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

MORE LIGHT UPDATE

March-April 2002

Volume 22, Number 4

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

HIGHLIGHTS

Amendment A. On the Road. New More Light Churches. New More Light

Chapters. Shower of Stoles Project. Celebrating Lisa Larges,

Howard Warren, Virginia Davidson. September 11. Good Books. High

Court Case.

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

FULL CONTENTS

CHANGES: Peter Oddleifson, Liaison for Judicial Issues.

OUR COVER: Noe Valley Ministry (PCUSA, and More Light!).

OUR NATIONAL FIELD ORGANIZERS

On the Road with Michael Adee

EVENTS

11th National Called Out Conference for LGBT Seminarians

Live Into Hope: 2002 More Light Presbyterians Conference

Other Events

FEATURE STORIES

Amendment A: What It Would & Wouldn't Do, by Douglas Nave

A Covenant Network Letter

Another Reason to Delete G-6.0106b, by Chris Glaser

OUR CHURCHES

Good News!! -- ANOTHER new more light church! St. James, Chicago

More Good News!! -- TWO new churches join MLP the same day.

OUR CHAPTERS

A New MLP Chapter: West Jersey Presbytery

THE SHOWER OF STOLES PROJECT

An Update from director Martha Juillerat

OUR PEOPLE

Celebrating Lisa Larges: TAMFS Regional Partnership Coordinator

Celebrating Howard Warren: Janie Spahr Visits Howard Warren for Christmas

Power, The Problem and The Pain Continue, by the Rev. Howard Warren

Yet "Another Beginning" at 85: Virginia Davidson, by Marvin M. Ellison

A greeting from Mike Smith

COMMENTARY

Before September 11 -- After September 11, by John Merz

When the church says no ... how do we say YES?, by James E. Nicholson

[ELECTRONIC UPDATE ONLY]

Calvin on Freedom of Conscience, by Sarah Melcher

GOOD BOOKS

*Reformation of the Heart: Seasonal Meditations by a Gay

Christian*, by Chris Glaser

*Omnigender: a trans-religious approach*, by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott

CHASTITY COURT CASE

Highest Church Court Declines to Deal with Chastity!

MLP OFFICERS

MLP Board of Directors

MLP National Liaisons

MLP PRESBYTERY LIAISONS

MLP CHAPTERS

MASTHEAD (Publication Information)

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

*We limit not the truth of God

To our poor reach of mind,

By notions of our day and sect,

Crude, partial and confined.

No, let a new and better hope

Within our hearts be stirred:

for God hath yet more light and truth

To break forth from the Word.*

-- Pastor John Robinson, sending the Pilgrims to the New World,

1620; paraphrased by the hymnwriter George Rawson, 1807-1889.

SEXUAL ETHICS

"More Light Presbyterians (MLP) envisions that

Christian sexual ethics marked by covenantal

fidelity shall be the standard for all

Presbyterians, irrespective of sexual orientation."

-- MLP Board, September 1999.

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

For all ministers, elders, deacons, members

and friends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

More Light Presbyterians

4737 County Road 101, PMB# 246

Minnetonka, MN 55345-2634

MORE LIGHT UPDATE

James D. Anderson, Editor

P.O. Box 38

New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038

732-249-1016, 732-932-7500 ex 8210 (Rutgers University)

FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers University)

Internet: JDA@mariner.rutgers.edu

(or JDA@scils.rutgers.edu)

Email Discussion List:

MoreLightPresbyterians@yahoogroups.com

(To join, send email to:

MoreLightPresbyterians-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com;

to leave, send email to:

MoreLightPresbyterians-Unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com).

MLP home page: www.mlp.org

Masthead, with Publication Information at end of file.

Note: * is used to indicate italicized or boldface text.

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

CHANGES

Peter Oddleifson, one of our liaisons for judicial issues, has

new contact information: 120 Douglas Rd., Rochester, NY 14610,

585-473-8930, oddwall@aol.com

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

OUR COVER: Noe Valley Ministry (PCUSA, and More Light!), San

Francisco. Line drawing from the Rev. Keenan Colton Kelsey,

Pastor.

Other photos have been contributed by Michael Adee, Katie

Morrison, Janie Spahr, Jud van Gorder, Bill Moss, Rob Ater, and

Jack Hartwein-Sanchez.

*Send us your photos -- especially photos of More Light

Churches!* (We need physical photos, not digital!)

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

OUR NATIONAL FIELD ORGANIZERS

On the Road

with Michael Adee

MLP National Field Organizer

With Malice Toward None, With Charity For All

This past week during a field visit to work with churches in

Washington, DC, one afternoon I took the Metro downtown to visit

the Lincoln Memorial. It is a sacred place for me and has been

since my parents took me there many years ago as a child. On one

side of that impressive marble statue of Abraham Lincoln the

words of his second inaugural address are inscribed. His

challenge that is most poignant and inspiring to me is: "With

malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the

right as God gives us to see the right, Let us strive to finish

the work we are in."

As we continue to work for full equality and participation of

LGBT people and our families in the life of our church and in

society, as Lincoln said in the midst of the Civil War, "Let us

strive to finish the work we are in." In that moment in time,

the humanity and morality of African-American persons was at

stake, as well as the soul of the church and our nation. Now, it

is the humanity and morality of LGBT persons and our families

that is at stake, along with the soul of our church and nation.

And, of course, the very essence of the Reformed tradition,

progressive Christianity and an authentic democracy are at stake

as well.

My field work has taken me close by to Albuquerque, NM to work

with **New Life Presbyterian Church** and to Cincinnati, OH to

offer a recognition and visioning time with **Mt. Auburn

Presbyterian Church**. Next steps for Mt. Auburn include

creating a LGBT Spirituality Group and consideration of bisexual

and transgender concerns.

Imagine a week in a van across Oklahoma with Martha Juillerat,

Director, **The Shower of Stoles Project** and Janie Spahr,

Minister-Director, **That All May Freely Serve**! It was a trip,

indeed. We had a blast together in Martha's new "party van," as

she calls it, traveling several hundred miles with stops in

Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Broken Bow. With educational events and

meetings to support Amendment A, gatherings to encourage LGBT

pastoral care, and affirmation of "more light" this joint venture

of **The Three Sisters** (the nickname for MLP, The Shower of

Stoles Project and TAMFS) was made possible by local leadership.

Leadership and hospitality was provided by local Presbyterians --

lay and clergy such as **John McNeese, Steve Daniels, Vikki

Dearing and Deb Bunt, Margaret Duncan, Terry Baxter and Barry

Hensley, Radford Rader, Pat and Bob Lucy, and Gene Wilson** along

with our two More Light Presbyterians Churches there: **St.

Andrew's Presbyterian Church**, Oklahoma City and **College Hill

Presbyterian Church**, Tulsa.

Martha, Janie and I all preached together at **St. Andrew's

Presbyterian Church**, Oklahoma City, in a one-hour service. I

am still trying to figure out how that happened. And, over sixty

people came out to share in a program entitled "Telling Our

Stories, Sharing Our Faith and Celebrating Our Lives" at

**College Hill Presbyterian Church**, Tulsa, including **Nancy

McDonald**, former national President of PFLAG and **Kelly

Kirby**, PFLAG treasurer.

**Gene Wilson**, pastor to a dozen Native American churches, gave

us a tour of his work in the Broken Bow area. Being with Gene

and learning from him was an extraordinary experience.

Additional joint-ventures like this Oklahoma tour are being

planned in other parts of the country.

Because a son and his father wanted to have a MLP Chapter in

their area, thirty people from six churches gathered at **St.

Mark's Presbyterian Church**, Tucson, AZ for inclusive worship

and conversations about what kind of Church they dream of and are

working toward and how to nurture "more light" in their

presbytery. **Matt Moore**, youth director at St. Mark's and his

father, Robert, along with **Steve Melde**, pastor, Christ

Presbyterian Church and **Sue Westphal**, St. Mark's, are

providing leadership for this new MLP Chapter in **De Cristo

Presbytery** that includes a wonderfully diverse group of

Presbyterians, from high school youth to older adults, lay

leaders and clergy, Hispanic, Native American and Anglo, LGBT and

heterosexual, women and men. In addition to helping start this

new Chapter, I preached and offered an educational program at

**Christ Presbyterian Church** and spoke to two youth groups at

St. Mark's.

Katie Morrison and I offered a "welcoming" educational program

for southern California churches at **West Hollywood Presbyterian

Church**. This program was supported by **Donn Crail** and the

**Lazarus Project** and the three More Light Churches in that area:

United-University Church at USC, Los Angeles; Baldwin Park

Presbyterian Church; and the host church, West Hollywood

Presbyterian Church. People from twelve churches participated,

indicating a clear desire for their churches to be more welcoming

to LGBT people and our families. **Susan Craig, Bear Ride** and

I also worked together on several projects while I was in

California.

Sponsored by **Takoma Park Presbyterian Church**, Takoma Park, MD

and the **Open Doors MLP Chapter**, Washington, DC, a first-ever

program focused on LGBT/Q youth, children and families brought 50

people from over a dozen churches and 7 denominations together.

With resources from **Brian Cave**, our National Liaison for

LGBT/Q Youth and Young Adults, and **Ralph Carter**, I offered a

workshop, part of the plenary, and educational materials. **Laura

Collins**, pastor, Takoma Park, invited me to preach and to meet

with the youth confirmation class. **Wayne Sherwood** and

**Jeanne Mackenzie's** local leadership and hospitality made this

outreach possible.

I joined **Marco Grimaldo** at **Westminster Presbyterian's**

Friday Night Jazz Dinner which has become a phenomenally

successful outreach of this More Light church reaching hundreds

of people each week. **Ruth and Brian Hamilton**, co-pastors,

with church members have made this most creative and joyful

venture possible.

Taking a commuter train from DC, I met with **Robin White**,

pastor, **Faith Presbyterian Church**, Baltimore and leaders from

her congregation and pastoral/music staff to discuss LGBT

pastoral care concerns and more light. Celebrating their 125th

Anniversary, Faith Presbyterian continues to grow and expand

their ministry to include all of God's children. With our David

Sindt grant, they have started a parenting class for same-sex

couples.

With four field trips this month alone, I am most grateful to all

of you who make such outreach and ministry possible for me, and

also for **Katie Morrison**. As I travel the country,

particularly in this time of decision regarding what kind of

Church we are and will become in light of Amendment A on

ordination, Lincoln's words haunt and inspire me to carry on.

"With malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness

in the right as God gives us to see the right, Let us strive to

finish the work we are in." -- with hope and grace, Michael.

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

EVENTS

11th National Called Out Conference for LGBT Seminarians

March 15-17, McCormick Seminary, Chicago

Our own Marilyn Nash and Jon Bassinger provide leadership for

producing this 11th National Conference for LGBT Seminarians --

Called Out.

Joining Marilyn and Jon on the program will be Katie Morrison,

National Field Organizer, MLP; Erin Swenson, pastoral counselor,

national MLP liaison for transgender concerns and MLP Board

member; Chris Glaser, author, activist and editor of *Open Hands*;

and Martha Juillerat, Director, The Shower of Stoles Project.

If you are in Chicago, you would be welcome to participate in

part or all of the Conference. And, if you are a seminary

student, or considering a call to ministry, do make plans to

attend this extraordinary conference.

Special thanks to Marilyn and Jon for your creative and inspiring

leadership with this Conference! -- with hope and grace, Michael

Adee.

For more information and a registration brochure, please contact:

Jon Bassinger, McCormick Theological Seminary, 773-947-6318,

jbassinger@mccormick.edu, www.calledout.freeservers.com

McCormick Theological Seminary is a seminary of the Presbyterian

Church (U.S.A.). The views and claims of this conference are not

necessarily those of the seminary nor of the PCUSA! (But

someday, we hope all will share them!! -- JDA)

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

Live Into Hope

2002 More Light Presbyterians Conference

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

Friday-Sunday, May 24-26, 2002

YOU ARE INVITED to join Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender

Presbyterians and their Allies, Family, and Friends from across

the country as together, we seek to: "LIVE INTO HOPE: Freeing --

Restoring -- Abiding -- Challenging"

All are welcome to join this annual community and seek the

fellowship and support of the inclusive community of More Light

Presbyterians. Please invite a friend to join you!

REGISTRATION FORM IN THIS UPDATE: Just turn to pages 21-21! (Only

in print verson. Get a copy at the website, or via phone or

email!)

WEBSITE: For more information and online registration, please see

the conference website at:

http://www.gaycharlotte.com/morelight/conference

REGISTRAR: Amy Stapleford is the Conference Registrar. Please

call her at (919) 286-0397 ext. 3 or email her at

MLPConferenceInfo-owner@yahoogroups.com if you have any

registration related questions.

WHY COME?

- Come to choose from workshops on 24 supportive and

informative topics.

- Come to be inspired by fresh new leadership from across our

denomination.

- Come to share in the fellowship of a supportive community.

- Come to network with other leaders and advocates in the church.

- Come to celebrate in worship with other Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,

and Transgender and Allied Christians.

- Come to be spiritually enriched and renewed for ministry back

home.

- Come to be updated on the latest news and strategies for our

work together in the Presbyterian Church.

LOCATION: North Carolina State University is the setting for this

year's conference. Located in the Bible Belt, NCSU is in the

middle of one of the most densely Presbyterian states in the

country, North Carolina.

2002 CONFERENCE HOSTS:

- Research Triangle MLP Chapter

- Charlotte MLP Chapter

SCHOLARSHIPS: Scholarships for youth, college and seminary

students, and persons on limited income are available through

MLP. For scholarship information contact Michael Adee, MLP

National Field Organizer at MichaelAdee@aol.com or 505-820-7082.

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

OTHER EVENTS

March 15-17, 2002, Friday-Sunday. CALLED OUT: The 11th National

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Allied Seminarians

Conference, including Queer Theory, Theology and Biblical Studies

Colloquium. Conference Theme: Militating -Isms. Chicago, Illinois

at McCormick Theological Seminary.

March 29-31, 2002, Friday-Sunday, Celebrating the Gay Male

Spirit, led by Rob Bauer, clinical social worker and body-

centered psychotherapist. All gay, bi and transgendered men, in a

relationship or single, are welcome. Rowe Camp and Conference

Center, King's Highway Rd., Rowe, MA 01367, 413-339-4954 & 339-

4216, fax 413-339-5728, www.rowecenter.org,

retreat@rowecenter.org.

April 4-7, 2002, Thursday-Sunday, TAMFS Annual Leadership

Conference, Stony Point Conference Center in Stony Point, NY.

Program and registration information can be found online at:

http://www.tamfs.org/new/conference/conference.asp.

Registration deadline March 22, 2002. TAMFS has booked the

entire Stony Point Center for this event. Located 30 miles from

Manhattan, this Presbyterian facility is within 300 miles of

three TAMFS regions and the TAMFS national office in Rochester,

NY.

April 11-14, 2002, Thursday-Sunday. The Voices of Sophia National

Gathering, St. Ferdinand, Kentucky. For more information or to

become a member, please visit the VOS website at

www.voicesofsophia.org.

April 12-14, 2002, Friday-Sunday, Attention: Princeton Seminary

Alumni/ae! BGLASS: serving the GLBTQ and supportive community at

P.T.S. is planning a "Queer and Allied Princeton Alumni/ae

Homecoming Weekend" on campus -- April 12-14, 2002. Please

contact BGLASS co-moderators Rob Ater and Shannon Abbott at

bglasspts@yahoo.com for more information. Provide us with your

name, graduation year, address and e-mail. BGLASS would love to

welcome you back to P.T.S. in April.

May 24-26, 2002, Friday-Sunday. More Light Presbyterians

Conference, Raleigh, NC. See separate story in this *Update*.

June 6-9, 2002, Thursday-Sunday. Christian People of the Rainbow

2002: Coloring Outside the Lines. Led by Virginia Ramey

Mollenkott, Dale English, Robert Goss, Erin Swenson. 6:30 p.m.

Thurs. dinner through Sun. lunch. $310 ($155 registration

deposit). Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center, 2495 Fox Gap Rd.,

Bangor, PA 18013-6028, 610-588-1793, fax 610-588-8510,

www.kirkridge.org.

Summer 2003. WOW: Witness Our Welcome conference. For more

info., go to www.wow2k.org, or write to PMB #111, 5250 N.

Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640, 800-318-5581.

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

FEATURE STORIES

Amendment A:

What It Would & Wouldn't Do

A Way to Respect Our Tradition,

and to Restore Honesty and Conscience

by Douglas Nave

[The author is an attorney, a trustee of Fifth Avenue

Presbyterian Church in New York City, and served as Overture

Advocate for Overture 01-08, from the Presbytery of New York

City, which formed the basis of Amendment 01-A.

His discussion is in four parts:

I. Amendment A would not compromise our long-established

standards for ordained service: that candidates for

ordination must be Christian, competent, collegial, and

committed.

II. This amendment would restore proper authority for

ordination to local governing bodies.

III. To compare the ordination of gay and lesbian persons to

the ordination of women is inaccurate; Amendment A removes a

prohibition, but does not institute any new requirement, as

did the decision of the UPCUSA to require all congregations

and presbyteries to be willing to ordain women.

IV. Looking "back to the future," Amendment A would not

place the Presbyterian Church in a new situation, but would

restore both honesty and respect for the freedom of

conscience to our life as a Christian community.

Reprinted from the wonderful Witherspoon Society website,

www.witherspoonsociety.org, with thanks and the permission

of the author and the Witherspoon WebWeaver.

Note: Parenthetical references are to the *Book of Order*.]

As we deliberate over ratification of Amendment 01-A, it is

helpful to keep clearly in mind what our standards for ordination

are, who has the authority to apply them, and where we are going

with the proposed reform.

I. Standards for Ordained Service

We generally require that our ordained leaders satisfy standards

falling in four overall categories.

**Christian**: First, they must be "persons of strong faith,

dedicated discipleship, and love of Jesus Christ as Savior and

Lord" -- in other words, they must be genuinely and steadfastly

Christian (G-6.0106a, G-14.0207a-d, G-14.0405b(1)-(4)). It is

under this standard that questions whether a person's beliefs

depart from an "essential" of the Reformed faith generally arise.

It seems clear that our position on homosexual relations does not

constitute an "essential" of Reformed faith and polity. Sexual

practice simply does not have equal dignity with the core

doctrines of our faith -- the existence of a Triune God, the

Incarnation, salvation by grace through faith, and acceptance of

Scripture as the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus

Christ. Nor do the central affirmations of our Reformed tradition

(G-2.0500) address sexual practice. In the 1920s, General

Assembly held that our ministers may be in good standing even if

they disagree about things like the Virgin birth, the miracles of

Christ, bodily resurrection, substitutionary atonement, and the

inerrancy of Scripture. And we have, over time, reformed our

traditional understandings of gender and sexuality to free women

from silence and subordination in church, to recognize that

sometimes marriage after divorce may be appropriate, to permit

interracial marriage, and to acknowledge that a homosexual

orientation alone is not sinful.

In light of all this, it seems clear that one's position on

homosexual practice does not constitute an "essential" of the

faith.

**Competent**: Ordained leaders also must be competent -- they

must have the "necessary gifts and abilities, natural and

acquired" (G-6.0106a) for the tasks at hand. Thus, persons

wishing to become ministers must be educated in an accredited

theological institution and pass Presbytery examination on the

Bible, theology, polity, worship, and the Sacraments (G-14.0310b-

e, G-14.0313a-b, G-14.0402). Elders and deacons may be ordained

and installed only after a period of study and examination by

their Session (G-10.0102l, G-14.0205).

While faithful Presbyterians may disagree about how particular

passages of Scripture are best interpreted, it seems clear that

those favoring ordained service by self-affirming gay and lesbian

people cannot, by virtue of that position, be deemed

educationally deficient. The 213th General Assembly had before it

a statement from over half of the Bible faculty of our seminaries

arguing that our current ordination standards are wrong. That

alone is surely sufficient evidence that there is room for

differing views among our ordained leaders.

**Collegial**: Our leaders must be committed to performing their

tasks of office in conformity with our polity and in the spirit

of our Presbyterian tradition (G-14.0207e-j, G-14.0400b(5)-(9)).

The crux of the presentation made by the overture advocates to

the 213th General Assembly was that it is time to return to

principled use of our polity. Freedom of conscience is a bedrock

of Presbyterian tradition that is well-grounded in Scripture

(e.g., Jer. 31:31-34; Rom. 14:1-6, 22; 2 Cor. 1:12), enshrined in

the Westminster Confession and our *Book of Order* (6.109, G-

1.0301), and highlighted by John Calvin in his writings

(Institutes III.19). Our Constitution requires that we show one

another mutual forbearance in matters of conscience (G-1.0305, G-

6.0108a). We are urged time and again by the New Testament

writers to avoid needless controversy and division (e.g., Rom.

15:5-7, 1 Cor. 1:10-13, Eph. 4:1-3, Col. 3:12-15, 1 Thess. 5:13,

1 Tim. 2:8, Tit. 3:9-11, Phil. 2:1-5, Heb. 12:14-16, Jas. 2:8-9,

1 Pet. 3:8).

We also reviewed our denomination's history on this matter: 25

years of debate, with more division now than when we began; a

deeply divided vote by the 1996 General Assembly to adopt

"Amendment B," and an equally divided ratification process in

which 43% of the presbyteries (and 49% of all presbyters) voted

against the proposal; and an explosion of litigation in our

denomination as some seek to evade, and others seek to enforce

and expand, the scope of our prohibitions. One of our most

pressing problems today is a lack of collegiality, and has been

for 25 years. One hopes that we will return to middle ground --

neither requiring nor prohibiting ordained service by self-

affirming gay and lesbian people -- so that we can live together

as a community of faith where the convictions of those on both

sides of this issue are honored.

**Committed**: Finally, ordained leaders must have a manner of

life that is "a demonstration of the Christian gospel in the

church and in the world," witnessing to the work of the Holy

Spirit and providing an example for others in the church (G-

6.0106a). That standard may be applied so as to exclude or remove

from office persons found guilty of "offenses" like adultery or

deception (D-2.0203, D-12.0100).

This brings us to our current debate. Those who favor "Amendment

B" (G-6.0106b) often believe that self-affirming gay and lesbian

persons are living in unrepentant sin and, therefore, have a

manner of life that is not "a demonstration of the Christian

gospel." Nearly half of our denomination disagrees. How do we

resolve our difference on this point? If we agree that our

position on homosexual practice is not an "essential tenet," we

are left arguing about the interpretation of Scripture on "non-

essentials," and there our Constitution is absolutely clear --

that insofar as is possible, "freedom of conscience with respect

to the interpretation of Scripture is to be maintained" (G-

6.0108a).

Particular congregations and presbyteries may not be receptive to

ordained leadership by gay and lesbian persons, and may well

choose to ordain and install other persons. However,

congregations and presbyteries who believe that self-affirming

gay and lesbian persons may bring unique and valuable gifts of

ministry to their communities should, in conscience, be free to

call and approve those persons. That is what Amendment 01-A would

allow.

II. The Authority of Local Governing Bodies

It long has been a benchmark of our polity that Sessions and

Presbyteries bear the primary responsibility for identifying, and

determining whether an individual adheres to, the "essential

tenets" of Reformed faith and polity (G-6.0108b). These are

matters much more important than the mere differences of view

involved in our debates about sexual practice. However, even

here, we have seen the wisdom in withholding unnecessary

judgments. Centuries of experience counsel us (i) to establish

denominational rules only when we have a widespread consensus

that confirms our true discernment of the leading of the Holy

Spirit; and (ii) to exercise restraint in addressing abstract

matters without the discernment of a local governing body as to

the character and witness of the person bringing that issue to

the fore.

As far back as 1927, the Swearingen Commission, appointed to

address unrest over ordination standards, appealed to our first

written form of government:

[B]y the Act of 1729, the decision as to essential and

necessary articles was to be in specific cases. It was no

general authority that might be stated in exact language and

applied rigidly to every case without distinction. It was an

authority somewhat undefined, to be invoked in each

particular instance. ...

It was clearly the intention that this decision as to

essential and necessary articles was to be made after the

candidate had been presented and had declared his beliefs

and stated his motives personally, and after the examining

body ... had had full opportunity to judge the man

himself, as well as abstract questions of doctrine.

One might ask whether the Adopting Act still applies. We have

answered that time and again with a resounding "yes!" The 1983

Report of the Special Committee on Historic Principles,

Conscience, and Church Government affirmed that the Act of 1729

and observance of its principles by later generations "reveals

the Presbyterian genius for compromise" (PCUSA Minutes, 1983, at

141, 144). Likewise, the 1993 Report of the Special Committee on

the Nature of the Church and the Practice of Governance looked to

the earliest days of American Presbyterianism for guidance on our

polity and practice today (PCUSA, Minutes, 1993, at 355, 363-70).

Consistent with these reports, all adopted by the General

Assemblies to which they were presented, we long have held that

Presbytery has the primary responsibility to assess individuals'

fitness for ministry. The principle was stated in ringing terms

in 1927: "Licensure of probationers and ordination to the gospel

ministry are the exclusive functions of the Presbytery" (Minutes,

1927, at 58, 61). Our highest PJC affirmed in 1981 that "the

exercise of Presbytery's primary responsibility in determining

the qualifications of ministers within the framework of our

Constitution [i]s subject to review by a higher judicatory only

for the most extraordinary reasons" (Rankin v. National Capital

Union Presbytery, UPCUSA, 1981). Our *Book of Order* states that

Presbytery has the authority and responsibility to examine,

certify and ordain candidates for ministry (G-11.0103n-o, G-

11.0402, G-14.0402), to find and approve calls as being in order

and for the good of the whole church (G-14.0501b-c, G-14.0502c,

G-14.0507), and to decide whether a minister may labor within its

bounds (G-11.0401).

Assuredly Sessions and Presbyteries must work within the rules of

our Constitution, and cannot ordain or install a person whom our

Constitution disqualifies. But our ordination rules themselves,

even when incorporated into our Constitution, must comport with

our fundamental polity and the theology that undergirds it. An

ordination "standard" that has caused 25 years of division and

with which almost half of our denomination disagrees as a matter

of conscience is no standard at all. Rather, it constitutes a

mere usurpation of power by a slim majority acting in violation

of our duty to show one another mutual forbearance. That is what

the 213th General Assembly, I believe, saw -- that we must return

to our bedrock principles, honoring freedom of conscience and

showing one another the mutual forbearance that, by the grace of

God, has enabled us to move forward together for three hundred

years.

III. Lessons from Women's Ordination

Some who oppose Amendment 01-A have called attention to the so-

called Kenyon case (Maxwell v. Pittsburgh Presbytery, UPCUSA,

1975), which prohibited the ordination of a ministerial candidate

who stated that he would not ordain women as elders. They argue

that Kenyon changed our polity, depriving the Presbyteries of

their traditional authority to determine who should be ordained.

This is not correct.

Kenyon addressed a matter on which the UPCUSA had achieved a

consensus so clear that the election and ordination of women not

only was allowed, but in fact was explicitly required by the

Constitution, and could be expected to occur with great

frequency. The *Book of Order* in effect at that time stated

plainly that "[e]very congregation shall elect persons from among

its members ... giving fair representation to both the male and

female constituency of that congregation" (UPCUSA *Book of Order*,

Ch. XVII, Sec. 1 (47.01) (1975 ed.)). Mr. Kenyon was denied

ordination because he disagreed with a mandatory provision of the

*Book of Order*, and stated his intention not to perform actions

that his local governing body had approved and that the

Constitution required be a regular part of congregational life.

Some have expressed a different concern, that Amendment 01-A may

become a means of coercing local governing bodies or ministers

who believe that ordinations of self-affirming gay and lesbian

persons are wrong to perform them nevertheless. This overlooks an

absolutely fundamental point: What we're voting on is whether to

remove a prohibition -- not whether to establish a requirement.

General Assembly adopted an overture that would neither require

nor prohibit the ordination of self-affirming gay and lesbian

people. Local governing bodies, applying the standards of G-

6.0106a as faithfully as they can, almost certainly will reach

different conclusions about whether such persons should render

ordained service. Actions taken by one congregation or Presbytery

will not be binding on any other. Likewise, pastors believing

that self-affirming gay and lesbian persons should not be

ordained remain free to teach their convictions and to work for

change; our PJCs repeatedly have upheld presbyteries in welcoming

pastors who stated their intention to continue teaching that

women should not be ordained, even after our *Book of Order* was

amended to require women's ordination (e.g., Simmons v.

Presbytery of Suwannee, PCUSA, 1985; Huie v. Synod of Southeast,

PCUS, 1977).

It is worth emphasizing that Amendment 01-A will not provide a

means for our PJCs to do by fiat what the amending language does

not do directly. A PJC may prevent a Session or Presbytery from

ordaining or installing someone whom our Constitution

disqualifies, since the basis of disqualification is specific and

objectively determinable. However, a PJC cannot require a Session

or Presbytery to ordain or install someone whom that local

governing body would rather not, since the PJC cannot require a

lower governing body to reach any particular decision about the

many considerations our Constitution vests in the discretionary

assessment of the ordaining or installing body. Perhaps our

pastors on rare occasion may find themselves called upon to

ordain and install persons whom they would rather not. However,

Amendment 01-A is unlikely to generate new occasions of this

nature. Our presbyteries assumedly have sufficient ministerial

resources -- in the majority that must approve each ministerial

call and admission to membership -- not to include an unwilling

pastor on commissions appointed for services of ordination or

installation. Likewise, pastors are unlikely to have issues of

conscience in the ordination and installation of lay church

officers -- if only because self-affirming gay and lesbian people

are unlikely to affiliate with congregations whose leadership

makes them feel unwelcome in the first place. A pastor also has

significant influence, through teaching, informal guidance, and

participation on Session, in a congregation's selection of

officers. And we are not dealing here with a situation like

Kenyon, where every service of ordination necessarily must

include a number of persons to whom the pastor objects. In the

rare case where a pastor may be at odds with the congregation's

choice of a gay or lesbian officer, our *Book of Order* provides

an "escape valve," requiring only that there be a "minister

presiding" -- possibly someone invited especially for the

occasion -- at the service of ordination and installation (G-

14.0206-.0207).

IV. Back to the Future

Some have suggested that Amendment 01-A constitutes new

legislation that would not return us to pre-'78 ordination

standards but would, in fact, reverse them. That is not correct.

Our pre-1978 standards did not prohibit the ordination of self-

affirming gay and lesbian persons. In responding to the original

overtures that sparked this debate, the 1976 General Assembly

expressly stated that "we reaffirm the right of the Presbytery to

take what action it deems best, consistent with the *Book of

Order*," and it declined to call such ordinations improper,

stating only that it would "appear" to be "injudicious" for

Presbytery to proceed with such ordinations given then-current

understandings of homosexuality (UPCUSA Minutes, 1976, at 111-

12). The 1978 General Assembly, likewise, issued only a modestly-

styled "policy statement and recommendations" on the matter

(UPCUSA Minutes, 1978, at 261). It was far from clear, when that

Assembly acted, whether its decision would be binding on the

presbyteries, and much of the ensuing debate concerned whether

that statement violated the presbyteries' right to ratify or

decline what amounted to a constitutional amendment. Subsequent

Assemblies and PJCs consistently have cited the 1978 action as

the foundation for our debates, and have not referred to any

earlier rule which, had it existed, surely would have been cited

at length.

Before 1978, many Presbyteries and Sessions may have decided not

to ordain or install self-affirming gay and lesbian people.

However, they did so through their own discernment and in the

freedom to follow their conscience -- not under the compulsion of

a denominational rule. That is precisely the state to which I and

other overture advocates earnestly hope we will return now.

Passage of Amendment 01-A may create one difference with the

situation prior to 1978. I believe that in 1978/79, when we

prohibited ordained service by "self-affirming, practicing

homosexuals," the real issue was not "practicing" -- what we have

focused on more recently as a question about unrepentant sin --

but "self-affirmation." Before 1978/79, we had a "don't ask,

don't tell" denomination. As our society became more honest about

sexual orientation and expression, many in our church felt that

we needed to be more honest too.

We always have had non-celibate homosexual persons in leadership

-- on our Sessions and Boards of Deacons, in our music

ministries, in our Sunday schools, in our executive offices and,

yes, in our pulpits. If that were not already obvious to those

who knew and worked with the many wonderful gay and lesbian

persons who have served our church in the past, the record has

been made plain by the testimony of the numerous persons, both

serving and honorably retired, who have come forward in recent

years as we debated this issue.

So what were the Presbyteries of New York City and the Palisades

asking for, when they overtured the 1976 General Assembly for

"definitive guidance"? I don't believe they were asking for

"permission" to proceed -- rather, I believe they were asking for

honesty.

If we adopt Amendment 01-A, we will not be embracing

homosexuality, but honesty. We will be agreeing to disagree, and

our ministers will remain free to teach as their consciences

dictate they must. We will be endorsing freedom of conscience for

all faithful Presbyterians, honoring our duty to show one another

mutual forbearance in matters of genuine difference. We will be

reaffirming our continuing openness to possible reform as all of

us search diligently for where the Holy Spirit calls us today.

And we will be renewing our commitment to the community that

works for reconciliation and witnesses to the world about the

reconciling power of Christ.

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

A Covenant Network Letter

The Covenant Network has sent the following letter to all ministers

and clerks of session in the PCUSA:

January 2002

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

We write out of concern for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Many

believe it faces a crisis. Some fear a possible schism; others

worry that a partisan spirit will prevail.

The Covenant Network of Presbyterians has been committed since

its founding to the unity of the church. We support the passage

of Amendment 01-A, because the current standards in G-6.0106b

have so deeply divided the church. We do not expect Amendment A

to create instant unity; but we believe that confirming the

historic right and responsibility of local governing bodies to

make ordination decisions will provide a better basis for a

diverse church to grow together in Christ.

We believe that the greatest danger to the unity of the church

comes not from those who advocate change but from a different

source. It is summarized in a statement, "A Strategic Vision for

Transformation of the PCUSA," recently issued by the Presbyterian

Coalition. (If you have not seen it, you may find it posted on

their website, at www.presbycoalition.org/strategicVision.htm.)

The statement, which reiterates a presentation made by the

Presbyterian Lay Committee's chairman at the Coalition's meeting

in Fall, 2001, calls for the transformation of the Presbyterian

Church into a narrowly conservative body and the creation of "an

effective shadow denomination while the PCUSA is being

transformed." To this end, the statement outlines the following

steps:

- destabilizing the denomination by withholding mission

support and per capita funds "to accelerate dynamic and

drastic restructuring of the PCUSA";

- taking control of the governing bodies by restricting

membership in presbyteries to "ministers who are accountable

to viable congregations";

- redefining "connectionalism" as only among "like-minded

churches";

- forcing those who disagree with them on ordination

standards "to peacefully separate" from the church or be

disciplined.

We are confident that most Presbyterians, whether or not they

agree with us on matters of ordination, do not want to live in

the denomination this "strategy" would create -- one where all

must hold the same perspective, where pastors of struggling

congregations, military and hospital chaplains, retired clergy,

and ministers who serve our governing bodies and seminaries would

no longer be members of presbytery, where the threat of

withdrawing financial support is wielded as a means for getting

one's way, and where no efforts at reconciliation for the sake

of the unity of the Body of Christ would be attempted.

We agree that the Church is in need of the transformation

promised by the Holy Spirit. We, too, long to be built up into

the body of the One who is Head of the Church. We believe,

however, that such transformation will come about by all sides

seeking the "new openness" called for in the Constitution of our

church (G-3.0401). It will not result from the church-dividing

pressure tactics that the Coalition and Lay Committee advocate.

We urge Presbyterians of every viewpoint to reject the

Coalition's plan. We hope that all will join in active support

of the denomination's mission, ministry and leadership, and in

commitment to honest, respectful dialogue about matters currently

dividing us. We appeal to the leaders of the Presbyterian

Coalition and Presbyterian Lay Committee, and to others with whom

we disagree, to work with us to embrace the unity and freedom God

has already given in Christ, the Presbyterian tradition of

tolerance in non-essential matters, and a spirit of love and

mutual forbearance that becomes a Christian community.

Grace and peace, The Executive Committee of the Covenant Network

of Presbyterians -- Joanna M. Adams, Pastor, Trinity Church,

Atlanta; Eugene C. Bay, Pastor, Bryn Mawr Church, Bryn Mawr;

Deborah A. Block, Pastor, Immanuel Church, Milwaukee; Robert W.

Bohl, Pastor, Village Church, Prairie Village, KS; John M.

Buchanan, Pastor, Fourth Church, Chicago; Cynthia M. Campbell,

President, McCormick Seminary, Chicago; Sheila Gustafson, Pastor,

First Church, Santa Fe; Timothy D. Hart-Andersen, Pastor,

Westminster Church, Minneapolis; Barbara Wheeler, President,

Auburn Seminary, New York; John Wilkinson, Pastor, Third Church,

Rochester, NY.

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

Another Reason to Delete G-6.0106b

by Chris Glaser

[Chris wrote this for *Monday Morning*, but it folded before

it could be printed, so Chris has shared it with us! Thanks,

Chris!! *Monday Morning* was one of our very favorite

magazines. The original *More Light Update* was modeled

on the "old" *Monday Morning*. -- JDA]

It has been many years since I last contributed an article to

*Monday Morning*, but I look through each issue, reading articles

of interest. And I always check in the back for ministers who

have died. Yesterday I was stunned to find the name of a

minister about whose death earlier in the year I was not

notified. But then I reminded myself that our friendship was not

known to his family and colleagues.

In the late 70's, when I served on the United Presbyterian Task

Force to Study Homosexuality, this minister asked his Session

what they thought of ordaining gay ministers. The feeling of all

the elders was summed up by one who said, "I could never have a

gay man as my pastor." They did not know th at they had indeed

had a gay man as their pastor for twenty years, and my friend

decided then and there that it was time to retire, though his

"retirement" was filled with many other forms of ministry.

We saw one another at every General Assembly -- he often had a

passer-by snap a photograph of us together. He always remembered

my birthday with a card, thanking me for my ministry in the

church, though I was denied ordination because I too am gay.

Whenever we were in the same city, his or mine or at G.A., we

met for lunch. Phone calls were less possible because he was

married, and he loved and respected his wife, and did not want to

hurt her.

He was not a sad man. He was always upbeat and positive and

hopeful, finding ways to minister amongst his own at the same

time ministering within the church he loved. But he was in a sad

situation, unable to be himself, unable to feel affirmed as he

was among those he loved and those who "otherwise" loved him.

And I was unable to mourn his passing till months after the fact,

unable to grieve with his friends and family, as well as

celebrate his life and his love with them.

I have often said that if the Presbyterian Church knew what I

knew, it would be asking God's forgiveness for hurting so many

of our own ministers and members by all our statements denying

their integrity as Christians and their service as church

leaders. Like my friend, they often suffer such indignities

silently. But it takes a toll on every Presbyterian's soul.

[Chris Glaser is the author of eight books, including

*Reformation of the Heart: Seasonal Meditations by a Gay

Christian* (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001). He is a

member of Ormewood Park Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.]

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

OUR CHURCHES

Good News!! -- ANOTHER new more light church!

We welcome St. James United Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL!

The Pastor writes:

After almost a year of discussion and study, the Session of St.

James United Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois, voted the

following Statement of Inclusion at its regularly scheduled

meeting December 12, 2001.

"We the congregation of St. James United Presbyterian Church

publicly affirm our intention to be a house of prayer for all

people, offering membership to those who accept baptism and who

make a public profession of faith in Jesus as Lord. We are

particularly sensitive to welcome persons from those groups whose

voices have been long silenced. We further invite all active

members to participate in the sacraments and to participate in

parish government by voting and holding office.

"We join with like-minded congregations by affirming that

'Following the risen Christ, and seeking to make the Church a

true community of hospitality, the mission of More Light

Presbyterians is the full participation of gay, lesbian,

bisexual, transgender people of faith in the life, ministry, and

witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)' (More Light

Presbyterians Mission Statement).

"Our study and prayer on this issue includes reflection on the

principles of inclusion found in Acts 10, Galatians 3, The Brief

Statement of Faith, G-5 ('The Church and Its Members') of the

*Book of Order*, and the St. James Creed."

This statement was adopted unanimously. -- Stu Smith, Pastor.

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

More Good News!! -- TWO new churches join MLP the same day.

Bryn Mawr Presbyterian in Minneapolis, MN, and Parkside

Presbyterian in Madison, Wisconsin both joined MLP in November.

We are so pleased to welcome each of these new churches to MLP.

Bryn Mawr joins a thriving more light community in the Twin

Cities area, and Parkside pioneers as the first more light church

(hopefully first of many!) in the state of Wisconsin.

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

OUR CHAPTERS

A New MLP Chapter: West Jersey Presbytery

Hi MLP'ers --

The West Jersey Presbytery met Tuesday January 22 for a regular

meeting. In the registration area a table sponsored by the West

Jersey Rainbow Fellowship offered videos from the Covenant

Net6work (CovNet), literature from Three Sisters and MLP, Blue

Books from Mt. Kisco and a shower of 20 stoles for commissioners

to see.

In response to the "out" GA commissioners invitation, four lesbian

and gay elders and candidate (Dan Campbell, Robert Muir, Janet

Sheridan and Graham Van Keuren) recently founded the West Jersey

Rainbow Fellowship (WJRF) to work for full inclusion in our

church by offering ourselves as faithful dialogue partners for

the churches of our presbytery. We will follow last night's

introductory information table with forums at churches that would

like to engage us in face-to-face conversation.

Last night we each wore a name sticker that said, "gay elder"

"lesbian elder" or "gay candidate." Mostly our allies spoke to

us, encouraged us and stood with us. Mostly the conservative

leaders we knew took one look and walked the other way. Many

commissioners, however, scarfed up our literature, as though they

hungered. We pushed the videos into willing hands. Some people

put on a sticker that said, "A is Good" or "G-6.0106b Hurts." We

passed out WJRF business cards.

We hope our actions will effect a difference on February 19 when

West Jersey votes on "A." We are grateful for the support and

the stuff we have received from CovNet, TAMFS, MLP, Three

Sisters, Shower of Stoles and the Mount Kisco church. --

Blessings, Janet Sheridan.

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

The Shower of Stoles Project

An Update from Martha Juillerat,

National Program Director

The Shower of Stoles is a collection of close to 900 liturgical

stoles from gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of

faith from 18 denominations across North America. Like panels of

the AIDS Quilt, each stole contains the story of a LGBT person

who has been barred from serving the church openly. The Shower

of Stoles Project began in the Presbyterian Church in 1995;

Presbyterians continue to represent the largest number of stoles

in the collection. Each year the stoles are displayed in dozens

of churches, colleges, seminaries and judicatories nationwide.

As we all have worked for the passage of Amendment 01-A this

year, I have become aware of how easy it is for us to speak of

inclusion only in terms of ordination, sometimes focusing on

polity over people. But the problems of creating a truly

welcoming church run far deeper than this. But this year a few

tiny children have helped me to remember the "bigger picture."

At General Assembly two years ago I shared the story of a stole

made to honor an infant named Madison, the son of a lesbian

couple in North Dakota. The women had been active church members

for years, but when they asked that their six week old son be

baptized, the pastor refused on the grounds that they couldn't

promise to raise him in a Christian home because they are

lesbian. The women eventually had to find a minister outside

their own denomination to baptize the child.

One would hope that this was an isolated incident, but as I have

shared Madison's story with groups across the country I've heard

the same story from others. Just a few weeks ago, while speaking

to a group of Presbyterians in the Chicago area I heard the story

again. A lesbian couple attempted to have their first child

baptized but their pastor refused. With the arrival of their

second child they joined a church that they felt would be more

welcoming. The pastor received the family warmly, but when it

came time for the second baptism not a single active elder would

agree to stand with them.

Our Reformed faith teaches that infant baptism is a sign of God's

grace freely given, of God's unconditional love. No child should

be denied this gift simply because the parents aren't

heterosexual; no parent should be forced to move from church to

church in search of a place where their children will be welcome.

The building of an inclusive church must begin with creating a

safe place "for the least of these."

Stories from the Shower of Stoles Project help make real the

issues faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folk in

the church. We invite you to share a part of this extraordinary

collection with your congregation or presbytery. See our website

for more information on arranging for a display of the stoles, or

donating a stole to the collection: www.showerofstoles.org.

Now on Video:

The Story of the Shower of Stoles Project

Available this spring: a video sharing the history and many of

the stories from the Shower of Stoles Project. Less than a half

hour in length, this video is the perfect accompaniment for a

display of the stoles, a terrific educational piece for adult or

high school classes.

Join Us for a "Premier Party!"

Come see our new video at one of these locations: Minneapolis:

Saturday, April 20; Atlanta: Saturday, April 27. Visit our

website for more information about our premier parties, or to

order a copy of the video: www.showerofstoles.org.

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

OUR PEOPLE

Celebrating Lisa Larges

TAMFS Announces Lisa Larges

As Its Regional Partnership Coordinator

That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) is proud to announce the

appointment of Lisa Larges as Regional Partnership Coordinator.

Ms. Larges will join Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, Minister

Director, four regional minister evangelists, an administrative

associate, and volunteer leadership in eight regions in this

expanding ministry.

After she begins in this newly created full-time position on

January 1, 2002, Lisa will promote, facilitate, and coordinate

the network of regional partnerships to make these relationships

even more effective at calling the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to

full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)

people.

Thanks to this new position, Minister Director Rev. Dr. Janie

Spahr will be able to focus more of her energies on longer range

planning and fundraising.

Janie Spahr says of Larges: "Lisa embodies the meaning of this

movement through her integrity, her faith, her amazing

communication skills from preaching to computers, her great sense

of what it means to be a team player, her compassion, her ability

to listen, and her love and passion for justice. I am honored to

serve beside her as we work together with our regional partners."

TAMFS Co-Moderator Mary Rees, a member of the search team, said,

"Lisa's gifts are so evident. I'm saddened by how often the

Presbyterian Church turns away people with extraordinary skills

because of its stubborn, erroneous policy that prevents LGBT

people from freely serving in leadership roles. We hope to employ

as many such people as we can to love the church into its proper

and just policy."

Since the early 1990s, Lisa has been active in the movement for

full inclusion in the ministry and mission of the Presbyterian

Church. A 1989 graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary,

Lisa was denied the opportunity to serve as minister because she

is a lesbian. In 1992, the church judicial process prevented Lisa

from being certified ready to accept a call, thus preventing her

from seeking a position as minister. This was at the same time

Janie Spahr's call as pastor in Rochester NY was denied by the

same church court. Lisa continues to be a candidate for ministry

under care of the San Francisco Presbytery.

Lisa Larges also holds a Bachelor's degree in English, Religion,

and Women's Studies from St. Olaf College, Northfield MN.

From 1993 to 1997 Larges organized the Witness for Reconciliation

project to promote dialogue concerning the full participation of

LGBT Presbyterians, following the General Assembly's call for

three years of dialogue on the issue. Through sermons, addresses,

and workshops, she has worked to spread the Good News of radical

inclusion in Presbyterian churches and conferences across the

country. She also served on the Executive Board of More Light

Presbyterians from 1993 to 2000.

A life-long Presbyterian, Larges is a Deacon at Noe Valley

Ministry Presbyterian Church, a More Light church in San

Francisco.

Lisa lives with her partner Angie in the San Francisco Bay area.

This December marked the second anniversary of their service of

Holy Union. As Regional Partnership Coordinator, Lisa will

maintain an office in the Bay area and travel extensively from

there to the eight regions.

"I am tremendously excited and honored beyond words to serve That

All May Freely Serve in this capacity," Larges said. "In the

months ahead, I look forward to doing a lot of deep listening,

learning the dreams and visions of all the regional partners of

TAMFS. The gifts and commitment of all in the TAMFS community are

sacred, and I will work hard to help support and nurture them. I

am grateful for this opportunity, and am always available for

conversation."

Formed in 1993, That All May Freely Serve is a mission project of

Downtown United Presbyterian Church in collaboration with

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Tiburon CA. Its national offices

are in Rochester NY. Its regions are centered in Atlanta,

Baltimore, Chicago, Michigan, New York City, Northern California,

Southern New England, and Texas.

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

Celebrating Howard Warren

Janie Visits Howard Warren for Christmas

by Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr

[Reprinted, with thanks, from the www.TAMFS.org website.]

(January 18, 2002 -- TAMFS Editor's note: Rev. Janie Spahr and

her family have been celebrating Christmas for the past seven

years with Howard Warren. This year, Janie visited Howard because

his suffers from HIV/AIDS and is too ill to travel. Howard is

known as "god's glorious gadfly" for the colorful outfits he

wears and his unending support of inclusion in the denomination.

Here's a report in Janie's words.)

I had a beautiful visit with Howard in Indianapolis. He now has

his own room. Corena Aldridge, a dear friend of his, drove from

Pontiac MI. She had been on the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC)

at her Pontiac church when they called him many years ago. Corena

met me at the airport and off we went to the Keystone Health Care

Center to celebrate Christmas with Howard. The look on his face

of love and joy when we walked in was so wonderful. He was so

present with us as we visited for several hours. The staff loves

him and stopped in many times to welcome us and to check on him.

We had brought gifts for the staff and residents who were so

appreciative. We were the one who are so grateful for the care he

is receiving.

Corena had brought a great videotape of Nureyev and Fontaine as

Howard loves ballet.

Rev. Ed Towne visits Howard several times a week and a case team

of Judith, Jaycee, Lydia and many friends visit faithfully.

Ed is gathering Howard's papers so we will have them in the local

LGBT library of Howard's choice. Ed has wonderful lectures,

sermons, and writings which we will have available to us.

Jerry Johnson, the social worker at the center, has known Howard

for over 10 years and is a member of the Metropolitan Community

Church in Indianapolis. Jerry every morning brings Howard to his

office as they listen to classical music together. Jerry came

back after hours to visit with Howard and to update us on his

health. Howard's T cell count is very good and there is no trace

of virile load.

Rev. Ed Towne also joined our Christmas celebration. As we put

Howard to bed we prayed together and he said his wonderful

"Shalom, Alleluia, Amen."

Jerry after the first of the year will set up a website with a

message board so we can all keep in touch. You can send Howard

New Year's greetings if you wish: Rev. Howard B. Warren, Jr.,

Keystone Health Care Center, 2630 South Keystone Avenue,

Indianapolis IN 46203.

Thank you Howard for your prophetic witness which inspires all of

us to do your great work for love and justice!

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

[We celebrate our Dear Howard with this Easter meditation he

wrote some years ago -- JDA]

Power, the Problem and the Pain Continue

by the Rev. Howard Warren

I was so touched by Brian Wren's words:

Christ is risen! Earth and Heaven

nevermore shall be the same,

Break the bread of new creation

Where the world is still in pain.

Tell its grim, demonic chorus:

"Christ is risen! Get you gone!

God the First and Last is with us.

Sing Hosanna, everyone!

As I approached Easter as an openly gay ordained Presbyterian

minister, I was in a state of sorrow rather than joy, for so much

of the world is in pain and the "demonic chorus" of the

Presbyterian Church simply refuses to hear the cries.

In this 21-year battle over ordination of non-heterosexuals, a

moratorium was called for in our struggle without even asking us.

God's created Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people as

well as Inclusive heterosexuals are not "an issue"! We are people

and we must not be silenced. "When the world is still in pain,

tell its grim demonic chorus, CHRIST IS RISEN! Get you gone!" It

is not Christ, but a divided, frightened church that wants us

gone. In these 21 years we have gathered together a wonderful

community of Presbyterian people of all orientations. We are

God's flesh and blood and the use of the word "issue" is an

attempt to keep us out, separate, isolated and silenced. How

often we hear that this "issue" is destroying the church!

Do six verses (one made-up one) out of 31,100 Bible verses

really create the ground swell for this demonic chorus? Or is it

just the desire to retain the status quo of power (always a

problem in the church)? The powerful have for generations in most

denominations proclaimed that God is partial to heterosexual males

and for centuries have use the divisive word "issue" to keep

women, and non-whites "in their place." God is not partial to

heterosexuals.

Christ is risen, Earth and Heaven nevermore shall be the same for

God is partial to all God's rich, diverse creation of gender,

race, and orientation.

As I approach retirement on January 1, 2000, I will be thankful

that in the PCUSA I have had the opportunity to exalt God's non-

partiality with a rich flesh and blood community. I pray that as

we reach the millennium, we will see, learn from, teach and treat

one another as God's creations so that every home on earth will

be a haven for all God creates and loves eternally. Shalom.

Alleluia. Amen.

P.S. I have heard that there has been a year of conferences where

it was said that 15-20% of our churches will be closed by the

year 2010. If we follow the Resurrected chorus of God's

impartiality we will have to build churches, not close them in

order to make room for all God's people. -- The Reverend Howard

B. Warren, Jr., Indianapolis, IN.

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

Yet "Another Beginning" at 85:

A Celebration of Virginia West Davidson

Rochester, New York

August 25, 2001

by Marvin M. Ellison

[We continue with presentations in honor of Virginia

Davidson. Sylvia Thorson-Smith's presentation was published

in the Jan.-Feb. 2002 *More Light Update*. -- JDA]

In thinking about Ginny Davidson, I recall a line from Flannery

O'Connor: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you

odd" (1). If you don't mind my saying so, there're some things

quite odd about our friend and colleague. Here's a woman of

sound Christian faith and piety who's staunchly, undeniably

feminist. Here's a white, privileged Presbyterian who many years

ago, because of her commitment to stand against racism, chose

with her beloved life partner Davie, to build their house in

inner city Rochester. Here's a self-described "snowy-haired

'het'," a grandmotherly "church lady" who's a fully convicted

progressive, a liberal Christian, and, if truth be told, by

inclination a radical, someone who digs to the root of things.

Through it all, delightfully odd Ginny keeps her sense of humor.

Her life motto, in words she loves to quote, perhaps may be

summed up as, "Life is too short to wear tight shoes" (2).

In a provocative book entitled *In the Time of the Right:

Reflections on Liberation*, activist Suzanne Pharr writes about a

spirituality of social change and community organizing.

Liberation politics is not so much about winning battles in

various struggles for social and economic justice, she argues, as

it is about changing hearts and minds, nurturing a sense of

connectedness among people, and building a genuinely multi-

cultural movement: multi-racial, multi-gender, and multi-class.

"I worry about our better selves," Pharr writes, "diminishing

from lack of nurturance and support. I think of our better

selves as that place where compassion, sympathy, empathy,

tolerance, inclusiveness, and generosity reside. What one might

call 'soul' .... All of our strategies for social change will

mean very little if we do not have access to that place inside us

where generosity, for example, lives. Much of our work has to be

focused on nurturing the life of the spirit, on keeping the door

to our better selves as wide open as possible." Our primary work

is soul-craft, and in doing this work, Pharr observes, "we must

not forget what provides the fire" (3).

What provides the fire for us? Poet Adrienne Rich asks

similarly: "With whom do you believe your lot is cast? From

where does your strength come? I think somehow, somewhere every

poem of mine must repeat those questions" (4). Of our

ministries, our theologies, and our very lives, we must ask again

and again: With whom have we cast our lot? With whom do we stand in

solidarity? What keeps open the door to our "better selves"? For

a moment, look to your left. To your right. To those in front

of you. And behind. Behold -- and be amazed at -- your

companions on this rocky road toward justice. How do they, how

do you manage to keep the door open as wide as possible? Look

once more around you, this time to ask, who's not here? Who are

the "missing in action," our fallen heroes and "sheroes"? This

day as every day, we're enfolded by a great cloud of witnesses,

beckoning us to another way, another beginning. We must ask of

each other: "With whom do you believe your lot is cast? From

where does our strength come?" What gives you power to persevere

and keep on keeping on?

In July 2000, during a Ghost Ranch seminar led by Johanna Bos on

the Book of Genesis and creation narratives, Ginny wrote of a

recent transformative experience in her own life that had given

her a vivid sense of yet "another beginning." Earlier that

summer she had joined some eighty-odd -- yes, odd! --

Presbyterians in a Soulforce demonstration at the Long Beach,

California General Assembly. There she found herself, not only

involved in street protest but subsequently being arrested by

police for blocking a public thoroughfare. As she described

events, she and others were handcuffed, boarded on a police bus,

and in silence taken to a large public park on the edge of the

city. There they were "booked, charged, required to stand for a

'mug shot,' and served a warrant to appear for trial at some

future date, or to be liable for a fine up to $1,000" (5). While

outsiders might view this as entirely political, Ginny envisioned

it as profoundly spiritual, in her words a "turning in the road,

leading toward a new and blessed freedom." "Now is the time for

another beginning," she reflected. "I pray to God for courage to

choose God's transforming way! This is my call. This is our

call, as well, I believe: to remain firmly in the fire of

Pentecost, continuing this journey toward God's justice and

liberation" (6).

Where does Ginny find her fire? From where does her strength

come? "Holy One, save us and help us," Ginny has written, "for

you have carved us on the palm of your hands, and you will never

let us go!" Surely that's answer part one. For answer part two,

Ginny quotes Sharon Welch from her book *A Feminist Ethic of

Risk*: "People are empowered to work for justice by their love

for others, ... and by the love they receive from others. The

recognition that we cannot imagine how we will change the

[church] is the beginning point, not the end, of an ethic founded

on love for oneself and for others" (7).

For nearly 25 years, I've been an admirer of Ginny Davidson,

first from afar and then face to face. We first connected in

1978 through correspondence, after I'd read the Presbyterian task

force report on "The Church and Homosexuality." I remember

writing to her, to express my gratitude -- and amazement -- about

the courage of that small committee she chaired. Against the

odds they managed to speak a word of justice and hope with

respect to the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the

life and ministry of the church. As a young doctoral candidate

in Christian ethics at Union Seminary in New York, I was looking

to find more of "my people," folks with generous souls and a

passion for justice who were willing to challenge both church and

community and honor their "better selves" while leaving none out.

Who better to "catch fire" with, I thought, than with odd

Presbyterians such as Bill Silver, Byron Shafer, Bob and Evelyn

Davidson, Beverly Harrison, George Edwards, Chris Glaser, Sandy

Brawders, and Ginny Davidson?

[At this point, the audience was asked to gather into dyads

and triads to discuss two questions: (1) what's brought you

here today? -- name your "Ginny moments"; and (2) what

provides your fire and sustains you in living your passion?]

Sylvia Thorson-Smith, Mike Smith, and I landed rather quickly on the

theme for our presentation this afternoon: "That All May Freely

**Partner**." What better theme, we thought, to convey Ginny's

deep passion for partnership and justice-seeking.

Partnering for justice is not a popular or easy path. So few

dare to go this long, hard way with us. Ethicist Larry Rasmussen

is, therefore, on to something in describing the Jesus community

as a "contrast-society," practicing what he calls "creative

deviance on the front line." Why deviance? Because it does not

accept the standard definitions. Why creative? Because it seeks

real alternatives. And frontline? Because it's engaged in the

struggle (8).

I want to speak for a moment about the movement among

Presbyterians toward sexual (and other forms of) justice during

the 1990's, beginning with the 1991 task force report, "Keeping

Body and Soul Together: Sexuality, Spirituality, and Social

Justice." Recently, as I was rereading that report, I made -- or

actually re-made -- a connection with Ginny's earlier task force.

An image re-surfaced from the 1978 General Assembly that

continues to disturb me mightily. I wasn't at the San Diego

Assembly, but it was reported, accurately I believe, that after

the commissioners voted overwhelmingly not to ordain so-called

"unrepentant" or "self-avowed, practicing" homosexuals, they

stood en masse and sang, "Yes, they will know we are Christians

by our love, by our love, yes they will know we are Christians by

our love."

Ever since hearing that story, I've not been able or willing to

sing that hymn. All its innocence is lost to me. That haunting

image of Presbyterians doing injustice and then, without any

sense of shame for moral wrongdoing, singing of love is a bitter,

frightening image. I'm grateful to Jim Poling in his book,

*Deliver Us From Evil*, for offering theological language and

encouragement to name such injustice as evil. "I believe there

is genuine evil in the world," Poling writes, "because I have

seen it with my own eyes, and because I have experienced it in my

own life" (9). What is evil? Evil is whatever violates persons

and destroys bodies and spirits. Evil is breaking the relational

web of life that connects one to another and to the earth. I

agree with Poling that it's difficult in the church to talk about

evil because doing so seems harsh, even judgmental. It's also

the case that many people believe that religion itself offers

real protection against evil, so it's especially challenging to

acknowledge religion's corruption and complicity in evil-doing.

Yet, as Poling points out, precisely "because of the trust of

people in religion, it thus becomes a favorite hiding place for

evil, because it is the last place most of us are inclined to

look" (10). For this very reason, a mature faith must be clear-

sighted enough to recognize that "genuine evil is real, that it

is organized and powerful, that it is destructive to bodies and

spirits, and that it is always hidden under some claim to

goodness and legitimacy" (11).

Is it any wonder, then, that evil often uses religion to mask and

hide itself, to make it appear as if evil is not really evil but

rather something virtuous, just, even loving? In the nineteenth

century, some Presbyterians were slave-owners. They justified to

themselves that keeping slaves was "for their [the slaves'] own

good." Surely evil lies in such individual acts of cruelty, but

more insidiously, evil becomes routinized in everyday attitudes

and practices that over time are taken for granted as "the way

things are." Innocently or not so innocently, we let our

corporate institutions do our sinning for us, and in so doing, we

uphold the pretense of our having "clean hands." As Poling

recounts, no Christian community except the Quakers disentangled

from the evil of human bondage. Yes, it's true that Baptist,

Methodist, and Presbyterian bodies all "passed laudable

resolutions against slavery, but at the same time [they]

continued to receive into membership owners of [slaves], and even

to ordain slaveholders to the ministry" (12). Despite great evil

done, no evil was seen, in large part because white Christians

did not listen to, nor even noticed, the African peoples among

them as real, as persons with moral standing. What's the lesson

here? Without access to a counter-story, to a counter-theology

that can explicitly name and challenge white racial ideology and

racist morality as evil, the evil done is evil not seen. Because

it wasn't seen, it wasn't resisted. Religion was co-opted to

help mystify and legitimate oppression. White Presbyterians,

among others, cried "peace, peace" but there was no peace, and

heaven mourned.

Poling's conclusion is that "Evil is systemic and organized at

every level of human life, including the religious level" (13).

To gain a broader view of how evil organizes within the

contemporary church, I encourage you to read *A Moment to Decide:

The Crisis in Mainstream Presbyterianism*, published by the

Institute for Democracy Studies. However, I want to return to

the story of the 1991 Presbyterian special committee on human

sexuality. Our mandate was to offer a fresh, prophetic word

about human sexuality. In particular, we were asked to explore

how the Christian tradition might better respond to the pain and

alienation so many people experience in this culture about

sexuality, as well as lift up the joys and pleasures of human

intimacy. What would a word of genuine good news be at this

historical moment? Part of our task, then, was to offer

critique, but the greater challenge was to put forth a positive,

morally compelling vision of human sexuality and Christian

spirituality. Following a good biblical numbering system, we

identified seven elements of a contemporary Christian sex ethic

to promote wholeness, responsibility, and mutual respect and care

among men and women, gays and non-gays, younger and older

persons, and so forth.

The 1991 sex report, *Keeping Body and Soul Together*, called the

church to embrace an ethic of justice-love. We wrote,

"Faithfulness to God ... requires seeking justice-love or right-

relatedness with self and others. We intentionally connect

justice and love in this way, to emphasize that genuine caring

for concrete human well-being is never content with a privatized,

sentimentalized kind of loving, but rather demonstrates a

devotion that enables persons and institutions to flourish in all

their rich complexity. Such love, such justice, such passion for

right-relatedness seeks to correct distorted relations between

persons and groups and to generate relations of shared respect,

shared power, and shared responsibility" (14). In Ginny-

language, our calling is to become justice-loving partners.

What I had not fully appreciated, until putting together these

remarks, is how the language of "justice-love" was our way,

modest as it was, to resist the church's wrong doing a decade

earlier. The evil done in 1978 was twofold: first, denying the

humanity of LGBT people, and second, in invoking "God's will" to

legitimize sexual injustice. At San Diego, as Presbyterians

voted oppression and then stood to sing shamelessly of love, at

that moment they broke apart the relational web of life, they

disconnected from their LGBT sisters and brothers, and they

invoked religion to grant them an easy conscience. However, make

no mistake. The love of God we're called to speak, sing, dance,

and embody is no sentimental, shameless, falsely innocent kind of

love. The love that redeems and offers new life is justice-love

that releases captives, feeds the hungry, restores sight to the

blind, and turns worlds and denominations upside down.

The call to practice justice-love remains, I believe, a timely,

hope-filled word, but by some accounts, wasn't this whole notion

"banned in Baltimore" when the General Assembly roundly rejected

the report? Not so! Whenever two or more are gathered in God's

Spirit to resist injustice and organize goodness, there is

justice-love! As Robert McAfee Brown observed in his

introductory essay to *Called Out With: Stories of Solidarity*,

"One of the great ironies of our Presbyterian history is that

this theme from the rejected report will turn out in retrospect

to be one of the most significant contributions to ethical

reflection that we have ever made" (15). The question before us

is this: In the midst of organized evil, how do we "organize

goodness"? What does justice-love concretely require of us? And

is our leadership bolstering the dying Christendom church, or are

we helping to prepare "another beginning"? I'll close by

offering a few thoughts.

First, Canadian theologian Douglas John Hall describes ministry

in our time as a calling to embrace "intentional dis-

establishment" (16). On the margins is where church is found.

Christian discipleship is, first and foremost, standing with and

advocating alongside those marginalized and disenfranchised by

church and society. Please don't hear this as romanticizing

marginality or powerlessness. Far from it! Dislodging the

Christendom church model is not work for the faint-hearted.

Standing on the margins and insisting on justice is messy,

tiresome work, and yet also an amazing opportunity for joy, much

fun, and for catching glimpses of a "new heaven and new earth."

African American social theorist bell hooks puts the matter this

way: of course, some people experience marginality primarily as

deprivation and loss. Many Presbyterians are certainly nostalgic

about, even greatly angry about the loss of the reputed "good old

days" when church schools and pews were full, when we occupied

the cultural center, and when others looked to us to call the

shots. Marginality, hooks reminds us, may indeed signal loss and

diminishment, but it's also a magnificent if uneasy gift,

offering a place to gain vision and to practice freedom. On the

periphery, standing alongside the dispossessed and exploited,

Christian disciples might reclaim the efficacy of living as

"yeast, salt, and light." Prophetic ministry enlists people like

you and me, in the large and small of their lives, to become

resisters to moral evil. One challenge is, how can we prepare

ourselves, and how can we prepare the next generation, for such

resistance?

Second, as a gay man, I readily see the LGBT struggle for justice

as a life-and-death matter, but none of our theologies and ethics

dares focus exclusively on a single moral evil or injustice.

Evil exists as a web of interconnected injustices. Each

complicates and reinforces the others. Because of this, while we

must stay strategically focused on what places us in primary

danger, we must also keep a broader, inter-structural analysis in

view. No justice movement can afford to ignore economic

inequities or sidestep how a globalizing capitalist system is

wreaking havoc upon vulnerable communities. Building stronger

communities means building stronger connections among people and

among their various justice struggles. The challenge is, how to

become allies across our social and economic differences without

losing our own particular justice focus? Part of the answer may

lie in recognizing that anti-racism work requires anti-sexism

work, which requires anti-homophobia work, which requires anti-

classism work, and so forth and so on.

Third, the evil to be resisted includes not only the evil done to

us, but also the evil we do. On this score, given how difficult

it often is to recognize our own complicity, we must rely on

others, perhaps especially our critics, to point out our

failings. The challenge is to expect ongoing criticism while

remaining non-defensive. Staying open and vulnerable depends on

securing a grounded sense of self-worth. On this score, it's

helpful to clarify that the moral problem is not being male,

white, or middle-class, but rather how those of us male, white,

and/or middle-class choose to live in relation to those who are

not male, not white, and not middle class. We have not lost the

moral capacity to make choices, and one choice is how to spend

our social privilege. Being a friend to others, even an

advocate, is important, but not enough. We must use our relative

social power to make change, one step at a time. As Suzanne

Pharr points out, that "means using privilege to make gains for

others rather than for oneself, using it to open doors to helpful

people, to sources of money, to information, etc. It means

moving out of the way for someone else to be in leadership, be

the face of the organization, be the major contact." Why is this

so critical? Evil breaks down trust. Sexism impairs trust

between men and women. Racism impairs trust between whites and

people of color. Heterosexism and homophobia keep men distant

from other men, suspicious and competitive. If we are to repair

the damage and begin to make justice real among us as mutual

respect and shared power, then trust must be rebuilt, and "For

trust to be [re-]built, those with privileges have to take great

risks, putting the loss of that privilege at risk on behalf of

the liberation of others" (17).

Finally, given Ginny's life motto that "life is too short to wear

tight shoes," I have a comment about putting on our walking

shoes. Ginny Davidson walks the walk, not just talks the talk,

and that suggests this closing story.

The gospel of Luke records the story of a widow and a judge. In

a certain city, perhaps a city like Rochester, there was a judge

who didn't fear God and didn't respect people. A widow had been

wronged and took her complaint to this judge, but the judge

denied her petition. Because of this judicial inaction, her

wrong was doubled: the original harm to her was compounded by the

subsequent dismissal of her cause. Rather than accepting the

judge's verdict as final, this woman insisted that justice be

done, and she kept coming back to the judge, again and again,

insisting that justice be done -- and that he be the one to do

it. Over and over, the judge refused, but this widow kept

returning, demanding a fair hearing. Finally, the judge

relented, saying, "Though I have no fear of God and no respect

for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will

grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually

coming at me." Ginny Davidson, like the feisty widow, knows that

at the heart of faithful living in these times lies the virtue of

"holy nagging." Each of us must ask, how and where can I, how

and where can we practice "holy nagging" and not lose hope?

Better yet, following Mary Daly's lead, perhaps we should be

thinking not of holy nagging but rather of "holy hagging." A hag

lives in defiance of patriarchal norms as an independent, non-

compliant woman whom Daly celebrates as "an example of strength,

courage, and wisdom" (18). A hag claims and shares her moral

wisdom to strengthen her community.

We glimpse this creative, disruptive, and yes, odd Sophia-power

in the story Jesus tells of the feisty woman and the recalcitrant

judge. Jesus, too, exemplified holy hagging throughout his life

and ministry. As one of Sophia's children, he invited men and

women alike to join him on this path, together practicing the art

of holy hagging in the large and small places of our lives.

Together, as Sophia-partners and justice-lovers, that's the key.

No one becomes a virtuoso Sophia-hag alone, and equally so, as

Catholic feminist theologian Joan Chittister observes, "No one

becomes holy alone. Only constant, stable contact with others

brings us the self-knowledge it takes to become what God wants us

to be. No one is great without the friends or community that

calls our greatness forth" (19).

Without Martin Luther King, Jr., there would not have been a

civil rights movement. Equally true, without the civil rights

movement, there would not have been a Martin Luther King, Jr.

The two were both co-created and co-creating. So it is with

Ginny Davidson and her beloved Sophia-partners.

Blessings on you, Ginny, and on this justice-loving community

that continues to sustain you, fire you up, and call forth your

greatness. May you and we dare, God willing, to remain

faithfully, joyfully odd for years and years to come.

Notes

1. I do not have the citation for this quip and would welcome the

reference.

2. Virginia West Davidson, "Another Way: Speaking the Truth of

Our Lives," in *Called Out With: Stories of Solidarity in Support

of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Persons*, ed. Sylvia

Thorson-Smith, Johanna W.H. van Wijk-Bos, Norm Pott, and William

P. Thompson (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), p.

23, quoting Grandma Ros.

3. Suzanne Pharr, *In the Time of the Right: Reflections on

Liberation* (Berkeley, CA: Chardon Press, 1996), p. 95.

4. Adrienne Rich, *Your Native Land, Your Life* (New York: W.W.

Norton and Company, 1986), p. 6.

5. Virginia West Davidson, "Another Beginning," p. 2 (unpubl.

ms., 2000).

6. Ibid., p. 4.

7. Ibid.

8. Larry Rasmussen, "Shaping Communities," in *Practicing Our

Faith*, ed. Dorothy C. Bass (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Publishers, 1997), esp. pp. 124-126. The phrase "creative

deviance on the front line" is Ronald A. Heifetz' in his

*Leadership Without Easy Answers* (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1994),

ch. 8, pp. 183-206.

9. James Newton Poling, *Deliver Us From Evil* (Minneapolis:

Fortress Press, 1996), p. 113.

10. Ibid., p. 133.

11. Ibid., p. 119.

12. Ibid., p. 54, citing H. Shelton Smith, *In His Image, But

...: Racism in Southern Religion, 1780-1910* (Durham, NC: Duke

University Press, 1972).

13. Ibid., p. 112.

14. The General Assembly Special Committee on Human Sexuality,

*Keeping Body and Soul Together: Sexuality, Spirituality, and

Social Justice.* A Document Prepared for the 203rd General

Assembly (1991), p. 14.

15. Robert McAfee Brown, "Introduction," in *Called Out With:

Stories of Solidarity*, p. 9.

16. Douglas John Hall, *The End of Christendom and the Future of

Christianity* (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International,

1996).

17. Suzanne Pharr, *In the Time of the Right* (Berkeley, CA:

Chardon Press, 1996), p. 109.

18. Mary Daly, *Gyn/Ecology: The Metaphysics of Radical Feminism*

(Boston: Beacon Press, 1978), p. 15.

19. Cited in Meredith Jordan, "Prayers for Change," July 9, 2001

(a personal unpublished communication).

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

[Continuing our Celebration of Virginia Davidson!]

A Greeting from Mike Smith

(who was to present with Marvin and Sylvia)

Hi Ginny and Friends! What a treat to be a part of the

celebration of your 85th, Ginny, but what a bummer it's not in

person. I'm so sorry that an emergency has me needing to be here

rather than with you. My most heartfelt greetings of joy and

love to all on this wonderful occasion, and especially to you,

Virginia Davidson, wise woman, trail blazing feminist, justice

lover and advocate, mentor, and friend.

Just a few thoughts (Sylvia and Marvin will easily find something

to do with the rest of the time that was to be mine). New

beginnings: you're always nudging us there, Ginny, but first some

old stuff.

Twice I have been a commissioner to General Assembly, both in

Baltimore, and each time I made a great decision and vote. In

1991, I cast a vote in favor of the majority report on Human

Sexuality that Marvin and Sylvia had something to do with. In

1976, I voted for Ginny Davidson for Moderator. I didn't know at

the time how great a vote that was -- I didn't know Ginny then --

but I voted for her because she gave a clear, strong, unequivocal

response to the question of sexual orientation. She was for it --

all kinds! Ginny went on to be vice-moderator of GA and then

moderator of the famous task force on homosexuality that reported

in 1978. She and the committee did a superb and faithful job,

but once again, the fine majority report was not adopted.

Ginny did not slow down, she sped up, and she has continued to

lead us in the movement for sexual justice, often helping us to

make the important connections to other justice issues. I have

been blessed to have known Ginny and worked with her in some of

these difficult, yet joyful struggles, via COWAC (Council on

Women and the Church), PLGC/MLCN (More Light Presbyterians),

Voices of Sophia, countless feminist and LGBT conferences and of

course, all those General Assemblies.

It's been quite a ride! And today, instead of just a birthday

hoopla, Ginny once more calls us to look ahead and envision new

beginnings, new partnering. Ginny usually is out there ahead of

us. While we still have plenty of work to do in removing "B"

from the constitution, Ginny, for over two decades has been

challenging the fundamental leadership model of ministry in the

church, from a feminist, anti-patriarchal/hierarchical

perspective. Her masters thesis at Colgate-Rochester Seminary

titled Ministry: A Partnership Affair written in the eighties

reflects her wisdom about many aspects of partnership and

expresses her concern about connecting sexual orientation and

ministry with eligibility for ordination. No one has fought

harder or longer for LGBT ordination than Ginny, but for the

future she continues to warn us, as she did years ago in her

thesis, that "[o]rdination usually means co-optation into the

status quo of the professional ministry."

This older seminary graduate, who didn't want to be ordained to

the Ministry of Word and Sacrament, asked then and now, "Is

ordination itself the important goal? Is it the only way to be

validated for ministry?" "A hierarchical leadership model," she

wrote, "determines access to power and control within the

institution, making these questions critically important to

confront."

As pastor of a congregation, I was to add a local church

perspective to the discussion today. I have been advocating that

the present model of the office of pastor is not only fraught

with the patriarchal problems Ginny has long raised, but is also

impossible for most of us. That is, few of us possess all the

gifts and skills that are expected these days of the pastor of a

congregation. Not all preachers are administrators, not all

teachers are counselors, not all counselors are fundraisers or

planners, and not all have worship and music skills, etc.

New partnering models will, I believe, still require a leadership

component, but difficult as it is, ways must be found to share

leadership and not vest it all or even primarily in the one who

is gifted for the preaching or teaching role, which we ordain. I

suggest some discussion around the biblical notion of spiritual

gifts -- everyone has some. All are important to the well-being

of the body.

Through our baptism, we are all called to ministry. If

ordination were to recognize a person's commitment to discover,

own and use their spiritual gifts for ministry, then they would

have to do with function rather than position or office. And we

might be on our way to some life together in Christ's church that

resembled not exclusionary hierarchy, but inclusive mutuality and

partnership.

Have at it, dear friends. May there be freedom, justice and love

for all -- soon. And long live Ginny Davidson!

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

COMMENTARY

Before September 11 -- After September 11

A Reflection for the Presbytery of Southern New England

by John Merz

We are asked to reflect tonight about the impact of September 11,

2001 on our specialized ministries and our lives. So, here are my

prayer-inspired thoughts:

Before September 11, my clients at The Connecticut AIDS Residence

Coalition were poor, disenfranchised, ostracized, and living in a

world that was neither safe nor fair to them. People hated them

for what they have, and for what they do not have. They are

people of color, speak different languages, make love to persons

of the same sex. After September 11, they are still poor,

disenfranchised, ostracized. They still live in a world that is

neither safe nor fair. For them, the only difference is that

they now have a lot more company.

There have been changes since September 11, yes; but I think the

changes have been more jarring for many of you than for some of

us:

- Before September 11, most of you lived as if you were free

-- but not all of us did;

- Before September 11, most of you lived as if you were safe

-- but not all of us did;

- Before September 11, most of you lived as if you were

accepted and acceptable -- but not all of us did.

After September 11, you asked, "Why do they hate us?" and "How

can people hurt other people in the name of God?" and "When will

the next attack occur?" -- but some of us asked those questions

long before September 11, "Why do you hate me?" "Why do you seek

to hurt me?" "When will the next assault come?"

On September 11, we lost thousands of innocent men and women.

Tragic. Inexcusable. Unforgivable.

On July 4, 1991 we lost Paul Broussard, a 26 years old who was

beaten with a 2x4 with nails protruding from the end and then

stabbed with a hunting knife; on Christmas Eve 1993 we lost

Brandon Teena, a 20 year old who was brutally raped and beaten to

death; on October 12, 1998, we lost Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old

who was beaten and tied to a fence and left to die; and on July

16 of this year, we lost Fred Martinez, a 16 year old who was

bludgeoned to death with a blunt object. The list could go on.

All were innocent. All were murdered by those who hated them for

who they were. Three were gay, one was transgendered. Also

tragic. Also inexcusable. Also unforgivable.

During this Presbytery meeting, we will begin anew the discussion

on whether there is a place in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for

gays and lesbians. And my mind and soul cannot keep from making

the leap between the similarities of my clients, those in our

nation who have been murdered because of their sexual or gender

orientation, and those of us who are gay and lesbian in this

church. Before September 11, gays and lesbians were not fully

welcome in the PCUSA; after September 11, gays and lesbians are

still not welcome.

Yes, there have been changes since September 11, and now you too

live in a world that is neither fair nor safe. Welcome to an all

too familiar world.

Since September 11, slogans abound on billboards and car windows

and computer screensavers: Land of the Free, Home of the Brave;

One for all and all for one; You can attack our buildings but you

cannot attack our spirit; United we Stand; One Country under God.

Let Freedom Ring; God Bless America.

I hope that these are slogans that our nation can put into

action. I really do. Not into acts of retaliation but into acts

of love. And I hope that they are slogans that the Church, too,

will embrace. I hope that we are changed forever by the events of

September 11. Not just in our international dealings or in the

way we ensure homeland security. Not just in who we pray for but

whom we let pray. In the way we speak to and about one another

and the way we treat one another. In whom we ordain to Word and

Sacrament. I hope that we can become the land of the free, united

under one god, with liberty and justice for all.

Maya Angelou writes in her poem Equality:

Take the blinders from your vision,

Take the padding from your ears,

And confess you've heard me crying,

And admit you've seen my tears.

Hear the tempo so compelling,

Hear the blood throb in my veins.

Yes, my drums are beating nightly,

And the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free.

We pray that the holy war started on September 11, 2001 against

our nation will cease. Let us also pray that the holy war against

gays and lesbians also ceases. Otherwise, my friends, and I tell

you this truthfully, the assaults by those within our beloved

Church of Jesus Christ are no less hurtful than the assaults we

are experiencing at the hands of our fellow citizens and at the

hands of our international enemies. My prayer this day is that we

choose equality that we may all be free. In Christ Jesus, your

lord and my lord, I pray. Amen

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

When the church says no ... how do we say YES?

James E. Nicholson

[ELECTRONIC UPDATE ONLY]

Many good, God-fearing church people are struggling with "the

gay" issue. Struggle can be good. It allows for growth and

insight. Some are looking within their own conscience by seeking

divine guidance in their beliefs while others are depending on

their religious leaders for answers. Most are using a combination

of the two. The issue is very personal and incredibly challenging

as well as having the potential to be *life changing*. It can also

be divisive.

Many are only using their Holy Books when seeking definitive

guidance and the last word on today's issues including

homosexuality. The inherent problem with this is that the

majority of Divine Works were orally transmitted for generations

and only written after years of interpretation and story-telling.

Some chapters were added as afterthoughts and in retrospection of

events or times and reflect the position of the world's morality

and knowledge at that time. The Christian Bible, for example, has

numerous translations. With many versions of the same verse

having infinite meanings you have the ability to argue Divine

example with polar opposite viewpoints from the same chapters and

verses. This can be confusing for a layperson such as myself. It

can also be part of the longevity, beauty and sacredness of the

Bible for the reason that it has the potential to be very

personal and meaningful to each believer.

The Bible has been used in support of slavery, racial

segregation, and men's authority over women as well as the

foundation for many anti-homosexual beliefs. In reference to

homosexuality, there are two citations in the Holiness Codes in

Leviticus (though the majority of the codes have been thrown out

in today's society including wearing cloth of mixed fibers such

as poly/cotton) while all other commentary of same-sex practices

can be viewed as references to rape and prostitution. Jesus never

comments on homosexuality. Neither do the Ten Commandments or the

Gospels.

While God's Holy Word has often been used with judgment, it is

through divine grace the same Bible has been instrumental in

helping to end many of these aforementioned oppressive sentiments

and practices. Sacred moments of inspiration have evolved our

faiths and humanity causing us to reach for more in life.

Striving for the freedom to practice our faith in relationship

with God. The ability to grow and question was a cornerstone of

the Christian reformation movement of centuries past.

Unfortunately many of the reformed churches have stopped

reforming, becoming stagnated and rooted in their dogma.

One of the beliefs that many Christians, as well other faiths,

hold is that their religion is not just historic but lives inside

the believer. It is a living faith. The message of Jesus was a

radical change of the Hebrew and Roman world in which he lived.

He disagreed with and helped change many of the laws that were

held as steadfast components and requirements of the Judaic

faith. A new religion was born because of these changes.

Similarly Mohammed changed the world with his life. Buddha helped

the world evolve before either of these great spiritual leaders.

Religious leaders today help change our world and us. My question

is, do we as individuals also help change the world and the

structure of our faiths?

My answer is rooted in the belief that I must look at my faith

with open eyes. I must be ready to change what I firmly believe

based on what God brings to me. I purposely used the phrase "God-

fearing" in my opening description of some believers, because I

think this is a paramount difference in those that are open to

God's change and those seeking only God in an historical context.

When we are "God-fearing" we look at all the things we CANNOT do

in order to maintain our relationship with God, but when we are

"God-Loving" we seek to expand our relationship with the beauty

and diversity that God has created. When we look with love at all

that God has created we cannot label any of it as wrong.

Similarly when we only look for what God has said though

spokespersons we loose our ability to be open to what God says to

us individually. We close off our interaction with God. The

Creator speaks to each of us every second of every day, and

listening is up to us. When we do not speak out when we know

something is wrong we are guilty. If we see abuse and do nothing

we have become the abuser. When we see oppression and do nothing

we become the oppressor; likewise for discrimination. It is

called responsibility for our faith. I have come to an

understanding that my faith requires me to speak out against

judging any class or group of people. In the case of

homosexuality it is my group of people.

As a gay man I have worked hard to understand God and have faith.

I stopped trying to figure out why I was gay a long time ago, I

am and that is how God created me. To all those who say

homosexuality is something to overcome with God's grace, I

believe it is through God's grace that I am homosexual. It is

part of the uniqueness and diversity that was created in me. I am

not just a homosexual. I am an artist, an uncle, a son, a

creator, a lover, a writer, and a Christian among a limitless

number of possibilities. It makes me who I am, who God created in

love. I do not believe God makes mistakes and I am not a mistake.

What I do with my homosexuality is up to me and that is where

choice and responsibility comes in. Do I share my gift of love in

sacredness of relationship? Do I live my life as an example of a

good God-Loving person? Can I in good faith be all that God

intends? Can I grow as a Christian as I live my life?

Humanity has a wonderful ability to evolve and change as we

learn. I have never comprehended why we do not think God has the

ability to grow. While I find the concept of an omnipotent God

comforting, why would we as God's creations have abilities or

gifts God does not possess? My personal understanding of God has

changed as I have grown, searched and mediated. My conception of

humanity has also changed. While I firmly believe God has far

more knowledge than humanity will ever be party to, I also have

faith that God is always reforming and growing in scope. I also

believe it is expected that our religions should also grow.

And I believe God's growing is due in some part to humanity's

growth. As we become more our perspective of God expands. We no

longer worship the sun as a god, but put our faith in something

we cannot see with our eyes. Something and someone we can only

see in our hearts and it is when we look with our hearts that we

are closer to God. And each other.

There was a time when I was content not belonging to a Christian

church, when I believed I was not good enough to be a member,

more less a leader within my faith. This was before my peace-

making with God. It took years to come to terms with all the

hateful things that had been directed at me "in God's name"

because of being gay. The trouble with hearing them was that I

believed them. It wasn't until I became God-Loving instead of

God-fearing that I had a better understanding of my Creator and

our relationship.

Now I hear my calling. And I know it is from God.

God has said yes to me, now it is my responsibility to help the

church understand this even when they say no.

James E. Nicholson is a Presbyterian Elder in a More Light

Church and a commissioned Elder to Presbytery. He is also

Executive-Director of OutSpirit an inclusive gathering of

supportive faiths.

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

Calvin on Freedom of Conscience

by Sarah Melcher

Via the www.witherspoonsociety.org website, with thanks!

(The author is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Scriptures at Xavier

University in Cincinnati. She is an ordained minister in the

PCUSA and a graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Theological

Seminary (M.Div.) and of Emory University (Ph.D.). -- Doug King,

Witherspoon Society.

Sarah is also Jim Anderson's beloved cousin! Here she applies the

wisdom of John Calvin -- Jean Calvin in French! -- to Amendment O

and same-sex unions, but of course the same principles apply to

Amendment B -- G-6.0106b -- as well! -- JDA)

On the issue of using amendments to the Constitution of the

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in order to settle issues of morality,

I refer my colleagues to Jean Calvin's discussion in Book IV,

chapter X, in the *Institutes of the Christian Religion*. In this

lengthy discussion on the freedom of the individual's conscience

before God, Calvin cautions the Church against heaping up laws to

bind the consciences of human beings. By promulgating one law

after another to bind the morality of our fellow Christians,

"thus the Kingdom of Christ (as I have just suggested) is

invaded; thus the freedom given by him to the consciences of

believers is utterly oppressed and cast down."

Elsewhere in the same chapter (X), Calvin states, "Now let us

return to human laws. If they were passed to lay scruples upon

us, as if the observance of these laws were necessary of itself,

we say that something unlawful is laid upon conscience. For our

consciences do not have to do with men [sic] but with God alone."

The clear intent of Amendment O is to so constrain the behaviors

of fellow Presbyterians, so that they reflect the moral judgment

made by a supposed majority. By virtue of a simple majority vote,

Amendment O allows no church to make moral decisions about how

its church property shall be used. The important theological

process that should take place in decision-making, where

individual churches weigh their current circumstances in

conversation with Scripture and the traditions of the

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), while seeking the guidance of the

Holy Spirit, is utterly circumvented by Amendment O.

By voting in favor of Amendment O, we are saying that we do not

trust individual churches to make moral decisions in the matter

of homosexual relationships.

In my opinion, Amendment O represents an encroachment upon

pastoral prerogatives, as well as an encroachment upon the

freedom of the individual's conscience before God. Let us find

some other means to settle our disputes about moral behavior,

than to constrain the choices of others through the imposition of

the will of a simple majority.

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

GOOD BOOKS

*Reformation of the Heart: Seasonal Meditations by a Gay

Christian*, by Chris Glaser (Louisville, KY: Westminster John

Knox Press, c2001. 297 p. ISBN 0-664-22306-0 paperback). Reviewed

by Bob Patenaude, reprinted from *Lazarus Rising*, the Lazarus

Project newsletter (with thanks and permission!)

Not all seasons of the Christian liturgical year are created

equal. Half the year is devoted to Pentecost, an often shapeless

stretch of "ordinary time" which includes celebrations of several

national holidays, summer camp, and stewardship, but starting

with Advent and Christmas, then Epiphany, and finally Lent and

Easter, the other half is packed with ancient meaning. Chris

Glaser takes advantage of this disparity in creating a compact

book of meditations, *Reformation of the Heart*. For each day

between the first Sunday of Advent and Easter Day, Glaser selects

a brief, often poetic scriptural passage, brings his sharp

insight and good writing to it in a meditation, and then

concludes with a brief prayer -- all within a page or two.

Although Glaser sensibly refers to these mediations *by* rather

than *for* a gay Christian, he refers so often to gay

spiritual and church experience that one can conclude that the

book is probably written for lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgender Christians. Yet none of the meditations requires

esoteric knowledge, and anyone interested could learn much about

the struggles lavender folks encounter in their journeys of

faith.

I especially liked the way the readings progressed from season to

season. Advent and Christmastide are combined in a part called

"Let It Be According to Your Word." Christians already glory in

ancient Bible stories during this time, so Glaser labels each

day's meditation with the name of a Bible figure. Some are

obvious: Mary (repeatedly), Joseph, Elizabeth, Anna, John the

Baptist, and the Magi. But others are less obvious: Abraham and

Sarah, David and Bathsheeba, Moses, Rahab. The scripture

quotations are quite short, so he describes the context as he

moves to his point. When, for example, the scripture is the

annunciation ("The Holy Spirit will come upon you ...," p. 20-

21), Glaser explains how "the Spirit led Mary away from the

normal -- to conception first and marriage second" -- much the

way, Glaser writes, as the Spirit leads charismatic Christians

away from the normal. Then comes his application to gay life:

"The Spirit has led us too along a path most of us would rather

not have taken, being queer in Christ." His prayer is often

short, as here: "Mary, may we, like you, open our wombs to the

Holy Spirit, so that the movement that is born of us is

vouchsafed sacred."

Sometimes Glaser has great fun, leading off with which gay bars

Esau and Jacob would visit if they were gay and living (as Glaser

does) in Atlanta. But he seems always dedicated to making sense

of that great, roiling complexity of the story of our ancestors

in the faith. He dips into its most helpful parts, and seeks

clarification for our community in our age.

Epiphany constitutes the second part, the "Unbearable Light,"

resulting from unexpected revelations. Here Glaser usually keeps

close to the life and ministry of Jesus -- and thereby to our

life together. He notices how Jesus implicitly blessed sexuality

at the wedding at Cana (p. 100-101). He connects Moses' wearing

a veil to the gay and lesbian penchant for hiding oneself (p.

104-105). He expands (p. 118-119) the idea that "there is no

longer Jew or Greek." Psalm 73 is compared to a bitter queen's

lament (Glaser having fun again, p. 178-179); sleep is endorsed

(p. 198-199); Jesus' rhetorical question, "Who are my mother and

my brothers?" is pondered (p. 208-209).

The third and final part on Lent and Easter bears the title of

the book, "Reformation of the Heart," and Glaser turns up the

heat. "Unless we reform ourselves," Glaser writes in

introduction, "we cannot hope to reform the church. And in the

act of reforming ourselves, we reform the church." He wants us

to "restore the joy of [God's] salvation," not just the duties

(p. 224). He explains (p. 226), as the Apostle Paul did, that

"we are treated as if we have nothing to offer the church, and

yet we have everything .... We do not *need* the institutional

church. We *are* the church."

This talk of reformation certainly suggests that there are things

to change, but Glaser treads fairly lightly on gay and lesbian

failings. "We want ... to place limits on God, to keep God boxed

in convenient units -- dogma, churches, laws, and so on -- to

keep God in the closet. And we want to keep boxed up the *imago

dei*, the image of God, within us, too -- to stay in the closet

as a beloved gay child of God in the church and in the gay

community. The sacred is one more victim of overpackaging (p.

241)."

"All kinds of temptations bombard us in the wilderness of

heterosexism," Glaser writes later (p. 248). "The temptation to

give up. The temptation to go back to Egypt, perhaps not to

slavery, but to security of one kind or another. The temptation

to make a wilderness our way of life, to forever live with a

survivor's (or victim's) mentality. The temptation to accept a

theology of scarcity when it comes to God's grace. The

temptation to stay at an oasis rather than proceed to the

Promised Land. The temptation to worship something other than

God to make life easier: drugs, alcohol, sex, a lover, our

movement, even our deprivation or martyrdom. The temptation to

compete with others regarding how much we've suffered. The

spiritual life requires wilderness, I believe -- an opportunity

to rely wholly on God and discern who God calls us to be. But

wilderness is to God's realm what strategy is to goal and what

discipline is to accomplishment. Those who fall in the

wilderness may lose touch with their purpose, for anticipating

the result of our efforts makes even the wilderness blossom."

"Prayer is an invitation to reform our hearts even as we call our

church to a new reformation," Glaser writes. "Prayer heals our

wounds from the inside out, and shapes us inwardly to determine

the form of the church outwardly. Prayer welcomes God as Creator,

Jesus as Healer, and the Spirit as Redeemer of both our hearts

and our church."

When we set out to improve the world, we start with ourselves.

This book, made all the more handy by introductions and a

scripture index, and all the more touching by a moving tribute to

Glaser's late mother Mildred, could be a useful guide.

(Note: Glaser has also written *Communion of Life* (also

Westminster John Knox, 1999), a large (11" wide by 9") devotional

for those who like meditation without religious trappings --

although Glaser does sneak in implicit Christian references

("The sun's gospel / Proclaimed to earth's ends / Effortlessly,

gracefully / Baptizing us all, just and unjust / ..."). For each

of 48 days (12 cycles of four, corresponding to the four ancient

elements: earth, air water, and fire) he has written a blank

verse poem and paired it with a large, stunningly beautiful

National Geographic photograph. Very pleasant.)

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

Omnigender: a trans-religious approach, by Virginia Ramey

Mollenkott (Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2001. 198 p. ISBN 0-

8298-1422-1.

I have received a review copy of this book, so if anyone would

like to review it, let me know! In the meantime, here are some

comments from others -- it looks like a great book on gender! --

JDA

"A courageous cross of gender boundaries that pushes us beyond

our carefully constructed categories" -- Letty Russell, Yale

University.

"A powerful, refreshing vision of gender, our shared humanity,

and the Sacred Spirit! There is a wonderfully deep wisdom here"

-- Carter Heyward, Episcopal Divinity School.

"Gives transgendered people the chance to reclaim their

connection to God" -- Dana Rivers, International Foundation for

Gender Education.

"Picture a world where humans come in a rainbow of ... self-

defined gender identities .... This is the world Virginia

Mollenkott plunges into in her challenging, fascinating

*Omnigender*" -- Robert T. Francoeur, author of *Sex, Love, and

Marriage in the 21st Century*.

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

CHASTITY COURT CASE

Highest Church Court Declines to Deal with Chastity!

"What does the seventh commandment teach us? That all

unchastity is condemned by God, and that we should therefore

detest it from the heart, and live chaste and disciplined

lives, whether in holy wedlock or in single life. -- The

Heidelberg Catechism, *Book of Confession*, 4.108 -- the

only mention of "chastity" in the entire Book of

Confession!

The Osborne Decision

The Permanent Judicial Commission

of the General Assembly of the

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Decision

Remedial Case 214-1

Mairi Hair/James McCallum, Complainants/Appellants

Session, First Presbyterian Church, Stamford, CT,

Respondent/Appellee

This remedial case came to the General Assembly Permanent

Judicial Commission on appeal from a decision of the Permanent

Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Northeast (SPJC). This

Commission finds that it has jurisdiction; that the Appellants

have standing to appeal; that the appeal was properly and timely

filed; and that the Appellants state one or more of the grounds

for appeal found in D-8.0105.

History

This case concerns the examination for installation of an elder

(Elder), conducted by the Session of First Presbyterian Church,

Stamford, Connecticut (Church) on May 27, 1998, and again on

January 18, 2000 upon remand by SPJC through the Permanent

Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Southern New England

(PPJC).

The Elder acknowledged his homosexual orientation at a meeting of

Presbytery subsequent to his ordination in 1994 and prior to his

election to a new term of service by the congregation of the

Church on May 17, 1998.

Following the initial examination, the Session approved the

examination of the full slate of officers-elect and a service of

installation was scheduled for June 14, 1998. A stay of

enforcement was sought by the Appellants and was granted by the

PPJC on June 3, 1998. Due to this and subsequent stays, the

Elder's installation has not taken place.

A complaint was filed with the Presbytery of Southern New England

on June 9, 1998, alleging deficiencies in the examination and

error in its approval. Following the trial in February 1999, the

PPJC upheld the Session's action. An appeal was lodged with the

Synod. In October 1999, the SPJC sustained the appeal in part

with remand to the PPJC to instruct the Session to reopen and

complete the examination of the Elder.

After additional questioning, the Session again approved the

examination. Upon review of the Session report, the PPJC upheld

the Session's action. Appeal to the SPJC resulted in a ruling

that sustained the judgment of the PPJC. Appellants filed the

present appeal on November 20, 2000.

Discussion

Appellants allege two specifications of error (restated here for

brevity):

I. The SPJC erred when it failed to rule that the examination and

re-examination of the Elder disqualifies him from active service

on Session under G-6.0108b and G-6.0106b.

II. In the alternative, the SPJC erred when it failed to rule

that the examination of the Elder is still incomplete and

inconclusive as to his eligibility for installation under G-

6.0108b and G-6.0106b.

In the course of the hearing on appeal before this Commission,

counsel for the Appellee acknowledged that, subsequent to the

filing of this appeal, the congregation of the Church elected and

the Session installed a new class of elders filling all positions

on the Session. In Gallman v. Session of Oak Grove Presbyterian

Church (1996, 167, 12.044), this Commission held that the

election and installation of a full complement of new officers

effectively dissolves the former positions and renders claims to

those positions moot. We find this controlling in the instant

case. Upon the election and installation of a full complement of

elders, the Elder ceased to be eligible for installation, and

questions pertaining to the process of the Elder's examination

for service are moot. Since the Elder is no longer a candidate

for active service on the Session, the specifications of error

are no longer relevant to the disposition of this case.

Order

Therefore, it is hereby ORDERED that the case be dismissed.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Stated Clerk of the Synod of the

Northeast report this decision to the Synod at its first meeting

after receipt, that the Synod enter the full decision upon its

minutes, and that an excerpt from those minutes showing entry of

the decision be sent to the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of

Southern New England report this decision to the Presbytery at

its first meeting after receipt, that the Presbytery enter the

full decision upon its minutes, and that an excerpt from those

minutes showing entry of the decision be sent to the Stated Clerk

of the General Assembly.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of Session of First

Presbyterian Church, Stamford, CT, at its first meeting after

receipt, enter the full decision upon its minutes, and that an

excerpt from those minutes showing entry of the decision be sent

to the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly.

Leon Fanniel, Mildred Morales, and Christopher Yim, members of

this Commission, were not present for the hearing and took no

part in the deliberation or decision.

Dated this 2nd day of December, 2001.

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

MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS

4737 County Road 101, PMB# 246

Minnetonka, MN 55345-2634

732-249-1016, http://www.mlp.org

NATIONAL FIELD ORGANIZERS

Michael J. Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., 369 Montezuma Ave., PMB #447,

Santa Fe, NM 87501-2626, 505-820-7082, fax 505-820-2540,

MichaelAdee@aol.com

Katie Morrison, M.Div., KatieatMLP@aol.com (address and phone to

come after a move).

MLP OFFICERS

Officers are also MLP Board Members. The dates following each

name indicate the end of current board terms; an "I" indicates

board members representing individual members; a "G" indicates

board members representing governing body members.

CO-MODERATORS: Mitzi Henderson (2004-G), 16 Sunset Lane, Menlo

Park, CA 94025-6732, 650-854-2598, fax 650-854-4177,

mitzigh@aol.com; William H. Moss (Bill, 2004-I), 535 Steiner St.,

San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-864-0477, WHMoss@yahoo.com

RECORDING SECRETARY: Pat Rickey (2003-I), 13114 Holston Hills,

Houston, TX 77069, 281-440-0353, 281-440-1902 fax,

RickeyMLP@aol.com

COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY: Donna Riley (2002-G), 155 Prospect St.,

Northampton, MA 01060, 413-584-7935, dmriley@alumni.princeton.edu

TREASURER: John McNeese (2004-G), 1300 Brighton Ave, Oklahoma

City, OK 73120-1404, 405-848-7498, John3317@home.com

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

MLP Board of Directors

Ralph Carter (2003-G), 111 Milburn St., Rochester, NY 14607-2918,

716-271-7649, rcarter@rpa.net, voicemail and faxes: 1-530-380-

9722.

Tony De La Rosa (2002-I), 3016 Waverly Drive, #109, Los Angeles,

CA 90039-4115, 323-664-2787 (home), tonydlr@ix.netcom.com

Marco Antonio Grimaldo (2003-I), 221 Ridgemede, #109, Baltimore,

MD 21210, 202-669-2153, mgrimaldo@earthlink.net

Dick Lundy (2001-I), 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331,

952-470-0093, DLundy@Spacestar.net

Deborah Mullen (2004-I), 5050 South East End Ave. Apt 14C,

Chicago IL 60615, 727-947-6271 DMullen@McCormick.edu

Eunice Poethig (2003-I), 1000 E. 53rd St., #613, Chicago, IL

60615, 773-324-8624, ebpoethig@unidial.com

Katie Ricks (2004-I), 212 Adair St. Apt. E-7, Decatur, GA 30030.

(404) 377-9531, auntkatier@hotmail.com

Bear Ride (2002-G), 1680 N. Holliston Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104,

626-398-9936, bears@usc.edu

Mike Smith (2002-I), 1211 West St., Grinnell IA 50112, 641-236-

7955, michael.d.smith@pcusa.org

Erin K. Swenson (2003-G), 1071 Delaware Ave. S.E., Atlanta, GA

30316-2469, 404-627-4825, ErinSwen@aol.com

2002 NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Gene Huff, Ralph Carter, Bear Ride,

Brian Cave & Tammy Lindahl.

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

MLP National Liaisons

MORE LIGHT UPDATE, James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38, New

Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7500 ex 8210

(Rutgers Univ.), FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers Univ.),

JDA@scils.rutgers.edu

WEBSITE: Donna Riley, 155 Prospect St.,

Northampton, MA 01060, 413-584-7935, dmriley@alumni.princeton.edu

MLP DATABASE: Dick Lundy, 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331,

952-470-0093, DLundy@Spacestar.net

PRESBYNET: Bill Capel, 123-R W. Church St., Champaign, IL 61820-

3510, 217-355-9825 wk., 352-2298 h., Bill@Capel.com

CHAPTERS & LIAISONS: Michael J. Adee, 369 Montezuma Ave., PMB

#447, Santa Fe, NM 87501-2626, 505-820-7082, fax 505-820-2540,

MichaelAdee@aol.com

SEMINARY & CAMPUS GROUPS: Katie Morrison, KatieatMLP@aol.com;

Johanna Bos, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1044

Alta Visa Rd., Louisville, KY 40205-1798, jbos@lpts.edu

STRATEGY: Bear Ride, 1680 N. Holliston Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104,

626-398-9936, bears@usc.edu; Tony De La Rosa, 3016 Waverly Drive,

#109, Los Angeles, CA 90039-4115, 323-664-2787 (home),

tonydlr@ix.netcom.com

JUDICIAL ISSUES: Bear Ride, 1680 N. Holliston Ave., Pasadena, CA

91104, 626-398-9936, bears@usc.edu; Tony De La Rosa, 3016 Waverly

Drive, #109, Los Angeles, CA 90039-4115, 323-664-2787 (home),

tonydlr@ix.netcom.com; Peter Oddleifson, c/o Harris, Beach and

Wilcox, 130 E. Main St., Rochester, NY 14604, 716-232-4440 w.,

716-232-1573 fax.

PRISON MINISTRIES: Jud van Gorder, 915 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz,

CA 95060-3440, 831-423-3829.

SHOWER OF STOLES PROJECT: Martha G. Juillerat, Director, 57 Upton

Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-8792, StoleProj@aol.com,

www.showerofstoles.com.

THAT ALL MAY FREELY SERVE: Jane Adams Spahr, P.O. Box 3707, San

Rafael, CA 94912-3707, 415-457-8004, 415-454-2564 fax,

JanieSpahr@tamfs.org, http://www.tamfs.org

BISEXUAL CONCERNS: The Rev. Kathleen Buckley, 2532 Rosendale Rd.,

Schenectady, NY 12309-1312, 518-382-5342; Skidmore College

chaplain 518-584-5000 ext 2271, email kbuckley@skidmore.edu;

Union College protestant chaplain, 518-388-6618,

buckleyk@gar.union.edu; The Rev. Susan Halcomb Craig, c/o United

University Church, 817 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007, 213-

748-0209 ext. 12, fax 213-748-5531, scraig@usc.edu

TRANSGENDER CONCERNS: Erin K. Swenson, 1071 Delaware Ave. S.E.,

Atlanta, GA 30316-2469, 404-627-4825, ErinSwen@aol.com

YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT CONCERNS: Brian Cave, ClemsonBC74@aol.com

NRLR (National Religious Leadership Roundtable): Marco Antonio

Grimaldo, 221 Ridgemede, #109, Baltimore, MD 21210, 202-669-2153,

mgrimaldo@earthlink.net

ILGA (International Lesbian & Gay Association): The Rev. Tom

Hanks, Lavalle 376-2D, 1047 Buenos Aires, Argentina,

thanks@thanks.wamani.apc.org

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

MLP PRESBYTERY LIAISONS (www.mlp.org/liaison.html)

Arkansas: Greg Adams, 314 Steven, Little Rock AR 72205, 501-224-

4724, sgadams@Aristotle.net

Cascades: Janet Stang, 1244 Looking Glass Way, Central Point, OR

97502, 541-664-9189, stangp@transport.com

Charlotte: John Barry Mays, 1020 Arosa Ave. #5, Charlotte NC

28203, 704-358-8042, amayesd@worldnet.att.net

Cincinnati: Hal Porter, 4160 Paddock Rd., Cincinnati OH 45229,

513-861-5996, hgporter@hotmail.com

Denver: Laurene Lafontaine, 1247 Utica Street, Denver, CO 80204,

720-932-8772, lafden@earthlink.net

Des Moines: Mike Smith, 1211 West St., Grinnell IA 50112, 641-

236-7955, michael.d.smith@pcusa.org

Detroit: John Lovegren & Dan Isenschmid, 269 McKinley Ave. Grosse

Pointe Farms MI 48236, 313-885-9047, pointetox@CompuServe.com

East Iowa: Robin and Rick Chambers, 907 Fifth Ave., Iowa City IA

52240, 319-354 2765, RChamb2912@aol.com

Heartland:

Indian Nations: John McNeese, P. O. Box 54606, Oklahoma City OK

73120, 405-848-2819, John3317@home.com

Mid-Kentucky: Michael Purintun, 522 Belgravia Ct. Apt. 2,

Louisville KY 40208, 502-637-4734, michaelp@ctr.pcusa.org

Milwaukee: John Gregg, 3443 E. Waterford Ave., St. Francis WI

53235, 414-486-9939, jgregg@wi.rr.com

Missouri River Valley: Cleve Evans,3810 S. 13th St., #22, Omaha

NE 68107, 402-733-1360, cevans@scholars@bellevue.edu

National Capital: Jeanne MacKenzie, 725 3rd St. SW, Washington,

DC, 202-554-8281, jmackenzie@execware.com

New Hope: Jim Foster, 500 Meadow Run Dr., Chapel Hill NC 27514,

919-933-0498, j-efoster@mindspring.com

Newton: Laura Collins, 1 Wapalanne Rd., Branchville NJ 07826,

revlic@juno.com

New Brunswick: Jim Anderson, P. O. Box 38, New Brunswick NJ

08903, 732-249-1016, Jda@scils.rutgers.edu

New Castle: Patrick Evans, 91 E. Main St., #402, Newark, DE

19711, 302-266-9878, pevans@UDel.edu

New Covenant: Sara Jean Jackson, 4383 Fiesta Lane, Houston TX

77004, 713-748-4025, sjackson@netropolis.net

North Puget Sound: George Fuller, 5261 Dunbar St. Vancouver BC

V6N 1W1, Canada, 604-261-33417, loisf@interchange.ubc.ca

Northern Kansas: Tammy Rider, 100 2nd St., Claremont, MN 55924,

507-528-2086, trider@clear.lakes.com

Northern New England: Ken Wolvington, 118 Shore Road, Burlington

VT 05401, 802-862-6605, kenwolv@prodigy.net

Pacific: Lisa Bove, 570 N. Irving Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90004,

323-465-5745, lbove@chla.usc.edu

San Gabriel: Charles R. Houdek, 1420 Santo Domingo Ave., Duarte

CA 91010, 626-303-5531, crh68@webtv.net

San Francisco: Gene Huff, 658 25th Ave. San Francisco CA 94121,

415-668-1145, genehuff@pacbell.net

San Jose: Marcia Ludwig, 6247 Shady Grove Dr., Cupertino CA

95014, 408-255-8467, church@fpcsj.org; Derrick Kikuchi, 29 Mar

Vista Ct., Daly City CA 94014-1414, 415-586-1416,

derrick@wkmn.com

Seattle: Lindsay Thompson, 200 W. Mercer St. Suite 207, Seattle

WA 98119, 206-285-4130, tradelaw@thompson-law.com

Shenandoah: John E. Harris, 572 Atwood Drive, Gerrardstown WV

25420, 304-229-9227, john.harris1@ecunet.org

Southern Louisiana: Ellen Morgan, 2285 Cedardale, Baton Rouge LA

70808, 504-344-3930

Southern New England: Jack Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way,

Tiverton RI 02878, 401-624-6698, jackmlp@earthlink.net

Utica: Judith A. Westerhoff, 33 Mulberry St., Utica NY 13323,

315-853-6272, Br0adcloth@aol.com (first "o" is the number zero)

Western Kentucky: Michael Erwin, 426 St. Ann St., Owensboro KY

42303, 270-683-6836, pastor@centralpchurch.org

Winnebago: Dick Winslow, 111 E. Water St. #100, Appleton WI

54911, 414-731-0892, rwinslow@athenet.net

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

MLP Chapters (www.mlp.org/chapters.html)

MLP chapters provide an opportunity for local lesbian, gay,

bisexual and transgender Presbyterians and their straight allies

to come together regularly to carry out a variety of functions

and tasks which are seen to be important and appropriate for a

particular area. Some are large; others are small. Most meet

monthly, some less often but are always on call for taking on

strategic tasks. All are able to provide strong personal support

to their members for the individual journeys they travel at this

point in their lives and in the life of the Presbyterian Church.

Chapters themselves decide what specific tasks and roles they

wish to take on, based on the stated mission of MLP.

For information about organizing a chapter, please refer to our

brief statement called "Tips for Organizing a MLP Chapter." It is

found on our web page (http://www.mlp.org) or can be secured

along with other advice from our national field organizer Michael

Adee (369 Montezuma Ave., PMB #447, Santa Fe, NM 87501-2626, 505-

820-7082, fax 505-820-2540, MichaelAdee@aol.com). Corrections

and other changes in the chapter information listings should be

sent to Michael.

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

Seminary and Campus Chapters

LIAISON: Johanna Bos, Louisville Presbyterian Theological

Seminary, 1044 Alta Visa Rd., Louisville, KY 40205-1798,

jbos@lpts.edu

CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: Heyward / Boswell Society. Marilyn

Nash, 5757 South University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637,

mnash100@aol.com

COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: Imago Dei, Andrew Foster Connors,

404-377-2205, connors@mindspring.com; Katie Ricks, 404/377-9531,

AuntKatieR@hotmail.com, Columbia Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 520,

Decatur, GA 30031.

LOUISVILLE PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: Student Chapter.

Johanna Bos, 1044 Alta Vista Dr., Louisville, KY 40205, 502-8985-

3411, jbos@lpts.edu

McCORMICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: Acts 10:15, McCormick Theological

Seminary, Tanya Denley, 1047 E. Hyde Park Blvd., Basement,

Chicago, IL 60615, tdenley@juno.com; James Hicks, 1519 W.

Rosemont Ave. #2W, Chicago, IL 60660, 773-338-5278,

booyim@21stcentury.net

PRINCETON: BGLASS, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Straight

Seminarians, c/o Christine Gannon, SBN 430, Princeton Theological

Seminary, Box 5204, Princeton, NJ 08543, 609-497-9024,

CGannon104@aol.com.

SAN FRANCISCO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: SFTS More Light

Presbyterians. Shelly Holle, 2 Kensington Rd., San Anselmo, CA

94960, 415-482-0283, SHolle@sfts.edu; Mary Davis, 563 St. Mary

Dr., Santa Rosa, CA 95409, 707-537-1133, mrydavis@aol.com; Pam

Lupfer, 25 Richmond Rd., #303, San Anselmo, CA 94960, 415-457-

7906, loopslair@aol.com; Tim Shipe, timothyshipe@hotmail.

UNION-PSCE: Whosoever More Light Chapter, Union-PSCE, c/o Jason

B. Crawford, 3401 Brook Road, Richmond, VA 23227,

whosoeverunion_psce@yahoo.com.

MACPROTESTANTS AT MACALESTER COLLEGE: Macprotestants, Lucy

Forster-Smith, Chaplain, 1600

Grand Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105, 651-696-6298

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

Presbytery & Regional Chapters

Persons listed are moderators or contact

persons for each chapter.

BOSTON AND NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND: Ken Wolvington, 118 Shore Rd.,

Burlington, VT 05401-2658, 802-862-6605, ken.wolvington@pcusa.org

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND: Jack Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way,

Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698.

GENESEE VALLEY: Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY

14612, 716-663-6632; Ralph Carter, 111 Millburn St., Rochester,

NY 14607-2918, 716-271-7649, rcarter@rpa.net

PITTSBURGH: Robert J. Boston, Moderator, P. O. Box 15784,

Pittsburgh, PA 15244, 412-795-0828.

LAKE ERIE: Robin Cuneo, P.O. Box 201, Findley Lake, NY 14736, 716-

769-7394, cuneo@cecomet.net; Rev. Evon Lloyd McJunkin, 1721 W.

31st St., Erie, PA 16508, 814-864-1920, evon@erie.net; Rev. Kate

Irish Filer, 2816 Elmwood Ave., Erie, PA 16508, 814-676-4739,

KIF1@juno.com

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: "Open Doors," Dana vanBever, 3500 Russell

Road, Alexandria, VA 22305, 703-683-2644, jdvangreen@aol.com;

Jeanne MacKenzie, 725 3rd St., SW, Washington, DC 202-554-8281,

jmackenzie@execware.com

EASTERN VIRGINIA: Carol Bayma, 4937 Olive Grove Ln. Virginia

Beach, VA 23455-5218, 757-497-6584, Carol and Alice@gateway.net

TRIANGLE (NORTH CAROLINA): James R. Foster, 500 Meadow Run Dr.,

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8022, 919-933-0498, j-efoster@mindspring.com;

Jack Cover, Chairperson, 919-933-0498.

CHARLOTTE: John Barry Mayes, 1020 Arosa Ave. #5, Charlotte, NC

28203, 704-358-8042; Gwen and Cullen Ferguson, Chapter

Coordinators, www.gaycharlotte.com/morelight, mlpcharlotte-

owner@yahoogroups.com, amayesd@worldnet.att.net

DETROIT / SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: John Lovegren & Dan Isenschmid,

269 McKinley Ave, Grosse Pointe Farms,MI, 48236, 313-885-9047,

pointetox@cs.com

LAKE MICHIGAN PRESBYTERY: Rev. Janet Duggins, Westminster

Presbyterian Church, 1515 Helen Avenue, Portage, MI 49002

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: Dick Myers, 549 West Manor Circle, Bayside,

WI 53217- 1735; 414-228-7466, dmyers@execpc.com; John N. Gregg,

3443 E. Waterford Ave., St. Francis, WI 53235, 414-486-9939,

JGregg@aero.net

CENTRAL ARKANSAS: Greg Adams, 314 Steven, Little Rock, AR 72205,

501-224-4724, sgadams@Aristotle.net

LOUISIANA: Ellen Morgan, 2285 Cedardale, Baton Rouge, LA 70808,

504-344-3930.

OKLAHOMA: John McNeese, 1300 Brighton Ave, Oklahoma City, OK

73120-1404, 405-848-7498, John3317@home.com

GREATER HOUSTON: Lynn Johnson, 1625 Harold, Houston, TX 77006,

713-523-5222, tilj1@aol.com; Sara Jean Jackson, 4383 Fiest Lane,

Houston, TX 77004, 713-748-4025, sjackson@netropolis.net; Pat and

Gail Rickey, 13114 Holston Hills, Houston, TX 77069, 281-440-

0353, RickeyMLP@aol.com

GRACE PRESBYTERY (Dallas / Fort Worth, TX): Jean Martin, 1220

Brookside Dr., Hurst,TX 76053, 817-282-7449.

GRAND CANYON: Kimberly Murman, 303 E. Patrician Drive, Tempe, AZ

85282, 480-967-2767 kmurman@worldnet.att.net ; Rosemarie Wallace,

710 West Los Lagos Vista, Mesa AZ 85210, forster@asu.edu

NORTHERN NEW MEXICO (Santa Fe Presbytery): Jeanne and David

McGown, 2751 Via Caballero Del Sur, Santa Fe, NM 87505, 505-471-

7371.

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

MASTHEAD (Publication Information)

MORE LIGHT UPDATE, Volume 22, Number 4, March-April 2002.

ISSN 0889-3985. Published bimonthly by More Light Presbyterians

(for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns), an

organization of Ministers, Elders, Deacons, Members,

Congregations and other Governing Bodies of the Presbyterian

Church (U.S.A.). Elder James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38,

New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7500 ex 8210

(Rutgers University), fax 732-932-6916 (Rutgers University),

Internet: JDA@mariner.rutgers.edu (or JDA@scils.rutgers.edu),

DeWitt House 206, 185 College Ave., New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

Printer: Ken Barta, Brunswick Typographic. Mailer: Associated

Mailing Services Inc. Electronic version available via email.

Email Discussion List: MoreLightPresbyterians@yahoogroups.com (To

join, send email to: MoreLightPresbyterians-

Subscribe@yahoogroups.com; to leave, send email to:

MoreLightPresbyterians-Unubscribe@yahoogroups.com).

MLP home page: http://www.mlp.org

Send materials marked "For publication" to the editor.

PUBLICATION DEADLINES: 6 weeks prior to issue months. Most

material appearing in MORE LIGHT UPDATE is placed in the public

domain. With the exception of individual articles that carry

their own copyright notice, articles may be freely copied or

reprinted. We ask only that MORE LIGHT UPDATE be credited and

its address be given for those who might wish to contact us.

Suggested annual membership contribution to MLP: $50.00. Annual

subscription (included in membership) to MORE LIGHT UPDATE:

$18.00.

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

corrected version 2-16-2002.