Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 18:56:33 -0400 From: Chris Ambidge Subject: *Integrator* files for 1989 INTEGRATOR, the newsletter of Integrity/Toronto volume 89-3, issue date 1989 03 01 copyright 1989 Integrity/Toronto. The hard-copy version of this newsletter carries the ISSN 0843-574X Integrity/Toronto Box 873 Stn F Toronto ON Canada M4Y 2N9 == Contents == [89-3-1] A PRAYER FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS / by an Integrity/Toronto member from western Canada [89-3-2] DISCERNMENT AND ANGER / From *Taking a Chance on God*, by John McNeill [89-3-4] ISSN 0843-574X [89-3-5] AIDS in First and Third Worlds / by Chris Ambidge [89-3-6] GIRAFFES ABOUT TOWN [89-3-7] IN GOD'S IMAGE ======== [89-3-1] A PRAYER FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS [This prayer was written by a member of Integrity/Toronto from Western Canada.] Heavenly Father, I pray for gays and lesbians everywhere. Bless those who are living a normal, meaningful, productive life that they may be able to live openly without discrimination and prejudice. And Father, I pray for those who are alone and lonely, who are unloved, uncared for and rejected, who have to live in secret and for those who are abused. As Jesus has compassion and love for those who are oppressed, I pray that He will touch these people and give them comfort and hope. I pray that the Churches and Synagogues will open their doors to lesbians and gays that they will be accepted, welcomed and integrated into their congregations. I pray for the Clergy and all who minister Your Word that they will have more understanding and love. I pray for Integrity, Affirm, Dignity and all the support groups for lesbians and gays that You will give them Your blessing that they may grow in numbers and strength. And Father, I pray that the day will some come when homosexuals and heterosexuals will be integrated without segregation or prejudice. To you, O Father, be all honour, glory and praise. I ask in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. ======== [89-3-2] DISCERNMENT AND ANGER From *Taking a Chance on God*, by John McNeill, p 184 The most important process of communal discernment concerns how to make creative and constructive use of the anger against injustice that we legitimately feel. We gay and lesbian Christians must strive to become loving critics and critical lovers of the church. We must learn to be appropriately angry over the injustices we experience without being apologetic. We must continue to state clearly the ideals we stand for. Remember that all the great prophets, male and female, including Jesus, were angry people who channelled their anger into a fight for justice. Our anger will remain neurotic as long as we want and expect something from church authorities that they cannot or will not give us. In order to ensure the health of the gay and lesbian community, the Christian gay community must teach us how to become self-centred in a healthy way so that we are able to take responsibility before God and our fellow humans for our choices and our lives. We must learn that we cannot live our lives to meet the expectations of others. The primary way of letting go of our anger at our parents and the church, as we have seen, is to heal the wounds they have inflicted on us. We must be a therapeutic community. If we can heal the wounds of self-hatred and self-rejection, then we can let go of the neurotic anger we feel toward those we see as having inflicted the wounds. We must prayerfully undertake a personal re-evaluation of what we have inherited, because much of what we have received form the church has been contaminated with the evil of homophobia. We must ask ourselves which of the church's values we continue to want, respect and love; which values are compatible with who we are and are not destructive of our dignity as persons. The basis of the communal discernment, once again, is the premise that whatever is psychologically destructive must be bad theology. Our discernment will thus perform an important service for the church, helping it to separate purely human and destructive traditions from the authentic word of God. The primary lesson I have learned after twenty years of work with gay Christian communities all over the country is that God breaks in in the weak places. God's spirit is active in unlikely places, in the poor, broken and humble places. The power of God is strongest in us when we admit our vulnerability, when we take risks and let go. To acknowledge that we are vulnerable is to acknowledge that we need God's help, and thus we make ourselves available to the power of God's love. ======== [89-3-4] ISSN 0843-574X Keen-eyed readers may have noticed something new in the masthead. Yes, Integrator now has an ISSN, which means that issues are being deposited in the National Library in Ottawa. Archival copies are also being deposited in the Canadian Gay Archives and the Anglican Church Archives. ======== [89-3-5] AIDS in First and Third Worlds by Chris Ambidge I am one of the Integrity/Toronto members on the diocesan Episcopal AIDS Taskforce. The Taskforce meeting in February heard a lengthy report from Dr Dorothy Ley, who was the Canadian delegate to the World Council of Churches consultation on AIDS held last December in Tanzania. The consultation focused on the problems faced by third world churches in their ministry to HIV infected people. It allowed other people to see the problem from an African point-of-view. The size of the problem is horrific, and it has a different face in Africa. In Tanzania, where Dr Ley saw the situation first hand, AIDS is decimating the population between the age of 22 and 35. In Kashenya, one village that she visited, the population has dropped from 800 to 500 in two years: the rest have died of AIDS. There are 122 orphans living in the village, with grandparents or other relatives. In this country, the nearest health care facility may be a dispensary which is an 80 km walk away. Patients with AIDS are not segregated, but cared for with other patients. Water and electric power at the hospitals are not to be taken for granted. The government spends the equivalent of $2.25 per person per year on health care, so a $2.50 HIV test is pretty well out of the question, and indeed the extent of HIV infection in the general population is unknown. In the Western world, HIV infection is largely confined to gays and IV drug users, and in Canada the ratio of those infected is 9 male: 1 female. In Africa the ratio is 1 male: 1.6 female. In Trinidad last year, AIDS converted from homosexual to heterosexual incidence. The implications for the Western world are frightening. Dr Ley believes that the church must come to terms with human sexuality and yet reaffirm the sanctity of marriage and the nature of chastity. She "saw the face of AIDS in Africa, and that is not the face of 'gay rights' or middle class morality, important though they may be to the Western world. It is the face of children without parents and nations without a future. The only way its spread can be slowed is by changing attitudes, behaviour and values. The hope of the future, not only in Africa but around the world, is that the Christian church will be able to meet this challenge". [I have found it very hard to summarise Dr Ley's presentation in such a short space. Please join us on April 19th when Dr Ley will be giving the presentation to Integrity/Toronto.] ======== [89-3-6] GIRAFFES ABOUT TOWN Giraffes seen once a year at the zoo remain strange, exotic creatures. Giraffes seen every week become part of the background. * In the closet or not, we are all giraffes* o In our ongoing efforts to become more visible in the Church, Integrity has taken out a half-page ad in the *1989 Anglican Year Book.* They had to invent a whole new category for us (aint it always the way?), *Organisations.* The ad is tasteful [we *are *Anglicans], listing Integrity as a ministry to gay and lesbian Anglicans and friends, and mentions the three active chapters in Canada - Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. We all contributed to the cost of the ad. o The information in the ad is, we are delighted to report, already out of date! Two new chapters are in formation, both in Alberta. Integrity/Calgary is being brought into being by Darrel Hockley, who has been in contact with Anglican and MCC churches in town; and with the lesbian/gay media, who are helping with publicity. To the north, the first meeting of Integrity/Edmonton was in early December, we hear from John Gee. At that time, ten people, mostly from All Saints Cathedral, met. More people are coming together, and the new chapter plans to meet twice a month. Please keep these people in your prayers. Their addresses are: Integrity/Calgary PO Box 21014 Place Concorde Postal Outlet, Calgary AB T2P 4H5; Integrity/Edmonton 9747-106 St #102, Edmonton AB T5K 1B4. o Rabbi Joel Kahn, of Congregation Sh'ar Zahav, San Francisco's gay/lesbian synagogue, was in town this month as the guest of Chutzpah (the group for Jewish lesbians and gay men). The group was present at Friday evening prayers at Holy Blossom Temple, where they met many people. A further 125 were at MCC Toronto on Sunday afternoon to hear Rabbi Kahn speak on gays and lesbians as being *Created in God's Image. * ======== [89-3-7] IN GOD'S IMAGE In his talk at MCC, Rabbi Joel Kahn spoke about the three stages of oppression. These stages are invisibility, irrelevance and integration. The first stage, invisibility, occurs when the oppressed identify with the privileges of the oppressors. The result is that the oppressed try to appear as much as possible like the oppressors. This is easiest if the minority is more or less invisible such as being gay/lesbian or being Jewish. However, this stage does still happen even with visible minorities. This is were we get phrases like "passing for white". Unfortunately a lot of lesbians/gays are stuck in this stage. The second stage, irrelevance, involves both the oppressor and the oppressed insisting that the difference is not relevant. "Yes I am Chinese but it will not effect my work." During this stage anything that is unique is suppressed and ignored to maintain the illusion that "it really doesn't make any difference". This is the stage that I hear more and more well meaning liberals pushing us into. The last stage is integration. In this stage the oppressed put together the jigsaw puzzle pieces of their identities and are fully themselves in ALL areas of their lives. This is the stage that Rabbi Kahn is encouraging us to enter. He was careful not to advise doing this with out considering what was involved. What he did suggesting was that people look at their lives, identify areas where they are not integrated and weigh the energy they were expending to maintain the illusion of being straight against the likely results of being more out. ======== End of volume 89-3 of Integrator, the newsletter of Integrity/Toronto copyright 1989 Integrity/Toronto Editor this issue: Bonnie Bewley comments please to Chris Ambidge, current Editor chris.ambidge@utoronto.ca OR Integrity/Toronto Box 873 Stn F Toronto ON Canada M4Y 2N9