knew each week that it would be the last time some of their members heard those words. If you were to worship at St. Francis this Sunday, you would notice some of the changes to their communion liturgy that stem from the AIDS crisis.

You’d notice that the pastor still takes the last drink from the common cup to show the community that it is safe and that there is a special time of prayer to give a special blessing for even the smallest moments of joy, thanksgiving or celebration in a worshiper’s life. This may include celebrating an anniversary, thanksgiving for a month without smoking cigarettes or a blessing of a bicycle before the AIDS ride.

This past year, I was able to bless a member of St. Francis who was celebrating 15 years of life since he had been diagnosed with HIV. We celebrated his health, luck and the advancements in medications that have been developed since the early days of the AIDS crisis.

We lamented the years and bottles upon bottles of pills that he has had to take, constantly reminding him of how fragile his body is. We acknowledged the fear that comes with wondering when someone sneezes if it will cause him to be sick for months. We wished him freedom from the guilt that comes from surviving what took away the lives of so many. And together we thanked God, who created our fragile bodies and despite all we have done or left undone, names us, claims us and calls us good.

My words of blessing were an echo of the thousands of times, since the AIDS crisis began, that after communion one of the pastors of St. Francis has said: “May the blessing of Christ strengthen and preserve you. Live forgiven, claim your wholeness and go in peace.”