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eNewsletter 4 December 2002 |
Chi Rho Connection ************************* Contents:
1. 'The Journey is Our Home:' Sharing Our Faith Journeys, by Chris Hubble -------------------------------------------------- If you want things to be different perhaps the answer is to become different yourself. Welcome once again to the Chi Rho Connection, the electronic newsletter of Chi Rho Press. Thank you for passing this Chi Rho Connection on to others. To join our list, send an e-mail message to
ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoo.com. Direct all other e-mail to Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. See the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com. -------------------------------------------------- 1. 'The Journey is Our Home:' Sharing Our Faith Journeys, by Christopher A. Hubble -------------------------------------------------- 3. 'Together In Love' now in stock
-------------------------------------------------- 3. Do Your Christmas Shopping at www.ChiRhoPress.com, Special Offer on Shipping -------------------------------------------------- 4. 2003 Liturgical Calendar Published -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
We are glad you are partners in ministry with us here at Chi Rho Press. We are eager for your comments, your suggestions, your assistance with selling our books, and your own purchases! And of course, we covet your prayers for this ministry. Grace and peace, Adam DeBaugh, Director
--------------------------- If you've received our Chi Rho Connection as a result of the good offices of someone passing it along to you (which we certainly encourage) and would like to receive it directly from us, please follow the directions at the end of our Connection to subscribe. Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc. ****************************************** SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. Visit the Chi Rho Press Website http://www.ChiRhoPress.com
Vol. III, No. 17
4 December 2002
2. 'Together In Love' now in stock
3. Do Your Christmas Shopping at www.ChiRhoPress.com, Special Offer on Shipping
4. 2003 Liturgical Calendar Published
5. Adam's Last Word:
-- Norman Vincent Peale
Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas, and stained glass.
To continue 'The Journey is Our Home' series, we have called upon Christopher A. Hubble, of Boulder, Colorado, USA. Chris is the author of 'Lord Given Lovers,' the story of David and Jonathan, to be published next year by Chi Rho Press.
We hope you are blessed by the spiritual insights found here.
Here is Chris' story of faith, 'The Lighter Burden.'
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I grew up in Boulder, Colorado during the post-Vietnam seventies and the 'New Wave' eighties. I vividly remember the star of lights that adorned the foothills above the city every Christmas. In November 1979, when I was eight, Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran. The star above Boulder remained lit until the hostages came home. It became a symbol of hope and stability in a confusing world. After the hostages returned, I closely identified with the resurgent nationalism that accompanied Ronald Reagan's tenure in the White House.
I missed the mark many other ways during my adolescence and early adulthood. In 1989, I matriculated at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Drunk with the hubris of youth, I saw no need for God. The apparent omnipotence of personal ambition was all I needed. My newly discovered obsession to become an officer in the United States Marine Corps fueled my self-absorbed drive for success.
I also started drinking during college. Six and a half years later, while stationed on Okinawa, chronic alcoholism landed me on a psychiatric ward. Fortunately, I was able to admit my problem and I began the journey to sobriety. This journey led me to a sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous who introduced me to Jesus for the first time (I had been raised Catholic but hadn't yet learned what it meant to be Christian). Eventually, I renounced Catholicism. No one, not even the Pope in Rome, had the right to tell anyone else how to listen to the voice of God speaking in their heart. Unfortunately, I waited another five years before I heeded that voice in my own heart and came out of the closet.
When, several years ago, I finally did come out, I was an emotional mess. I had to resolve a crucial dilemma: did coming out mean I was abandoning God again? I thought God hated gays! My sobriety was dependent on my relationship with God. Did coming out mean I was going to drink again? Fortunately, I discovered the story of David and Jonathan in 1 and 2 Samuel. The discovery that these two important figures of Israel's history shared a loving, intimate partnership transformed my life. David and Jonathan have become my new stars of hope and stability.
Today, I know what God's vision is for me: tell the story of David and Jonathan to my fellow Queers. I also recently graduated from massage school and now am blessed with the daily opportunity to minister to the needs of others; I work to relieve their suffering and facilitate their healing. These are demanding missions. But God gives me all the courage and strength I need. Jesus said, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me' (Luke 9:23). I'm grateful, today, that I found my cross. It really is the lighter burden.
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'Together in Love: Faith Stories of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Couples' is an anthology of LGBT couples, telling their stories of their faith journeys as people in non-traditional relationships. 'Together in Love' has a foreword by psychiatrist Elsie Enns Steelberg, is 360 pages, and contains 26 stories by LGBT couples. It also includes other stories, poems, and a father's message to the church. (ISBN: 0-9664822-1-2)
Roberta Kreider compiled 'From Wounded Hearts: Faith Stories of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered People and Those Who Love Them,' published by Chi Rho Press in 1998. Now, with 'Together in Love,' Roberta has put together another impressive anthology of LGBT people of faith telling their stories.
Roberta Kreider writes, 'To truly embrace all of God's creation as good and worthy of respect and love is the most freeing experience I know. Never again do I want to judge another person by skin color, status in life, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or by what those in authority determine for me. I am experiencing in a much deeper way than ever before God's unfathomable heart of love for me. May this also be true in your experience.' From 'A Personal Message to Our Readers,' Roberta Kreider's introduction to 'Together In Love.'
'Together in Love' is $24.00 each, $18.00 each for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling.
What if we could point you to a store which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week; where you can shop in your pajamas if you want; where you can buy books, stained glass, and even stocking stuffers; and where shipping is free for orders over $100! Of course, we are talking about our own Web page, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.
Books make great gifts! Titles such as Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse, The Bible and Homosexuality, Come Home!, Called OUT!, Positively Gay, My Memory Book, the new 2003 Liturgical Calendar and Lectionary, and the new Together in Love (compiled by Roberta Kreider, see the previous article) are all available and ready to ship. Plus we have five different stained glass designs, rainbow key chains and bracelets, and more!
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As a special incentive, shipping and handling will be waived if your order totals $100 or more! Yes, that's right, shipping is free for orders over $100.
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Come shop at Chi Rho Press!
Chi Rho Press is pleased to announce a brand new Liturgical Calendar for the coming church year. Our newly designed Liturgical Calendar is packed with useful information for planning worship and preaching in the local church for each Sunday and Holy Day of the Church Year. It is intended for use by pastors, musicians, altar guilds, teachers, theological students, and anyone using the Church Year as a basis for worship or education. The Liturgical Calendar is spiral bound so it can lie flat for easy use, in a new, larger 8 ½" x 11" format.
Order your copy of the 2003 Liturgical Calendar today! $9.95 each, six or more copies for $7.95 each. Orders over $100 have free shipping and handling for the Christmas season!
Thanksgiving weekend in New York City was wonderful! It was four days filled with good food, good friends, and good worship. I was able to spend some excellent time with my friends James and Chris. After watching the Macy Day Parade and a fun train ride to Queens, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with the Rev. Reg Richburg and Su Chin, Reg's mother, and their friend Eve (I finally found my Eve!). Friday evening Reg, Su, Eve, and I went to Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in NYC for a wonderful service celebrating not only the Sabbath, but the first night of Hanukkah and World AIDS Day.
Saturday featured dim sum in Queens and the new Harry Potter movie. (I am totally devoted to Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling. Any author who can inspire kids to read is a true hero to me!) On Sunday I went to MCC New York for the morning service and set up our traveling bookstore. The Rev. Pat Bumgardner preached a wonderful sermon, and I was privileged to have brunch with Pat and some wonderful women from the church. Then I was on the road for the long trip home.
It was a wonderful weekend of fellowship and some work, with time with a variety of inspiring people of faith. I was able to spend a lot of time reflecting on all I have to be thankful for and praising God.
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We want to remind you all of our call for submissions. We continue to look for 500 word essays for our regular feature, 'The Journey is our Home:' Sharing our Faith Journeys, as well as book reviews, inspirational stories, favorite links, and your letters, suggestions, and comments.
We are excited about our new shipping and handling policy, put in place for the holidays. For orders of $100 or more, shipping will be free! Buy four copies of Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse and one other small item and the shipping is free!
Buy one copy each of Positively Gay, Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse, Come Home!, The Bible and Homosexuality, Called OUT, The Road to Emmaus, and Together in Love and the shipping is free!
Buy six pieces of stained glass and the shipping is free!
Well, you get the idea. Shipping is free for orders of $100 or more from now through the holiday season. Just our way of helping you do more of your Christmas shopping at www.ChiRhoPress.com and to wish you Happy Holidays!
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Our new Liturgical Calendar and Lectionary tells me that Advent is upon us, the beginning of a new church year. As we move from Thanksgiving (for those of us in the United States) and on into the four week period of preparation for the Advent or Coming of Jesus Christ on Christ's Mass, or Christmas.
I am thankful for relative good health, a snug home, a good secular job, friends and family, and my church home. I am thankful for Chi Rho Press, this amazing ministry, and our authors, investors, board of directors, volunteers, contributors, and customers. I am thankful for the opportunity to be involved in this ministry and to work with so many amazing people of faith. I am thankful for the faith stories we are receiving from all over the world for our series, 'The Journey is Our Home.' And finally, I am thankful for YOU, our faithful readers, supporters, and friends.
As we are in the Advent season, preparing for Christmas, I hope that you will shop for at least some of your holiday gifts at www.ChiRhoPress.com. Also, I hope you are moved to make a special gift to the ministry of Chi Rho Press. You can contribute on line as well as by check or money order to our postal address. Your support will enable this ministry to continue and flourish.
Many thanks and God bless you all!
R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@ChiRhoPress.com.
If you have questions, please e-mail Question@ChiRhoPress.com.
For comments and suggestions about this eNewsletter, please e-mail Connection@ChiRhoPress.com.
To learn about our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please click the link or e-mail Angels@ChiRhoPress.com.
For all other correspondence, please e-mail Adam@ChiRhoPress.com.
Our snail mail address is:
Chi Rho Press, Inc.
P.O. Box 7864
Gaithersburg, MD 20898
Our telephone and fax number is 301/926-1208.
Customers outside the U.S. and especially our Canadian friends can order using credit cards on our Web page or through our Canadian distributor, MAP Enterprises, Mary Ann Pearson, at her new Web page, http://www.christiangays.com.
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Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager, Kevin@ChiRhoPress.com