We have Moved!

The community of Spirit of Truth will begin to meet at our new location 

located in the basement of 

St Paul Reformation Lutheran Church at 100 North Oxford Street, St. Paul, MN 55104

beginning this Sunday 9-30-12 at the usual time. 

During this transition time we will work on how to get doors open and coffee ready, so as to create a convenient atmosphere for all. 

Please join us tomorrow or next week to check out the new space.

This is what the outside looks like... I know its very churchy... 

don't get distracted by the facade. 

Fall Updates

Spirit of Truth is alive and well, we have just been a summer time lull. Please put these on your calendarsCo-creation meeting this Sunday the 16th following the 11:10 Prayer Gathering. Sunday the 23rd we will have a slightly different schedule. In the morning we will join folks from St. Matts for perhaps the final baptism in the old church. Afterwards we will join St Matts on a short march to meet the congregation of St Paul Reformation. We will join the two churches in worship followed by a potluck gathering and tabling in the afternoon. Spirit of Truth will table, introducing ourselves to the community at St Paul Reformation. 
After the 23rd it is possible that we will start meeting at their building, as soon after, St Matts will be closing.

 

July Updates

Hey Everyone, there are tons of amazing things going on this month, but I would like to draw your attention to a few upcoming SoT events.  First off, we have our weekly Sunday Gathering at 11:00 Every Sunday.
Second, Next week (Wed July 11th) and each Wednesday in July (18th and 25th) after that, we will be having public Prayer Vigils for Love at Loring Park, food and fun included. 
Lastly we will be having some fun community events coming up, Yoga on Sat July 14th at 10:30 AM, and Art Night Thursday July 19th at 6:30 PM. Both at St Matts.

Beautiful speech on why Catholics can vote NO

So that we are all on the same page, this is a timeline of our Summer Marriage Equality campaign events.

This year at Pride (June 23-24) we are hoping to give out lots of information, bumper stickers, buttons, maybe even t-shirts. We are also hoping to do some face painting.

Then as a follow up in July, we will be doing a series of public Prayer Vigils for Love in MN (July 11th, 18th, 25th). These events may include music and food, but  will primarily serve as a public testament to people's deep hopes and dreams for MN. We will pray for our loved ones, for our state and to for the people who have had their hearts closed by fear and hatred.  We will come together in Loring Park, to celebrate, to lament, and to create a better MN.  

Please Mark your calendars and join us!

Art by Andrew, made at SoT art night

Almost June Updates

Hey its been quiet on the blog front for awhile, but Spirit of Truth is staying active.
We recently had a series of one to one's within the community leading up to our May 27th co-creation meeting in which we solidified a plan for the next few months and called for new members to join the leadership council. The New leadership council will meet this Saturday to discuss roles and responsibilities but this is the game plan for Spirit of Truth as a whole for the next few months.

The PLAN

A) Pride Celebration

This year's Pride celebration will have an up and coming faith and activism community represented in full force handing out bumper stickers, buttons, "How to talk about marriage equality and faith" lit, and maybe even some face-painting. 

Look for us June 23-24 at Loring Park. We'll be in the red and white t shirts with the big banner that says SPIRIT OF TRUTH!

After 40 years of celebrating, it seems weird that we have to be fighting for equal rights still. 

B) Prayer Vigil Actions in July

We will be having 3 public prayer vigil/actions in July on consecutive weeks, where people can pray for our state, for those who are being discriminated against, and for the hearts of those who fear/hate to be opened up to love. 

More details soon, but hopefully we can get some crowds to show that people of faith can use their faith for justice.

C) Community building activities

Finally we  kick started it off tonight with a Spirit of Truth Art Night! but other events will soon follow in the line of creating space for people to enjoy themselves, get to know one another and renew their spirit.  Spirit of Truth was created with the vision that those who are doing the good work in the world could be spiritually re-energized and as part of that you need to feed the spirit with things like art, music, conversation, yoga and more.  Look for updates because we are hoping to have some an event or two every month.

 

Art Night at Spirit of Truth, photo by Curtis

 Lastly Let me remind you that the Spirit of Truth Phone Bank for MUAF is still large and in charge every 1st Sunday of the Month. 

Please Please Please join us and bring a friend for this important work in steering MN back to being a supportive and loving State.

 

Spirit of Truth at Call to Action

Hello beautiful people of the world, 

Since our successful March 18th God Loves Gay Marriage event and the powerful follow up event at the capital on the 21st, Spirit of Truth has been staying relatively quiet. Well maybe not quiet, but less loud. We have been on a drive to develop and strengthen relationships between members of our organization and other organizations working for social justice in Minnesota.

For instance, I am writing you right now from a conference taking place at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul where the annual Call to Action conference is occurring, and this year the event is centered on the marriage amendment. Speakers at today’s conference will discuss the history of marriage, marriage equality in the Catholic Church, how to have a conversation about marriage equality and a session on ways to get involved. 

Other organizations that are here include Dignity Twin Cities, 

Catholics for Marriage Equality, 

Spirit of St Stephens, 

True Colors Book Store, 

Project 515

and members of OutFront and 

Minnesotans United for All Families. 

These courageous organizations are helping push for marriage equality in MN, and educating people on the various issues surrounding the tradition of marriage. 

While we are here we are hoping to relate to the larger community, and get some more videos, maybe some letters to the editor and some distribution of bumper stickers and buttons. 

Other exciting events taking place in Minnesota includes the rebirth (not that they ever stopped) of the Occupy movement through the 99% Spring. Minnesotans for a Fair Economy and the Occupy Movement are doing a variety of actions and key pushes for economic justice in MN, and our members have been heavily involved in the planning and coordination of these efforts. 

We at Spirit of Truth have also been motivated to get back to some of our core practices such as one to ones, educational discussions and meditative centering. Coming soon we are hoping to start including some weekly yoga and meditative sessions, a book club (first book: The Prophetic Imagination) and may have a weekend retreat this summer. 

Please check out some of the wonderful organizations we are working with. They are changing the climate of MN through performance, through education, through voter turnout and through public action.

Love Your Neighbor

Hey Spirit of Truth-ers.  This Tuesday is Tax Day,  it is also an opportunity for you to support your neighbors and seek economic justice in the State of Minnesota. Our allies (and several of our members) have been working extremely hard these last few months organizing a Tax Day Event downtown where US Bank CEO Richard Davis will be speaking. 

If you can make it, this would be a great FUN opportunity to act for Justice in the world. 

The Event will go approximately from 11:00 till 1:00 Outside the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The many of our members will be there, they will not be able to wear SoT gear because of their official role, so if you can make it with a shirt or a button that would be excellent!

For more information check out the official website HERE

and 

You can also check out their facebook event HERE

Spirit of Truth in the News

Hey we made Kare11  with some very positive coverage of our March18th God Loves Gay Marriage Event(check out about 7 minutes and 30 seconds in).

 Also with some wonderfully positive coverage Grace Kelly over at the MN Progressive Project

Hey Did I mention the Star Tribune wrote up our follow up action at the capital?

Spirit of Truth, 
changing the culture through 
messages of love for Justice.  

Join US!

WHY WILL YOU VOTE NO?

Check out some of The Great Videos 

we made at the March 18th event!

Why will you vote NO in November?

A whole day of SoT Events!

  Join us on
      4.1.12:
 

         11:15 AM Potluck

         12:15 PM One to One training lead by Pete
         5:30 PM Spirit of Truth Phonebanking for Marriage Equality (at MUAF HEADQUARTERS)

 

The Catholic connection

For those of you who are Catholic, Catholics for Marriage Equality has a really nice "Talking Tips" section.

First Universalist in Minneapolis

This church has been making some really exciting and inspiring videos for a few months.




Hopefully we can learn from them, and join with them to change the conversation in MN from one of exclusivity to one that accepts and supports all people.

Comfortable vs Right

A few weeks ago at a Spirit of Truth discussion one of our members noted that perhaps this is one of those issues in which a fair amount of people don't have an opinion one way or the other, or perhaps ever believe that gay folks should have the same rights but are afraid to act because they believe they would be in the "outside" crowd.  She gave examples such as a women's rights to work, in which the majority was against it until suddenly the majority was for it... meaning that the moment people thought it was more popular to support women working, they had no problem switching positions.

In this video Pastor Grant accepts that some people may be uncomfortable with homosexuality. He even suggests we can all be supportive of those who feel discomfort with change, but suggests that we must not deny other people rights because we personally are uncomfortable.

Join us Mar 18th for our God Love's Gay Marriage Event!

Hindu Perspective

Interesting op ed in the Star Tribune today on the Hindu perspective of Gay Marriage.  

"In relation to the attainment of life's highest goal, spiritual liberation, the Hindu tradition does not discriminate between heterosexuals and homosexuals. Its sacred scriptures positively mention the accessibility of liberation for gays. What stands in the way of liberation is ignorance of God existing in the heart of all beings, expressing itself in greed, violence and injustice."

Its true that there are a whole bunch of messed up things in India, but at the core of Hinduism is a belief that all people have within them an aspect of God. 

I think it is a really beautiful idea that we see mirrored in the Christian tradition that says humans were made in the image of God, or are children of God. 

Late Update

From our Friends at Spirit of St Stephens

Last Sunday 80 people marched silently in front of the Chancery and Archbishop's residence (226 Summit Av., St. Paul). protesting the drum roll for this fall's Marriage Amendment vote. (See pictures at http://c4me-mn.blogspot.com


Come join us this Sunday and every Sunday of Lent from 11:30-12:30 if you're looking for a way to show your disagreement with the Archbishop's use of power and resources on the Marriage Amendment question. And please forward the invitation to join us to any friends and colleagues who may be interested.


Spirit of St. Stephen's Marriage Amendment Task Force

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

Ed Flahavan & Susan O'Leary
651-292-0326
flav854@gmail.com

What Does Jesus have to say about Gay Marriage