As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by R. Adam DeBaugh.

Luke 21:5-19

‘Take heed that you are not led astray. . . .’

Jesus does not encourage us, in today’s Gospel, to expect
that the world will always affirm us in our experience of
and belief in Christ.  In fact, Jesus tells us that we
can expect persecution, and history confirms Jesus’
prediction.

Those of us who are gay Christians have had to face
persecution, just as Jesus warns.  Many in the world
despise us for being religious, organized religion having
been 'the enemy’ for so long.  And as if that weren’t
enough, we are at times persecuted by the very church
family we seek to belong to.

Some would say that we are victims of false prophets,
that we have been led astray, that the Gospel of love
is not for all people, or even that we should deny that
our sexuality is a good gift from God.  With so many
conflicting messages, how do we know God’s will in our
lives?  How do we ferret out the truth?

Each Christian begins to find the truth by listening to
the whisper of the Spirit in the heart.  God still speaks
to each of us, and if we are quiet and open, God’s truth
will be revealed to us.

In order to test what we believe God has laid upon our
hearts, we then look at the results of our beliefs, for
God’s truth will not result in confusion and pain, but
rather in peace and joy.  The fruit of the Spirit in our
lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, will help us know
the truth and will set us free.

Dear God of Truth, help me to discern the truth in my
life.  Help me to separate my imperfect will from your
perfect will.  Help me see the fruit of the Spirit of
truth.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Website.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. II, No. 30
7 December 2001

*************************

Contents:

1.    The ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ Explained
2.    Holiday Shopping Guide
3.    The Eleventh Step to Recovery from Bible Abuse
4.    An Opportunity to be a Part of this Ministry
5.    Adam's Last Word: Thoughts on Advent and the Church Year

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.      The ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ Explained

(From the UFMCC LeaderLink, 17 December 1999, taken from
the Las Vegan, the MCC Las Vegas newsletter.)

From 1558 to 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not
able to practice their faith openly so they had to find
other ways to pass their beliefs.  The Christmas carol
‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is one example of how they
did it.  Written in England as a catechism song for young
Catholics, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ contains hidden
meanings intended to help children remember lessons of
faith.  Instead of referring to an earthly suitor, the
‘true love’ mentioned in the song really refers to God.
The ‘me’ who receives the presents is symbolic of every
baptized person.

The ‘partridge in a pear tree’ is Jesus Christ.  In the
song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother
partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from
helpless nestlings.

The meaning of the other symbols are:

Two turtle doves  the Old and New Testaments.
Three French hens  faith, hope, and charity.
Four calling birds  the four Gospels.
Five golden rings  the first five books of the Old
Testament which outline humanity’s fall from grace.
Six geese a-laying  the six days of creation.
Seven swans a-swimming  seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
(the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church).
Eights maids a-milking  the eight Beatitudes.
Nine ladies dancing  nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Ten lords a-leaping  the Ten Commandments.
Eleven pipers piping  the eleven faithful disciples.
Twelve drummers drumming  the twelve points of belief in
the Apostles’ Creed.

--------------------------------------------------

2.     Holiday Shopping Guide

Christmas is just a few weeks away.  On the Chi Rho Press
Web page, every day is a shopping day.  We never close!
Shop from the comfort of your own home at
www.ChiRhoPress.com.

Books make great gifts!  Please do at least some of your
holiday shopping at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  Choose
from our many wonderful books and gifts.  Even if you
have visited our Web page recently, we encourage you to
click on again today and order a Christmas gift or two.

You will have wonderful gifts to give your friends and
loved ones and you will be supporting your LGBT Christian
publishing house as well.

Here are some great ideas for your holiday shopping:

*****

Stained Glass: We have five stained glass designs to choose
from on our Web page.  In this issue we feature all five
designs.

Stained Glass Rainbow Cross.  The rainbow cross is made of
seven different pieces of  glass (the arms have rectangles
of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple with a
frosted clear center).  They are handcrafted in the copper
foil and solder method.  They have an attached hoop so you
may hang it in a window or from a Christmas tree as a
holiday decoration.  Our Rainbow Cross is $18.00, plus
shipping and handling.  Order on our Web page.

*****

Stained Glass AIDS ribbon made from three pieces of red,
textured glass measuring three inches high.  There is a
loop for hanging this fitting reminder of our concern for
all those affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis.  $7.50 each,
plus shipping and handling.  You may order on our Web page,
using your credit card.

*****

Stained Glass Lesbian/Gay Rainbow Flags.  A solid rectangle
of bright red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple
glass, four inches by six inches, with two loops for
hanging.  The rainbow flag has become an international
symbol of Gay/Lesbian Pride.  Show your pride! $18.00
each, plus shipping and handling.  You may see a picture
of this stained glass Gay Flag on our Web page, and order
using your credit card.

*****

Stained Glass Cross, a simple, yet striking addition to
any window.  Made from five pieces of glass and measuring
seven inches high and four inches wide, these crosses are
hand crafted in the copper foil and solder method.  The
cross has an attached loop so you may hang it in any window
to catch the light and remind all of the power of our faith.
The arms of the cross are clear, frosted glass and the
center square is red.  $12.00 each, plus shipping and
handling.  You may see a picture of this stained glass
cross and order on our Web page, using your credit card.

*****

The Stained Glass Rainbow Star of David is a perfect
Chanukah gift for our Jewish friends.  It is made of seven
different pieces of glass (the points of the star are
triangles of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple
with a frosted clear center).  They are handcrafted in the
copper foil and solder method.  They have an attached hoop
so you may hang it in a window or as a holiday decoration.
Our rainbow Star of David is $18.00, plus shipping and
handling.  You may order on our Web page, using your credit
card.

*****

We have designed gift certificates that can be made out
for any amount you care to give.

These are not yet available on our Web site, so send your
check with a note indicating that you are buying a Gift
Certificate and we will make up an attractive Gift
Certificate for the amount of your check for you to give
along with a copy of our catalog.

Chi Rho Press Gift Certificates make excellent gifts!
Order some today at Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*****

Salvation Army Protest Cards in protest of the Salvation
Army’s attempt to circumvent local and state civil rights
laws protecting gay and lesbian people.  The cards are
4 ¼” by 2 ¾” on light green card stock.  Considering the
Salvation Army’s recent change of a brief decision of its
Western Region to provide limited domestic partner
benefits, we need to make a statement to them now more
than ever.

Our cards say, ‘Dear Salvation Army, While I appreciate the
good works that you do in terms of feeding, clothing, and
housing the poor and needy, I am appalled by your attempt
this past summer to subvert local and state civil rights
laws.  Because of your homophobic policies, I am bypassing
your Red Kettles this season and will be giving my
charitable contributions to organizations friendly to the
gay and lesbian community.  Merry Christmas.’

Buy a stock of cards and put one in the bucket every time
you see a Salvation Army bell ringer this holiday season.

Salvation Army Protest Cards are available at 15 cards for
$1.00 plus shipping and handling.  For one packet, shipping
and handling is $0.50.  For 2 or 3 packets, add $1.00
shipping and handling.  For 4 or 5 packets, add $2.00
shipping and handling.  For 6 or more packets our regular
shipping and handling schedule applies.  The shipping
schedule is as follows.

For orders up to $19.99 add $2.50;
orders of $20 to $39.99 add $3.50;
orders of $40 to $59.99 add $4.50;
orders of $60 to $79.99 add $5.50;
orders of $80 to $99.99 add $6.50;
orders of $100 or more, add 7% of the order.

These are only available by direct mail, and are not on
our Web site.  We will send your Salvation Army Protest
Cards by First Class Mail.  Send your check or money order
to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*****

Please visit our Web page for your holiday shopping and
order stained glass and all our books on our secure shopping
cart.  Our Web site is at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

3.     The Eleventh Step to Recovery from Bible Abuse

(From Chapter 16 of 'Steps to Recovery from Bible
Abuse,' by Dr. Rembert Truluck, pages 345 and 346.)

The Eleventh Step: Learn to Share Your Faith

Did someone help you to become a Christian?  Have you ever
helped anyone become a Christian?  Have you shared with
anyone else your experience of coming out as gay?  These
questions are important as you consider the Eleventh Step
in recovery from Bible and religious abuse.  Telling your
good news can be fun.  It is also a great challenge.  These
four lessons will help you think through and become better
equipped to share your faith with other people.  Write out
your own experience with God and share it.

‘Always be prepared to explain to anyone who asks you a
reason for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness
and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15).  This verse was on the cover
of my earlier book on personal evangelism in our community,
‘Invitation to Freedom’ (Chi Rho Press, 1993, now out of
print).  Much of the material in ‘Invitation to Freedom’
is also in this book.

‘Jesus said, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of
people’ (Matthew 4:19).  Later, Jesus repeated his need
for helpers,  'Seeing the crowds, Jesus felt compassion
for them, because they were distressed and downcast like
sheep without a shepherd, and Jesus said to his disciples,
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, ask God
to send out workers into God’s harvest’ (Matthew 9:35-38).

Read John 15:1-27 and John 17:18-23 as preparation for
studying these lessons on finding and carrying out your
mission of representing Jesus in your life and through
your words.

*****

The Eleventh Step continues with Bible studies on How Jesus
Liberated Outcast People, Let Jesus Borrow Your Boat, How
to Help Others Experience Jesus, and Resources for Sharing
Christ.

You may buy 'Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse' on the
Chi Rho Press Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com, using
your credit card on our secure shopping cart.

--------------------------------------------------

4.    An Opportunity to Participate in this Ministry

Guardian Angels: Become an Angel On-line!  You
may make contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press
on our Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  Don’t
forget, contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press are
fully tax deductible.

To put tax deductible contributions on your credit card,
using our secure shopping cart on our Web page, go to
http://www.chirhopress.com/frame_sponsor.html.

Highlight the numeral 1 in the box and type in the amount
you want to contribute (for instance, $150 to become a
Guardian Angel).  Click the Add to Cart link to the right
of the amount box and the Shopping Cart will come up
and you can either continue shopping or click on Check Out
Now, which will take you through the check out process,
asking you for your credit card number, etc.  Be sure to
give us your mailing address as well as e-mail address so
we can send you your welcome gifts.

If you have specific questions about the Guardian Angel
Program, you may e-mail us at Angels@...,
or telephone us at 301/926-1208.

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word: Thoughts on Advent and the Church Year

Happy New Year!  We are in the midst of Advent, last Sunday
being the first Sunday in Advent.  And since Advent is the
beginning of the church year, the Church Liturgical Year
begins anew.

The first purple candle was lit on the Advent wreath.  The
nativity scene tapestry is now hanging behind the altar at
my home church, Holy Redeemer MCC, College Park, MD.  It
replaced a wonderful painting by gifted artist Maxwell
Lawton, aflame as it was with the fires of Pentecost.  It
is a truly amazing painting.

Perhaps I love that painting because Maxwell incorporated
the Greek letters Chi (like an X) and Rho (like a P).  It
is the name of our publishing house, and on our logo.  Chi
and Rho are the two Greek letters that begin the word
‘christos' or Christ in Greek.  Historically, from ancient
times, the Chi superimposed on the long tail of the Rho
were a monogram for Jesus Christ.  That is why we chose to
call our publishing house Chi Rho Press, to emphasize that
while we are a publishing house for the gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgendered community, we are fundamentally
a Christian house.

Maxwell’s painting had the traditional Chi Rho monogram
seemingly on fire, the reds, oranges, and yellows of the
Pentecost fires of the Holy Spirit.  It symbolized for me
our church being on fire for Jesus, touched by the Spirit.

But now our reredos (the decorated wall behind the altar)
is a grand and colorful tapestry of the nativity scene.
Christmas looms up ahead.  Pentecost with its red stoles
and frontals and the flames of the Holy Spirit gave way to
green (of what we used to call Kingdomtide or in more modern
times Dominiontide), which seems to last forever in the
church year.  But finally, as autumn begins to chill the
air here in the Northern Hemisphere, we in the United
States set aside a harvest day of thanksgiving, and then
we plunge into Advent.

I’ll freely admit it.  I am a liturgical queen.  A son of
the Church of England.  A former MCC pastor once asked me,
after I pestered him about instituting ‘better’ liturgy in
our church, ‘What’s a nice Anglican boy like you, doing in
a place like this?’  Good question, and luckily there is
an easy answer for that question in MCC.  We ‘nice Anglican
boys’ and girls, men and women, are as welcome in MCC as
are our Pentecostal sisters and brothers.  The beauty of
MCC, to my mind, is that we are striving to live the
ecumenical dream of bringing together the fractured Body
of Christ.

Most often we are even successful!  And despite the
rigorous ecumenism of the Metropolitan Community Churches,
I still value my liturgical past.

I do love the change in liturgical colors, the stately
progression of the seasons of the church year.  Advent is
the beginning of the church year and after four weeks gives
way to Christmastide, quickly followed by Epiphany.  Then
comes the penitential period of Lent, followed by Holy Week
and Easter Sunday, then the Sundays of Easter, and finally
the interminably long season of Pentecost.  And before you
know it, it is Advent again.  I love the colors.  I love
the subtle changes in the liturgy (like not saying
‘Alleluia’ during Lent, so the explosive ‘Alleluia!’ of
Easter is that much more dramatic and exciting).  I love
the sights and sounds of the living faith.

The most beautiful thing to me about the seasons of the
Church year is that it embodies change.  Colors change,
liturgies change, the very hymns we sing are different
from season to season.  At Holy Redeemer our reredos
changes, even though it isn’t a weighty stone sculpture
like in many cathedrals, but a painting, a tapestry, or
some other artwork.  Life is change and no more so than
in the life of the Church Universal.

Good liturgy is a theatre art, filled with sights,
sounds, and even smells like all good theatre.  Enjoy
the majestic liturgy of the church year!

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager,
Kevin@....

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by R. Adam DeBaugh.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Matthew 22:34-46

One rabbi tells how Moses gave 613 commandments.  David,
however, reduced to eleven (Psalm 15:2-5), Isaiah to six
(Isaiah 33:15), Micah to three (Micah 6:8), Amos to two
(Amos 5:4), and Habakkuk to one (Habakkuk 2:4).

Jesus follows this tradition of simplifying the
commandments to a few pithy, profound sentences.
Asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus replies
with the two from which come all the law and the
prophets: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind. This is the great and first commandment.  And a
second is like it.  You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.'

In so saying, Jesus gives us the whole law in a nutshell:
love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself.

In a way, the many laws of Moses were easier to deal with.
At least you knew precisely what was required in virtually
every instance.  Jesus' law is more complicated, in that
it implies a great deal of personal responsibility.  If
we stay close enough to God, who is love, we learn what
love is, as well as its implications for our lives as we
walk on our faith journey.  This requires and presupposes
a relationship with God nurtured in prayer.

Gracious Lawgiver, I give thanks that you have given us
guidelines for our lives.  Help me today to discern how
to truly fulfill the requirements of your laws.  Teach me
your law of love so I can truly live a life of love.
Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Website.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. II, No. 31
14 December 2001

*************************

Contents:

1.    HRC 9/11 Relief Fund
2.    Holiday Shopping Guide
3.    The Twelfth Step to Recovery from Bible Abuse
4.    An Opportunity to be a Part of this Ministry
5.    Adam's Last Word:

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.      HRC 9/11 Relief Fund

A special fund has been created to help gays and lesbians
who have been affected by the events of Sept. 11.  One
such victim is Peggy Neff, a lesbian who may lose the home
she shared with her partner of 18 years after the state of
Virginia decided GLBT families do not qualify for benefits.

Because so many relief agencies have been unclear about
their policies for gay and lesbian families, and because
some jurisdictions have specifically excluded gays and
lesbians from benefits, the Human Rights Campaign has
created the HRC Relief Fund.

Money sent to the Relief Fund will be used only to help
GLBT families impacted by the Sept. 11 terrorist tragedy
and all funds raised for this purpose will be put into a
special Trust Account  The money will be divided equally
among the families involved.

For more information, contact the Human Rights Campaign
at (202) 628-4160 or visit http://www.hrc.org.

--------------------------------------------------

2.     Holiday Shopping Guide

Christmas is just a little over a week away.  On the Chi
Rho Press Web page, every day is a shopping day.  We
never close!  Shop from the comfort of your own home at
www.ChiRhoPress.com.

Books make great gifts!  Please do at least some of your
holiday shopping at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  Choose
from our many wonderful books and gifts.  Even if you
have visited our Web page recently, we encourage you to
click on again today and order a Christmas gift or two.

You will have wonderful gifts to give your friends and
loved ones and you will be supporting your LGBT Christian
publishing house as well.

Here are some great ideas for your holiday shopping:

*****

‘Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse,’ by Dr. Rembert
Truluck, $24.95 each.

*****

‘The Bible and Homosexuality,’ Fifth Edition, by the Rev.
Michael England, $10.95 each.

*****

‘Come Home!  Reclaiming Spirituality and Community as Gay
Men and Lesbians,’ second edition, by Chris Glaser, $19.95
each.

*****

“Called OUT!  The Voices and Gifts of Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgendered Presbyterians,’ edited by
Jane Adams Spahr et al, $17.95 each.

*****

‘From Wounded Hearts: Faith Stories of Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgendered People and Those Who Love
Them,’ compiled by Roberta Showalter Krieder, $19.95 each.

*****

‘Positively Gay’ (Third Edition), edited by Betty Berzon,
$14.95 each, plus shipping and handling.  ‘Positively Gay’
is not yet available on our Web site.  Send your check or
money order for $17.45 for one copy to Chi Rho Press, P.O.
Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*****

‘My Memory Book: A Journal for Grieving Children,’ second
edition, by Gretchen Gaines Lane, $10.95 each.

*****

'The Road to Emmaus' an inclusive daily devotional by and
for LGBT people of faith, $9.95 each, six or more copies
for $7.50 each, plus shipping and handling.  (Subscribers
to the Chi Rho Connection also receive the Chi Rho
Reflection at the beginning of each week, featuring a
reading from 'The Road to Emmaus' from that week.)
Order on our Web page.

*****

'Family Stories: Journeys of Spirit in Mixed
Orientation Families,' featuring Roberta Kreider (compiler
of 'From Wounded Hearts') and Mary Lou Wallner, with an
introduction by the Rev. Peter J. Gomes.  VHS format,
color, 35 minutes, $29.95, shipping and handling included.
It is only available through the mail.  Please send your
check or money order for $29.95 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box
7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898.  Pre-paid mail orders only
please.

*****

Gift certificates that can be made out for any amount you
care to give.  These are not yet available on our Web site,
so send your check with a note indicating that you are
buying a Gift Certificate and we will make up an attractive
Gift Certificate for the amount of your check for you to
give along with a copy of our catalog.

Chi Rho Press Gift Certificates make excellent gifts!
Order some today at Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*****

Salvation Army Protest Cards to put in the bucket every time
you see a Salvation Army bell ringer this holiday season.

Salvation Army Protest Cards are available at 15 cards for
$1.00 plus shipping and handling.  For one packet, shipping
and handling is $0.50.  For 2 or 3 packets, add $1.00
shipping and handling.  For 4 or 5 packets, add $2.00
shipping and handling.  For 6 or more packets our regular
shipping and handling schedule applies.  The shipping
schedule is as follows.

For orders up to $19.99 add $2.50;
orders of $20 to $39.99 add $3.50;
orders of $40 to $59.99 add $4.50;
orders of $60 to $79.99 add $5.50;
orders of $80 to $99.99 add $6.50;
orders of $100 or more, add 7% of the order.

These are only available by direct mail, and are not on
our Web site.  We will send your Salvation Army Protest
Cards by First Class Mail.  Send your check or money order
to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*****

Please visit our Web page for your holiday shopping and
order stained glass and books on our secure shopping
cart.  Our Web site is at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

3.     The Twelfth Step to Recovery from Bible Abuse

(From Chapter 17 of 'Steps to Recovery from Bible
Abuse,' by Dr. Rembert Truluck, page 377.)

The Twelfth Step: Become a Freedom Missionary

Encourage others to accept and feel good about themselves.
Develop and share with others your new joy and freedom.
Grow through daily study and meditation.

‘Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast
out demons: freely you received, freely give. . . . When
they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or
what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that
hour what you are to speak; for it is not you who speak,
but the Spirit of God who speaks in you. . . . Make
disciples of all people. . . . I am with you always,
even to the end of the age.’  Matthew 10:8, 19-20;
28:19-20

Telling other people about your own experience of finding
freedom from abusive religion and your joy and happiness
in feeling good about yourself will help you to grow
stronger in your own faith.  As you encourage other people,
you also will be encouraged to grow, heal, learn, and
recover.

*****

The Twelfth Step continues with Bible studies on Good News
for Outcasts, As You Go, Make Disciples, The Bible as a
Weapon for Freedom, and Free at Last.

You may buy 'Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse' on the
Chi Rho Press Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com, using
your credit card on our secure shopping cart.

--------------------------------------------------

4.    An Opportunity to Participate in this Ministry

Would you like to make a difference?  Books are important
resources in the struggle for acceptance and liberation
for the LGBT community.  For 12 years, Chi Rho Press has
been in the forefront of the LGBT Christian community,
publishing books no one else would publish, giving voice
to some of the best LGBT Christian writers around.

You can be a part of this ministry.  We need your financial
assistance.  Please prayerfully consider becoming a Guardian
Angel of Chi Rho Press by donating a minimum of $150 to
this ministry.  Your donation is completely tax deductible.

And you can become a Guardian Angel on-line!  You
may make contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press
on our Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  Don’t
forget, contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press are
fully tax deductible.

To put tax deductible contributions on your credit card,
using our secure shopping cart on our Web page, go to
http://www.chirhopress.com/frame_sponsor.html.

Highlight the numeral 1 in the box and type in the amount
you want to contribute (for instance, $150 to become a
Guardian Angel).  Click the Add to Cart link to the right
of the amount box and the Shopping Cart will come up
and you can either continue shopping or click on Check Out
Now, which will take you through the check out process,
asking you for your credit card number, etc.  Be sure to
give us your mailing address as well as e-mail address so
we can send you your welcome gifts.

If you have specific questions about the Guardian Angel
Program, you may e-mail us at Angels@...,
or telephone us at 301/926-1208.

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word:

Suddenly Christmas is right around the corner.  Our Jewish
friends are celebrating Hanukkah.  The winter solstice is
next Friday here in the Northern Hemisphere.  The Third
Sunday in Advent is this Sunday (the Rose or Gaudete
Sunday, for Rejoice!).

In addition to Chi Rho Press items for people on my
Christmas gift list, I am buying livestock for my niece
and nephews this Christmas.  When I told my brother that,
he was a bit alarmed, until I explained that the kids
wouldn’t actually receive the animals, but I was buying
animals in their name from the Heifer Project International.
Heifer is a wonderful group that buys farm animals for poor
families all around the world.  Check them out at
www.heifer.org.

I am buying a flock of chicks for my youngest nephew Peter
(he’s 3), a flock of ducks for 10 year old Maggie, and a
hive of honeybees for my 13 year old nephew Douglas.  The
Heifer Project will provide the chicks, ducks, and bees
along with training and other support to poor families.
The chicks and ducks will provide eggs and food and even
more chickens and ducks for the future.  The hive of bees
will provide beeswax and honey, and of course, even more
bees!  Talk about gifts that keep on giving!

The kids’ parents are all for teaching the children about
the value of giving to others less fortunate than ourselves.
The Heifer Project makes it possible to give meaningful
gifts that help others.  Isn’t that what Christmas is all
about?

I hope that in addition to plenty of Chi Rho Press items,
you will find ways to give gifts that truly mirror what
Christmas is about the Reason for the Season, God’s gift
to us of God’s Incarnate Self in the person of Jesus Christ.
Again, a gift that keeps on giving.

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager,
Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Dec. 16, 2001

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by R. Adam DeBaugh.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

John 5:30-47

In today’s reading Jesus calls forth witnesses to
corroborate his claim to being the Messiah: God, John
the Baptist, the Scriptures, and the prophecy of Moses.
But the most compelling witness is Jesus’ own miraculous
actions: ‘For the works which God has granted me to
accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me
witness that God has sent me.’

For three years Jesus ministered to the needs of his
people.  He gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk,
healed the sick, restored hearing to the deaf, gave speech
to the dumb.  He multiplied loaves and fishes to feed the
people, calmed storms, cast out demons, even raised the
dead.  As Nicodemus the Pharisee said to Jesus, ‘No one
can do these signs . . . unless God is with that one’
(John 3:2).

Just as Jesus’ works were evidence of his divine mission, so
today the primary evidence for the validity of Christianity
is what it does.  If lives are transformed; if family is
created where once there was aching, empty loneliness; if
hope springs up where once there was despair; if confidence,
self-esteem, and dignity replace degradation, then there is
no need for further proof of the power of God at work in
the people.  Such modern-day miracles speak for themselves,
for ‘no one can do these sign . . . unless God is with that
one.’

Blessed Creator of Joy, thank you for sending Jesus into my
life and miraculously saving me from loneliness, despair,
and degradation.  I know by the works being done in my life
that Jesus is my Savior.  As a grateful recipient of your
bounty, I will praise you today.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Website.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. II, No. 32
21 December 2001

*************************

Contents:

1.    MCC in Cuba!
2.    The Last Step to Recovery from Bible Abuse
3.    We Recommend: http://www.geocities.com/inscentz
4.    An Opportunity to be a Part of this Ministry
5.    Adam's Last Word:

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.      MCC in Cuba!

Osbaldo Acevedo is a deacon at ICM (Metropolitan Community
Church) Paz & Alegria in Nicaragua.  He is currently
studying music in Cuba.  Under of the auspices of the MCC
in Nicaragua, Osbaldo began to organize an MCC ministry
to gays and lesbians and announced that an MCC service
would be held in Cuba.

Approximately 30 men and women recently attended the first
service.  Osbaldo, with the support of the church in
Nicaragua, hopes this gathering will become ICM/MCC Cuba
the first Metropolitan Community Church in Cuba.

Following the first worship service, Osbaldo wrote, ‘Our
brothers and sisters of Cuba are a community of brave
individuals with a strong spirit, ready to go against the
wind.  As in the rest of the world, they live with their
contradictions in the midst of the battle for survival.
With their deeply religious roots, they are a people
thirsty for the true message of Divine Love.’

Messages conveying your encouragement, love, and prayers
to Osbaldo and the new group of MCC worshippers in Cuba
may be sent by e-mail to ojam72@....

--------------------------------------------------

2.     The Last Step to Recovery from Bible Abuse

(From Chapter 18 of 'Steps to Recovery from Bible
Abuse,' by Dr. Rembert Truluck, page 411.)

The Last Step: Give Yourself Time to Heal and Recover

‘Love is patient and love is kind.’  (1 Corinthians 13:4)

Love yourself.  Learn to be patient with yourself and
others.  Growth takes time.  Give yourself and others the
time and space needed for growth, healing, and recovery.

‘Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all
things unto Christ’ (Ephesians 4:15).

‘For freedom Christ set us free: therefore keep standing
firm and do not be controlled again by a religious yoke
of slavery. . . . The whole law is fulfilled in one word:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  But if you bite
and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by
one another.’  (Galatians 5:1, 14-15)

The steps to recovery from abusive and oppressive religion
are just a beginning.  You can follow through in your own
spiritual growth into self-esteem and effective spiritual
living and sharing by finding or starting a spiritual
support group.  Be creative.  Let God guide you into what
works for you.

*****

The Last Step continues with Bible studies on Growing Up
in Christ, Growing Up in the Celebration of Life, Growing
Up in Love, and Growing Up in Self-Control.

You may buy 'Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse' on the
Chi Rho Press Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com, using
your credit card on our secure shopping cart.

--------------------------------------------------

3.    We Recommend: http://www.geocities.com/inscentz

Take a look at the candles and hand-painted pots at Patrick
and Patrick’s new Web site, http://www.geocities.com/inscentz.
Patrick is Adam DeBaugh’s informally adopted son and his
partner (also Patrick) are starting a new business.  They
use the Yahoo auction site for purchases, but you can also
reach the Patricks at inscentz@....  Patrick and
Patrick live in Newton, NC and run their fledgling business
from there.  Order the Pride Candle set, Adam did!  Good luck
to the Patricks in their business venture.

--------------------------------------------------

4.    An Opportunity to Participate in this Ministry

Would you like to make a difference?  Books are important
resources in the struggle for acceptance and liberation
for the LGBT community.  For 12 years, Chi Rho Press has
been in the forefront of the LGBT Christian community,
publishing books no one else would publish, giving voice
to some of the best LGBT Christian writers around.

You can be a part of this ministry.  We need your financial
assistance.  Please prayerfully consider becoming a Guardian
Angel of Chi Rho Press by donating a minimum of $150 to
this ministry.  Your donation is completely tax deductible.

And you can become a Guardian Angel on-line!  You
may make contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press
on our Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  Don't
forget, contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press are
fully tax deductible.

To put tax deductible contributions on your credit card,
using our secure shopping cart on our Web page, go to
http://www.chirhopress.com/frame_sponsor.html.

Highlight the numeral 1 in the box and type in the amount
you want to contribute (for instance, $150 to become a
Guardian Angel).  Click the Add to Cart link to the right
of the amount box and the Shopping Cart will come up
and you can either continue shopping or click on Check Out
Now, which will take you through the check out process,
asking you for your credit card number, etc.  Be sure to
give us your mailing address as well as e-mail address so
we can send you your welcome gifts.

If you have specific questions about the Guardian Angel
Program, you may e-mail us at Angels@...,
or telephone us at 301/926-1208.

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word:

Merry Christmas!

The Board of Directors and Staff of Chi Rho Press wish
all our readers and supporters the most blessed Christmas.

We thank you for your support and involvement in this
ministry.

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager,
Kevin@....



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Dec. 23, 2001
Merry Christmas!

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by R. Adam DeBaugh.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Luke 2:1-14

Patrick was young and very little.  He sat with wonder in
his eyes as he listened to the Christmas story in the second
chapter of Luke.  Great peace and joy seemed to come over
his little spirit as he listened and all tension left him.
When I finished reading, I asked, ‘How did you like that
story?’

‘It’s the best!’ Patrick was emphatic, yet calm and at peace.
The story had made such an impact that I had to ask, ‘What’s
so good about the story for you?’

‘Be not afraid,’ Patrick answered.  ‘That’s the best part.
We were afraid and the angel said, Be not afraid.  We don’t
have to be afraid ever again.’

I asked Patrick what kinds of things he might be afraid of
as this year draws to a close.  He said, ‘Getting sick,
being alone in the dark, not having friends, not doing good
in school, stuff like that.’

In his simple, innocent, unsophisticated way, little Patrick
hit the nail on the head!  The meaning of Jesus’ humble birth
in a rude stable in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire is
‘Be not afraid.’

No matter what our fears, today’s Gospel message echoes
down the centuries to speak to us: ‘Be not afraid.’  Like
little Patrick, we are comforted with the knowledge that
Christ has come to bring ‘peace among those with whom God
is pleased.’

Blessed Savior, thank you for coming to us with your divine
message of grace and peace.  Thank you for having your
angels comfort and assure us, saying, ‘Be not afraid.’
Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Website.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. II, No. 33
28 December 2001

*************************

Contents:

1.    Happy New Year!

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.      Happy New Year!

This will be the last Chi Rho Connection for 2001.  In
January, 2002, we will resume our twice monthly publication
schedule, rather than weekly editions as we do in November
and December.

We will, of course, continue sending the Chi Rho Reflection
meditation on each Monday.

The new year promises to be filled with exciting changes
and continued growth for Chi Rho Press and we are eager to
have you continue to be a part of this ministry.

There will be significant changes in our Web page in the
coming year.  New Promissory Notes will be made available
after the first of the year.  New publications are nearing
completion and will be published in 2002.  The Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor program will be expanded to
include institutional and church sponsorships as well.
New staff members are coming on board to further enable the
work of your GLBT Christian publishing house.  We will
continue to seek new ways to better serve you and to
involve you in the ministry of Chi Rho Press.

We are very grateful for our friends and supporters who
have bought books and other products from Chi Rho Press
in 2001.  Thank you for your support!  It is our fervent
hope that you will be moved to purchase more books, tapes,
handouts, and stained glass from us in 2002!  And please
let your friends, co-workers, and communities of faith
know about Chi Rho Press.

To those of you who have contributed to this ministry with
your contributions and to our wonderful investors who have
bought Promissory Notes, a million thanks for your
financial support!

We are humbled by the opportunities this ministry affords
us and we are proud of what we have been able to accomplish.

We hope you will be moved to make a year-end contribution
to the ministry of Chi Rho Press.  Remember that all
contributions are fully tax-deductible!  Here is an
opportunity to make one final charitable contribution to
take off your taxes.  <grin>  Seriously, we would be very
pleased if you would consider becoming a Guardian Angel
Individual Sponsor of Chi Rho Press at a minimum
contribution of $150 a year.  But any contribution you
are able to make would be gratefully received.

Of course, we are in the business of publishing and
selling books, so your purchases on our Web page at
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com would be very welcome.

The staff and board of Chi Rho Press wish you the very
happiest of New Years.  May 2002 be filled with every good
thing for you and may all your dreams come true in the
New Year.  God bless you all!

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director and President
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager
The Rev. Clay Witt, Mr. Ronald DeVrou, Ms. Raye Ann Dorn,
Mr. Steve Barchers, and Ms. Tina Robinson, Board of
Directors.

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager,
Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Dec. 30, 2001
Happy New Year!

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by R. Adam DeBaugh.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

John 4:46-54

Back in Cana, Jesus was met by an official who had come
the twenty-five miles or so from his home in Capernaum to
beg Jesus to come there and heal his son.

Jesus had begun to tire of people who clamored for more
miracles.  He knew that some of them were not there out
of faith but out of curiosity.  They didn’t look at Jesus
as a spiritual leader but rather as a carnival-side-show
attraction who performed amusing tricks.  Testing the
official’s faith, Jesus rebuffed him, saying, ‘Unless
you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’  But
the official was not dismayed at the rebuke; he merely
stated his hope and his belief.  His little boy was dying
and he didn’t care about any signs and wonders.  All he
wanted was help, before it was too late.

Touched and reassured by the official’s faith, Jesus said,
‘Go; your son will live.’  Sure in his faith, the official
did not question Jesus’ reply.  He did not continue to
importune Jesus to come to Capernaum; he did not ask how
the healing could possibly happen; he simply ‘believed the
word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way.’  In the
end, his faith was rewarded; the boy had been healed at
exactly the time that Jesus had said the words.

Is my faith that strong?  Can I deny the desire for a good
show from Jesus?  Can I take the word of the Savior that,
even at long distance, my needs will be met?  Do I trust
that the many promises Jesus has made to me will come to
pass?

Great Physician, give me the faith to believe your healing
promises.  Help me to go on my way trusting in your promise
of life.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Website.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Jan. 6, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the Rev. Robert
Nugent.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Read John 2:1-11

Did you ever wonder what happened to that couple who will
always be remembered because of the honored guest at their
wedding?  Did they ever tire of recounting that day over
and over to their children and grandchildren?  Did they
remember their feelings of panic when they discovered
they had no wine, their surprise at the sudden appearance
of even better wine than they had purchased, the whispers
that went around the wedding party about this man Jesus?
Did this first of Jesus’ signs bring them to faith in him
or discipleship?  Did they ever leave each other?

Weddings and Holy Unions evoke profound feelings of
happiness and deep feelings of pain in all of us, couples,
singles, celibates, divorced, widows, and widowers.  We
are happy for these two who pledge their love and
faithfulness to a life that calls for the transformation
of the water of selfishness, individuality, and established
ways into the wine of mutuality, respectful love, and
continued growth.  And yet we know of so many others who
have for many reasons broken commitments to partners.

Wedding and Holy Union ceremonies may also awaken in us
our own deepest longing for someone who will never go away.
In the light of this moment of crystallized fidelity and
commitment, we may remember the lost chances, the broken
commitments, the unhealed hurts of broken relationships
in our own lives.  At such moments we can turn to God,
the one who embodies perfect fidelity to us all the way
to death and beyond.

Jesus, you are really the only one who will never go away.
By your abiding presence, you help us to transform our
isolation into community and our aloneness into intimacy.
And when others go away, you are still there at the end,
the best wine for us to drink at life’s wedding banquet,
celebrating the union of our God-with-us.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Website.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. III, No. 1
11 January 2002

*************************

Happy New Year.  May your troubles in 2002 be as
short-lived as your resolutions.

Contents:

1.    Father Mychal Judge’s Prayer
2.    Recapping the Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse
3.    New Promissory Notes Offered
4.    Publication of 2002 Liturgical Calendar Cancelled
5.    Adam's Last Word:

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.    Father Mychal Judge’s Prayer

This prayer was written by Father Mychal Judge, the first
identified victim of the World Trade Center terrorist
attacks.  Fr. Judge was a remarkable man, embraced and
celebrated by many parts of the New York community,
including the Gay community.  A Catholic priest, a
Franciscan, and fire department chaplain, he was killed
by falling debris at the World Trade Center while giving
last rites to a fire fighter.  Here is his prayer:

Lord, take me where you want me to go
Let me meet who you want me to meet
Tell me what you want me to say
And keep me out of your way.  Amen.

Father Mychal Judge, victim 00001, World Trade Center

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2.    Recapping the Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse

The last thirteen issues of the Chi Rho Connection each
featured one of the Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse
from Dr. Rembert Truluck’s amazing book by the same name.
We thought it would be well to list all the steps in this
premier issue of 2002.

Step 1, Admit You Have Been Hurt by Religion
Step 2, Turn to God for Help
Step 3, Examine Your Faith
Step 4, Face and Deal with Your Anger
Step 5, Avoid Negative People and Churches
Step 6, Confront the Scripture Used Against You
Step 7, Find Positive Supportive Scripture
Step 8, Read and Study the Gospels
Step 9, Come Out and Accept Yourself
Step 10, Develop Your Support System
Step 11, Learn to Share Your Faith
Step 12, Become a Freedom Missionary
Step 13, Give Yourself Time to Heal and Recover

*****

You may buy 'Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse' on the
Chi Rho Press Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com, using
your credit card on our secure shopping cart.  ‘Steps’ is
$24.95, plus $3.50 shipping and handling for one copy.

--------------------------------------------------

3.    New Promissory Notes Offered

The Board of Directors of Chi Rho Press has authorized
issuing new Promissory Notes at 6% simple interest.  The
Promissory Notes are a way for Chi Rho Press to seek
capitalization for our ministry.  The investments will
be used to pay down existing, more expensive debt,
increase staff effectiveness, and fund the printing of
new publications.  We urge you to invest in this ministry
with $1,000 or more in Promissory Notes.

Promissory Notes in $1,000 increments are available from
Chi Rho Press, at 6% simple interest, repaid in eight
quarterly payments over a two year period.

Write Adam@... for the text of the Promissory
Note, and send your check for $1,000 (or $2,000, $3,000,
or even $5,000!).  We will send a signed Note upon the
receipt of your check.

Of course, contributions to Chi Rho Press are fully tax
deductible.  If you are able to make a financial gift to
this ministry, we would welcome your support.  Our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsors program starts with a minimum
gift of $150 a year and our Guardian Angels receive
discounts on Press publications, free gifts during the
year, and special other perks.

Thanks for your support!

--------------------------------------------------

4.    Publication of 2002 Liturgical Calendar Cancelled

Chi Rho Press regrets to report we will not be able to
publish a Year A 2002 Liturgical Calendar.  Due to the
late status of the production schedule, which would
probably not allow us to publish until later this month
at the earliest, we feel most customers will already have
found an alternative product.

We believe that the liturgical calendar has been a valued
resource for many of our most loyal customers for the last
seven years, and the staff and board of Chi Rho Press
deeply regret what we expect will only be a temporary
discontinuation of the annual Liturgical Calendar.  We are
working to revise the content and format of the calendar
for next year.

Future Liturgical Calendars will be very different from
previous Calendars, offering much more information and
utility for leaders of worship across the UFMCC and beyond.
This year’s Calendar was to have been compiled by a pastor
new to the project with great ideas; however, it would also
have cost significantly more to produce.  Given the untested
new product and the lateness of the hour in getting the
finished material to us, Chi Rho Press believes it best
not to publish a Liturgical Calendar this year.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by
this very regrettable situation.  Please also know that
we have informed you as soon as the decision not to
publish was made.  To all who have pre-paid outstanding
orders for this year’s Liturgical Calendar, we will issue
a refund or credit.

We would also like to direct you to a substitute resource
that you might find helpful during 2002.  Visit
http://www.cresourcei.org/RCLmenu.html for information
about the Revised Common Lectionary, as well as scripture
readings by Sunday.

If you are interested in learning how we might change
our liturgical calendar, please write the Director and
Publisher R. Adam DeBaugh at Adam@....  If
you have inquired about the Liturgical Calendar this year
we will keep your name on file and notify you in mid-2002
about the production of the 2003 Year B Liturgical Calendar.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word:

The long holiday period is finally over.  All of us here
at Chi Rho Press hope that you had a wonderful holiday
time and that the new year 2002 will be filled with every
good thing for you.

The holidays were somewhat subdued this year, sales were
down from last year and things never seemed to reach the
fever pitch we often associate with the holidays.  In the
wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the war in
Afghanistan, it seemed as though the holidays crept up on
us unaware and passed with little fanfare.  Perhaps that
is a good thing, if it means more people were spending
their time meditating on the reason for the season, the
incarnation of God in our midst in the person of Jesus
Christ.

I had a relatively quiet Christmas and New Years.  Kevin
Fries (who is my best friend as well as my co-worker here
at the Press) and I escaped to New York City for a few
days right before Christmas, returning home in time for
a dinner party Christmas Eve.  We stayed in a wonderfully
gay bed and breakfast on West 22nd Street called the
Colonial House Inn (http://www.colonialhouseinn.com).
The building had been the first home of the Gay Men’s
Health Crisis in New York.

We had a Gay literary weekend, seeing the Oscar Wilde
exhibit at the Morgan Library (http://www.morganlibrary.org),
dinner with a writer friend at Tea and Sympathy on
Greenwich, a wonderful church service Sunday at MCC New
York, and high tea at Lady Mendl’s just south of Grammercy
Park (http://www.travel-new-york.com/inn-at-irving).  Of
course there was the obligatory shopping as well (Saks
Fifth Avenue, FAO Schwartz, and looking in the windows
of Tiffany’s) and seeing the tree, decorations, and
crowds at Rockefeller Center.

Lady Mendl turns out to be Elsie de Wolfe who is credited
with creating the interior decorating industry in the US.
She was a rather unsuccessful actress, but her time on
the stage enabled her to meet Elizabeth Marbury, a New
York theatrical agent and producer.  They fell in love
and bought two conjoined brownstones on Irving Place
(Lexington Avenue extended south of Grammercy Park)
which Elsie decorated.  Her interior design for their
house was such as success that friends began asking her
to decorate their homes and a new business was created.

Elsie and Bessie Marbury continued together for many
years.  When Elsie suddenly married Sir Charles Mendl
late in life it was much to Bessie’s surprise.  But Sir
Charles assured Bessie that it was merely a marriage of
convenience.  When Bessie died at aged 60, she left her
entire estate to the love of her life, Elsie, Lady Mendl.
A wonderful lesbian love story!  (Read David Bianco’s
mini-bio of Elsie de Wolfe at
http://www.camprehoboth.com/issue03-10-00/pastout.htm.)

Now their home on Irving Place is the Inn at Irving
Place, and includes the rather famous restaurant Verbena,
and Lady Mendl’s Tea Room.  The five-course high tea is
a real event there and Kevin and I thought it a highlight
of our New York trip.  Are we queer or what?

Once we were back home, Christmas passed quietly with
dinner parties Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing
Day, and then New Years Eve was spent at an early dinner
with friends at a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant in
Rockville, MD (Taste of Saigon) and movies at home.
Time for reflection, meditation, and prayer made the
holidays extra special, along with lots of time with my
dearest friend Kevin and other friends and family.

You may recall my telling you that I had bought livestock
for my niece and nephews through the Heifer Project
International, http://www.heifer.org.  Well, I am pleased
to say they were a big hit with the kids and they are
delighted that families in other parts of the world will
be receiving a hive of bees and training in bee keeping,
a flock of ducks, and a flock of chicks in their names.

So now 2002 is well and truly with us.  The debate over
whether or not we have passed into the 21st Century must
surely be over by now.  And we enter 2002 a bit more
sobered perhaps, more serious, maybe even a little more
fearful.  It is my hope that we also enter 2002 with a
new resolve to be more attentive to the needs of our
spiritual natures, to be more concerned about those less
fortunate than ourselves, to be more thankful for all
that we have, to be less willing to ignore oppression
and discrimination, and to be more willing to stand up
for our rights as LGBT people and our allies.

Of course, we also hope that the new year will bring a
renewed and continued interest in reading!  I urge you
to check out our Web page and to purchase a book or two
from Chi Rho Press.  We rely on your patronage to keep
us in business and growing.  The new year will hold a
lot of exciting things for us, a new look to the Web
page, better ability to serve you, new books and products,
and new opportunities for investment.

Thanks for being a part of this ministry!  Happy New Year!

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager,
Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Jan. 13, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the Rev. Robert
Nugent.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Read Mark 3:20-35

An old piece of folk wisdom defines the home as a place
where the hearth is.  The hearth, which housed the fire,
was at one period of history the center of family life.
The hearth was the place to prepare food, to feel warmth,
to have light in the darkness.  These experiences bonded
the family together, both physically and emotionally.

Several years ago the New York Times reviewed a book
dealing with emotional and physical conflicts, including
violence in contemporary families.  The writer, in a
clever adaptation of the traditional adage, titled the
review 'Home is Where the Hurt Is.’

No human family, not even that of Jesus, escapes the pain
that certain misunderstandings can bring to family life.
The family of Jesus is portrayed in the Gospel as thinking
him possessed by a demon when they heard the crowd say that
he was out of his mind.  How ironic that the Scribes accused
him of being possessed by evil forces!  One of the strongest
signs of his making present the reign of God was his
ministry of expelling demons and breaking the bonds of
evil forces that controlled others.

It is easy to sympathize with Jesus and feel his
disappointment.  In our lives we have also felt the
misunderstandings of families, birth families, work
families, church families, for one reason or another.
Yet the response of Jesus is not counter-rejection or
further alienation.  He simply makes it clear that
commitment to the reign supersedes all family ties.
Like Jesus, we need family loyalty.  And, like Jesus,
we often find our loyalties in other kinds of families,
especially among those who support and nourish our
commitments to personal integrity.

Lord, you did not reject your family even though they
misunderstood you.  Instead, you invited them and us to
membership in that larger family of God in which, through
baptism, water is thicker than blood.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Website.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Jan. 20, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by Sister Jeannine
Gramick.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Read Mark 5:1-20

The hills around the Sea of Galilee contain many large
caves that were used to shelter cattle or other animals
or to provide refuge for fugitives from war or from the
law.  They were also used as burial tombs.  It was from
one of these burial caves that a man possessed by a legion
of evil spirits emerged and fell on his knees before Jesus.
Having compassion on him, Jesus cast out the demons, so
that the man was able simply to sit there, clothed, and
in his right mind.

Sometimes I, too, feel that I am possessed by a legion of
the evil spirits that permeate our culture and keep me
immured in burial caves.  I am buried in the caves of
consumerism which urges me to spend, to buy, to satisfy
my selfish desires.  Loving and compassionate God, help
me to break these chains by spending my money and my time
on projects which enable those less fortunate than myself
to gain a sense of worth and self-respect.

I am buried in the caves of a capitalistic sense of
competition which subliminally urges me to compare myself
with others and to denigrate them so that I can feel secure.
Gracious God, smash these iron chains of insecurity so that
I can compete only with myself and feel jealous only of the
person I am meant to become.

I am buried in the caves of a superpower mentality of
domination which always seeks to control and manipulate
others.  Help me, gentle God, to regain my right mind and
to clothe myself and others with respect for individual
freedom.

Jesus, today I fall on my knees before you and beg you to
banish the mob of demons which possess me and keep me
locked in burial caves.  I want to go home to my family and
friends to tell them how kind you have been to me.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. III, No. 2
25 January 2002

*************************
One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life:
that word is love.
Sophocles

Contents:

1.    Improved Credit Card Access
2.    Featured Book:  ‘Positively Gay’
3.    New Promissory Notes Offered
4.    FYI: Chi Rho Press Royalties
5.    Adam's Last Word: Exciting Times at the Press,
Inez Berry’s Passing

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.    Improved Credit Card Access

In our continuing efforts to better serve our customers,
Chi Rho Press has increased its ability to accept credit
cards.  Over the past year and a half we have been able
to take credit card payment only on our Web page
(http://www.ChiRhoPress.com).  We were working through
an intermediary company, using their merchant accounts.
D3 Marketing Innovations, of Lexington, KY firm has been
in charge of our Web page and shopping cart.  Dotti Berry,
Angie Childers, and the other marvelous folks at D3 have
been a huge help to Chi Rho Press as we continued to
improve our Web page.

Thanks to the hard work of the Press’ Editor/Office Manager
Kevin Stone Fries, we now have our own merchant account!
This means we are not limited to our Web page when
accepting credit card payments, but can take credit card
payments over the telephone, by fax, by e-mail, by snail
mail, or even in person.  (Wait until you see our cool
little ‘knuckle-buster!’)

Our first real credit card payment was taken over the phone
from a bookstore customer for over $340!  A new bank account
has been opened to receive and keep track of credit card
payments (especially important for royalty payments!) and
other systems are in place.

So whether you want to order something on line, over the
phone, by e-mail, in person, or any other way, you can
now pay by credit card.  You can even call us to become
a Guardian Angel and we can take your contribution over
the phone on your credit card.

Chi Rho Press accepts VISA, MasterCard, American Express,
and Discover/Novus.

--------------------------------------------------

2.    Featured Book:  Positively Gay

Chi Rho Press has copies of the third edition of
'Positively Gay: New Approaches to Gay and Lesbian Life'
(Celestial Arts, 2001).

Chi Rho Press is now carrying this book in part because
our founder and Director, Adam DeBaugh, wrote the chapter
entitled, 'Using Your Gay and Lesbian Voting Power.'
This is an important book and the updated new edition,
in the bright red cover, is an important addition to every
LGBT library.

'I wish we had published that!' says Adam DeBaugh.  'But
I am proud to have been a part of Positively Gay since the
publication of the first edition in 1979.  This book has
been a classic for 22 years, a must read for all LGBT people
and their allies!'

'Positively Gay has been widely and consistently praised
for its practical treatment of the variety of topics
affecting the lives of gays and lesbians.  In this revised,
third edition, Dr. Betty Berzon has brought together an
impressive list of contributors from diverse backgrounds,
disciplines, and approaches to spotlight significant but
frequently overlooked issues that often take center stage
in a gay or lesbian person's life.’  (From the book jacket.)

Author Michelangelo Signorile says, 'Positively Gay was the
first gay book I ever read.  It scared me.  It challenged
me.  It excited me.  And it eventually made me feel good
about myself.'

Sections of the book include, Being Gay: Personal Issues,
Social Options; Partnering: The Special Issues of Same-Sex
Coupling; Family Relations: Fresh Perspectives; Aging: A
Season of Grace; Religion: Reconciling the Spiritual
Dilemma; The Practical Aspects: Taking Control of Your
Life; People of Color: The Special Experiences of
Minorities Within a Minority; Young People: The Future
of Our Community; and Telling Our Stories.  There is
also a helpful discussion guide.

Authors include the compiler and editor, Betty Berzon,
Mark Thompson, Betty Fairchild, Del Martin and Phyllis
Lyon, Rabbi Denise Eger, Rev. William Johnson, Father
Robert Nugent, Brian McNaught, R. Adam DeBaugh, Teresa
DeCrescenzo, and John Preston.  U.S. Rep. Barney Frank
wrote the Foreword.

'Positively Gay' sells for $14.95, plus $2.50 shipping
and handling.  Currently it is only available from Chi
Rho Press through mail order (not on the Web page yet,
look for it online soon!).  Please send your credit card
information, check, or money order for $17.45 to Chi Rho
Press, P.O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

--------------------------------------------------

3.    New Promissory Notes Offered

The Board of Directors of Chi Rho Press has authorized
issuing new Promissory Notes at 6% simple interest.  The
Promissory Notes are a way for Chi Rho Press to seek
capitalization for our ministry.  The investments will
be used to pay down existing, more expensive debt,
increase staff effectiveness, and fund the printing of
new publications.  We urge you to invest in this ministry
with $1,000 or more in Promissory Notes.

Promissory Notes in $1,000 increments are available from
Chi Rho Press, at 6% simple interest, repaid in eight
quarterly payments over a two year period.

Write Adam@... for the text of the Promissory
Note, and send your check or credit card information for
$1,000 (or $2,000, $3,000, or even $5,000!).  We will
send a signed Note upon the receipt of your check or
credit card payment.

Of course, contributions to Chi Rho Press are fully tax
deductible.  If you are able to make a financial gift to
this ministry, we would welcome your support.  Gifts and
contributions of any size are welcome and appreciated!
Our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsors program starts
with a minimum gift of $150 a year and our Guardian
Angels receive discounts on Press publications, free
gifts during the year, and special other perks.

Thanks for your support!

--------------------------------------------------

4.    FYI: Chi Rho Press Royalties

We are introducing a new column called FYI, which will
discuss aspects of publishing and the business of Chi Rho
Press.  This month’s FYI column is about Royalties.

Authors make money from their writing, in part, from
royalties.  Royalties are a percentage of sales of
published books.  Publishing houses have a wide variety
of policies about royalty payments.

Early in the life of Chi Rho Press, we were negotiating
publishing a second edition of a book published by another
small house.  The author told me he was eagerly waiting
for his first royalty check from the first edition,
especially since the other publisher had decided not to
keep the book in print and returned publication rights
to him.  Out of curiosity, I asked what his contract said,
and he told me that he was to start earning royalties
after the first 1,000 books were sold.

Since he was updating and adding new material to his
already published work, I talked with the publisher about
taking over publication rights for this excellent book.
I asked what their press run had been for the first
edition and was told 1,000 copies.  Only later did it
dawn on me that they had cheated the author, he would
never earn any royalties because they would never sell
over 1,000 books.  When I told the author this, he was
quite dismayed.  He hadn’t been told what the press run
was and the implications of that decision on his contract
in terms of royalty payments.

That is one reason why we have always had a royalty policy
that is rather generous by industry standards, and why we
involve our authors in all decisions about their books,
from page design, cover art, editing decisions, price, and
even the press run.

Chi Rho Press is a small, independent publishing house.
We started with no capitalization.  We have pretty much
lived hand to mouth, spending what we take in.  Only over
the past couple of years has Chi Rho Press sought
capitalization through loans and our Promissory Notes
program, and most recently with gifts and contributions
made possible by our 501(c)(3) status, which make
contributions to Chi Rho Press fully tax deductible.

We customarily don’t pay advances to our authors but we
are proud that our royalty schedule is better than most
other houses.  Our royalty policy is that we pay our
authors 20% of actual sales income for their books.
Royalties start being paid after the printing costs (and
only printing costs) have been recouped in sales.
Royalties are paid quarterly.

Editor Kevin Stone Fries likes to call Chi Rho Press a
‘micro-press’ and he is right, we are a small house with
limited staff and resources, though we are continually
growing.  For 12 years we have been committed to
publishing quality books on religious and spiritual
themes of special interest to the gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgendered, and seeking community and our friends.
For the most part we have published authors who have not
been published before and whose work might not have been
published by larger, mainstream houses.  We feel that it
is important to give our authors the opportunity to have
their work published.

Our royalty system won’t necessarily enable any of our
authors to retire, but we think it is one incentive to
come to Chi Rho Press with their manuscripts rather than
to some of the big houses.

Just For Your Information!

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word:

These are exciting times at Chi Rho Press!  We will soon
roll out our new, improved Web site.  We can now accept
credit cards everywhere, not just on the Web site (please
see article 1).  We today launched a new periodic feature
article in your Chi Rho Connection, FYI (article 4).  The
Board has authorized a new issue of Promissory Notes
(article 3).

More exciting changes are in the works as well.  We are
preparing to launch a new, on-line theological journal,
the Chi Rho Quarterly.  New books are in the works.  Kevin
continues editing Dr. Sandy Bochonok’s book of daily
meditations, ‘Living as the Beloved.’  We have new
manuscripts to review.

Our list of Guardian Angels is growing as well and we
encourage our supporters to become Guardian Angels, with
your tax-deductible contribution of at least $150.

2002 is going to be a busy and challenging year.  Thanks
for being a part of it with us!

*****

We are saddened at the death of Inez Berry, the mother of
UFMCC evangelist the Rev. Delores Berry, last Saturday,
Jan. 19.  I will be attending Inez’ funeral at MCC DC
tomorrow (Jan. 26).  MCC founder Troy Perry will officiate.

Inez was an amazing woman of faith.  She was intensely
loyal to her family, especially her daughter Delores and
Delores’ partner Judy.  She was a great supporter of
Delores and Judy’s ministry of evangelism and of MCC.
Inez was one of the first heterosexual parents who became
members of MCC and was a familiar figure at church
conferences.

I remember Inez Berry as a wonderful cook, a sweet spirit,
a generous and caring woman, and a real mother to many
people to whom she reached out with love and devotion.
The love and prayers of all of us here at Chi Rho Press
go out to Delores and Judy and the rest of their family
as we mourn Inez together.  May she rest in peace and may
light perpetual shine upon her as she finally rests in
the loving arms of her creator.

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager,
Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Jan. 27, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by Father Robert
Nugent.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Read John 7:14-31

Upon college graduation a young man returned to his home
church for a reception.  He had majored in drama and was
asked by an old nun, his former speech coach, to display
his skills.  She asked him to read her favorite psalm.
Taking the Bible, he read slowly and dramatically, ‘The
Lord is my shepherd,’ in a rich, mellow, and well-trained
voice.  The people were spellbound and applauded loudly
and enthusiastically when he finished.

Then he handed the Bible to the nun and asked her to read
the psalm.  She took the book, laid it aside, and from
memory began slowly and with deep feeling to recite the
psalm.  When she had finished there was dead silence in
the hall and not a few wet eyes.  The young graduate
stepped forward and said, ‘Now you know the difference.
I know the psalm, but she knows the shepherd.’

People were amazed by what Jesus taught and by the way he
spoke.  Traditional rabbis quoted their teachers, passing
on learned wisdom.  Jesus’ education came not from rabbinic
schools, but from a personal and intimate relationship with
Yahweh.  He had no credits, no degrees, and no institutional
backing.  But his whole life was spent glorifying God, and
from that source he drew a teaching which could not be
challenged or denied.  His enemies accused him of being
possessed by an evil spirit.  But the spirit that possessed
Jesus was the spirit of truth and integrity, instantly
recognizable by those who seek God with their lives.

Speaking about God is not just for theologians, academics,
seminarians, or preachers.  Baptized Christians can and
must speak about God.  Those who nourish a deep relationship
with God often speak to us in direct and simple ways that
reveal God to us.  Whether as educated as Thomas Merton or
as simple and ‘unlearned’ as a Latin American campesino,
their honesty and truthfulness, if we listen, speak to us
clearly of the one who sent them.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Feb. 3, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from ?The Road to Emmaus,? a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the late Rev.
Larry Uhrig.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Read John 1:1-18

?And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of
grace and truth.?

In two thousand years the Christian church has not yet
comprehended these words.  We have been taught to despise
the flesh.  We are sure sexual and physical things are
inherently evil.  We are embarrassed by our bodies.  We
hide ourselves, even from ourselves.

Yet John tells us that the Spirit of God took on all flesh.
Nor did this incarnation of spirit stop at the neck or the
waist, but it filled every cell of Christ?s body.  John
goes on to tell us that Christ?s flesh was beautiful,
filled with grace and truth.

God desires to fill us in like manner.  God wills that
each of us should be full of grace and truth.  Many people
have negative self-images.  We look with disgust upon our
bodies.  A part of our salvation surely must be a new
appreciation of the flesh, our flesh.  When we consider
that the Word of God chooses to dwell in us, we can begin
to look at our flesh and our sexuality in a whole new
light.  God?s creation is called good.

This is good news.  How wonderful!  What delight is mine!
Just think for a moment: God created all of me, calls me
good, and wants to use all of me.  More than this, Jesus
Christ fully understands everything about my flesh and my
life in this world.  God has come so near to me.  This is
my good news.

Jesus, take my hand.  Today, more than ever, I need to let
your truth and your Spirit fill me.  Maybe some parts of
the world and of the church don?t understand your being in
my flesh, but I do, and that?s enough for me.  I always
knew that you knew me;  thank you for making it so clear
in your Word.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. III, No. 3
5 February 2002

*************************

Contents:

1.    New Look for the Web Site
2.    Featured Book:  ?Come Home!
3.    We are Seeking Guardian Angels
4.    FYI: Capitalizing Your Press
5.    Adam's Last Word:

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.    New Look for the Web Site

Chi Rho Press has rolled out our new Web site!  We have
recently secured our own credit card merchant accounts and
shopping cart and have taken over the Web site from our
good friends at D3 Marketing Innovations.  Dotti Berry and
the other wonderful folks at D3 have managed our Web site
for about a year and a half and have allowed us to accept
credit cards through their merchant accounts.

Now, with Dotti?s encouragement, we have secured our own
merchant accounts and can accept VISA, MasterCharge,
American Express, and Discover/Novus cards.  Having our
own merchant account also enables us to accept credit cards
over the phone, by fax, by e-mail, and in person  we have
a cool new ?knuckle buster? credit card swiper!

With this change we have taken back the ability to make
changes and adjustments to our Web site.  We have a new
volunteer Web minister and she has been doing a great job!
There are only small changes on the Web site now.  A new
directory that lists products alphabetically as well as
by category, a new contributions and sponsors page, and a
more streamlined look are the first changes.  Future
changes and additions will be made on a weekly basis.

The biggest change is purely internal as credit card sales
come directly to us, not through D3 Marketing first.  This
will get us income from sales more quickly, and hopefully
will allow us to improve our service to our customers.

Visit our Web site frequently to see new changes and
additions, and to buy some books!

--------------------------------------------------

2.    Featured Book: ?Come Home!?

'Come Home! Reclaiming Spirituality and Community as
Gay Men and Lesbians,' second edition, by Chris Glaser.
first published in 1990 by HarperCollins, the second
edition was published in 1998 by Chi Rho Press with the
addition of five new chapters to the original 20.

'Come Home!' is perhaps Chris Glaser's best book.  It is
divided into five sections, each with five chapters.
The five sections are entitled, 'Welcoming God's
Acceptance,' 'Receiving Our Inheritance,' 'Discerning Our
Call,' 'Making Our Witness,' and 'Declaring Our Vision.'

Bishop John Shelby Spong called 'Come Home!' 'powerful,
sensitive, and provocative. . . . Glaser stands inside
his own humanity as a gay male and hears the word of God
through the Bible.  Christians, gay and straight, need
this book if we are to be the body of Christ.'

This is a brilliant and important book by perhaps the
best-known Gay Christian writer in the U.S. today.

The Rev. Carter Heyward called 'Come Home!' 'an
enthusiastic compelling testimony to the power of faith
in the lives of many gay and lesbian Christians.'

Virginia Ramey Mollenkott said, 'If courage, honesty,
and insight are beautiful, then this is one beautiful
book. . . . I rejoice that in this book all the gay
men and lesbian women who have been robbed of their
spirituality are issued an urgent invitation: Come home!'

'Come Home!' by Chris Glaser offers a vision of faith,
hope, and affirmation inviting gay men and lesbians to
come home to their spirituality through Christian faith
and community.  Order your copy today!

'Come Home!' is available for $19.95 each, $14.95 each
for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling.

--------------------------------------------------

3.    We are Seeking Guardian Angels

All contributions to Chi Rho Press are fully tax
deductible.  If you are able to make a financial gift to
this ministry, we would welcome your support.  Gifts and
contributions of any size are welcome and appreciated!

Our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsors program starts
with a minimum gift of $150 a year and our Guardian
Angels receive discounts on Press publications, free
gifts during the year, and special other perks.

You may contribute on line, paying with your credit
card at http://www.chirhopress.com/sponsor.html or send
your check or money order to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Thanks for your support!

--------------------------------------------------

4.    FYI: Capitalizing the Press

Unlike many other small businesses, Chi Rho Press started
without an infusion of start-up money.  From the very
beginning we basically spent what we made, reinvesting
our income in trying to build the Press.  Like most
companies, we started to incur some debt.

As a way to reduce more expensive debt the Board of
Directors has offered Promissory Notes in $1,000
increments to help pay for the printing of specific books,
to reduce more expensive debt, and to provide
capitalization for this ministry.

The Board of Directors of Chi Rho Press has authorized
issuing new Promissory Notes at 6% simple interest.  The
Promissory Notes are a way for Chi Rho Press to seek
capitalization for our ministry.  The investments will
be used to pay down existing, more expensive debt,
increase staff effectiveness, and fund the printing of
new publications.  We urge you to invest in this ministry
with $1,000 or more in Promissory Notes.

Promissory Notes in $1,000 increments are available from
Chi Rho Press, at 6% simple interest, repaid in eight
quarterly payments over a two year period.

Write Adam@... for the text of the Promissory
Note, and send your check or credit card information for
$1,000 (or $2,000, $3,000, or even $5,000!).  We will
send a signed Note upon the receipt of your check or
credit card payment.

Just For Your Information!

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word:

The weather has been truly wacky in the DC area this season.
We had some days of 70+ degree temperatures.  The last
couple of days have been very cold.  I give up on trying
to figure out what season it is.

Except that it is always a good season to read!  Please
visit our new Web site and navigate around.  I would
appreciate it if you would let me know about any problems
you encounter.  Any links that don?t work?  Any typos?
Anything that you would like to see changed?  Just let me
know!

And of course, while you are there, please buy a book or
two!  We have had a terrible slump over the past four
months and really need your support now more than ever.
And you can even make contributions much easier on our
Web page now!

Thanks for being a part of this ministry and thanks for
your support!

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor, Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Feb. 10, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from The Road to Emmaus, a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the late Rev.
Larry Uhrig.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Read Mark 2:18-22

?. . . no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if one
does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost,
and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.?

So clearly, so simply, Jesus describes his message.  The
truth of the Christian faith cannot be added to old forms
of religion any more than new wine can be poured into old
containers.  The faith of Christ makes life completely new.

People of faith have often resisted the newness and the
radical change Christ brings.  If the Gospel is to achieve
its goal of bringing all the world to the saving knowledge
of Christ, then change must occur.  Allowing the Spirit of
God to make all the changes necessary ultimately allows God
to add to the body of Christ countless outcast persons.

The Spirit of God shattered the early church to make room
for gentiles; it shattered the white American church to
make room for persons of color; it is shattering the
heterosexual church to make room for homosexual persons;
and it will fracture the church again and again if we
become closed to other groups of persons.

The Spirit of God descends to make life new and to make
the house of God a house of prayer for all peoples.  The
religious forms of our faith are replaced when they no
longer contain the new wine of Christ.  God is a creating
God; which often means we must be made over and made new
for God to fill us.  If we are thirsty for the new wine
of Christ, then we must allow God to make us fit
containers.

God, let me be unafraid of your changing me; let me trust
that the changes you make will always be for my well-being.
I want to trust that the newness I welcome is really you,
God.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Feb. 17, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from The Road to Emmaus, a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the late Rev.
Larry Uhrig.  We apologize for the delay in this week's
meditation.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Read  John 3:22-36

'Christ must increase, but I must decrease.'

In John the Baptist's witness to Christ, John speaks of
Christ's authority, and to illustrate his point, he begins
to step aside so his followers will look upon Jesus and not
upon himself.  John's task is done, for he has revealed
Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world.

Spiritual maturity for all who seek to follow Christ
ultimately leads to the place John speaks of: 'Christ must
increase, but I must decrease.'  In the exercise of one's
spiritual gifts and ministry, success occurs.  Our churches
can thrive financially.  Our public visibility can increase
dramatically.  Our ministry can grow powerful and
persuasive.  At such times we are naturally tempted to
believe that God couldn't accomplish God's will without our
achievements.  In fact, however, the moment our mission
begins to promote ourselves instead of God, however subtly,
we have fallen into a snare which mutes the true voice of
the Gospel.  A way to avoid this trap is to keep John's
words close to our heart:  'Christ must increase, but I
must decrease.'

What a wonder it would be if, when the world looked at
each of us, they beheld Christ.  Our task, like John's,
is to reveal Jesus and then to step aside so others may
see Christ clearly.

Not my will but thine be done.  Jesus, fill me and make
my face your own reflection.  Hide me behind your cross,
Jesus, so that when others look at me, they will see you.
Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@...

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of Feb. 24, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the late Rev.
Larry Uhrig.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Please read Mark 5:1-20

'And they came to Jesus, and saw the demoniac sitting
there, clothed and in his right mind, . . . and they
were afraid.'

How strange that fear should be the reaction to the
healing Christ brings.  When I look at the world, I
begin to see the reason for this fear.  Many people
have become used to living among the tombs, outside
of society, taunted for being different, not fitting
in.  They have begun to understand and define themselves
by their difference.  They accept not fitting in, they
learn to play the role of victims.

The rest of the world has also grown comfortable with
the victim's place in it.  As long as people who play
the victim's role remain on the outer fringes as objects
of derision, they serve a certain purpose in the balance
of things.  These people are not taken seriously, not
dealt with.

Into these fragmented lives Christ comes to restore the
broken spirit.  When the people saw the crazy man made
whole, they were afraid.  Now they had to change their
way of behaving toward him.  Now he would no longer
inhabit the tombs.  He could even come into the town,
where they lived and did their business.  Jesus Christ
changes people and restores their relationships to
wholeness.

We may be so accustomed to the way we have lived with
each other that we fear the changes Christ brings.
Christ nonetheless offers us the opportunity to depart
from our limited lives and to live more fully.  The
love Christ brings with this newness will also dispel
the fear we may experience at first.  You or I may be
one of the outcasts now included, or we may be one of
those asked to embrace the stranger.  In either case,
Christ comes to dispel our fears and to include us all
in the family of God.

Yes, Jesus, you can change me.  The change you bring it
better than anything I've been used to.  Come to me,
touch me, make me whole.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. III, No. 4
25 February 2002

*************************

Contents:

1.    More Changes on the Web Site!
2.    Presbyterians Defeat Amendment A
3.    Featured Book:  'Come Home!'
4.    We are Seeking Guardian Angels
5.    FYI: Changing Technology
6.    Adam's Last Word:

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas,
and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.    More Changes on the Web Site!

The Chi Rho Press Web site continues to change and improve,
thanks to the hard work of our new Web minister.  Check out
the changes at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.

All of our current books and other products are on the web
site now, with pictures of the book cover or item.  New
additions include the book 'Positively Gay: New Approaches
to Gay and Lesbian Life,' edited by Betty Berzon, and the
video, 'Family Stories: Journeys of Spirit in Mixed
Orientation Families,' produced by John Davis and featuring
our own Roberta Kreider.  Now you can order these two
important items on our Web site, and pay using your credit
card.  'Positively Gay' is in our Gay and Christian
section, http://www.chirhopress.com/products/gayandchristian.html.
The 'Family Stories' video is in the Videos section,
http://www.chirhopress.com/products/videos.html.

We have also added biographies of our Board of Directors
and staff.  Click on the About Us link above the Send E-Mail
icon or click on this link, http://www.chirhopress.com/contact.html.

The last edition of this Chi Rho Connection is now up on
the e-news page http://www.chirhopress.com/newsletters.html)
along with past issues in an easier-to-read archive format.
We expect to be putting the Connection up soon after it is
published in the future.

There is a much more user-friendly sponsors and contributors
page, http://www.chirhopress.com/sponsor.html, where you can
make contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press and
become a Guardian Angel on line, using your credit card.

We have added some new links to our links page
(http://www.chirhopress.com/links.html) and will be adding
more links and continuing to organize them as time goes on.

Of course, the new Alphabetical List of Products is up
(http://www.chirhopress.com/products/products_alpha.html)
as well as our Products by Category
(http://www.chirhopress.com/products/products_category.html).

We will be adding some authors' biographies and book reviews
soon.  Keep watching! Please check out the new look and
easier navigation of our Web page.  And buy a book or two
while you are at it!

--------------------------------------------------

2.    Presbyterians Defeat Amendment A

We are sad to report that the Presbytery of South Louisiana
cast the 87th and deciding vote against Amendment 01-A on
Feb. 19, 2002.

This means that, for at least one more year, that officers
of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will continue to be
required to practice 'fidelity within the covenant of
marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in
singleness.'  Presbyterian officers include deacons and
elders, elected and ordained lay leadership positions,
and clergy.

Amendment 01-A, which would have deleted section G-6.0106b
from the church's Book of Order, which states: 'Those who
are called to office in the church are to lead a life in
obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic
confessional standards of the church.  Among these
standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity
within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman
or chastity in singleness.  Persons refusing to repent of
any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call
sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons,
elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.'

As the Chi Rho Press book 'Called OUT!' eloquently attests,
there are many LGBT Presbyterians whom God has called to
ministry in their church.  We believe that Presbyterians
need to read 'Called OUT!  The Voices and Gifts of Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Presbyterians' now more
than ever.

The anthology 'Called OUT!' was compiled by the Rev. Jane
Adams Spahr, Kathryn Poethig, Selisse Berry, and Melinda
McLain.  In it 39 LGBT Presbyterians tell their stories
about their lives in, and out of the Presbyterian Church.
People from both the old northern and southern churches,
and the reunited Presbyterian Church (USA), from all over
the United States, tell their stories here with candor,
wit, and faith. An important book for all who either are
Lesbian or Gay or would seek to understand Gay people of
faith, regardless of their religion.

Now in its second printing, 'Called OUT!' has been called
an incredibly valuable book.  Former Stated Clerk William
P. Thompson said 'Presbyterians should read 'Called OUT'
within the year.

'Called OUT!' is available from Chi Rho Press for $17.95
each, six or more copies for $15.25 each.  You may order
on our web site at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

3.    Featured Book: 'Come Home!'

'Come Home! Reclaiming Spirituality and Community as
Gay Men and Lesbians,' second edition, by Chris Glaser.
First published in 1990 by HarperCollins, the second
edition was published in 1998 by Chi Rho Press with the
addition of five new chapters to the original 20.

'Come Home!' is perhaps Chris Glaser's best book.  It is
divided into five sections, each with five chapters.
The five sections are entitled, Welcoming God's
Acceptance, Receiving Our Inheritance, Discerning Our
Call, Making Our Witness, and Declaring Our Vision.

Bishop John Shelby Spong called 'Come Home!' 'powerful,
sensitive, and provocative. . . . Glaser stands inside
his own humanity as a gay male and hears the word of God
through the Bible.  Christians, gay and straight, need
this book if we are to be the body of Christ.'

This is a brilliant and important book by perhaps the
best-known Gay Christian writer in the U.S. today.

The Rev. Carter Heyward called 'Come Home!' 'an
enthusiastic compelling testimony to the power of faith
in the lives of many gay and lesbian Christians.'

Virginia Ramey Mollenkott said, 'If courage, honesty,
and insight are beautiful, then this is one beautiful
book. . . . I rejoice that in this book all the gay
men and lesbian women who have been robbed of their
spirituality are issued an urgent invitation: Come home!'

'Come Home!' by Chris Glaser offers a vision of faith,
hope, and affirmation inviting gay men and lesbians to
come home to their spirituality through Christian faith
and community.  Order your copy today!

'Come Home!' is available for $19.95 each, $14.95 each
for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling.

--------------------------------------------------

4.    We are Seeking Guardian Angels

All contributions to Chi Rho Press are fully tax
deductible.  If you are able to make a financial gift to
this ministry, we would welcome your support.  Gifts and
contributions of any size are welcome and appreciated!

Our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsors program starts
with a minimum gift of $150 a year and our Guardian
Angels receive discounts on Press publications, free
gifts during the year, and special other perks.

You may contribute on line, paying with your credit
card at http://www.chirhopress.com/sponsor.html or send
your check or money order to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Thanks for your support!

--------------------------------------------------

5.    FYI: Changing Technology

Things certainly have changed since we began Chi Rho Press
in 1990.  We used to send typewritten manuscripts to be set
in type, then lay out books on what were called 'boards' for
the printer, using my handy waxer.  The waxer rolls a thin
layer of melted wax on the back of the print galleys, which
can then be positioned on the boards.  Using wax as an
adhesive enables the layout artist to take up and
reposition material on the boards, and still provides a
good bond.

Now, of course, the vast majority of our lay out work is
done on the computer and printed out directly.  No
typesetting, no wax, no fuss nor muss.  Back in 1990 we
didn't even have a computer!  Things have changed
dramatically.

And the World Wide Web changed things even more.  In the
past sending a newsletter out to more than 850 people
would take a long time.  Not just writing it, but laying
it out, printing, folding, preparing envelopes, stuffing
the newsletter, sealing the envelopes, and preparing them
for the arduous bulk mail requirements of the U.S. Post
Office, all can take days!  Now most of the time we spend
on the Chi Rho Connection is in the writing.  Distribution
is instantaneous through our opt-in subscription at
YahooGroups.com.

But that is not without its difficulties and mistakes.
For most of the existence of our weekly meditation
supplements, the Chi Rho Reflection, we had the
unsubscription address incorrect.  Our loyal readers
know that the Chi Rho Reflection is a selection from
that week's meditations found in 'The Road to Emmaus,'
which we send out at the beginning of each week.  Well,
we made a mistake when we first entered the information
about how to subscribe and unsubscribe, leaving off the
final s in Yahoogroups.com in the unsubscribe address.
A frustrated reader who needed to unsubscribe wrote asking
for help and we discovered the error.  Our apologies to
all!

Of course, we hope you do not unsubscribe but rather stay
with us.  We are going through some major changes on the
Web page.  'Positively Gay' and the 'Family Stories' video
are now on the Web site, along with a new, easier to work
with sponsors/contributors page, and a new look to the
Newsletter page and our archives.  New changes are being
added weekly.  Board and staff bios went up this weekend.
Soon we will have author's bios, blurbs, and reviews for
many books.  Other exciting changes are in the works.
Please visit us at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com, see our
changes and buy some books, handouts, stained glass, or
other goodies!

As we continue to explore the brave new world of computer
technology, we hope to find ways to serve you better.
Maybe publishing e-books?  A place for you to write your
own reviews of our books?  It is an exciting process and
thrilling to be a part of it!

Just For Your Information!

--------------------------------------------------

6.     Adam's Last Word:

There's a lot going on, as you can tell from this issue of
the Connection.  We are keeping busy and appreciate your
support!  Keep checking out the Web site for new additions
and changes.

Thanks for being a part of this ministry and thanks for
your support!

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor, Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of March 3, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the Rev.
Carolyn 'Dusty' Pruitt.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Please read Mark 8:11-21

Beware of the Leaven

In today's Scripture, Jesus' disciples are guilty of a
very human failing: they mistake a metaphor having a
spiritual meaning for one having a physical meaning.
When Jesus tells them to beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of Herod, the disciples turn to one another
in puzzlement, telling each other that they have forgotten
to bring bread, and wondering what Jesus could be talking
about.

Recall that just before this Jesus had been talking to the
Pharisees, who had asked for a sign.  Here, he is trying
to tell his disciples that, when it comes to pass that
they recognize him as the Messiah, they should not think
of him in terms of earthly power, but in terms of a higher
realm.  The disciples, however, miss the point.  They are
able only to think in terms of empty stomachs, even though
Jesus reminds them of the times that he has fed thousands.

In the modern world, too, little effort is made to see the
layers upon layers of spiritual meaning that underlie the
mundane surface of things.  Jesus' warning still applies:
beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, the
moving force that shapes one's visions so as to give
primacy to temporal power.  For that was the way the
Pharisees and Herod saw Jesus' mission.

Often, we too believe that the way to fulfillment is to
strive for temporal power.  We should remember that, even
as Jesus' power derived from rejecting Satan's temptation
and choosing the power of the Spirit, so too must we give
temporal power a secondary priority if we seek to gain the
power that the Spirit can give.

Jesus, help me to see that be surrendering myself to you,
I do not lose, but gain power.  Teach me the difference
between spiritual power and temporal power, and let me
seek the spiritual power that comes from you.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. III, No. 5
8 March 2002

*************************

Contents:

1.    New Poll: Personal PCs
2.    Office Life
3.    Featured Book: The Bible and Homosexuality
4.    FYI:  Heterosexuals and Chi Rho Press
5.    Adam's Last Word:

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, videos,
tchochkas, and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.    New Poll: Personal PCs

Chi Rho Press Poll

We are considering creating and selling e-books and
would like to hear from as many of you as possible.
We want to know about your use of Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAs), or handheld personal computers,
Palm Pilots, or pocket PCs.  Please take a moment to
answer the following questions.  Just copy and paste
them into a new e-mail with your responses and send
them to Poll@....  Thank you!

1.  Do you now own a PDA, also sometimes called a
Pocket PC, such as a Palm Pilot, Sony CLIE, or Compaq
iPAQ?

2.  There are two main types of PDAs, those that use
the Palm operating system and those that use
Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system.  Which
operating system does your PDA use?

3.  Do you buy books to read on your PDA?

4.  If you don't own a PDA now, do you plan to
purchase one in the near future?

5.  Would you welcome e-books as part of the Chi Rho
Press inventory?

6.  Which books currently in our inventory should also
be e-books?

7.  Would you buy e-books from Chi Rho Press?

--------------------------------------------------

2.    Office Life

(reprinted from Great Results, the newsletter of the
Avery Dennison Corp.)

Fun Facts & Stats About Office Life!

In 1850, 4 percent of Americans made a living from
handling information.

Today, information processing accounts for more than
half of the U.S. gross national product.

At the office, on average, 60 percent of each worker's
time is spent processing documents.

When asked to describe their organizational habits, 33
percent of office workers said they were 'neat freaks,'
27 percent said they were 'pilers,' 23 percent said
they were 'filers,' 12 percent said they were 'pack
rats,' and 2 percent said they were just plain 'slobs.'

In a lifetime, the average North American will spend
one year searching through desk clutter looking for
misplaced objects.

In a lifetime, the average American will spend eight
months opening junk mail.

Eighty percent of filed papers are never referenced
again.

An average of $250 is spent re-creating a lost document.

The average North American will be interrupted 73 times
a day.

(From the National Association of Professional
Organizers.)

--------------------------------------------------

3.    Featured Book: The Bible and Homosexuality

'The Bible and Homosexuality,' by the Rev. Michael E.
England.  $10.95 each, $8.95 each for six or more
copies, plus shipping and handling.

Our featured book for March takes us back to the basics.
For too many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered
people of faith, the Bible has been used as a club to
batter and beat them down.

Only six lonely little verses that have been used against
LGBT people.  Despite the paucity of unequivocal
condemnation in the Hebrew and Christian Testaments,
religious folk use those six verses to justify a world
of hurt for LGBT people, their families, and supporters.
These 'clobber passages' are over-used and abused!

So for much of the LGBT community, 'going back to the
basics' of their oppression is going back to the Bible.
The Rev. Michael England has written what we think is the
best primer on 'The Bible and Homosexuality.'  We are
proud to have published this slim, but important volume,
which has been our best seller for 10 years.  In 1998 we
published the fifth edition of Michael's important work.

This is the best book that explores the Bible passages
that have traditionally been used to condemn LGBT people.

Sections include Inspiration; Critical Interpretation
(Textual Criticism, Historical Criticism, Source Criticism,
and Form Criticism); the Passages Believed to Relate to
Homosexuality (Deuteronomy 23:17-18, Genesis 19:4-11,
Leviticus 18:23 and 20:13-14, I Corinthians 6:9, I Timothy
1:10, and Romans 1:26-27); the "Contra Naturam" (against
nature) argument; Heterosexual Marriage as "the Only
Biblical Model;" Adultery and Fornication; and a
Bibliography.

"The Bible and Homosexuality" is 72 pages, perfect bound,
with a striking cover photograph of the Washington National
Cathedral by renowned DC photographer Colin Winterbottom.

Every thinking Christian and all people who wish to engage
other Christians in reasoned debate should have this volume
on their shelves.

'The Bible and Homosexuality' is $10.95 each, $8.95 each
for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling.  You
may order from our Web page at
http://www.chirhopress.com/products/gayandchristian.html.

--------------------------------------------------

4.    FYI: Heterosexuals and Chi Rho Press

FYI is a periodic column in which we explore various
elements of what it means to be a small LGBT Christian
publishing house.  This FYI is about the role of
heterosexuals in the life of your Press.

Non-gay people (or 'the homosexually-challenged,' as the
inimitable Michael Callan used to say) have played a
significant role in the life of Chi Rho Press.

Of course, we have always had non-gay customers and
investors and we value those people who care about their
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered sisters and
brothers.  Many straight people have bought our books and
used them in their churches, Bible studies, and personal
libraries.  We have even had non-gay people buy books as
gifts for their LGBT friends and relatives!  And of
course, lots of gay people have purchased our books as
gifts for their non-gay relatives and friends.

But Chi Rho Press hasn't hesitated when it comes to
publishing the work of our heterosexual friends.  Our
first non-gay author was Gretchen Gaines.  Adam DeBaugh
first met Gretchen at the Montgomery Hospice Society
(Montgomery County, Maryland), where she was a pediatric
bereavement specialist and social worker.  She walked
into his office one day with an idea for a book.
Gretchen believed existing grief and bereavement
resources for children talked down to kids and that she
had a better idea.

Adam and the Press board of directors loved the idea and
soon we were working on 'My Memory Book: A Journal for
Grieving Children.'  Our production team was an interesting
mix, as we enlisted Mary Lou O'Brien, a very talented
non-gay calligrapher to letter the entire book.  Adam (a
gay man, lest there be any doubt!) edited and laid out
the book, and another gay man, Craig Arnold, painted the
cover artwork.  Gretchen, Adam, Mary Lou, and Craig met
frequently to go over the layout and design of the book,
now in the second printing of the second edition.  It has
been one of our best selling titles.

Then the indomitable Roberta Showalter Kreider called one
day, a diminutive, 70-something Mennonite lady married to
Harold Kreider, a truly remarkable retired Mennonite
minister.  Roberta and Harold had changed their minds
about gay people after getting to know some gay folk and
hearing their faith stories.  Roberta was convinced that
a book of LGBT people's faith stories would be an agent
for change in the churches.  And of course, she is
absolutely correct.  Her book, 'From Wounded Hearts:
Faith Stories of LGBT People and Those Who Love Them,'
was a best seller and included non-gay people writing
about the LGBT people of faith whom they love.

Now out of print, 'From Wounded Hearts' was a ground
breaking book.  Roberta is working on her second
anthology of LGBT couples, 'Together in Love.'  Chi
Rho Press hopes to be able to review the manuscript soon.

And non-gay people have been on staff as well, both as
paid staff and as volunteers.  For about a year and a
half, Jason Gergler served as part time office staff.
Jason is a colleague at Adam's secular job and took a
second job with Chi Rho Press.  He set up our database
in Access and did a tremendous amount of data entry, as
well as other office tasks.  He remains a good friend of
the Press, helping out frequently with Access questions.

Recently Kathy Hurt-Mullen started volunteering in the
Press office one day a week.  Kathy is the mother of
two wonderful daughters and has many gay and lesbian
friends, including our permanent staff Adam and Kevin.
She is helping with data entry tasks for a while until
a new job starts.

We can truly (and proudly) say, Chi Rho Press, not just
for gay people!

Just For Your Information!

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word:  Web Page Changes, Discover Cards,
Winter, What Winter?

Our dynamic new Web minister will be making even more
changes in the Web site this weekend.  Some author's
biographies, a few reviews, pictures of Board members,
and some changes to the links and icons on the main page
are planned.  We are so excited about the continually
evolving Web page and encourage you to visit from time to
time to check it out.  We have had quite a few visitors
since the last issue of the Chi Rho Connection.  Thanks
for visiting!

And remember, you can become an important part of the
life of Chi Rho Press by making your tax deductible
contributions on line.  Just go to
http://www.chirhopress.com/sponsor.html.  And thank
you for your support!

******

Did you know we accept Discover cards?  Now is a great
chance to limber up that Discover card that has been
sitting in your wallet and use it at Chi Rho Press!
Just call, fax, e-mail, or go to the Web site and make
your purchases using your Discover card.

Of course, we also accept Visa, MasterCard, and American
Express.

And lest there be any confusion, you can always pay by
check or money order (and even cash, though we don't
recommend sending cash through the mail).  You can use
the Web site to figure out how much your order will be,
then send us your check or money order for that amount,
along with what you are ordering and your mailing address,
and we will ship your order upon receipt of your payment.
If you don't want to bother with figuring out the cost,
just e-mail me with what you would like and I will do it
for you.

******

This has been an odd winter in the Washington, DC area,
with almost no snow and not that many cold days.  The
temperatures are rising to the 70s again this week and
the weather is lovely.  As we move on toward Easter at
the end of this month, I hope that Lent is a time of
reflection and renewal for you.

Thanks for being a part of this ministry and thanks for
your support!

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor, Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of March 10, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the Rev.
Carolyn 'Dusty' Pruitt.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Please read John 6:60-71

Where Can We Run?

When I was a little girl, I got mad at some fancied
injustice and ran away from home.  I packed my little
toy suitcase, walked out the back door, and hid under
the bleachers at the football field across the street
from my house.  The time wore on, and my mother did not
come to get me.  Eventually, as I got hungry and nature
called, I gave up and went home.  Years later I learned
that I was being watched the whole time by my mother,
who knew my every move but had decided not to come and
get me.  Sometimes I think our attempts to run away from
God are like that.

Perhaps you have known people who tried to run away from
God.  Usually, if they've been honest with themselves,
they've found, as the psalmist did, that there really
isn't any running away from God:

'Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!'
(Psalm 139:7-8)

The disciples in today's reading evidently realized that
there wasn't any running away from Jesus, either.  Jesus,
hurt at the desertion of many of the disciples, turned to
the twelve and asked plaintively, 'Do you also wish to go
away?'  Their reply indicates that they had contemplated
running away, but had realized that he alone had 'the
words of eternal life.'

We, too, may have experiences that test our commitment to
the spiritual path we have chosen.  Far from finding the
way all roses, we discover that it also harbors thorns of
persecution and misunderstanding.  But we also discover
that running away would mean deserting our only hope for
security and meaning in this life.

Jesus, help me to stand with you and not run away when
adversity comes.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of March 17, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the Rev.
Carolyn 'Dusty' Pruitt.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends.

Please read John 11:28-44

Our Weeping Lord

Consider this interesting phenomenon: Jesus wept so
profusely at the death of his friend Lazarus that
onlookers remarked, 'See how Jesus loved him!'  Yet
only moments later, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
One would think that his message to Mary, Martha, and
the mourners would be, 'OK folks, don't cry!  God's
going to raise Lazarus in just a few minutes!  Hang
on just a moment and you'll see!'  Yet this was not
Jesus' message at all.  Instead he wept.  We wonder why.

Perhaps Jesus felt such empathy for Mary and Martha that
he wept for their sorrow.  Perhaps, as the onlookers
assumed, the death of his friend moved him to tears.
Just as likely, however, and just as consistent with the
actions of Jesus recorded in other parts of the Bible,
he was weeping over all the sin, death, and corruption
that he saw in the world.

The central message of today's passage, therefore, is
this: God weeps with us in the midst of our need.  God
weeps for the systemic sins of society, for the greed,
the pollution, the child abuse, the sexual abuse, and all
the other things that weaken our families and corrupt our
planet.  God weeps as well for the personal pain in each
of our lives.

The Bible says that Jesus is our high priest, the one who
has endured everything we endure on earth, yet without
sin.  So Jesus can empathize and weep with us even though
he knows the outcome will renew us and glorify God, just
as it did in the case of Lazarus.

Loving God, let me not allow grief or pain to drive me
from you, but help me to know that you weep with me in
my pain and work within my grief for my good and your
greater glory.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. III, No. 6
21 March 2002

*************************

"Among the varieties of American innocence that were lost
on September 11, perhaps the most intriguing was the mass
discovery of what it feels like to be hated.  'How can
they hate us,' people asked, 'just because we're Americans,
when they don't even know us?'  Well, I thought, welcome
to my world.  People hate homosexuals all the time, across
great distances, from places where they feel threatened by
us even though most of us would never contemplate living
there."
Michael Schwartz, The Gay & Lesbian Review, January-
February issue.

Contents:

1.    Kevin Stone Fries Published
2.    More Changes to our Web Page
3.    Featured Book: The Bible and Homosexuality
4.    Press Poll: Personal PCs
5.    Presbyterian Witch Hunts
6.    Adam's Last Word

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, videos,
tchochkas, and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.    Kevin Stone Fries Published

Chi Rho Press Editor Kevin Stone Fries has been
prominently featured in the first issue of Lodestar
Quarterly.  Lodestar, at http://www.lodestarquarterly.com,
is an excellent new "online journal of the finest gay and
lesbian literature," founded by Editor-in-Chief Patrick
Ryan.

Lodestar's first issue, which came out on the first day
of Spring, March 20, 2002, has as its "featured writer"
Felice Picano, well known gay novelist.  The first two
articles in this issue are an essay by Felice Picano and
an excerpt from Picano's Diaries, collected, edited, and
commented upon by Kevin Stone Fries.

Please check out Lodestar Quarterly and read Felice and
Kevin's excellent work.  We encourage you to subscribe to
Lodestar, which is free, and support this excellent new
queer literary journal.

Congratulations to our own Kevin Fries!

--------------------------------------------------

2.    More Changes to our Web Page

Our wonderful new Web Minister continues to make changes
to the Chi Rho Press Web site (http://www.ChiRhoPress.com).
Biographies of all board members have been posted, along
with their pictures so you know what a good looking group
of people we are!  Author's biographies have started going
up as well.  Book reviews and blurbs are being posted and
other changes are happening weekly.

Please come visit and let us know what you think!  Let us
know of any links that don?t work or changes you would
like to suggest as well.

Would you like to write a review of a Chi Rho Press
publication?  Just submit your review to Adam@...
and we will consider posting it on the Web page!

And while you are visiting www.ChiRhoPress.com please buy
a book!

--------------------------------------------------

3.    Featured Book: The Bible and Homosexuality

'The Bible and Homosexuality,' by the Rev. Michael E.
England.  $10.95 each, $8.95 each for six or more
copies, plus shipping and handling.

Our featured book for March takes us back to the basics.
For too many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered
people of faith, the Bible has been used as a club to
batter and beat them down.

Only six lonely little verses that have been used against
LGBT people.  Despite the paucity of unequivocal
condemnation in the Hebrew and Christian Testaments,
religious folk use those six verses to justify a world
of hurt for LGBT people, their families, and supporters.
These 'clobber passages' are over-used and abused!

So for much of the LGBT community, 'going back to the
basics' of their oppression is going back to the Bible.
The Rev. Michael England has written what we think is the
best primer on 'The Bible and Homosexuality.'  We are
proud to have published this slim, but important volume,
which has been our best seller for 10 years.  In 1998 we
published the fifth edition of Michael's important work.

This is the best book that explores the Bible passages
that have traditionally been used to condemn LGBT people.

Sections include Inspiration; Critical Interpretation
(Textual Criticism, Historical Criticism, Source Criticism,
and Form Criticism); the Passages Believed to Relate to
Homosexuality (Deuteronomy 23:17-18, Genesis 19:4-11,
Leviticus 18:23 and 20:13-14, I Corinthians 6:9, I Timothy
1:10, and Romans 1:26-27); the "Contra Naturam" (against
nature) argument; Heterosexual Marriage as "the Only
Biblical Model;" Adultery and Fornication; and a
Bibliography.

"The Bible and Homosexuality" is 72 pages, perfect bound,
with a striking cover photograph of the Washington National
Cathedral by renowned DC photographer Colin Winterbottom.

Every thinking Christian and all people who wish to engage
other Christians in reasoned debate should have this volume
on their shelves.

'The Bible and Homosexuality' is $10.95 each, $8.95 each
for six or more copies, plus shipping and handling.  You
may order from our Web page at
http://www.chirhopress.com/products/gayandchristian.html.

--------------------------------------------------

4.    Press Poll: Personal PCs

Chi Rho Press Poll

We are considering creating and selling e-books and
would like to hear from as many of you as possible.
We want to know about your use of Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAs), or handheld personal computers,
Palm Pilots, or pocket PCs.  Please take a moment to
answer the following questions.  Just copy and paste
them into a new e-mail with your responses and send
them to Poll@....  Thank you!

1.  Do you now own a PDA, also sometimes called a
Pocket PC, such as a Palm Pilot, Sony CLIE, or Compaq
iPAQ?

2.  There are two main types of PDAs, those that use
the Palm operating system and those that use
Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system.  Which
operating system does your PDA use?

3.  Do you buy books to read on your PDA?

4.  If you don't own a PDA now, do you plan to
purchase one in the near future?

5.  Would you welcome e-books as part of the Chi Rho
Press inventory?

6.  Which books currently in our inventory should also
be e-books?

7.  Would you buy e-books from Chi Rho Press?

--------------------------------------------------

5.    Presbyterian Witch Hunts

Attacks on More Light Congregations are accelerating.
More Light churches in the Presbyterian Church (USA) are
those congregations which have taken a public stand on
the inclusion of LGBT people in the full life of the
church.

Now, an individual has filed suit against the pastors of
a prominent More Light Church, Mount Auburn Presbyterian
Church in Cincinnati, OH for allegedly defying the
constitution of the PC (USA).

The Rev. Harold G. Porter is Mount Auburn's pastor
emeritus and the Rev. Stephen Van Kuiken has been Mount
Auburn's pastor for two-and-a-half years.  They have been
charged with "willful and deliberate" violations of their
ordination vows, including ordination and installing
"unrepentant" gay deacons and elders and performing same
sex union ceremonies.

Paul R. Jensen, a Reston, VA resident who is a member of
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA
filed the charges.  Last year, Jensen filed charges against
an openly gay minister in the Presbytery of Baltimore.
Mount Auburn's session (or governing body) has said the
church will ordain and marry gays and lesbians in open
defiance of the denomination's Book of Order.

Mount Auburn's session passed resolutions in February
saying the session cannot comply with G-0106.b (which
says that gay and lesbian candidates for church office
must be sexually chaste, as is also required of unmarried
heterosexuals) because it is "not Christ-like, not
Scriptural, not Reformed, and not Presbyterian."  The
session also vowed that Mount Auburn "has ordained and
will continue to ordain" self-acknowledged gays and
lesbians and will "promote their participation in all
aspects of church life."

Mount Auburn also affirms its intention to conduct
Christian services of marriage for both heterosexual and
homosexual couples, in violation of Section W-4.9001 of
the Book of Order, which defines marriage as "between a
man and a woman."

Jensen argues that the resolutions of the session are
"unequivocal and straightforward renunciations of our
church polity" and that the church should be divided,
dismissed, or dissolved.  "Theirs is a church in schism,"
Jensen claims.

Clearly this is an action that is going to continue, not
only in the Presbyterian Church (USA) but in other
denominations who are struggling with welcoming and
affirming congregations who embrace LGBT people despite
official denominational rules.

Now more than ever, Presbyterians need the book 'Called
OUT:  The Voices and Gifts of LGBT Presbyterians.'
'Called OUT!' was compiled by the Rev. Jane Adams Spahr,
Kathryn Poethig, Selisse Berry, and Melinda McLain.  In
it 39 LGBT Presbyterians tell their stories about their
lives in, and out of the Presbyterian Church.  People
from both the old northern and southern churches, and
the reunited Presbyterian Church (USA), from all over
the United States, tell their stories here with candor,
wit, and faith. An important book for all who either are
Lesbian or Gay or would seek to understand Gay people of
faith, regardless of their religion.  Now in its second
printing, 'Called OUT!' is an incredibly valuable book.

'Called OUT!' is available from Chi Rho Press for $17.95
each, six or more copies for $15.25 each.  You may order
on our web site at http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

6.     Adam's Last Word:

There is much that appalls me as we approach this Easter
season.  Terrorism and violent reaction rends the Holy
Land.  War continues in Afghanistan and will most like
spread elsewhere.  Violence seems to be the chosen avenue
for too many people to redress their grievances.

In the United States we are treated to the unhappy reality
that homophobia breeds its own kind of violence.  Gay
bashings continue throughout our land.  Gay and lesbian
people are raped, beaten, and murdered, not to mention
deprived of jobs, homes, family, and safety.

The places where we might be expected to look for peace
and safety, our churches, are no longer safe.  We are
treated to the disgusting spectacle of a Presbyterian
lawyer bringing charges against two pastors for opening
their ministry to LGBT people (see article 5 in this
issue).  And this lawyer isn't even a member of the
accused pastors' church or Presbytery.  Haven't
Christians anything better to do than to attack each
other?

And what have the Reverends Porter and Van Kuiken done
that is all so horrible?  They have enabled ministry for
LGBT people in their church and they have proclaimed the
blessings of God and the gathered community of faith on
loving, committed gay relationships.  Pretty serious
stuff!

Yes, no doubt they are in violation of the denomination's
official policies.  But the Presbyterian Church and in
fact the entire Reformed movement, places great emphasis
on individual conscience.  The resolution of Mt. Auburn
church's session, declaring the anti-gay, homophobic
denominational laws to be "not Reformed, and not
Presbyterian" is right to the point.

What is most dismaying to me is that anyone would be so
churlish, mean-spirited, and vile as to waste his time and
money bringing such lawsuits in any church's judicial body.
And yet, I shouldn't be surprised.  For some reason, out
and proud GLBT people are able to inspire amazing depths
of hatred and bigotry, especially in the churches.

Now More Than Ever, I believe it is important to us to
equip ourselves with good resources to combat homophobia
and hatred in the church.  We certainly recommend 'Called
OUT' to our Presbyterian sisters and brothers.  This is a
book not only for Presbyterians, of course, but for all
people who love God and seek to do God's will of justice
and peace.  Read this book and hear the authentic voice
of Presbyterian Christianity.

Now More Than Ever, we also recommend an excellent book
by Presbyterian layperson, the eloquent and brilliant
Chris Glaser.  'Come Home!' is one of Chris' best books
and we are proud to have published it.

Now More Than Ever, people need to read 'The Bible and
Homosexuality' by the Rev. Michael England and 'Steps
to Recovery from Bible Abuse' by Dr. Rembert Truluck, two
more must-have books for any believer's library.

Now More Than Ever, 'Positively Gay,' edited by Dr. Betty
Berzon, provides helpful articles about many aspects of
gay life.

And Now More Than Ever, we round out our sextet of
recommended books with 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily devotions written by and for the LGBT community.
All six of these books are available on our Web site, of
course.

Make an Easter-tide gift to your church or seminary
library or local library.  Buy books!

Only the truth can combat hatred and evil.  Help make
the truth of God's all-inclusive love available to as
many people as possible.

Thanks for being a part of this ministry and thanks for
your support!

--------------------------------------------------

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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UNSUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor, Kevin@....

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of March 24, 2002

**********

Holy Week

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the Rev.
Carolyn 'Dusty' Pruitt.

Feel free to forward this to your friends.

Please read John 13:36-38

An Inward Look

In today's Scripture, Peter stalwartly avows his loyalty
to Jesus, declaring that he will die for him if need be.
Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before
the cock crows.  And indeed, that's just the way it
happened.  Peter did deny Jesus, and when the cock crowed,
he realized what he had done and went out and wept bitterly.

There is no doubt that Peter's intentions were good.  He
probably believed that he would die for Jesus.  But Jesus
had spent three years with Peter.  He had seen something
that Peter did not see in himself, a weakness that, at the
moment of crisis, would cause Peter to deny Jesus rather
than die.

Like Peter, we can often be deluded about our inner faults
and weaknesses.  Perhaps for Peter, fear was the motivation
which caused him to deny Jesus in the crisis.  Or perhaps
it was the need to be a part of the crowd.  Maybe it was a
sense of helplessness over his inability to prevent Jesus
from being arrested, or anger over being rebuked by Jesus
for cutting off the soldier's ear with a sword.  Whatever
the weakness, Jesus seemed to have known in advance that
it was there.  But he loved Peter anyway.

Fortunately, that is not the end of the story.  Peter had
plenty of time for introspection during the days that
followed the crucifixion.  And Jesus' love, during the days
that followed the wonder of the Resurrection, transformed
Peter.  Jesus had said to Peter, 'Satan demanded to have
you, in order to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed
for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have
turned again, strengthen your brothers and sisters' (Luke
22:31-32).  When the strengthening of Peter was completed,
he became the leader of the early church, and he was able
to die for Jesus.

Jesus, help me to take an inward look to be sure my faults
do not sabotage my intentions.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of March 31, 2002

**********

The Staff and Board of Directors of Chi Rho Press wish
you a very blessed Easter.  May the Resurrected Christ
become real in your life and remain with you always.

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  This meditation was written by the Rev.
Carolyn 'Dusty' Pruitt.

Thank you for forwarding this to your friends.

Please read John 16:1-15

The Work of the Holy Spirit

Jesus promised, 'When the Spirit of truth comes, that
Spirit will guide you into all truth.'  But how does the
Spirit do this?

First, each of us has an innate sense of right and wrong
that is not culturally conditioned.  Our sense of justice
and the universal human thirst for freedom are examples
of this sense.  Surely our awareness of such ultimate
meanings and truths is the work of the Holy Spirit.

It is also the work of the Holy Spirit to 'convince the
world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.'
The 'world' of John's Gospel is the whole world system
that operates without reference to the precepts of God,
in today's terms, multinational corporations that pollute
the earth out of greed, or government bureaucrats who
steal food from famine victims in order to sell it for
their own gain.  The Holy Spirit works within the hearts
of these perpetrators to convince them of their sin.

If the Holy Spirit does not reach their hearts, the
Spirit will often work through people of conscience in
the community to convince them and us about the
'right-use-ness,' or stewardship, of the earth's
resources.

Finally, the Spirit works to convince the world of its
judgment whenever nature rebels against damage to natural
resources, damage brought about, for example, by
industrial activities that produce acid rain; by
agricultural and economic practices that reduce human
food supplies; and by hunting and land use practices that
lead to the virtual extinction of plants and animals.

As Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit speaks convincingly to
us today in our hearts, in our communities, and in nature
itself, so as to guide us into all truth.  Will you open
your heart to hear that Spirit?

Holy Spirit, open my heart to your work today, and give
me courage to act on what I hear you saying.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

R. Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Stone Fries
Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of April 7, 2002

**********

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here
is a meditation from 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily meditations written by and for the LGBT community
of faith.  As always, this meditation starts with a Gospel
reading, and April's meditations include a poem and a
prayer written by Kate Eysaman.

Thank you for forwarding this to your friends.

Please read Luke 4:31-37

Spirit of the Law

Eight years I've watched it.  Starts about November.
Huddled kids at the back of the courtroom watch
Their mamas plead guilty for taking dolls from K-Mart.
In Harrison's court they get the same sentence.
'Yes, sir, I knew what I was doin'.
But I couldn't let them see another
Christmas without no toys.'
'Three months in the workhouse.'
Their frightened eyes move wide,
Children whimper at the back.
'Suspended.'
Relief.
He pays the clerk to see they get the toys they took.
Some, too, find an envelope, a turkey maybe,
Or a pair of shoes.
In eight years
I've never seen Harrison so much as smile.

Dear Creator,

I get so rule-bound that I sometimes lose my perspective
on the reason we make rules to begin with.  I walk a
mental line between being principle-bound and being
flexible, all too often letting others' opinions determine
my stance.  Please show me a middle ground that allows me
to respect the rules in this life without sacrificing the
higher principles on which they are founded.  Give me a
clear vision and sure footing that will take me with each
step more surely in your direction.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

Chi Rho Press

Subscribe to the Chi Rho Connection, our free electronic
newsletter, mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Visit the Chi Rho Press Web site.  You can order using our
convenient shopping cart and pay on line using your credit
card!  http://www.ChiRhoPress.com

Purchase 'The Road to Emmaus' from Chi Rho Press for $9.95
plus $2.50 shipping and handling.  See
http://www.ChiRhoPress.com or send your check or money
order for $12.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864,
Gaithersburg, MD 20898.

*************************
CHI RHO CONNECTION

The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter
Vol. III, No. 7
9 April 2002

*************************
'Success has nothing to do with what you gain
in life or accomplish for yourself.  It's what you
do for others.'
Danny Thomas

Contents:

1.    Seeking Guardian Angels
2.    More Changes to our Web Page
3.    Featured Book: 'Families Re-Membered'
4.    Now More Than Ever: Make a Gift of Information for
your Church or Local Library
5.    Adam's Last Word

--------------------------------------------------

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
mailto:ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To unsubscribe send an e-mail to
mailto:ChiRhoPress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com
to see our entire lines of books, handouts, videos,
tchochkas, and stained glass.

Direct all other e-mail to Adam@....  See
the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of
e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com.

--------------------------------------------------

1.    Seeking Guardian Angels

Would you like to make a difference?  Books are important
resources in the struggle for acceptance and liberation
for the LGBT community.  For 12 years, Chi Rho Press has
been in the forefront of the LGBT Christian community,
publishing books no one else would publish, giving voice
to some of the best LGBT Christian writers around.

You can be a part of this ministry.  We need your financial
assistance.  Please prayerfully consider becoming a Guardian
Angel of Chi Rho Press by donating a minimum of $150 a year
to this ministry.  Your donation is completely tax deductible.

And you can become a Guardian Angel on-line!  You
may make contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press
on our Web site, http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  Don't
forget, contributions to the ministry of Chi Rho Press are
fully tax deductible.

To view a complete invitation letter on our Web site, please
go to http://www.chirhopress.com/guard_angel_letter.html.

To put tax deductible contributions on your credit card,
using our secure shopping cart on our Web page, go to
http://www.chirhopress.com/sponsor.html.  Of course, you may
also send us a check directly for $150, made out to Chi Rho
Press, at P.O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898, USA.

Be sure to give us your mailing address as well as e-mail
address so we can send you your welcome gifts.

If you have specific questions about the Guardian Angel
Program, you may e-mail us at Angels@...,
or telephone us at 301/926-1208.

--------------------------------------------------

2.    More Changes to our Web Page

Our wonderful new Web Minister continues to make changes
to the Chi Rho Press Web site (http://www.ChiRhoPress.com).

There is an alphabetical listing of products, including
stained glass, rainbow key chains and bracelets, and
handouts.  We have started adding authors' biographies.
Some reviews have been posted as well.  The books with
reviews and authors' bios have special links that say
'About the Author' and 'Reviews for This Book.'

Please come visit and let us know what you think!  Let us
know of any links that don't work or changes you would
like to suggest as well.

Would you like to write a review of a Chi Rho Press
publication?  Just submit your review to Adam@...
and we will consider posting it on the Web page!

And while you are visiting www.ChiRhoPress.com please buy
a book!

--------------------------------------------------

3.    Featured Book:  Families Re-Membered

'Families Re-Membered: Pastoral Support for Friends and
Families Living with HIV/AIDS,' by the Rev. Louis F.
Kavar, Ph.D.  Dr. Kavar has observed that HIV/AIDS causes
a shift in family dynamics and that families are often
re-structured, enlarged and changed, 're-membered' as a
result of the impact of the health crisis on the family
system.  From a pastoral perspective, ministers and others
working with people living with HIV and their families and
friends need to re-member families to include family
members of choice.  This book explores the dynamics of
family systems and the realities of extended families of
choice.  It goes beyond the dynamics of HIV/AIDS to embrace
all families of choice.  This is a valuable book for all
people doing ministry with the LBGT community and our
families.

$10.95 each, six or more copies for $8.25 each, plus
shipping and handling.  Find 'Families Re-Membered' at
http://www.chirhopress.com/products/hivaids.html.

Dr. Kavar holds the degree of Master of Arts from the
Institute of Formative Spirituality at Duquesne University,
Pittsburgh, in spirituality and Doctorate of Philosophy
from the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh
in counseling.  He is an ordained United Church of Christ
minister.

--------------------------------------------------

4.    Now More Than Ever:  Make a Gift of Information for
your Church or Local Library

Now More Than Ever, I believe it is important to us to
equip ourselves with good resources to combat homophobia
and hatred in the church.  May we suggest buying books for
your church library or for your local public library?

Now More Than Ever, we recommend 'Called OUT' to our
Presbyterian sisters and brothers.  This is a book not only
for Presbyterians, of course, but for all people who love
God and seek to do God's will of justice and peace.  Read
this book and hear the authentic voice of Presbyterian
Christianity.  ($17.95 each.)

Now More Than Ever, we also recommend an excellent book
by Presbyterian layperson, the eloquent and brilliant
Chris Glaser.  'Come Home!' is one of Chris' best books
and we are proud to have published it.  ($19.95 each.)

Now More Than Ever, people need to read 'The Bible and
Homosexuality' by the Rev. Michael England, a basic primer
on the few passages that have been incorrectly interpreted
as referring to homosexuality.  ($10.95 each.)

Now More Than Ever, people need to read Dr. Rembert
Truluck's brilliant 'Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse.'
Dr. Truluck's Steps to healing and wholeness continued to
be our best seller and a must-read book for any believer's
library.  ($24.95 each.)

Now More Than Ever, 'Positively Gay,' edited by Dr. Betty
Berzon, provides helpful articles about many aspects of
gay life.  ($14.95 each.)

And Now More Than Ever, we round out our sextet of
recommended books with 'The Road to Emmaus,' a book of
daily devotions written by and for the LGBT community.
All six of these books are available on our Web site, of
course.  ($9.95 each.)

(All prices are for single copies, orders of six or more
copies on the Web site will automatically include a
generous discount, and shipping and handling will be
added to all orders.)

Make an Easter-tide gift to your church or seminary
library or local library.  Buy books!

Only the truth can combat hatred and evil.  Help make
the truth of God's all-inclusive love available to as
many people as possible.

--------------------------------------------------

5.     Adam's Last Word

Well, this is a season of doctors for me.  I have started
a round of dental work.  I had very minor, but painful
surgery on my left foot big toe this morning.  I have an
MRI scheduled for next week for chronic pain in my lower
back (I have had a compressed disk in my lumbar vertebrae
for 20 years!).  My cardiologist continues to monitor my
heart.  And my annual physical is next week.  I don't
always take as good care of myself as I should.  I hope
you do.  Regular checkups, good diet, exercise, all that.
I know what you should do, I just don't always do it all
for myself!  But my health is generally good and I am
taking more proactive steps these days to ensure good
health and long life!

Working three jobs does tend to take a toll on me!  Our
faithful readers may not be aware, but I have a full-time
secular job at a wonderful company called Westat in
Rockville, Maryland.

Then of course is my work with the Press, most evenings
and weekends.  The Press is truly a labor of love for me
and I am gratified when people support and encourage this
ministry.  I have a wonderful board and Kevin Fries' work
as the Press' editor is excellent.  They are all a real
blessing to me and to this ministry.  And you all are a
great blessing as well.  Your encouraging notes, purchases
of our books and other products, and contributions are what
keep us going, not only as a small business, but as a
ministry of the Gospel.

But, stained glass has become almost a third job for me.
I still make the five stained glass pieces we sell on the
Chi Rho Press Web site
(http://www.chirhopress.com/products/stainedglass.html).
I am almost finished with the second of four windows for
my home church, Holy Redeemer MCC, College Park Maryland.
And I have a large commission waiting for me to complete
the church windows which will be very lucrative!
Stained glass work is relaxing and creative for me and
I enjoy it a great deal, though I don't often have time
to work in the stained glass workshop as much as I would
like (or need to!).

Spring has finally come to the Washington DC area and
flowers and trees are showing the beauty of God's creation
in that special Easter way!

Thanks for being a part of this ministry and thanks for
your support!

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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.

If you've received the 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 this Connection to subscribe.

To order, please visit http://www.ChiRhoPress.com.  You
may pay by credit card on our web page or we will ship
your order after receiving your check or money
order.  Include your e-mail address, mailing address,
and telephone number please.

If you have questions, please write to
Question@....

For comments and suggestions
about this eNewsletter, please write
Connection@....

To learn about our Guardian
Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please write
Angels@....

For all other correspondence,
please write Adam@....

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.

Copyright 2002, Chi Rho Press, Inc.

******************************************

SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@....
Kevin Stone Fries, Editor, Kevin@....