Volume 3, Issue 5

Faith

Cover Stories

God’s Practical Jokes, Or a Lesson in Faith
By Candace Chellew
I often shake my fist at God for God’s little pranks on me. I know they are not malicious and often help me in the end, but the irony sometimes is just too rich.

Walking Faith
By Amanda Udis-Kessler
If I have a walking faith, it must be that describing my faith is not just describing what I “believe,” but rather, describing how my faith impacts me, and what I do in the world as a response to that faith.

Faith: A Matter of Survival
By Rev. Vera I. Bourne
We are condemned by many within religious circles as willful sinners, those who choose to defy God by substituting “unnatural” for “natural” sexual practices. To these people we are an abomination, those upon whom God’s back has been turned. Unless and until our faith has grown strong enough to provide us with a life-raft in the midst of this whirling torrent of verbal abuse and rejection, we will not survive spiritually, emotionally or physically.

Faith Does Not Demand Miracles, But Often Accomplishes Them
By John H. Campbell
Faith is sort of like riding a roller coaster in the dark at times in that it is a knowing that everything will be okay and we will survive but sometimes we cannot always see exactly where it is taking us; and real faith is knowing the miracle (or positive resolution) has already been arranged.

Faith: God Moves in Mysterious Ways
By Chris Balcher
It is important to realize how the faith of many homosexuals has been destroyed by the indoctrination of the Church and by society. The Church has been instrumental in stealing Jesus from us.

Crisis of Faith
By Ruth F. Simon
How many of us truly feel that God’s love is evident in our lives? God’s perfect love for us is displayed in Christ’s life on earth. Can we truly claim that love though? Do we even feel worthy of it? I think, for many of us, the answer is no.

God of Anger, God of Love
By Jonathan Gardner
Since I first became aware of sexual feelings, I have always been attracted to others of my own gender. But of course my Christian beliefs did not allow for that, and so I was faced with an awful, unending conflict.

Anne Goes Searching for God: A Story About the Peculiar Journey of Spiritual Practice
By Kim Boykin
Anne tried all sorts of ways to get to God. She tried a bus. She tried an airplane. She tried backpacking. She wished she had a transporter and could beam herself directly to God. She tried sailing, even though she knew that sailboats made her seasick. She tried bicycling. None of it seemed to be working. She was getting worn out and frustrated.

A Simple Faith
By Nichole Letitia Byrom
I’ve always maintained that I have the simple faith of a child, in that I don’t need physical proof in the existence of my Lord and Savior, and I don’t need someone to throw a Bible in my face and tell me that it is written, so let it be done. I just simply believe …

Homospirituality: Poetry

Confession
By Jonathan Gardner

One Little Drop
By Nichole Letitia Byrom

Features

Riding Wild Horses Home: A Conservative Christian Apology
By Candace Chellew
Katherine Unthank wants to apologize. She’s sorry for saying “you can’t be gay and Christian.”

Drawing the Line: Rev. Jimmy Creech’s Fight for Justice
By Candace Chellew
Creech is under no illusions that change will happen overnight. Instead, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons should prepare themselves for a long struggle and take a long view of history.

Letters to the Editor

From the Pulpit

Get Out of the Boat
By Rev. Glenna Shepherd
Jesus had great faith in Peter. Peter saw with eyes of faith. Obsessive faith. Passionate faith. Reckless faith. From time to time, he understood what Jesus was teaching him and showing him. He saw it so clearly sometimes. He got it!

Healing Faith
By Rev. Michael S. Piazza
Faith is incredibly powerful. It can release the very power of life, the power of God, in our lives. Or it can empower the Thief of life.

Bible Study and Inspiration

Love That Offends
By Rev. Vera I. Bourne
Jesus asked that we love one another as he loved us — outrageously.

We Are the Light of the World
By Rev. Paul M. Turner
Jesus in fact is speaking to each and everyone of us. He is in fact telling all those people (us), that we are the salt of the earth, we are the light of the world! We are right there for all to see. We are all there to experience a new day a new message.

Holy Humor

If You Love a Teletubby, Tell Him the Truth

What If God Had Voice Mail?