Dear Friends and Family,

Welcome to April and to News & Views!

IN THIS ISSUE:
1--"Blow on the Coal of the Heart"
2--Need a Speaker or Consultant?
3--More Great Responses to No More Goodbyes
4--Upcoming Performances of Facing East


1--"Blow on the Coal of the Heart."  Every springtime (and sometimes in winter when things inside me are frozen) I pull from the shelf a well-worn copy of a play I was in at BYU, and I read the last scene.
  
          "J.B." is Archibald MacLeish's poetic, modern version of the biblical story of Job.  I played Sarah, J.B.'s wife.  After the children have been violated and killed, war is raging, the house has been destroyed, J.B. is covered with boils but clings to some shred of trust, claiming still, "God is just"– I  as his wife scream, "Curse God and die!"  I leave the stage and don't come back until close to the end of the play.
            I had gone back home to take my own life, but–.  Slowly I walk on, holding a sprig of yellow, and speak to my husband in wonder. 
 
          Look, Job.  The first few leaves.  Not leaves though–petals. 
                        I found it in the ashes growing.
           Finding a stub of candle in my pocket, I say—
                       I have no light to light the candle.
            Then J.B. speaks the line that is the line I always open the book for. 
                        You have our love to light it with!  Blow on the coal of the heart,
                        poor Sarah.

             Blow on the coal of the heart?
            I ask the question with a glimmer of hope, then add– 
                       The candles in churches are out.  The lights have gone out in the sky. 
                        Blow on the coal of the heart and we'll see by and by...we'll see
                        where we are.  We'll know.  We'll know.

            And then J.B.'s final speech, given "slowly, with difficulty, the hard words said at last." 
                       We can never know....We are and that is all our answer.  We are
                        and what we are can suffer.  But what suffers loves.  And love will
                        live its suffering again, risk its own defeat again, endure the loss
                        of everything again and yet again and yet again, in doubt, in dread,
                        in ignorance, unanswered, over and over, with the dark before,
                        the dark behind it...and still live...still love.

            J.B. strikes a match and lights the candle.  He touches Sarah's cheek.  "Lights fade out."

I need to remember, and that's why I read that scene every springtime.  Maybe you need to remember too.  For many of us the candles in churches are out and the lights have gone out in the sky.  There is suffering.  But there is love.  And each one of us can "blow on the coal of the heart"–for ourselves and for each other.


            (Due to a problem in cyberspace, if you did not receive a newsletter in March, you may click  HERE to read the poignant story, "'Us' and 'Them' No More".)


2–NEED A SPEAKER OR CONSULTANT?  Could your family utilize my skills as a bridge-builder?  Is your business ready to address issues regarding employees and clients who are gay?  Does your organization, college, conference, retreat, need a keynote speaker or workshop leader?   Email me at clp@nomoregoodbyes.com.  (Complimentary CD available of recent talk:
"'Us' and 'Them' No More.")


3–MORE GREAT RESPONSES TO NO MORE GOOBYES: CIRCLING THE WAGONS AROUND OUR GAY LOVED ONES:

Thank you again for writing No More Goodbyes. I'm in my third reading of it even as I send you this note! It's been a staple for me in the last few months, because each time I go through the stories and the scenarios, I find hope in knowing others share my struggle and that some have moved beyond the struggle and have found peace and serenity they were after for so long. And so I have hope, too. –M.

Thank you for that wonderful book, No More Goodbyes. I gave my friends (a wonderful gay couple)…a copy of your book about three days ago. I spoke with [John] last night and he said that [Joe] has been reading that book practically non-stop since he opened it two days ago. John said he has never seen Joe so emotionally moved in his life. Joe is a big, muscular, very attractive young man…who doesn't show his emotions much, but Joe said he has been shedding a lot of tears since he began reading your book. I know a lot of gay people who have either left the Church or are not that active due to the rejection they have received, who hunger deeply for the spiritual connection they once had. Your book offers an immense amount of healing balm to gay people and our families and friends. –B.

Read more comments, two free chapters or purchase No More Goodbyes, Goodbye, I Love You, Facing East or the DVD of Mother Wove the Morning at www.nomoregoodbyes.com. 


4–UPCOMING PERFORMANCES OF FACING EAST (Mormon couple deals with suicide of gay son).  Email your friends in Salt Lake City, New York and San Francisco!

Utah run:
¨     Studio Theatre at Rose Wagner Hall, 3 Weeks, April 19-May 6
¨     Tickets are available at 801-355-ARTS, on sale now, $20
¨     Thursday-Saturday at 8; Sunday at 2 & 5:30
¨     Go to www.planbtheatrecompany.org for more information.

New York City off-Broadway dates are May 25-June 17, Atlantic Theatre, 330 W. 16^th St.  Tickets at 212 279-4200.

San Francisco run is August 10-26, Theatre Rhinoceros, 2926 16^th St.  Information on tickets in future newsletter or at www.planbtheatrecompany.org. 


"Change takes but an instant. It's the resistance to change that can take a lifetime."
 -- Hebrew Proverb


Happy Springtime and Love to All,

Carol Lynn


            (Again, due to a problem in cyberspace, if you did not receive a newsletter in March, you may click  HERE to read the poignant story, "'Us' and 'Them' No More.")

Please share this newsletter—to subscribe go to www.nomoregoodbyes.com