Volume 4 Issue 1 ~~Winter 1999
Integrity/Calgary
Support for gay, lesbian and bisexual Christians & friends
News of Integrity
A BREIF UP-DATE ON THE WRITING OF THE BYLAWS AND INCORPERATION AS A SOCIETY
After a meeting of the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, to hash out a set of bylaws, I have typed up what will hopefully be our new bylaws for Intergrity Calgary. The name search required by law has yet to be done, and the necessary government forms have to be sent in. I apologise for the delay; we have lost our Chair, and things did not have much direction lately. I hope to be able to inform you soon of the formation of a new society----"Integrity Calgary" .
Sincerely,
Brian Q
WINE AND CHEESE FUND RAISER
The wine-and-cheese party on Dec. 13 was a great success in many ways. The event raised $640. It brought together about 40 people, gay and straight, men and women, some of whom were hearing about our group for the first time. One adjective which describes the afternoon is 'mellow': I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Many thanks to Shayne, who had the idea and organised us, to Phil, who offered his home, and both of whom donated the wine, to all those who brought food, and especially to those who encouraged your friends to come. We can give ourselves a pat on the back!
WHAT WILL WE DO WITH ALL THIS MONEY?
$640 is not a huge amount, but as our rent is usually covered by individual donations, why do we need it? Group maintenance will take some of it: the cost of our postal box ($70/year), the newsletter ($40/issue, six times a year), a retreat day t.b.a. Outreach is probably even more important. We claim to have a mission to the lesbigay community, to proclaim Christ; and also a mission to the church, to combat homophobia. Now that we have a little nest egg, why don't we think of some imaginative ways to tackle our double mission!!
13 Lessons of Simplicity and Spirituality
(a sampling from the book "The lessons of St. Francis:How to Bring Simplicity and Spirituality into Your Daily Life" by John Michael Talbot with Steve Rabey.)
1. A Tangible Saint: His reverence for God made him passionate about everything God had made. Francis's minute-by-minute desire was to follow God ever closer, as he wrote in this prayer to the members of his movement: "Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God, grant us in our misery that we may do for your sake alone what we know you want us to do, and always what pleases you; so that, cleansed and enlightened interiorly and fired with ardour of the Holy Spirit, we may be able to follow in the footsteps of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and so make our way to you."
2. Simplicity: You don't need to be an itinerant or a monk to follow God's call to simplicity. Francis describes a third, more mainstream model:practising equality in a world of savage disparity. Not all wants are bad or destructive. But a life consumed by fulfilling all our wants is a recipe for frustration and unhappiness. If we seek to practice simplicity, distinguishing between wants and needs will help us prune our lives and cut away the things that hinder our growth. Simplicity is God's grand antidote to a culture of money and madness, enabling us to begin living freely, sharing generously, and loving deeply.
3. Joy: Joy is an essential ingredient to surviving and thriving in a world full of darkness and bad news. Trying to control life and manufacture happiness leads to frustration, sadness, and anger. But Francis taught that joy comes from abandoning ourselves into the hands of God. Ironically, this submission to God doesn't result in a life that is defeatist, pessimistic, or separated from the rhythms of life. Instead, it connects us to life more deeply and more passionately. Learn to forgive, thus freeing yourself from the illusions of both control and victimisation.
4. Solitude: For Francis and other saints, monastics, and mystics down through the ages, the desire for solitude isn't an effort to flee from the world; it's an attempt to run toward God, to know God better, to hear God's voice amid the din. There is nothing magical about solitude, God is everywhere. But by practicing the discipline of solitude, we are creating a space in our lives where God can be with us. And overtime, as that space grows, so can our relationship with the living God.
5. Humility: Try to realize the dignity God has conferred on you. He created and formed your body in the image of his beloved Son, and your soul in his own likeness. How we treat others, particularly others who we view as somehow less important than ourselves, is a crucial test of our humility. Pride makes us hate our equals because they are our equals; our inferiors for fear they may equal us; our superiors because they are above us.
6. Creativity: Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God. A Christian, above all people, should live artistically, ascetically, and creatively. If we have been created in the image of an Artist, then we should look for expressions of artistry, and be sensitive to beauty, responsive to what has been created for our appreciation.
7. Chastity: Chastity means making an effort to order our sexual lives around a higher moral purpose. Think of sex as a means of communication, not primarily as a means of experiencing pleasure. Look at it as a way to give pleasure to your partner instead of taking pleasure for yourself. This is how sex begins to be more like divine love. As we grow in sexual wholeness, our sexuality can be united with our spirituality, giving us a hint of what ultimate spiritual union is like.
8. Community: Independence is a pervasive and popular myth. But the truth is that nothing in our universe is truly independent. Nature is an interdependent network. The cosmos in communitarian. God wants us to be more interdependent as well, not for our own good but for the good of the world as well.
9. Compassion: Compassion isn't about whether you approve or disapprove of what someone is saying; it's about understanding another person. It isn't about promoting your agenda; it's about comprehending someone else's. Compassion, if it has any meaning at all, needs to be translated into action. Generosity is a matter of the size of the heart, not the size of the gift.
10. Creation: Francis loved God so much that he wanted all of creation to join him in his celebration. Thank God for the beauty of creation, which includes you! Focus on needs instead of wants. Simplify! Recycle anything you can. Perhaps you are being called to make a radical break with modern consumer society, which has brutalised nearly everything it has touched. If so, join the creation friendly counterculture, which seeks to heal the world through ancient and time tested principles.
11. Service: What is crime, but abuse of some by others? What is war, but this abuse played out on a larger stage and spread across the globe? What is famine, but the imbalance of the world's resources, with some having nothing while others have plenty? If we've lived in sync with with God's will and served our brothers and sisters in need, we will inherit heaven. If we've lived lives of selfishness and self-centeredness, hell, whatever mysterious region that may be, is the place for us.
12. Peace: If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greedbut hate these things in yourself, not in another. Ask God to give you the gift of his peace. Consciously practice goodness, purity, and non-resistance, no matter what others do to you. Be ready to respond in a conciliatory way when you find yourself in the middle of an argument or conflict.
13. Prayer: Francis knew that the world (and maybe even the church) is full of people who mistake knowing things about God for actually knowing God. Prayer, like marriage, is a relationship that requires discipline and work. Don't expect to get very far in either marriage or prayer if all you want is the warm fuzzies. Feelings come and go, but love endures forever. Learn to endure in prayer and develop an evermore intimate relationship with God.
Fun and Folly
Jesus and Satan have a discussion as to who is the best programmer. This goes on for a few hours until they come to an agreement to hold a contest, with God as the judge. They set themselves before their computers and begin. They type furiously, lines of code streaming up the screen, for several hours straight.
Seconds before the end of the competition, a bolt of lightning strikes, taking out the electricity. Moments later, the power is restored, and God announces that the contest is over. He asks Satan to show what he has come up with. Satan is visibly upset, and cries, "I have nothing. I lost it all when the power went out." "Very well, then," says God, "let us see if Jesus fared any better." Jesus enters a command, and the screen comes to life in vivid display, the voices of an angelic choir pour forth from the speakers. Satan is astonished. He stutters, "B-b-but how?! I lost everything, yet Jesus' program is intact! How did he do it?"
God chuckles, "Everybody knows... Jesus saves."
-Contributed by John C.
Food for thought:
A Saint was once asked, while playing happily with his companions, what he would do if an angel told him that in a quarter of an hour he would die and have to appear before the judgment seat of God. The saint promptly replied that he would continue playing because I am certain these games are pleasing to God. St. John Bosco
To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude Henri Nouwen
No one is really happy merely because one has what one wants, but only if one wants things one ought to want. St. Augustine.
Once sex is no longer confined to procreative genital acts and masculinity and femininity are exposed as social ideologies, then it is no longer possible to argue that sex/love between two persons of the same sex cannot be a valid embrace of bodily selves expressing love. If sex/love is centered primarily on communion between two persons rather than on biological concepts of procreative complementarity, then the love of two persons of the same sex need be no less than that of two persons of the opposite sex. Nor need their experience of ecstatic bodily communion be less valuable. - Rosemary Radford Ruether, Professor of Historical Theology.
A holy man used to weep bitterly whenever he saw someone sinning; he would say; "He today; I tomorrow." -The Saying of the Fathers
"Beautiful people aren't that common," a wise friend once said to me. "Consider it one of God's little gifts when a real beauty passes by. Enjoy it like any other aesthetic experience. Pretend you're viewing a magnificent Greek sculpture or a sensual nude sketch by Michelangelo. Then go on with your life." - Mel White (from Stranger at the Gate: To be gay and Christian in America)
Donations Appreciated
On our behalf, St. Stephen's Church has kindly agreed to issue tax deductible receipts for donations of $35. These donations to St. Stephen's are in lieu of rent. Become a supporter. If you would like to do this please speak to Winston. You can reach Winston at 246-2029.
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Integrity /Calgary
1121-14 Avenue S. W.
Calgary, AB, Canada
T2R 0P3
(403) 270-9661
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