Volume 4 Issue 3 ~~SUMMER 1999
Integrity/Calgary
Support for gay, lesbian and bisexual Christians & friends
The Martyrdom of St. Chicken
Although Easter has already passed, perhaps some of you still have an Easter egg or two around the house. Gathering those brightly colored eggs which comes in all shades of the rainbow is one of the most delightful Christian folk-customes. But "colored" eggs have not always been a sign of Resurrection,
As was mentioned in the April 27 entry, in 1471 a chicken in Basel, Switzerland laid colored eggs as beautiful as any we dye at Easter time. But the people of Basel were horrified that this chicken in their midst was transgressing the "natural law." The strange chicken became the subject of an ever growing tide of tattle-talk and accusation. Since chickens are only supposed to lay white or brown eggs, this chicken was thought to be "the devil in disguise!" "Yes, the chicken is possessed of the devil," was the ready accepted answer to it's unique conduct.
So the citizens of basel had the chicken put on trial, the evidence of its diabolical possession presented before the religious judges. The chicken was found guilty and condemned to be burned at the stake. As the fire burned down, leaving only a pile of ashes, the townsfolk returned home, secure in the knowledge that Satan had been purged from their midst.
We shake our heads today at such fearful logic, and may even find the story humorous. But how often have we treated persons as possessed by the devil simply because they were different? Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France in 1431 as a heretic, as one possessed of the devil-like the chicken in Basel. Yet we have canonized her as a saint.
St. Joan, like the colored-egg-laying chicken, was also found guilty of behaviour contrary to the "natural law." it wasn't "natural" for a woman to wear a soldier's armour or lead an army into battle-or to have extraordinary results. It wasn't "natural" that she heard voices in her garden when she prayed. She was considered possessed when she said that they were "heavenly voices" telling her to lead the French army to victory over the English forces. In 1456, twenty-five years after her death, the proceedings of her trial were annulled by the pope, and she was finally canonized a saint in 1920.
What is the purpose of this reflection on a chicken And a young French girl, both burned at the stake for being possessed by the devil? St. Joan's martyrdom at the stake was in 1431, and this is the end of the twentieth century; we don't burn heretics or chickens at the stake any longer. But like the citizens of Basel and Rouen, do we not pass judgment on those who are different or whose behaviour we consider a violation of the natural law? And our harmful actions and words which follow such judgments-will they be viewed in the year 2600 as we view the deeds of 1431 or 1471?
-Edward Hays (A Pilgrim's Almanac)
Black and White
'A gift for the new millennium', is what one person called the supreme court ruling that spouse as a definition can and must include same sex couples. Perhaps a gift for some and a dreaded happenstance for others. For many people are caught up in a world that is all to black and white, indeed, we as Christians in many ways do live in a black and white world though (black being the absence of light and white being a presence of light, but within that white is a multitude of colors). In the same simple way we can come down to saying this or that is either right or wrong. It has long been accepted even by the legalist to keep God's law is to love, for one day a Lawyer approached Christ saying, ""Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" The lawyer answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."" {Luke 10:25-28}. It seems so simple so black and white, but we often times wish to complicate things as the lawyer did by wanting definition of who is a neighbour, when the end comes it appears that the hated outcast and the wretched needy are neighbours. We as Christians may say I love my neighbour, yet still hold malice towards that drug dealer down the street or any a number of social misfits. Perhaps the problem isn't really about the question 'Who is my neighbour?' but really 'Who is my God?' Do we have a God who hates and damns 'the roach poisoning our community' or do we have as our God a God who is Love, who understands the pain and circumstance that has brought one of Her own children to this dark point in their life? Let that one who is with out sin cast the first stone. Be careful for by the same measure you may one day be judged. In a world full of darkness, can we do anything else other than light a lamp to push back the darkness, but how can hate bring about this light? When we are attacked in the following days, we must learn to respond with love pure and simple, love that does not simply ignore for that is apathy, not love. But I mean a love that prays 'This one is spewing darkness in the form of hate--Lord please bring them light and love'. For it is a fearful thing to kick against the goads and call unclean what God has made clean . A form of self delusion that without God's great and gracious love might end with rot... For as Christ says, "Thus you will know them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' {mt 7:20-23}. For the blessed St. John writes that "Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen." and Whoever says, "I am in the light," while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness." {1jo 2:9-11, 4:20}. So let us live in the way of love, stand in truth of love, and live a life of love, for the only other option is literally too dark to think of choosing. dwf
Food For thought
The reign of God is like a buried treasure which someone found in a field. He hide it again, and rejoicing at his find went and sold all he had and bought that field (Matt. 13:44).The story of human existence is shot full of the notion of treasure. Each of us as sojourners on this earth seeks that elusive and valuable gem called happiness, or the fulfillment our dreams, or the kingdom of God. Not to search is not to be human....[But sadly m]ore and more we confuse the treasure we seek with the treasury of our accounts and the amassing of our assets. -Joan Puls, O.S.F. (Every Bush is Burning)
Gay liberation is deeply suspicious of attempts, however well intentioned, to address the issue of homosexuality in the Bible. The issue is not one of homosexuality and whether the Bible sustains, condemns, or is neutral about it. Neither canonical testament carries any authority for gay liberation on the subject of homosexuality. Gay liberation interprets scripture, not the other way around. - Robin Gorsline (Let Us Bless Our Angels)
Stop reading only the grim sections of the newspaper. Watch less television and start reading more books that bring a smile instead of a frown. Locate a few acquaintances who will help you laugh more at life. Ideally, find Christian friends who see life through Christ's eyes, which is in itself more encouraging. Have fun together. Affirm one another. -Chuck Swindoll (Insights May 99 )
Think on [God] often, adore [God] continually, live and die with [God]; this is the glorious employment of a Christian. In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it we must learn it. -Brother Lawrence
If you waste gold or silver, you can find more gold or silver, but if you waste time, you will never find anymore. -Sayings of the Desert Fathers
It is much better to speak the truth clumsily than to wax eloquent with a lie. -St. Jerome
If I say I trust God, this does not commit me to trusting a homophobic church. -Malcom Edwards (Religion is a Queer Thing)
'Look at the birds of the air,' says Jesus. [Luke 12:24] What a splendid example for our faith to follow! If God's providence bestows an unfailing supply of food on the birds of the air who neither sow nor reap, we ought to realize that the reason for people's supply running short is human greed. -Ambrose
No [one] is an island, entire of itself; every[one] is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any[one]'s death diminishes me, because I am involved in [humanity], and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee. - John Donne (Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions & Death's Duel)
"The soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul." 1 Samuel 18:1, 3 NRSV.
Genuine love, person to person, sealed by a covenant, such as there was between David and Jonathan, provides a most telling model of an unbreakable relationship. It is the basis of a marriage relationship... -J. G. Baldwin (1 & 2 Samuel)
Most male homosexuals pass through a period during which we seek to protect ourselves by refusing any contact other than the purely physical one. -Dennis Altman, 1971
The rapport between two men or two women can be absolute and perfect, as it can never be between man and woman, and perhaps some want just this, as others want that more shifting and uncertain thing that happens between men and women. -Claire Morgan, The Price of Salt, 1951
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved
as to love. - St. Francis of Assisi
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