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                        MORE LIGHT UPDATE

                           Winter 2003

                       Volume 23, Number 1

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                           HIGHLIGHTS



Time to Renew Annual Membership! * A Double Blessing * Why do We 

Seek Reform? * Charges & Court Cases * MLP Strategy: Shine the 

Light * Our Churches: Affirmation of Basic Christian 

Principles * On the Road Down Under, and in South Carolina * 

Biblical Translations * General Assembly 2003 * WOW 2003.



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                          FULL CONTENTS

        (Items in Electronic Version only marked with *)



*CHANGES

OUR COVER: 1st Presbyterian Church, Balwin Park, CA.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL IN MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS

FEATURE STORIES

     A Double Blessing: Two Dads and a Daughter Make a Family, by David Wall

     BUT SOME GAY AND LESBIAN PARENTS MUST LEAVE THE CHURCH

     Why Do We Seek Reform? Why Do We Care?

CHARGES AND COURT CASES

     Judicial Actions: The Status of the Heresy Trials, By Doug Nave

     No Charges in Morrison Ordination Complaints

     *Response to the Complaint of Paul Rolf Jensen, by Steve Morrison

MLP STRATEGY

     "Shine the Light": MLP Strategic Direction

OUR CHURCHES

     Affirmation of Basic Christian Principles, DUPC, Rochester, NY

     Reflections on the Coming Out Day Forum, by Jean Martin

     A Litany of Coming Out, by the Rev. Todd Freeman, Pastor

     *New More Light Church in Colorado

     *Reformation Sunday Celebration

     *A Response to Reformation Day

     *One Church's Efforts: Pasadena P.C., by Meg Morrison

     First P.C., Palo Alto Hosts More Light fundraiser, By Bruce Hahne

ON THE ROAD WITH OUR MLP NATIONAL FIELD ORGANIZERS

     Lessons from the Maori and an adventure down under, by Michael Adee

     More Light Across South Carolina, by Katie Morrison

MLP PEOPLE

     *Transsexual Candidate for PCUSA Ministry Affirmed: Sa`ra Herwig

     *A PCUSA Inquirer

     *Janie Spahr at Voices of Sophia

     *The Christian Homosexual: My Sister, My Brother: A Woman's 

          Journey, by Joan Jacobs

BOOKS

     The Art of Biblical Translation and Interpretation, by Tom Hanks

     *Bethlehem Road, by Nancy Crowe. Reviewed by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott

     Chris Glaser's New Book: **Henri's Mantle: 100 Meditations**

OUR ALLIES

     Help the Shower of Stoles Project Gather Stoles for WOW 2003!

     *Covenant Network broadens focus, PCUSA News Service

EVENTS

     General Assembly 2003: May 24-31, Denver, Colorado

     Our Special Seminarians Luncheon: The Movement Advances!

     WOW2003: God's Deliverance Is For All, August 14-17, 2003, Philadelphia.

     Other events.

MLP OFFICERS

     MLP Board of Directors

     MLP National Liaisons

MASTHEAD (Publication Information)



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                 *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.



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CHANGES



Katie Morrison has a new address: 22 Park Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 

02139. Phone and email has not changed.



Board member Katie Ricks is now in NC: Katie Ricks, 2504 State 

St., Durham, NC 27704, 919-220-0255, recassoc@mindspring.com



Sa`ra Herwig joins Erin Swenson as an MLP liaision for 

Transgender Concerns: Sa`ra J. Herwig, P.O, Box 474, Arlington, 

MA 02476, sjherwig@earthlink.net



And Erin Swenson has a new email address: erin@erinswen.com



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OUR COVER



Our cover features First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin Park, CA, 

the only More Light Church in San Gabriel Presbytery. From left 

to right: The Rev. Chuck Houdek, pastor, Sonnie Swenston, 

Melinda Forbes (just ordained an elder), the Rev. Katie Morrison 

and Helen Sloss.



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OUR PHOTOS



Other photos have been contributed by David Wall, Katie Morrison, 

Michael Adee, and the TAMFS folks of Rochester, NY. *Send us your 

photos -- especially photos of More Light Churches!*



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ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL IN MORE LIGHT PRESBYTERIANS



Individual membership in More Light Presbyterians is on an annual 

basis. All our members are now invited to renew their membership 

status and participation for 2003.



If you are not already participating in a local or regional MLP 

chapter and wish more information on how to connect with a 

chapter or to help organize one in your area, please contact our 

national field organizer, Michael J. Adee, 369 Montezuma Ave., 

PMB# 447, Santa Fe, NM 87501-2626, 505-820-7082, 

michaeladee@aol.com, or go to our website, www.mlp.org.



From the By Laws of our organization:



Article III, Section 2. Requirements for Membership.



Individual membership in MLP shall be open to any member of the 

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who submits an annual affirmation of 

support for the mission of MLP as set forth in Article II, 

promises to work for the transformation of the church, and pays 

annual dues to MLP in an amount determined by the Board of 

Directors.



Article II, Section 1. Mission



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

community of hospitality, the mission of More Light 

Presbyterians, Inc. (MLP) is to work for the full participation 

of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the 

life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)



MLP individual membership dues at this time have been set at $50 

per year *or whatever a member can afford*. Please use the 

remittance form envelope inserted in this issue of *More Light 

Update* to complete your membership renewal. Your returning that 

form with your check will be received by MLP as an affirmation of 

support for its mission. Online readers may renew on our website, 

www.mlp.org, or send your check and affirmation to MORE LIGHT 

PRESBYTERIANS, 4737 County Rd. 101, PMB #246, Minnetonka, MN 

55345-2634.



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FEATURE STORIES



                        A Double Blessing

              Two Dads and a Daughter Make a Family



                          by David Wall



December 4, 2002. -- It was March 31, 1989, the day after my 

daughter was born. I was officially on paternity leave at 

Princeton Seminary and excited and relieved that the weeks-long 

vigil of waiting was over. Finally, I was a dad! I spent the 

morning on campus passing out pink bubble gum cigars to my 

friends and colleagues and telling them the good news; it was a 

girl! I returned home exhausted and knowing that it would be 

another four days until baby would be released from the hospital 

and we would meet. I left my condo to go to the grocery store 

and then it caught my eye. There in the clouds, as the cold wind 

blew the clouds away following a brief rainstorm was a double 

rainbow! I had never seen one before. I paused and watched it, 

trying to trace the colors to the ground, but they both 

disappeared in the air. I did not know in that moment that I 

would be a single dad only briefly, that I would raise my 

daughter with another. Twin rainbows. And indeed it has been a 

double blessing. My partner Bob and I are blessed. God has 

granted us the gift of parenthood. We have the enormous 

privilege and joy of being parents to a wonderful, bright, 

socially exuberant, and caring young woman. Thirteen years after 

Elizabeth's birth, we still thank God daily for her coming into 

the world and changing our lives forever. We are two proud 

dads, who happen to be gay.



I believe that gay and lesbian parents who are raising children 

and living as families in congregations throughout the PCUSA are 

in a unique position to witness to the good news of Jesus Christ 

in their communities. We are raising our children in the church, 

a church that has, for many of us, provided us with the community 

of faith to nurture children as disciples of the One who welcomes 

all. The sad news is that it is often difficult for gay families 

to find a local church that is willing and able to provide such a 

loving and supportive faith community. I must admit that, at 

times, it has been difficult trying to protect my daughter from 

some of the hatred and ignorance towards gay and lesbian people 

that is evident in too many sectors of the Presbyterian Church. 

We have done our best to avoid such people and attitudes and have 

used the instances when this occurs to talk with our daughter 

about the central message of the Gospel: loving God and loving 

neighbor. This is all the more reason to find a faith-filled 

congregation in which to raise your child.



We, as a family, are invited regularly to speak to college 

students at Rider University and have been doing so since 

Elizabeth was in third grade. The professor recently wrote an 

article for an educational journal on our visits titled, "Putting 

a Face on Difference: A Gay Family Visits the College 

Classroom."[1] The students' reactions in their papers have been 

amazing to read. They have demonstrated to us that telling our 

story is helpful to people -- to students and future school 

teachers. Maybe we in the church could learn a lesson from this 

college class.



Thomas Groome, the well known Christian educator, encourages 

Christians to engage in shared praxis, "a group of Christians 

sharing in dialogue their critical reflection on present action 

in light of the Christian Story, and its vision toward the end of 

lived Christian faith." He asserts that at the heart of Christian 

education is the act of the people of God sharing our present 

personal stories within the community of faith. I wish to share 

a bit of the story of our "gay family," that is, a family that is 

headed by a same-sex couple, and how we are living out that story 

within the context of a community of faith.



Our daughter has found herself to be in the first generation of 

the new and growing "gayby boom," children being raised from birth 

by gay parents. When we gathered with other families in New 

Jersey only a decade ago, there would be about a dozen families 

with babies and a few toddlers. Now, when Lambda Families 

gathers there are hundreds of families with children of all ages: 

new families and families with a few teenagers, lesbian moms and 

gay dads, expectant couples, adopted children, dads with twins -- 

twins related to each other biologically and a biological son of 

each dad, lesbian moms who each have given birth to a child and 

the children who are biologically related to each other through 

the sperm donor.



I adopted Elizabeth at birth. During her first four years of 

life, Bob was known as "Uncle Bob." In conversation with various 

lawyers, it became clear that there was nothing that we could do 

to protect the bond between Elizabeth and Uncle Bob. If 

something were to happen to me, my biological family would have 

legal right to Elizabeth and Bob would have no legal standing at 

all. This is sad, but true for all gay families everywhere. We 

were deeply concerned and we asked the national and state ACLU to 

help us. The ACLU took our case and petitioned the court, asking 

that Bob be allowed to adopt Elizabeth as a second parent. 

Eventually, the ACLU won the case, although the case did little 

to change the laws in New Jersey. When Elizabeth was five, Bob 

adopted her and became her second dad. We soon discovered that 

the more challenging change was the birth certificate. Adopted 

children are issued new birth certificates and the adoptive 

parents are listed as the parents of the child. The problem for 

us was that the New Jersey birth certificate listed "father" and 

"mother" and the state wanted to list one of us as the mother. 

The struggle between our lawyer, Marsha Wenk, and the State 

Registrar lasted over six months with the state finally agreeing to 

offer an alternative birth certificate form which reads, "parent" 

and "parent."



Elizabeth's birth certificate issued in June 1995, the first of 

its kind in New Jersey, lists her two dads as her parents. This 

has proved to be the most important document that we possess. It 

is the only legal form -- at both the state and federal level -- 

that recognizes the three of us as a family unit. We cannot 

marry. When we travel throughout the U.S. and aboard, it is 

necessary that we carry a copy of the birth certificate.



Our family is surrounded by a loving and supportive community 

which provides guidance and love for the day to day issues and 

challenges of life and parenting in today's increasing diverse, 

complex, and at times hostile world. Many students in the 

college courses reflect following our visit, that we are not 

being honest when we tell them that it is rare for us to 

experience discrimination and hate in our schools or 

neighborhood. But this is true, it has been rare for us to 

experience this personally.



Parents and children in gay families should feel very comfortable 

when the church tells the stories of the people of the Bible. 

These stories are filled with alternative families. In fact, 

most are stories of people from alternative families as defined 

by today's traditional family.



Our home church has done an admirable job of including our family 

in all its activities. We are truly fortunate to be members of 

Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey. At every 

turn, the church has worked to make its doors open to all people. 

Two examples of working towards inclusion: many years ago, 

Nassau computerized its member data and purchased a software 

program to keep track of the members. Not long after the 

installation it was discovered that the software program would 

not accept same-sex couples at the same address, it would only 

accept heterosexual couples as input. The pastor was very 

apologetic to us. Fortunately, for us, that program no longer 

exists and same sex couples may now be listed.



When Elizabeth was a young girl, the church produced a pictorial 

directory of its members. We were delighted that the church 

included our family photo and displayed our family along with the 

other families. Later that year, the Layman did a front-page 

article on the church, and denounced it for all kinds of reasons, 

including the fact that it had a "family" in its church 

directory: a photo of two men and a little girl who one of the 

men had adopted. Typical of that publication's lack of 

journalistic integrity, reporting on hearsay and never going to 

the source, its story was not accurate. Yes, we were a 

family, but both of us had adopted the little girl!



"Which one?" six-year-old Elizabeth innocently asked. She had 

just been invited to dinner by a new found friend's mother while 

we were on vacation aboard a cruise ship. The mom had told her 

to ask her dad for permission to do so. I watched from a flight 

below as my daughter began to fly down the ship staircase anxious 

to settle the matter, when all at once she stopped dead in her 

tracks, turned back around to the mother, and asked, "Which one?" 

The woman smiled and chuckled and said, "It doesn't matter, you 

can ask either dad."



Double blessings -- two dads, and one daughter and one terrific 

local church, double blessings indeed.



Here is a list of our suggestions for gay and lesbian parents and 

churches based upon our own experience as a gay family, with 

help from a few other sources. Most would apply to any type of 

family, as indeed parenting is parenting, whether parents are 

straight or gay.



*1. Find a supportive and caring local church.*



2. Live in a state and or community that provide legal 

protections for you and your family, your employment, your 

housing, and other means of support.



3. Be as honest as developmentally appropriate with your 

children regarding their family and their beginnings. It's their 

family and they need to know the family stories. Children should 

never be knowingly deceived by what is said or unsaid.



*4. Find a supportive and caring local church.*



5. Choose a safe and welcoming preschool and school for your 

children. Do not assume that the school knows about your family. 

Tell them directly! Talk to the schools: to the principals and 

the teachers. Actively work for policies and curriculum that 

include your family. Children of all ages need to hear stories 

about families like theirs. You cannot be at school with your 

children, so you need to enlist the school's support in providing 

as safe and welcoming environment as possible.



6. Gather regularly with other gay families and share ideas among 

one another. Your children need to know they are not the only 

family with gay or lesbian parents.



7. Attend Family Week in Provincetown, MA, during the first week 

of August every summer. This is an opportunity to be with 

hundreds of other gay families from all around the country.



8. Enroll your child in COLAGE -- Children of Gays and Lesbian 

Everywhere, so she or he can network with other children.



9. The more "out" you are, the safer and healthier your children 

will be. Be as "out" as you can be, at work, in the 

neighborhood, and at church. Children need to grow up confident 

that it's O.K. to talk openly about their parents and their 

families.



10. As your child grows older, it is important that he or she have 

the opportunity to freely gather and network with other children 

who have gay parents. As your child moves into middle school and 

high school, give space to your child as to whether or not to 

"out" themselves as a child with gay parents in various arenas. 

As they grow older, this decision becomes more their own.



*11. And lastly, join a warm and inviting local church!*



What can churches do to support our families?



1. Welcome us! Invite us to have our children baptized and ask 

the community to support us as we raise our children in the 

community of faith.



2. Recognize us as a family and support our families. As we 

register our children for Sunday School, list both dads or moms 

as the parents. Invite us as a family to be greeters or to light 

the Advent candle. List our family in the church directory.



3. Pastors and directors of Christian education (DCEs) need to 

inform the Sunday School teachers about our families, so teachers 

aren't kept guessing who the parents are.



4. Make it known that all families are welcome in the church. 

Don't be afraid to use the words, "gay" and "lesbian." Our 

children use the words, and it is O.K. to name our families.



5. Give all children and youth permission to talk about their 

families.



6. Help gay families network with one another -- so we and our 

children can find means of supporting one another.



For further parenting support, local groups, and resources, 

contact: The Family Pride Coalition, www.familypride.org; COLAGE, 

www.colage.org; Children's books, www.twolives.com.



     David H. Wall is an administrator at Princeton Theological 

     Seminary, a certified Christian educator in the Presbyterian 

     Church (U.S.A.), and serves on the board of directors of the 

     Family Pride Coalition, the national gay and lesbian 

     parenting organization based in Washington, D.C. He lives in 

     Lawrenceville, NJ, with his partner Bob Houck and their 13 

     year old daughter, Elizabeth.



[1] Rice Jordan, Mildred L. "Putting a Face on Difference: A Gay 

Family Visits the College Classroom." *Transformations: The 

Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy.* Vol. XIII, No. 2, 

Fall 2002, pages 59-77.



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BUT SOME GAY AND LESBIAN PARENTS MUST LEAVE THE CHURCH



                     Why Do We Seek Reform?

                         Why Do We Care?



         Reprinted with thanks and appreciation from the

   Newsletter of MLP Greater Houston, Texas, #39, Sept. 2002,

                      Gail Rickey, Editor.



Sometimes I fear we Presbyterians get so caught up in what 

amendment or inner-church struggle is before us that we tend to 

forget what "being church" is all about. In this issue of the 

MLP newsletter we want share with you a story, a true story, one 

that could easily happen in our own city, our own neighborhood.



A couple joined a mainline church as an openly lesbian couple. 

Some members were happy, affirmed that their congregation was 

welcoming to all. Some members were unhappy, very unhappy, mad. 

They threatened to leave. The church created forums for open 

discussion of homosexuality. People debated. Pastors came under 

fire. A consultant was hired. Things calmed down, sort of. Then 

the couple brought their baby to be baptized. Some members were 

happy, one visiting heterosexual couple -- who years before had 

given up on the church in general, but drawn in that Sunday by 

pain in their lives -- decided to join such an open, healthy 

church. Some members were unhappy. Very unhappy. Very mad.



They threatened to leave. The church walls shook with fear and 

apprehension. The lesbian couple grieved. They didn't want to 

hurt or scare or upset a congregation they had come to love. They 

wrote the following letter. We've changed their names, their 

congregation, so that you can imagine they are your own.





Dear (Church Leadership Body),



Julia and I deeply regret that anyone would choose to leave this 

church home because of our presence and participation. Our focus 

has been to follow the example of Christ to the best of our 

abilities, and we believe that participating in the church and 

raising our children in a Christian setting is one part of doing 

what we have been called to do as Christian people and as 

committed parents.



The purpose of this letter is not to enter into a theological 

debate. Suffice it to say that many biblical scholars do not 

believe that loving, committed relationships between two people 

of the same gender are even addressed in the Bible. There is 

great debate about how to interpret the few scriptures which do 

address this issue. It is, however, clear that God asks us to 

work together as one body of Christ. At times it has been hard 

for Julia and me to live out this teaching, as it is hurtful to 

feel that there are those who would like to exclude us from full 

participation in the church. Yet we are called to work together 

so that the church can grow stronger and can more accurately 

reflect God's loving presence.



I struggle to live according to biblical principles and fight 

everyday against my own envy, pettiness, greed, and judgment of 

others. However, I no longer struggle with my sexuality or with 

my love for Julia because the Holy Spirit has, in a very real 

way, led me to the understanding that I am who God made me to be 

and that struggling against this gift is to struggle against 

God's intentions for me. I absolutely know this to be true. I 

believe we each need to seek a deeper relationship with God and 

must each study scripture, pray, and seek God's help in living 

the life we are called to live. I am puzzled when others claim to 

have a greater understanding than myself of the life I should 

live, as I alone am responsible for the choices I have made with 

God's guidance.



Many of our gay and lesbian friends do not understand why Julia 

and I would willingly submit to the scrutiny and judgment that 

comes with joining a Christian church, and it is painful for us 

to accept that this is what the church has come to mean for many 

of our friends. What they don't understand is that the church has 

been a place of refuge for both Julia and me at difficult periods 

of our lives. For myself, the church was the only place in which 

I could find a home when I was an awkward and depressed teenager. 

When I struggled against myself and who God created me to be, God 

Himself carried me out of that abyss. Our friends don't 

understand that we know the Holy Spirit is moving through our 

church and creating miracles of every sort.



We want to worship and celebrate God's presence in our lives with 

fellow Christians. We know this church to be a church with deeply 

caring and committed members and we grieve the loss with everyone 

else of any church members. We certainly do not wish to be the 

reason that others choose to separate themselves from the church. 

We would ask that all members of the congregation work together 

toward a deeper understanding so that we as a church can be all 

that God calls us to be. -- In Christ's love, Abby and Julia.



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CHARGES AND COURT CASES



        Judicial Actions: The Status of the Heresy Trials



                          By Doug Nave



         Reprinted, with thanks, from the newsletter of

              Presbyterian Welcome, November 2002.



The so-called "judicial season" has seen a number of complaints, 

both remedial (against governing bodies) and disciplinary 

(against individuals). However, the decisions in these cases 

have been overwhelmingly positive.



At last count, twenty disciplinary cases have been filed, 

nineteen of them by Paul Rolf Jensen, an attorney in Virginia 

whose actions have been disavowed by the session and pastor of 

his home congregation. Eight cases were lodged against Katie 

Morrison, a newly ordained and openly lesbian Field Organizer 

for More Light Presbyterians, and seven participants in her 

service of ordination. Another was filed against Rev. Dr. Jon 

Walton, the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in 

Manhattan, for that congregation's policy regarding ordained 

service of LGBT persons. A number of cases, including the 

accusations against Dr. Walton, have been dismissed by the 

Investigating Committees appointed to determine whether they had 

enough merit to take to a Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC). 

None of Jensen's allegations has resulted in the filing of a 

formal complaint against anyone.



On the remedial front the big news remains the General Assembly 

PJC (GAPJC)'s ruling in *Wier v. Second Presbyterian Church, Fort 

Lauderdale*, that sessions and presbyteries cannot engage in 

discriminatory examinations of openly LGBT candidates. The GAPJC 

ruled that inquiry about a person's relationships is proper only 

if the candidate has "self-acknowledged," in a "plain, palpable, 

and obvious" way, a specific practice the confessions call sin.



Two cases are pending before the GAPJC involving challenges to 

Redwoods Presbytery's ordination of Katie Morrison and West End 

Presbyterian Church, Albany, NY's installation of a gay elder. At 

the lower court level, Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, 

Cincinnati has challenged its presbytery's appointment of an 

administrative commission to inquire into that congregation's 

policies on ordination and inclusive marriage.



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



          No Charges in Morrison Ordination Complaints

             Out Lesbian Retains Status as Minister



     More Light Presbyterians, Media Release, December 15, 2002 

     Press Contacts: Mitzi Henderson, Co-Moderator, 650-854-2598; 

     Bill Moss, Co-Moderator, 415-864-0477.



Petaluma, CA -- In a letter dated December 4, 2002, the 

Investigating Committee appointed by the Presbytery of the 

Redwoods to look into allegations against the Rev. Katie Morrison 

said they voted not to file charges. All six allegations against 

Morrison were dismissed, five of them by unanimous vote of the 

committee. The complainant, Paul Rolf Jensen, a Virginia lawyer 

and member of St. Andrews Presbyterian in Newport Beach, CA, now 

has 30 days to make an appeal.



Morrison, a National Field Organizer for More Light 

Presbyterians, is an out lesbian. This is the first time an LGBT 

candidate has been open throughout the ordination process and 

succeeded in having his or her call affirmed and recognized by 

the presbytery. "We are so pleased that Katie can be fully open 

and faithfully live into her call," said Bill Moss, Co-Moderator 

of More Light Presbyterians. "We celebrate this news with Katie 

and her partner, and pray that many others called by God to serve 

this church will be able to live openly and answer their calls 

faithfully."



In a separate action on other complaints filed by Jensen, the 

Investigating Committee voted not to bring charges against 

Presbytery Moderator Rev. Mary Wright Gillespie, Executive 

Presbyter Rev. Brian Tippen, Rev. Barbara Rowe, and Rev. Carolyn 

Osborn, who were accused in connection with the presbytery-

approved ordination. Morrison's own father, Elder Steve Morrison, 

was also accused of participating in his daughter's ordination, 

but the session of Pasadena Presbyterian Church, which had 

jurisdiction for that investigation, decided not to bring 

charges.



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



          Response to the Complaint of Paul Rolf Jensen



               by Steve Morrison (Katie's Father!)



It seems to me that the crux of the accusation brought against me 

by Paul Rolf Jensen is that in participating in the service of 

ordination for my daughter Kathleen Morrison, I acted in "willful 

and deliberate violation" of my ordination vows as an elder in 

the Presbyterian Church, in particular the promise to be governed 

by our church's polity (G-14.0207e) and the promise to further 

the peace, unity, and purity of the church (G-14.0207g).



I did attend and participate in Katie's Service of Ordination to 

the Ministry of Word and Sacrament, held at The First 

Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo on October 21, 2001. I read 

the passage in Luke 18:1-8 which contains Jesus' parable about 

the unjust judge and the persistent widow. And I did participate 

in the Laying on of Hands at the conclusion of the service. I 

believe that the burden of my responsibility in this response is 

to attempt to convince you that my participation in Katie's 

ordination service was undertaken entirely in good faith as a 

serious, loyal, devoted, life-long Presbyterian.



My admittedly untutored understanding of the theology of 

ordination in the Presbyterian Church is that three essential 

things must happen. First, an individual must discern a genuine 

call to service in the church. Second, others in the church must 

affirm that such a call is indeed genuine and authentic. 

Finally, a duly constituted judicatory in the church must 

formally certify that call. I am entirely convinced that each of 

these things has happened for Katie.



First, I do believe that Katie has truly discerned a genuine call 

to service in the church. From the time she was an adolescent up 

until and past her ordination last fall, Katie has traveled a 

path of increasingly intense commitment to the church and 

increasingly clear conviction about the genuineness of her 

vocation. This discernment first began when she saw Lynn 

Cheyney, the first woman Associate Pastor in our church, as a 

powerful role model. It continued when her Pastor, Dean 

Thompson, encouraged her to consider seriously a vocation in the 

church. It further continued as she participated in her senior 

high youth fellowship group, sang in the youth choir, went on 

mission trips, did service projects, and attended the Youth 

Triennium as a delegate from the Presbytery of San Gabriel. It 

influenced her choice of college (Colby College in Maine -- in an 

entirely different part of the country) and her choice of major 

(American Studies -- about people's stories). This sense of call 

did not change when in her college years she began to comprehend 

and embrace the reality of her sexual identity. In fact, this 

new understanding of herself only seemed to intensify her 

commitment to openness, honesty, and integrity. It was 

manifested in her willingness to risk attempting to persuade 

perhaps unfriendly people that she was indeed motivated by a 

genuine call to service in the church. Her years at San 

Francisco Theological Seminary, her two internships (one in an 

African-American inner-city church in downtown San Francisco, the 

other at First Presbyterian Church, San Anselmo), and her journey 

through the long and intricate process leading from inquirer, 

through ordination exams, to candidacy, and finally to ordination 

have been characterized by a singular devotion to purpose. It is 

hard for me to imagine any person's sense of vocation being 

tested more severely or challenged more relentlessly than 

Katie's. Yes, I do sincerely believe that Katie's call to 

service in the church is real and genuine.



Second, when I participated in Katie's service of ordination, I 

was entirely convinced that it was a completely legitimate 

service authorized by the appropriate duly constituted 

judicatory. I had followed Katie's tortuous path through various 

Committees on Preparation for Ministry when she was an inquirer, 

both in the Presbytery of San Gabriel and in the Presbytery of 

the Redwoods. I was aware of her impeccable academic record at 

San Francisco Theological Seminary and of her success on the 

ordination exams (she even earned a "5" on the polity section!). 

I was cognizant of the fact that the Committee on Preparation for 

Ministry in the Presbytery of the Redwoods had advanced her to 

candidacy, that the Redwoods Presbytery had then certified her 

position as a National Field Organizer for More Light 

Presbyterians to be an "ordainable" position, and that on 

September 21, 2001, the Presbytery of the Redwoods voted 90-37 to 

approve her ordination. I was also aware that there were 

objections to this action filed by members of Redwoods 

Presbytery, but that the Permanent Judicial Commission of the 

Synod of the Pacific did not issue a stay within the required 30-

day time limit. In fact, on the day before the ordination, I was 

present as Katie received a call from the Stated Clerk of the 

Presbytery informing her that she could proceed with the 

ordination service, as there had been no stay. Furthermore, 

those officiating and participating in the ordination service 

included both the Executive Presbyter and the Moderator of the 

Presbytery of the Redwoods, the Pastor and Associate Pastor of 

the First Presbyterian Church, San Anselmo, eleven ordained 

Presbyterian ministers, and six ordained Presbyterian elders. It 

certainly seemed to me that every "i" had been dotted and every 

"t" crossed. I participated fully convinced that the 

requirements of Presbyterian polity had not only been met but 

honored. Yes, I sincerely believe that Katie has been called to 

service in the church, and, yes, I sincerely believe that her 

call has been legitimately affirmed by the appropriate duly 

constituted judicatory.



Now I come to what is of course at the heart of this matter. I 

am fully aware that Katie is a lesbian woman. I am also fully 

aware that in 1996, a majority of the presbyteries voted to 

include, and in 2002 voted to retain, the following provision in 

the *Book of Order*, a provision whose intention, I believe, is to 

bar homosexual persons from church office:



     "Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a 

     life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the 

     historic confessional standards of the church. Among these 

     standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity 

     within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, 

     or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any 

     self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin 

     shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, 

     or ministers of the Word and Sacrament" (G-6.0106b).



While admitting my awareness of these facts, I nevertheless hold 

that the church guarantees my freedom of conscience to believe 

that other provisions in the *Book of Order* so absolutely and 

fundamentally contradict what I perceive to be the intent of G-

6.0106b as to make it unconstitutional, and therefore to believe 

that Katie's ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament is 

both legitimate and fully supported in Presbyterian polity. I 

refer to the following two passages:



     "The congregation shall welcome all persons who respond in 

     trust and obedience to God's grace in Jesus Christ and 

     desire to become part of the membership and ministry of his 

     Church. No persons shall be denied membership because of 

     race, ethnic origin, worldly condition, or any other reason 

     not related to profession of faith. Each member must seek 

     the grace of openness in extending the fellowship of Christ 

     to all persons. Failure to do so constitutes a rejection of 

     Christ himself and causes a scandal to the gospel" (G-

     5.0103).



     "An active member of a particular church is a person who has 

     made a profession of faith in Christ, has been baptized, has 

     been received into membership of the church, has voluntarily 

     submitted to the government of this church, and participates 

     in the church's work and worship. An active member is 

     entitled to all the rights and privileges of the church, 

     including the right to participate in the Sacrament of the 

     Lord's Supper, to present children for baptism, and to vote 

     and hold office ..." (G-5.0202).



It is manifestly clear to me that Katie has fulfilled the 

requirements of G-5.0202 (active membership) and that the mandate 

of G-5.0103 (inclusiveness) unequivocally requires the church to 

welcome and honor her call to ministry. I am well aware that 

this argument, or something like it, in which these same passages 

have been cited, has been put forth by others, perhaps more 

cogently than here, and that whenever a judicial decision in the 

church has been reached, this argument has not prevailed. I can 

also see that my argument could be called a logical absurdity. 

Of course, G-6.0106b is not unconstitutional, because it's in 

the constitution, and it will remain constitutional until it is 

removed or amended by the vote of a majority of the presbyteries. 

Still, after some considerable anguish, I am compelled to recite 

again the words of G-5.0202 ("An active member is entitled to all 

the rights and privileges of the church, including the right ... 

to vote and hold office.") and G-5.0103 ("No persons shall be 

denied membership because of race, ethnic origin, worldly 

condition, or any other reason not related to profession of 

faith."). These words are clear, unambiguous, and unequivocal, 

and their consequences are inescapable. When they are set 

alongside the words of G-6.0106b, something akin to 

linguistic, intellectual, and spiritual paralysis results. It is 

utterly impossible for me to accede to these three provisions 

equally or simultaneously.



In conclusion, I must ask myself again: Did I, when I 

participated in Katie's ordination service, act in "willful and 

deliberate violation" of my ordination vows as an elder? It 

seems to me that any answer to this question must acknowledge 

what I was thinking and feeling at the time. What was my state 

of mind on that weekend last October? I can only answer that I 

was suffused with emotions of joy and gratitude that the second 

and third essential elements in my notion of the nature of 

ordination were being manifested. Katie's call to service and 

ministry (a call I had believed in for years) had been, and was 

continuing to be, affirmed by others in the church, and further, 

had been certified by a duly constituted judicatory. The 

furthest thing from my mind on October 21, 2001 was that I was 

engaging in an act of ecclesiastical disobedience or rebellion.



Even if I cannot persuade you to accept my interpretation of the 

passages from our constitution that I have cited, or to believe 

my account of my motives, I hope I have at least convinced you 

that I take this matter quite seriously, that I regard the 

promises I made when I was ordained an elder to be of supreme 

importance, and that I adamantly maintain that I have not 

violated them. Finally, it seems to me that Paul Rolf Jensen is 

diabolically attempting to force upon me a cruel and ultimately 

wicked choice -- a choice between denouncing my daughter and 

denouncing my church. That is a choice I am not now prepared to 

make, a choice I pray I will never be required to make.



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MLP STRATEGY



                        "Shine the Light"

                     MLP Strategic Direction



     Chicago, Illinois -- On September 29, 2002, during our fall 

     board meeting, the National Board of Directors of More Light 

     Presbyterians adopted the following statement entitled, 

     "Shine the Light," which describes the MLP Strategic 

     Direction with the offering of resources to support this 

     strategic direction.



     For more information about these resources please visit our 

     national website www.mlp.org or contact Michael J. Adee 

     (MichaelAdee@aol.com) and the Rev. Katie Morrison 

     (Katie@mlp.org), our National Field Organizers. -- Mitzi 

     Henderson and Bill Moss, Co-Moderators, and the National 

     Board of Directors, More Light Presbyterians.





            Shine the Light: MLP Strategic Direction



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

true community of hospitality, the mission of More Light 

Presbyterians is to work for the full participation of lesbian, 

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

ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." --

Mission Statement, More Light Presbyterians.





                           Affirmation



In the tradition of Christians in the Reformed and Presbyterian 

family, we affirm that Jesus is Sovereign in our lives, is our 

hope, and that the Church is bound to Christ's authority and 

thus free to live the lively, joyous reality of the grace of God 

(G-1.0100b). At this specific time of turmoil in our Church, More 

Light Presbyterians especially affirm our denomination's call 

to inclusivity and to the embrace of all of God's children:



     "The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) shall give full expression 

     to the rich diversity within its membership and shall 

     provide a means which will assure a greater inclusiveness 

     leading to wholeness in its emerging life" -- *Form of 

     Government* G-4.0403.





                           Declaration



More Light Presbyterians declare this to be a Season of 

Illumination in our denomination -- a time to Shine the Light on 

the hope we find in the inclusive love of God. That same light 

will expose the injustice of our church's policy and practice 

that excludes from ordination our lesbian, gay, bisexual and 

transgender sisters and brothers, as well as our 

denomination's steadfast refusal to recognize and honor the 

morality and sanctity of their loving, committed relationships.



                           Commitment



More Light Presbyterians recognize the value and necessity of a 

variety of strategies and direct actions to accomplish God's 

call to full inclusion and participation of all in the life and 

ministry of the church.



Therefore we stand in solidarity with and commit our full 

resources (see below) to those who are led by conscience as 

informed by God's Spirit not to cooperate with policies and 

structures of exclusion and oppression within the church. We also 

stand in solidarity and commit our full resources to those who 

struggle to live faithfully within the existing structures of the 

Church.



With energy, intelligence, imagination and love, we commit 

ourselves to work in partnership with individuals and groups in 

the movement for full inclusion to Shine the Light on the need 

for change in the PCUSA.



**MLP Strategic Direction Resources**: Advocacy, Congregational 

Support, Direct Action, Educational, Grass Roots Local Organizing, 

Judicial Support, Legislative Initiatives, Pastoral Care, Polity 

Primer, Related Organizations, Worship.



Adopted by the National Board of Directors of More Light 

Presbyterians, September 29, 2002. 



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OUR CHURCHES



              Affirmation of Basic Christian Principles



          Downtown United Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY





                 G-6.0106b and Freedom of Conscience



G-6.0106b of the *Book of Order* is inconsistent with our great 

theological and historical tradition of hospitality and 

compassion. The teachings of Jesus are reflected in the strong 

statements of inclusion and equality contained in the *Confession 

of 1967*, the *Brief Statement of Faith* and in the *Book of 

Order*. At the same time, our church proclaims that "God alone is 

Lord of the Conscience." We are only required to subscribe to the 

essentials of Reformed faith. Presbyterians honor freedom of 

conscience with respect to the interpretation of Scripture.



We will continue to be faithful to our church, but we do not 

believe that our Constitution and our theological tradition 

should be dominated by a single paragraph in the *Book of Order*. 

In fact, if our church focuses exclusively or even primarily on 

G-6.0106b, we ignore the great themes of the Reformed tradition, 

resist the Spirit of God and bring contempt on the faith which we 

profess (*Confessions* 9.44). It is not possible to ascribe a 

broad, punitive meaning to G-6.0106b, and, at the same time, 

implement the clear requirements of inclusion in our 

Constitution. We cannot agree with an interpretation of that law 

which subverts the welcoming essence of our faith and results in 

the categorical exclusion of all those persons who are in a 

lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender relationship. We do not 

believe that same sex relationships are inherently sinful. We 

will read and apply all Constitutional provisions in the light of 

the Constitution as a whole, and will make judgments concerning 

the life and character of all persons on an individual basis.



All of us should strive to lead chaste and disciplined lives as 

prescribed in the *Confessions* (4.108), and we should act with 

faithfulness and integrity in all our relationships. We believe 

that persons of strong faith, dedicated discipleship and love of 

Jesus Christ, and those who manner of life is a demonstration of 

the Christian gospel are eligible for ordination. (G-6.0106a).



We will continue to work to remove G-6.0106b from the *Book of 

Order*, and, in the meantime, we will interpret this law so as to 

permit the ordination of those whom we deem qualified.



This affirmation was adopted by the session of the Downtown 

Presbyterian Church of Rochester, NY, on October 15, 2002. We 

urge like-minded members to submit this affirmation to their 

respective sessions for adoption as soon as possible. Background, 

rationale, and references are discussed below.





                    Background and Rationale



Recent decisions of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial 

Commission have stated that churches and presbyteries must comply 

with all parts of the Constitution. There is no right to 

disregard or invalidate any section of the Constitution. We must 

interpret the Constitution to give effect to all its provisions.



We believe that these decisions give us the opportunity to affirm 

our entire Constitution and declare that G-6.0106b must be 

interpreted in this context so that the policies of inclusiveness 

and compliance can work together. This Affirmation rejects a 

narrow, exclusive interpretation of Scripture, the *Confessions*, 

and the *Book of Order* which others wish to force upon us. Instead 

it affirms our basic Christian principles with honesty and 

integrity.





                           References



*Confessions* 4.108: "Q. What does the seventh commandment teach 

us? A. 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."



*Confessions* 9.44: "God has created the peoples of the earth to 

be one universal family. ... Congregations, individuals, or 

groups of Christians who exclude, dominate, or patronize their 

fellowmen, however subtly, resist the Spirit of God and bring 

contempt on the faith which they profess."



*Book of Order* G-6.0106a: "To those called to exercise special 

functions in the church -- deacons, elders, and ministers of the 

Word and Sacrament -- God gives suitable gifts for their various 

duties. In addition to possessing the necessary gifts and 

abilities, natural or acquired, those who undertake particular 

ministries should be persons of strong faith, dedicated 

discipleship, and love of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Their 

manner of life should be a demonstration of Christian gospel in 

the church and in the world. They must have the approval of 

God's people and the concurring judgement of a governing body of 

the church."



*Book of Order* G-6.0106b: "Those called to office in the church 

are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to 

the confessional standards of the church. Among these standards 

are to live in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a 

man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons 

refusing to repent any self-acknowledged practice which the 

confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as 

deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament."



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             Reflections on the Coming Out Day Forum

             Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas, TX



                         by Jean Martin



     [Pastor Todd Freeman writes:



     Last month I sent an email announcing an upcoming exciting 

     program on coming out issues, complete with Michael Adee, 

     here at Bethany church in Dallas. I also included a litany 

     that would close the gathering. Well, I'm very pleased to 

     report that it was a wonderful experience!



     Jean Martin, chair of Bethany's Social Action Committee, was 

     the driving force behind this effort (the idea came from her 

     husband, John), which included great support from the local 

     Human Rights Campaign folks).



     Jean wrote the following follow-up article. Much to our 

     amazement it was printed in full in Grace Presbytery's 

     bimonthly newsletter, *Reflections*! The newsletter goes not 

     only to every church and clergy in the presbytery, but also 

     to every elder currently serving on a session. Our Synod of 

     the Sun paper did a pre-event article. Folks, we're making 

     progress! -- Blessings, Todd Freeman, pastor.]





Several years ago, Bethany made a conscious decision to stay in 

its Cedar Springs location even when the face of that 

neighborhood began to change. While many churches moved farther 

out to the suburbs, Bethany embraced the Oak Lawn community, with 

its large gay/lesbian population, and became a More Light 

Presbyterian congregation in 1979. More recently, Bethany 

extended its multicultural ministry with a Hispanic outreach that 

has doubled the size of the congregation, adding 60 Hispanic 

members.



As part of Bethany's ministry to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and 

transgender community, the Social Action Committee hosted a 

Coming Out Day Forum on Saturday, October 5. Bethany timed their 

conversation about love, trust and honesty to coincide with the 

annual October 11th National Coming Out Day sponsored by the 

Human Rights Campaign.



It is difficult to convey in words on paper the powerful impact 

of this three dimensional program, comprised of an educational 

speaker, panel presentation and small group discussion. Dr. 

Michael Adee, National Field Organizer for More Light 

Presbyterians, interwove his personal story and education about 

coming out issues in a way that connected the hearts and minds of 

the 50 participants. Michael told the group that coming out is an 

act of love. It is about affirming one's good creation and 

wholeness. And, this helps families and churches become what God 

intends -- places where love and acceptance is real.



A member of Presbyterian Parents of Gays & Lesbians (PPGL), panel 

member Roger Smith touched the audience deeply with his story of 

how their family received the totally unexpected news that their 

daughter is lesbian. He said he chose to change his ideas 180 

degrees to keep the closeness in their family that was of 

paramount importance to all of them.



Co-chair of the local Coming out Day Project, Gregory Pynes, 

talked about coming out to his parents. Even though his parents 

resisted his being gay, Gregory voiced that he knew that all 

their attempts to change him stemmed from love and concern for 

their son.



Melissa, also a member of PPGL, told participants that she was 

certain that sexual orientation was part of Gods creation and not 

a matter of choice before their son told them he was gay. She 

added that if she changed this about him, he would not be the 

precious person that he is!



Many attendees agreed that listening to Bethany member and 

panelist Nicole Pool helped them understand the difficult 

transition and opposition that transsexuals face. Volunteers from 

PPGL and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG) 

and a dozen members of Bethany facilitated small group 

discussions. In one group, a woman said that she was heterosexual 

and was not proud of that because of the prejudice that so many 

heterosexuals have toward gay people. In another group, a father 

said that he was grateful that his child grew up in an open 

church that offered education on sexuality.



Jean Martin, Chair of Social Action and parent of a gay son, said 

that what came through over and over from all participants was 

the depth of family love and the radical grace of Jesus Christ 

that holds families together while they feel as if they are 

spinning apart under the struggle to redefine their family to 

include a gay member. Bethany pastor, the Rev. Todd Freeman, 

stated that it is particularly important that this kind of 

reconciling conversation took place in a mainstream church. He 

summed up the essence of the event with these sentences from the 

litany he wrote for the occasion:



     As straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender 

     persons, we strive to affirm and be who we have been created 

     to be! As we encounter attitudes and acts of prejudice and 

     injustice, we remain assured that God is always with us and 

     for us, and that God wills for our lives wholeness and well-

     being!



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



                     A Litany of Coming Out

                by the Rev. Todd Freeman, Pastor



                      Coming Out Day Forum

                   Bethany Presbyterian Church

                     Dallas, October 5, 2002



Leader: As God created the heavens and the earth and called 

them good,



People: God created each and every one of us, and calls us good!



Leader: As God's creation includes and exhibits diversity and 

unity alike,



People: God created us as diverse persons, yet with the desire 

that we live together with all of creation in peace and unity!



Leader: As a multicolored rainbow reflect the spectrum of light,



People: We reflect the spectrum of human sexuality!



Leader: As straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender 

persons,



People: We strive to affirm and be who we have been created to 

be!



Leader: As we encounter attitudes and acts of prejudice and 

injustice,



People: We remain assured that God is always with us and for us, 

and that God wills for our lives wholeness and well-being!



Leader: As we discern the next step of our coming out, whether 

it be to our families of origin, families of choice, friends, 

coworkers, whomever,



People: We recognize that to live life fully we must take that 

next step, even though we cannot guarantee the reactions of 

others.



All: We give thanks that we are never completely alone, that 

there are others whom we find along the path of our life's 

journey who can provide love and support and genuine acceptance -- 

including God!



(Permission to reproduce, use, or adapt is granted.)



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                New More Light Church in Colorado



Mountain View Community Church, Aurora, CO, recently joyfully 

announced their decision to affiliate as a More Light 

Presbyterian Church. It is always inspiring to see churches make 

clear and concrete their welcome to ALL of God's Children, and in 

the midst of the persistent homophobia and heterosexism in our 

Church and in society, specifically naming lesbian, gay, bisexual 

and transgender persons in that welcome and statement of belief 

about their faith community.



Their church contact information, statement and a note from their 

pastor, Craig Peterson, follows. If you, your Session, Church, 

or More Light Chapter, would like to send them a message of 

appreciation and welcome to the more light network, their contact 

information is:



Rev Craig Peterson, Pastor, Mountain View Community Church, 10700 

E. Evans Ave., Aurora, CO 80014-1006, 303-755-3799 (church), 

pastorcraigpeterson@yahoo.com.



                         Their statement



As a Christian Community, we seek to be inclusive of all persons 

without regard to age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual 

orientation, gender identity, religious background, marital 

status, economic status or personal ability. Recognizing 

individual differences, we believe that all can grow and practice 

a unity of faith. We welcome into the full life and ministry of 

our church all those who seek truth through the teachings of 

Jesus. As an ecumenical congregation affiliated with the United 

Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the United 

Methodist Church, we consider ourselves to be Open and Affirming, 

More Light Presbyterian and a Reconciling Congregation.



                 And, a note from their pastor



"We are an ecumenical church formed as a cooperative effort 

between the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church 

(U.S.A.), and the United Church of Christ. Over two years ago we 

began exploring the decision of whether or not to declare 

ourselves a welcoming community. We used the UCC materials for 

the Open & Affirming process and just today voted to become a 

welcoming community. Since we are a federated church 

affiliated with all three denominations, we therefore declared 

ourselves to be a Reconciling Congregation, a More Light Church, 

and an Open and Affirming Congregation. We look forward to being 

in relationship with you. --  Peace, Craig."



So, Craig with the members and leadership of Mountain View 

Community Church, Aurora, Colorado, welcome to the national 

network of More Light Churches, local Chapters, members, friends 

and allies. Your witness is encouraging and inspiring and we are 

grateful for you.



If any of you would like for your church, or a church you care 

about, to consider becoming affiliated as a More Light church, I 

would be delighted to work with you and that church on a 

discernment and educational process. -- With hope and gratitude, 

Michael J. Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., National Field Organizer, More 

Light Presbyterians, 369 Montezuma Avenue, #447, Santa Fe, NM 

87501, 505-820-7082, MichaelAdee@aol.com, www.mlp.org



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



                 Reformation Sunday Celebration

                  South Church Dobbs Ferry, NY



     "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And knock. And 

     knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, if any 

     one does, I will come in and we will eat together. At last" 

     (Revelation 3:20, more or less).



Contrary to what the *Layman Online* reported in the following:



     Renegades have trashed the Lord's Supper October 28, 2002



     Not satisfied with open defiance that threatens to shred the 

     Constitution of the PCUSA into so much confetti, an outlaw 

     band of renegades, who have the arrogance to still claim to 

     be Presbyterian though they have essentially said they have 

     no use for Presbyterian polity or discipline, have now 

     trashed The Lord's Supper!



     We've now had communion served from a "table" covered with 

     prayers affirming that which God has declared sin is now 

     holy. Maybe next time, there will be a pro-partial birth 

     abortion group that will want to use the table from an 

     abortionist's execution chamber.



Yes, contrary to this report, the Reformation Service hosted by 

South Church in Dobbs Ferry, NY, and coordinated by the Hudson 

River Dissenting Churches, Presbyterian Promise, and Presbyterian 

Welcome was deeply moving. The service began at 3 p.m. on Sunday, 

Oct. 27, the day when Presbyterians traditionally celebrate our 

roots in the Protestant Reformation and our call to be "reformed 

and always reforming."



The front of our bulletins read, "To go against one's conscience 

is neither safe nor right. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise," 

from Martin Luther's second appearance before the Imperial Diet 

at Worms, 1512. That statement and that principle which we hold 

dear set the tone for a moving and powerful worship service. 

After processing in to "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," and a call 

to worship that incorporated the voices of PCUSA members 

stating why they cannot comply with G-60106b, we were invited to 

come forward and place pre-written statements of our vision of 

the reformation we would like to see the PCUSA take onto nails 

that protruded from a door at the front of the sanctuary. One by 

one, worship participants pushed their hopes onto the nails. This 

was followed by a "fanfare for organ and nails." Between 

waterfalls of booming organ scales was silence, and then 

hammering by host pastor Rev. Joe Gilmore of South Church from 

the balcony above.



Dick Hasbany (of Presbyterian Promise and long time More Light 

supporter) read from Jeremiah 31:33. Host associate pastor Rev. 

Susan DeGeorge (South Church) and Rev. Cliff Frasier of Presbyterian 

Welcome NYC led the litany of confession which contained the 

congregational response refrain: "You have made a new covenant 

with us, and written its law of love on our hearts." One of the 

wonderful confessional parts was "Give us the courage and 

strength to confront others with compassion when 

misinterpretations of your law are given as reasons to exclude 

some of your people from the table you've prepared for us and 

from the ministries to which you have called us." Rev. Jean 

Holmes of Nauraushaun Presbyterian Church in Pearl River, NY, 

brought us a wonderful assurance of God's grace. Reaffirming 

this assurance was the Ambassador Chorus of the Gay Men's Chorus 

of NYC singing "Something So Strong Inside."



Rev. Liz Alexander of Church of Gethsemane, Brooklyn, NY, then 

read Matthew 13:24-30 from the Christian writings, followed by 

the heartfelt and faithful words of Rev. Hal Porter, pastor 

emeritus at Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, OH, who 

preached about the nature of the reform we seek and why in his 

sermon "Dissenting in Place."



The sermon was followed by a reaffirmation of the ordination vows 

of Presbyterian Elders and Deacons who are lesbian, gay, 

bisexual, and transgender. Lisa Larges (Regional Coordinator of 

TAMFS) and I (Katie Morrison) then invited everyone gathered to 

the joyful feast of all the people of God and we celebrated 

together the sacrament of communion on the door which became 

transformed into the table of the Lord's Supper. We said, "Come 

as you are. God does not rely on human divisions and prejudices, 

but welcomes all who yearn to be whole, who see in Christ Jesus 

the hope of the world." Lisa then broke the bread and lifted up 

the cup as I declared the words of institution. We said, 

"Remembering therefore Jesus' death and resurrection, we set 

before you this bread and cup, thankful that you have counted us 

worthy to stand in your presence and serve you as your priestly 

people." The Gay Men's Chorus sang as we all ate together.



Ray Bagnuolo, an Elder and candidate for Ministry at South 

Church, then read from Martin Luther's speech, ending with the 

words that we began with on the front of the bulletin. We 

processed out into the front of the church and sand together 

"Here We Are, Lord." Rev. Dae Eun Jung of Palisades Presbyterian 

Church in Palisades, NY, led us in the Benediction and sending 

out.



After the service was a reception and an information table with 

postcards pre-addressed to the Moderator and Stated Clerk of the 

General Assembly inviting participants to state their commitment 

to: Stay within the PCUSA and participate fully and faithfully 

in the life of the Church, including its judicial process; 

Support and encourage the ordination and installation of openly 

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons for church 

office; work and pray for a Church as inclusive as God's grace.



What an incredible service affirming the great power of 

reformation in the Presbyterian tradition! Our lives as a people 

in love with justice are refreshed and renewed by individual and 

corporate acts of conscience declaring our commitment to a just 

and welcoming church. What a joy it was to do this in community 

together at the Reformation Sunday Celebration and service of 

worship at South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, NY. -- 

Together We Serve, Rev. Katie Morrison



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



                  A Response to Reformation Day



Dear Clerk of Session, Dear Ministers,



I attended a moving and uplifting Reformation Day service at 

Dobbs Ferry last Sunday. As faithful members of the Presbyterian 

Church, my family and I are distraught that there is the 

sickening discrimination of G-6.0106b going on in our church, 

that it is not an all-embracing entity in the spirit of Christ, 

that ours and other ministers stand accused of violating church 

doctrine.



As many of us, I have experienced put-downs and "second class" 

status in my life. My church to me ought to be a place without 

those dividing lines of the world outside. I want my church to be 

a sanctuary with open doors, where I can be open and honest 

toward God, toward myself and my neighbors. The calculating 

phoniness, the hateful denials and the heartless bigotry of the 

world should not apply within those walls.



The church in Dobbs Ferry, which we have attended for over a 

dozen years is a wonderful, compassionate place. So many times we 

have come out inspired, challenged and motivated, because of an 

insightful sermon or a stirring testimonial. Countless times I 

have fueled up on strength in there to make it through the 

stresses and burdens of everyday life.



The bottom-line question to me is: Would Jesus be on the side of 

the discriminating or would he reach out and pull in "whosoever" 

he can into his circle of the faithful?



Rather than facing rejection or seeing certain courageous, 

believing brothers and sisters rejected, I would leave this 

denomination, because I know I can and do find Jesus outside of 

the Presbyterian Church.



Appealing for common sense, compassion and openness, I remain, 

Yours in Christ, Harry Deutsch.



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



For more information:





Visit the Reformation Sunday website: 

http://presbypromise.home.att.net/RefSundy/RefSundy.html



It now includes Hal Porters' strong message, the full liturgy and 

other resources used at Dobbs Ferry. The context, the 

responsive confession, the reaffirmation of ordination vows and 

Communion are included.



There is a link to the report on the Rochester service. More 

information will be posted as soon as possible.



Your stories, pictures and other info about the Reformation 

services you attended are welcome. -- Peace, Ralph Jones 

.



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



                      One Church's Efforts



The Pasadena Presbyterian Church (PPC) in Southern California 

recently presented a six-session adult education series entitled 

"Our Stories: Gay and Lesbians Seeking Sacred Space at PPC." 

The idea was conceived in one of the small group meetings of 

"Rainbow Families" and elaborated and endorsed by the Adult 

Education Committee of PPC. The Rainbow Families group is 

composed of folks with family members who are gay, lesbian, 

bisexual, or transgendered. The goal was to provide an 

educational opportunity for the congregation that might result in 

a more inclusive statement that would appear in the weekly church 

bulletin and other supporting activities that might develop from 

our discussions.



During the first session, the Rev. Dr. Mark Smutny set the stage 

by telling his own journey of enlightenment and showing the 

video, *Straight from the Heart*, narrated by Robert McAfee 

Brown. A short discussion followed with positive remarks.



The second session featured a gay couple from the congregation 

telling their own faith journeys, how they met, and their 

decision to be a part of the PPC congregation. Participants were 

very moved by the sincerity and depth of faith shown by these two 

men, Eric and Mark. The third session centered around the 

sharing of Melinda Forbes and her partner, Sonnie Swenston. They 

told their personal stories and also of the value of having 

Baldwin Park Presbyterian Church as a More Light Church in their 

lives. A number of questions were asked by those attending about 

the significance of becoming a More Light Church.



The fourth session included a panel of three parents and one 

sister sharing their journeys with a family member's coming out. 

This session was followed by a luncheon and viewing of the 

powerful video, *So Great a Cloud of Witnesses: The Story of the 

Shower of Stoles*. A dozen stoles were also displayed in the 

church sanctuary during morning worship prior to the first four 

sessions of the series.



The fifth session centered on a PPC couple of mixed orientation. 

The gay husband, a retired minister, and his straight wife 

generously shared their journeys of discovery, faith, and 

commitment. The final session was an open discussion led by Dr. 

Smutny. Reflections and questions were encouraged. Members of 

the congregation who attended the series expressed how moved they 

had been by the personal faith stories they had heard.



It was agreed that future time should be allotted to considering 

how PPC may express its welcome to LGBT people. While this was a 

first step, we must continue to consider other effective ways 

that PPC can express its welcome to gays and lesbians through the 

congregation's life and witness. We share with you about one 

church's efforts in hopes that you, too, will continue providing 

the educational opportunities that allow folks to keep seeking 

yet more light. -- Elder Meg Morrison, member of Pasadena Presbyterian 

Church (and our Katie's mother!).



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



              First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto

                   Hosts More Light fundraiser



On October 26, 2002, nearly 150 people crowded into the 

Fellowship Hall at More Light Church First Presbyterian, Palo 

Alto, CA, for the south San Francisco Bay premiere of *Family 

Fundamentals*, the newest documentary film from award-winning 

filmmaker Arthur Dong, producer and director of the critically 

acclaimed films *Coming Out Under Fire* and *Licensed to Kill*. 

The event, a fundraiser on behalf of More Light Presbyterians, 

featured special guest appearances and talks by national More 

Light field organizer Michael Adee and by PFLAG Los Angeles board 

member Brett Mathews, one of three gay children interviewed 

extensively in the film. More Light Presbyterians co-moderator 

Mitzi Henderson, a member of First Presbyterian Church, also 

joined the speaker list as a special unannounced guest.



In *Family Fundamentals*, an official 2002 Sundance selection, 

filmmaker Arthur Dong takes viewers into the private, and 

sometimes very public lives, of three conservative Christian 

families with gay and lesbian children. He asks: "What happens 

when parents believe that their own kids represent the very 

element that will lead to the destruction of the human race?" 

The film and the presentations afterwards gave Brett Mathews the 

opportunity to tell his story of coming out as the gay son of a 

Mormon bishop in the rural town of Erda, Utah. Brett served as 

First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1996-98. However due 

to the military's policies on gay servicemembers, Brett was 

ousted after a grueling 16-month investigation. Although he 

finally received an honorable discharge, Brett lost his top 

secret security clearance and was stripped of all veteran's 

benefits.



"This was a successful event for us in a number of ways," noted 

event organizer Bruce Hahne. "We brought the Bay Area More Light 

community together, we attracted a large number of non-MLP 

members who wanted to see the film, we learned a great deal about 

what works and what doesn't work when you hold a fundraiser, and 

we brought in several thousand dollars for More Light 

Presbyterians as well as a significant number of new 

memberships."



First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto is no stranger to LGBT-

supportive events, having been the host church for the 2000 and 

2001 "New Visions" series of pro-LGBT lectures, films, and 

worship which brought dozens of San Francisco Bay Area churches 

together as event co-sponsors. Through the contacts made and the 

mailing list built up from two sequential years of hosting 

events, First Presbyterian was able to reach out to a community 

much broader than its immediate membership to advertise the 2002 

film showing.



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



ON THE ROAD WITH OUR MLP NATIONAL FIELD ORGANIZERS



       Lessons from the Maori and an adventure down under



                         by Michael Adee



There is a Maori proverb carved into the left wall of 

Christchurch Cathedral, in Christchurch, New Zealand, asking the 

question, "What is the most important thing in life?" In the 

midst of this gothic Anglican cathedral in the middle of 

Cathedral Square, the center of town, I was startled to see a 

Maori inscription. The Maori are understood to be the first 

peoples of New Zealand, not the Europeans that would come later 

and conquer, claiming the land as their own. The history of New 

Zealand, like its neighbor, Australia, echoes our own history.



Back to the wall and the Maori proverb: "What is the most 

important thing in life?" And carved into that left cathedral 

wall was the answer. "It is people, people, people." Profoundly 

simple. And reflective of the Gospel and certainly of Jesus' 

teaching and interactions as recorded and told in Scripture.



I recalled Jesus' rhetorical challenge to the religious zealots 

of his day when he has criticized for doing good and caring for 

people, "Is the sabbath made for man, or man made for the 

sabbath?" What is the most important thing in my life, I pondered 

as I stared at that Maori inscription.



And, then my mind and heart traveled across the Pacific Ocean 

from this magical and mysterious land down under. I thought about 

this "more light" work that I do, that captures my imagination 

and my passion for a world and church that welcomes and embraces 

all. I thought about this very human institution, the Church, and 

I thought about the body of Christ. And, I wondered how the PCUSA 

would answer the question, and how the body of Christ would 

answer the question?



Well, I will keep asking the question. And, maybe it was no 

accident that this Maori proverb was on the left, not the right, 

wall of the cathedral.



I was in New Zealand after being in Sydney, Australia, where I 

competed in tennis in the Gay Games VI. And, where I participated 

in Amnesty International's Global Conference on Human Rights. 

They were sure asking the right questions there. Inclusion, 

participation and personal best are the values of the Gay Games. 

The Church could learn from the spirit of the Gay Games, 

envisioned by the late Tom Waddell, an Olympic decathlete in 

1968.



While I was wishing for the Church to be more like the Gay Games 

-- free, spirited, embodied, playful, passionate, fun, respectful 

and embracing of human difference, welcoming and valuing all -- 

including heterosexuals -- I found myself grateful for More Light 

Presbyterians, past, present, and those who will follow us in the 

future.



It is in these "more light" moments and intersections where the 

Church is, and can be, like the Gay Games. While on the south 

island in the small city of Akaroa, the door of the Banks 

Peninsula Presbyterian Church beckoned me to enter. Founded in 

1857, this modest church still had an active parish in this 

little town. The communion table was made from local totara wood. 

On the wall inside the entrance to the sanctuary was this 

statement entitled "Our Covenant" and it said: "We covenant to 

respect the diversity of belief among ourselves as together we 

grow in the understanding of God and of ourselves." It was their 

"more light" statement.



In the two months prior to my journey to Australia and New 

Zealand, I did field outreach work in Los Angeles, Chicago, 

Dallas and shared in the Three Sisters' Van Trip to Washington 

and Oregon with Martha Juillerat (The Shower of Stoles Project) 

and Janie Spahr (TAMFS: That All May Freely Serve). So, thanks to 

you I was able to do field outreach, education, and grassroots 

organizing to encourage and nurture clergy, lay leaders, and 

churches in five states.



Highlights of those field outreach trips include a visit and 

preaching at United University Church (UUC) on the USC Campus, 

Los Angeles, where Susan Craig is pastor and Bear Ride is the 

Director of their Peace Center. Since International Peace Day was 

just two days away I preached on peacemaking. UUC is an 

extraordinary church with more than a dozen ministries and 

mission programs being offered at any given time by this mighty 

in imagination, compassion and spirit, and modest in number 

congregation.



Thanks to the generous hospitality of Larry Nicholson, Director 

of Volunteers, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, I was able to 

make his home my base for a couple of weeks as I participated in the 

national Welcoming Church Program Leaders' annual meeting, and 

provided education for Lake View Presbyterian Church. Because of 

Pastor Joy Strome and a remarkable group of new and long-time 

members, this church is growing exponentially in numbers and 

contributions to its community.



Martha Juillerat and I traversed the Windy City with displays and 

educational offerings about more light and The Shower of Stoles 

Project. Martha is a member of the Welcoming Church Program 

Leaders' group, so we added some church outreach after our 

meeting while both of us were in Chicago together.



Thanks to Eily Marlowe and Eunice Poethig, and students from the 

Acts 10:15 Group at McCormick Seminary, we had a "more light" 

celebration fund-raising dinner along with TAMFS and The Shower 

of Stoles Project at the United Church of Hyde Park. Lincoln Park 

Presbyterian Church, St. James Presbyterian Church, and First 

United Church, Oak Park, were sponsors of the dinner and evening. 

About 80 people gathered for this evening and it became a family 

reunion in the very best sense.



The National MLP Board and staff met at McCormick Seminary and 

then I met with the new Welcoming Ministries, Inc. Board right 

after that. This new venture is to create resources and support 

for the Welcoming Church Movement and is the fiscal agent for WOW 

2003.



Thanks to the ingenuity and impeccable leadership skills of Jean 

and John Martin, the MLP Chapter of Grace Presbytery created and 

offered a "National Coming Out Day Warm Up" program on the Saturday 

before NCOD on October 11. Hosted by Bethany Presbyterian Church, 

Dallas, and Pastor Todd Freeman, the panel was a combination of 

Presbyterian parents -- a Dad with a lesbian daughter and a Mother 

of a gay son, a transgender woman from Bethany church, and a 

lesbian and gay man from the LGBT Community of Dallas.



Small discussion groups followed the panel and my keynote on 

truth-telling and coming out. In these remarkably honest 

discussion groups, everyone had the chance to share, listen and 

learn. A Bethany church member said to her small group that she 

was ashamed to be heterosexual because of the way heterosexuals 

treat gays. And, she told the same to me during dinner, a clear 

illustration of getting it and being willing to name heterosexism 

and homophobia as the problem.



Undoubtedly, history was made in Dallas that weekend as a 

mainline Presbyterian church hosted a National Coming Out Day 

event. This model was so good that I asked Jean and John if they 

would help me create a module and packet to be available for 

churches to offer similar programs next year. Do not miss this 

opportunity next October for your church and community.



Imagine being in a rental car with Martha Juillerat, Janie Spahr 

and me going to eight cities, visiting six churches and meeting 

with people in several homes, covering six presbyteries over two 

states, Washington and Oregon in six days. Such a "van trip" is a 

collaborative effort of MLP, TAMFS, and The Shower of Stoles 

Project and local "more light" leaders, clergy and churches. 

Offering local organizing help for us in the Northwest were a 

group of clergy: Dick Gibson, Heidi Calhoun, Don Taylor, Carol 

Smith, Peg Pfab, Donald Purkey and Doug Counsell.



As Martha or Janie shared their own faith journey or dreams for 

the Church, I watched the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender 

people sit a little taller and relax into the life-giving 

reminders of God's unconditional love and embrace. And, in every 

church or home, fierce and proud parents poured out their hearts, 

telling us how much they loved their daughters and sons -- and how 

much it hurt them that the Church would not accept or welcome 

their children. It was as if we became their daughter or son for a 

moment.



How can the Church not love and accept our children they asked 

us? Such holy and human moments grabbed us all across Washington 

and Oregon. Every time Martha shares stoles from The Shower of 

Stoles project, even if I have heard that particular story a 

dozen times in two days, it still grabs my heart-strings. And, I 

am so grateful that it does. Sometimes I wonder where the heart 

is in our Church. It seems that the fighting over who has the 

right interpretation of a Biblical text or a church law seems to 

squeeze the life out of us.



As the Maori proverb asks: "What is the most important thing in 

life?" It is people. It is not being right, or orthodox 

theology, or the pretense of a morally superior life. It is 

people -- and recognizing all persons as children of God, created 

good in God's image, unconditionally loved by God, and worthy of 

our welcome, love and respect. It is just that simple. And, by 

God it is within our reach. -- With hope and grace, Michael J. 

Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., National Field Organizer, More Light 

Presbyterians, 369 Montezuma Avenue, #447, Santa Fe, NM 87501, 

505-820-7082, MichaelAdee@aol.com, www.mlp.org.



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



                More Light Across South Carolina

                  19 outreach events in 9 days!



                        by Katie Morrison





                 Saturday, Nov. 2nd, Atlanta, GA



Brian Cave and I flew in from NYC and Boston into Atlanta where 

we were met and picked up by Mardee Rightmyer. After a quick 

lunch in Atlanta, we began our six hour road trip to Charleston. 

When we crossed the boarder from Georgia to SC, we stopped by the 

side of the road to pose by a sign that read, "South Carolina 

Welcome You!" We asked out loud, "hmmm, does South Carolina 

REALLY welcome ME?" Next we thought, "Well, we'll find out soon 

enough!" We then talked about how this is a question LGBT 

persons often ask of local church communities. When churches say 

"All Are Welcome," we still must ask, "Does that include ME?" at 

a time when so many churches actively discriminate and judge LGBT 

persons, citing Scripture and denominational sanction for their 

mis-treatment and denial of our relationships and families. As 

we continued to reflect together, we reaffirmed this trip we were 

embarking on. It was our hope that as we met with and shared our 

stories and opened up discussion with various communities across 

the state, that we would make some dent in helping churches and 

colleges embrace more fully their LGBT members. It was our hope 

that we would make a difference in the lives of LGBT persons who 

have been set outside, drawing them back into faith communities 

by letting them know about our work, mission, and the Good News 

that God loves them exactly as God as created them.



We arrived later that evening in Charleston at the home of Cinda 

and Morris Cave, Brian's parents. We were welcomed in, fed, and 

cared for by their wonderful hospitality.



             Sunday, Nov. 3rd, 7 p.m., Charleston, SC

                 (College of Charleston/Citadel)



We're off to a good start. This morning we attended two worship 

services where we were introduced: Dorchester Presbyterian Church 

in Summerville, SC, and then Park Circle PC in North Charleston. 

You may remember that we were unable to secure an invitation to 

have our evening event in a local Presbyterian Church. 

Specifically, Park Circle PC, whom we had hoped would host us, is 

the church whose session voted against it. So, it was especially 

important to us to be with them in worship regardless of our lack 

of welcome through the vote. Their pastor, Rev. Tom Harris, a 

former SFTS classmate of mine, is supportive and was good to 

introduce us. Also in support is his wife Sasha, who grew up 

across the street from Brian and has continued to be a dear 

friend of his. Neither church has had a formal study of any kind 

or much conversation on the issue so our visits were for planting 

seeds. We pray that at least one seed landed on fertile soil. 

Hopefully our being there and being introduced raised some 

awareness and will stimulate discussion.



We are all feeling good about how the program went this evening 

at Circular Congregational Church. We were all moved and 

inspired by the folks who showed up. There were 4 High School 

students, a 19-year-old from the College of Charleston, a Clemson 

grad who is getting ready to come out to his Southern Baptist 

parents, a parent who's child is beginning to formally transition 

in his gender expression from daughter to son (just beginning 

to take hormones), a Classics professor from College of 

Charleston who is also the advisor of their new gay-straight 

alliance, three Presbyterian pastors (one came out about having a 

lesbian daughter), and a young woman who is serving as a 

participant in Americorp and just moved here from Connecticut. 

She read about the program an hour earlier in a coffee shop. She 

just happened to read the article in the paper entitled "Gay 

Church Leaders To Speak Out" that Brian submitted to local news 

sources. So all in all it was really neat to kick-off the tour 

with such an eager and open group of folks. The conversation was 

really upbeat, positive and good questions were asked. AND most 

importantly, good connections were made for on-going work/support 

to happen locally.



Thank you for continuing to keep us in your prayers as we seek to 

bring More Light to the state of "Smiling faces, beautiful 

places." (I'm learning a lot about local culture from Brian. This 

really is the state slogan here!) I am very thankful to have the 

privilege of doing this work and especially to be doing it in 

partnership with Elders Mardee Rightmyer and Brian Cave. -- 

Together We Serve, Rev. Katie Morrison (the "Northerner," who is 

journeying in the region that fired the first shot! -- as I 

learned today in my American Civil War history 101 from a 

Southern perspective with professors Cave and Rightmyer.)



              Monday, Nov. 4th, Columbia, SC (USC)



Monday morning we drove from Charleston to Columbia to the LGBT 

Community Center of Columbia. We had lunch and did a more 

informal presentation and got to know our hosts better. Ed 

Maddene, who is an English professor at the University of South 

Carolina, and his partner Bert took care of most of the 

arrangements on a local level. Ed is also the advisor to the 

BGLAD group on campus. Rev. Tom Glenn, a spiritual director and 

part-time member of the staff at Shandon Presbyterian Church and 

Rev. Tom and Marilyn Summers, a local retired Methodist minister 

and his wife, also joined us for lunch and conversation. We all 

shared our stories and talked a bit about what churches are safe 

for LGBT persons and their families to attend in Columbia. There 

is a MCC church, but there are no More Light or other welcoming 

churches. We were glad to learn that Columbia's PFLAG is 

celebrating its 20th anniversary of activism in SC this fall. 

This city's PFLAG chapter is one of the oldest gay and lesbian 

activist groups in South Carolina. While listening to a radio 

show about PFLAG National in 1981, Harriet Hancock, mother of a 

gay son, was horrified to hear what Columbians (of SC) were 

saying about gays and lesbians. That experience prompted her to 

start a chapter. A 1989 gathering led to the state's first pride 

march and plans for there to be an LGBT community center with its 

own building.



We then met with Dr. Kevin Lewis, a professor of Religion who 

wasn't able to make any of our scheduled programs but wanted to 

meet us. Over coffee, we learned more about his story and 

learned that he is the son of a Presbyterian Minister. He has 

not been a church goer since moving to South Carolina in 1973 and 

wanted to learn about More Light and all that has taken place in 

the church since he was last involved. We did a quick 101 on the 

state of the movement. He was genuinely interested and says he 

would like to consider becoming involved.



After having my first ever "Chic-Fil-A" sandwich for dinner (this 

is a big restaurant chain in the region that I had never before 

heard of), we all headed over to the University to prepare for 

our evening program. About fifteen students, local church 

members, and graduate students came. We again shared our stories 

and then invited discussion. During the discussion, Shandon 

Presbyterian Church came up often. Some church members touted it 

as a welcoming and safe place for LGBT persons to worship. This 

was responded to by a lesbian woman who said that was not her 

experience. The members were surprised and said that there is a 

gay and lesbian Bible Study. This was a wonderful opportunity to 

talk about the good that becoming a More Light Church does for 

evangelism to the community. The young woman was also able to 

say to them, "How good is the welcome, if I don't know about it?" 

There was also a young man who was brought up Southern Baptist 

and brought questions about Bible and how we interpret "those" 

passages. He was asking from a very open place. He later told 

me that this is a really hard place for a gay man and that he is 

struggling to reconcile his faith and his sexuality. There were 

some great allies who expressed joy in our being there. They 

acted as if our program was water in the desert!



                 Tuesday, Nov. 5th, Clinton, SC

                     (Presbyterian College)



We arrived in Clinton, SC, just as a downpour began. At about 

11:30 we met Scott, an openly gay man on campus and the founder 

of Spectrum, Presbyterian College's LGBTA group. We gathered 

with students and faculty members in the private dining room of 

the cafeteria. Mardee, Brian, and I shared our stories. After 

some conversation, that group of students had to leave for class. 

Then a new group of students came and joined us and we shared our 

stories again. Both times of sharing were followed by questions 

and discussion. We then had a chance to hang out further with 

Scott and Brad (the one other out gay man on campus). We made 

more copies of resources and had a good time getting to know them 

better. At 4 p.m. we were to offer a second program, but due to a 

mix-up in communication, the word got out that the event was 

canceled. We went to the room anyway in case some students showed 

up. We were glad to see that along with Scott, one first-year 

student, the campus chaplain, and a religion professor came. This 

allowed for a more candid conversation about safety for LGBT and 

allied students on campus and possibilities for Spectrum and 

programs during orientation. Presbyterian College is clearly a 

difficult place for LGBT students. While there are some extremely 

supportive professors on campus, students shared that other 

professors openly crack gay jokes. It has not been easy for Scott 

and Brad as out gay men on campus. Others live in fear that their 

orientation will be discovered and gossiped about.



We are having the treat of staying in a B&B in Clinton that is on 

an Alpaca Farm and is absolutely fabulous! Mardee has left to go 

back to Atlanta to put in a couple days of work before joining us 

again, while Brian and I are enjoying the chance to re-energize. 

This is our fourth day and we've now been a part of nine 

programs/meetings. Tomorrow morning we'll be picked up by Susie 

Smith and make our way to Spartanburg, SC, where we will 

participate in several programs for students at University of 

South Carolina Spartanburg, Wofford College, and Converse 

College. Looking forward to a good night's sleep!



Wednesday, Nov. 6th, Spartanburg, SC (USCS/Wofford/Converse)



We were picked up from the fabulous B&B after a buck-toothed 

alpaca charged Katie! Our new tour partner Rev. Susie Smith and 

her dog Bailey picked us up and we then made our way to the 

University of South Carolina Spartanburg. USCS is an extension 

school of USC-Columbia and is about 30 years old. There are 

about 4,000 students at USCS and 25,000 at USC. Susie and I met 

over lunch with Dottie Metropol, the Presbyterian Student 

Association campus minister at USCS, Wofford, Converse, and 

Spartanburg Methodist Junior College. Brian, Susie, and I then 

met Betsy Eudey, the director of the women's center on campus who 

has initiated the Safe Zone program (resourced by NYAC -- 

National Youth Advocacy Coalition, www.nyacyouth.org). We 

supported and participated in their kick-off gathering. It was a 

really positive witness to the awareness building that the 

administration is seeking to provide for students. The staff 

persons there were very concerned that students seek them out as 

a resource if they are experiencing any homophobia and 

harassment. We learned that the University LGBT group, PRIDE, is 

in the process of being revived and is currently active as an on-

line discussion group. We were able to bring greetings on behalf 

of More Light Presbyterians and That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS) 

and talk about the importance to addressing the prejudice within 

churches as well as on campuses because the discrimination is 

most often church-perpetuated.



Next I got another taste of Southern cuisine when we stopped at 

what must have been one of the original "Krispy Kreme" donut 

shops. Susie and I posed by a poster advertising a local show in 

town called "Five Women in One Dress." We then drove around the 

campuses of Wofford and Converse Colleges. Susie used to be the 

chaplain for several years and taught in the Religion Department 

at Converse College. Next we connected with Rev. Carol Seaton 

and Mickie Williams who met us at Central Methodist Church. They 

drove from South Georgia to join us on the tour. It was a treat 

to have the chance to share about how the tour has been going and 

to prepare for the evening's program.



Our local contact, Joyce Harrison, the founder of the local PFLAG 

group, amazed us from the moment we met her. We found out that 

she started the local PFLAG meetings because two men whom she 

adored in her church home told her one day that they were leaving 

the community to attend a more welcoming church. She was 

devastated to think that fellow parishioners would not feel 

welcome. Between that experience and a close friend's daughter 

coming out, she decided there needed to be a local chapter for 

more awareness and education to take place. She became "more 

light" to us as she kept sharing more and more about the daring 

work she has help initiate in Spartanburg. She is considered a 

gay-friendly mom to many in the region. We joined the local 

congregation in their Wednesday night supper and met more members 

from PFLAG. The host pastor announced our program to those 

gathered for the dinner.



The program began at 7 p.m. in the church sanctuary. Katie opened 

the program introducing the organizations and why we are doing 

this tour. She shared her faith journey and about her call to 

ministry. She shared about the bumps in the road along the way 

and also highlighted that the road had been smoothed down some by 

those who have gone before and beside her in this movement. Brian 

then shared about having grown up in Charleston and attending 

Clemson University and his faith and coming out journey. Mickie 

shared so wonderfully about growing up in the 50s and 60s as an 

active Southern Baptist Belle in a small town in Georgia. She 

shared photos of old boyfriends and church camp and then painted 

the picture of the reality she faced as a lesbian woman in that 

environment. There were not the words or the resources to let her 

know she was still a child of God and could be who she was 

created to be. When later in life a minister let her know that 

the teachings of the church on homosexuality were wrong and that 

she was good in God's eyes as a lesbian woman, she realized that 

because she had believed the church's judgment of her, she lost 

27 years of her life, feeling so distanced from her community of 

faith. She then went on to introduce Carol Seaton who talked 

about having been a rural pastor and serving the church in all 

levels of the denomination. She ended by sharing about the joy 

and the sacredness of their relationship, a joy both of them 

discovered later in life. Susie Smith preached from her heart, 

sharing her faith and coming out journey. Most powerful was her 

sharing a poem she wrote about coming out as a birthing process. 

She also shared a picture of a turtle sticking its neck out and 

that this is the risk it takes to come out.



The evening continued as we gathered folks closer in a circle and 

had a rich time of questions and hearing other folks' stories and 

experiences in Spartanburg. We were delighted to meet a gay 

couple who are members at First Presbyterian. They asked several 

questions about how to initiate a More Light process at their 

church and are considering coming out to their session. There 

was another gay couple there that attends a local Presbyterian 

church as well. We also met for the first time on this tour a 

lesbian couple that is raising a child. They are members of 

Central United Methodist and feel welcomed there as a family. It 

was a warm, moving, and extremely positive evening. We felt good 

about the witness we made and the support and encouragement and 

resources we were able to offer. There were 27 in attendance.



Mickie, Carol, Susie, Brian and Katie went to McDonalds to 

debrief and talk about tomorrow night's program. Susie then 

drove Brian and Katie to the home of Betty Jane Crandall, a 

member at North Anderson Community Church Presbyterian, where we 

will be staying throughout the rest of the tour. Today was a good 

day.



Our PFLAG host, Joyce Harrison sent the following email following 

our program:



     This morning a new member of our church came up to me. She 

     said, "Aren't you the one that has something to do with 

     PFLAG?" I responded that I was. With tears in her eyes, she 

     said, "I just want to tell you how much it meant to me to 

     see your group at dinner Wednesday night and to see the 

     acceptance of your group. It was such a powerful moment for 

     me. I don't usually go to things by myself, but I was so 

     glad that I had come that night. When I saw that, I knew 

     that we had made the right choice in changing to this 

     church." She and her husband have just switched to Central 

     [Methodist] from a Presbyterian church in town because of 

     unfriendly remarks being made there about inclusiveness. I 

     was so touched by her remarks that it renewed my fervor to 

     keep on pushing for greater inclusiveness in our church.



     As for the program, I was so moved by each of your stories. 

     If you ever go out touring again or if I can ever tell my 

     story on behalf of bringing more light to churches, please 

     let me know. I believe so strongly that the inclusion of 

     LGBT people in churches is a matter of grace: grace being 

     offered to the gay community through the church and equally 

     importantly, grace being offered to the church by the gay 

     community. I wrote a reflection for the man who left our 

     church because he didn't feel fully welcomed. I really have 

     a hard time understanding why any gay person would seek God 

     out in a church setting, given the painful experiences often 

     encountered there. Still, I hope that none of you give up on 

     bringing about change to our churches. Katie is right, the 

     tide will inevitably come in. It is difficult to be a light 

     bearer, and I so appreciate you willingness to be one.



     Thank you again for the wonderful evening; each of you 

     deeply touched my heart.





               Thursday, Nov. 7th, Greenville, SC

                       (Furman University)



Susie picked us up and we went to North Anderson Community Church 

Presbyterian to make more copies of our resources (we can't seem 

to keep ourselves stocked -- a good sign that our resources are 

really useful to folks). We then drove about forty-five minutes 

to Greenville and to an Atlanta Bread Co. restaurant where we met 

and had dinner with students who are members of the FLAG group at 

Furman (the student LGBT group), members of AFFIRM (a support 

group for youth 16-22 in the community), and others who were 

helping to sponsor the evening program. We met some truly 

amazing students, all with amazing stories of growing up in the 

South and coming out in the South. One student shared about 

being a foster child and is still in the foster system, but is 

now volunteering to be a positive support to other foster 

children in Greenville. She shared about doing Bible studies 

with the young people and being able to use references from her 

life that they could relate to. What a gift and wonderful 

witness she was to us. A young man shared about how his 

parents attend PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-gays) in hopes 

that he will someday be in the category of "Ex-Gay." We had 

never before heard of the group and really felt for him and the 

hurt that this has caused him in his relationship with his 

parents. It was really wonderful to get to know some of the 

students before going over to the campus for our program.



The program was in a theatre in the Furman University Student 

Center. I went first, giving an introduction about who we are 

and sharing a piece of my story. Then Brian shared his story, 

followed by Mickie, Carol, and then Susie. There were great 

questions and we ended with a really nice discussion time. 

Students were really appreciative of the program and kept 

thanking us for being there. Our program was on the more 

evangelical side tonight. As Brian shared about his faith and 

how the church has been important to him in his coming out, and 

his relationship with God central, he inspired Mickie to share in 

a similar fashion, talking about how having to leave the church 

hurt not only her social and family connections to it, but also 

her relationship to God, how there was a great void. Both 

Mickie and Brian looked the students in the eyes and re-affirmed 

over and over that God loves them exactly the way they are. 

Carol and Susie then wove in the importance of the integration of 

sexuality and spirituality. It was wild to overhear a student 

after the program saying to her friend, "Hey I used to go to the 

Methodist Church in town and it's pretty welcoming, do you want 

to go with me? I'll go if you go."



Without fail, following every presentation we have done on this 

tour, someone in the audience will ask, "Do you know where a 

welcoming church is in this town?" It is always a joy to hear 

the question, and equally hard to not always be able to give a 

satisfying answer, since there are no More Light churches in the 

whole state of South Carolina, YET. We need to remind folks in 

the church that our work is greater than LGBT education and 

"personing the issue," but that it is evangelism for the church 

in the most positive sense.



The program tonight was co-sponsored by the Student Women's 

Awareness group, AFFIRM, a community youth group for LGBTQ young 

people ages 16-22, and PFLAG of Greenville. The current president 

of PFLAG and several members were there in support of the 

program. Wayne Cole, the Presbyterian Campus Minister, also 

attended. He had not been willing to be a co-sponsor of the 

event, but came to meet us. It is an interesting reality to note, 

that thus far on this tour, we have not been sponsored by or 

hosted by a single Presbyterian campus ministry or church. Here 

we are, three ordained PCUSA ministers, two elders, and a church 

member, but Presbyterian campus ministers have not invited the 

students they minister with to our programs. It is the women's 

concerns and LGBT campus groups that are thrilled to have us 

there and have made it possible for our program to come to 

campuses. Where are our Presbyterian colleagues? Why are they so 

afraid to embrace the positive outreach we are there doing?



After the program, several of the students stayed and we talked 

and hung out together for awhile. Brian and I talked about the 

MLP Youth and Young Adult (YAYA) retreat and several expressed an 

interest in attending. When we go to raise money for 

scholarships, these are the types of students for whom we will 

make it possible to attend, if we are successful in our efforts.



Mickie and Carol left to drive back to South Georgia after the 

program. They must tend to their business. Mardee and her 

partner Julie will be joining us tomorrow at Clemson.





                  Friday, Nov. 8th, Clemson, SC

                      (Clemson University)



Our afternoon program, sponsored by the Department of Philosophy 

and Religion and the Gay-Straight Alliance, was held in the 

Holtzendorff Auditorium. About 60 students, faculty, and 

administrators attended. Mardee started us off sharing about a 

visit she had had to Rochester where she learned more about the 

women's suffrage movement and where she learned that Susan B. 

Anthony's big slogan was, "Failure Is Impossible." She shared 

how she was asked to preach on that concept at Downtown United 

Presbyterian Church. In her sermon she instead preached about 

how as a person from the South, southerners have the concept that 

failure IS possible because of what happened in the Civil War. 

At the same time that there is lingering feelings from this 

history, there is also a great sense that these are things we 

don't talk about. Because of negative connotations around 

homosexuality, there is a sense that it is important not to 

associate with that which is negative in order to not be further 

stigmatized in the discrimination that already takes place in 

being a part of the "loosing side." For these reasons and more, 

sexuality and certainly homosexuality is not talked about. As 

she said, "we don't talk about anything that is perceived as 

different." Appearances are extremely important to keep up. But 

then Mardee wonderfully invited folks into our presentation by 

lifting up that this IS important to talk about because it's not 

an issue, "it's about people."



Katie spoke about the Three Sisters and the daunting statistics 

about issues LGBT youth and young adults face as students on 

college campuses. She also shared from a recent Princeton Review 

survey that found Clemson as the 4th least safe campus for LGBT 

students. This study included real examples of discrimination 

students have faced from other students as well as faculty and 

administrators. Brian and Susie shared there heartfelt stories. 

We followed with an invitation for open discussion. The 

following is a sample of some of the questions and comments we 

received:



1. Where in the Bible does it say that homosexuality is 

acceptable? The Bible says what is right and wrong and 

homosexuality was wrong then and is still wrong today. God 

created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.



2. Can you explain how the Bible has been misread and misused to 

persecute homosexuals?



3. Can you share Biblical passages that mention and endorse 

homosexuality as a practice that is approved of by God?



4. How can you justify being a leader in the church being a woman 

and a lesbian? Considering the Bible verses 1 Corinthians 14:34-

36 and 1 Corinthians 6:9. I don't believe that you can be a 

lesbian and a Christian at the same time because you have to live 

by God's Word (the Holy Bible). The "choice" should not be 

acceptable.



5. How would you define sexual immorality?



6. Why is the church so stupid and slow and ignorant concerning 

us gay folks?



We had dialogue, offering an introduction to Biblical 

interpretation and the importance of reading and understanding 

scriptures in the contexts in which they were written. We also 

spoke about how homosexuality as an orientation is a rather new 

concept and one that certainly did not exist in Biblical times, 

just as the concept of heterosexuality as an orientation did not 

exist. Rather, marriages were a thing of economic value and 

survival. We pointed out that "the traditional values" often 

lifted up today in marriages were clearly not practiced by some 

of the Bible's greatest characters. This discussion would have 

continued for several hours, but we ran out of time. Several 

students had many more questions. We continued talking one-on-one 

in the lobby. The department of Philosophy and Religion offered a 

really nice reception following the program. About 60 students 

and 10 faculty/staff members were in attendance. Following the 

reception several more faculty and some students joined us for 

dinner. A note that came to me on email tonight from a graduate 

of Clemson and former Presbyterian read, "As I was reading your 

update about the tour, I got a chill down my spine and tears in 

my eyes. As a person who grew up in that environment, with all of 

its horrors and its joys, I am excited and touched to hear people 

asking 'Do you know where a welcoming church is in this town?' I 

am not sure there are too many groups in which this would be a 

safe question. Thank you so much for listening, for recognizing 

sacred space, and for helping make my home state a safer place 

for us. I'm so proud of you all. We southerners owe you a great 

debt."



                Saturday, Nov. 9th, Anderson, SC



Today we had the wonderful treat of getting to catch up on our 

sleep after a week of long, tiring days. Brian was sweet to 

make us all breakfast and he even brought me mine in bed! Later 

that morning we visited again with Rob Gentry, one of North 

Anderson Community Church's prize members, in his pottery studio 

in Pendleton, SC. After a tour, he invited us to glaze some cups 

he had already made and then we were able to participate in a 

Raku firing that included firing our pieces of art. How neat it 

was to learn about the process of Raku firing and the mystery of 

watching bland paint turn into vivid and bright glazes on the 

cups we had just worked on. Aside from us novice glaziers, Rob 

does amazing work. Check out his artistic talent on his website 

(www.robgentrypottery.com). Rob then shared with us about his 

recent involvement with Soulforce (www.soulforce.org) including 

participating in the non-violent protest at the Southern Baptist 

convention and the "dialogue" with Jerry Falwell and members from 

the congregation he serves in Lynchburg, VA. We viewed video 

footage Rob took of a presentation by a young man who is working 

for Soulforce on youth and young adult outreach. This, of course 

perked our interest!



Later that evening, David and Michael, members of North Anderson 

Community Church Presbyterian (NACCP), hosted us for a special 

community dinner at their B&B, a completely renovated southern 

mansion complete with portraits of Rhett and Scarlet O'Hara. This 

was a fund-raising dinner to help with the cost of our tour. We 

offered a briefer version of our program and we shared digital 

photos from our trip. Together we feasted on a Southern meal 

complete with peach cobbler. As about twenty-five folks gathered 

around my laptop computer, it felt like we were having a slide 

show and getting to share our family vacation. It was a 

wonderfully warm evening of conversation and good humor. Three 

members from Fort Hill Presbyterian Church were in attendance. 

The others were members and friends from NACCP. We raised about 

$825 this evening, which will help greatly with our costs. Folks 

were very generous and equally grateful for the work we are 

doing. It was a really nice evening.



As we rode home, I reflecting on how great it was to start and 

end my day with meals prepared by gay men! Ah, the life of a 

servant of Christ!



         Sunday, Nov. 10th, North Anderson & Clemson, SC



Brian Cave was the guest presenter for the adult education class 

at Fort Hill Presbyterian Church in Clemson. He shared his story 

and talked about why we were doing this tour. Since the church 

offers several adult ed. courses at the same time, it was a great 

that there were about 15 in attendance. Brian also attended the 

10:30 worship service at Fort Hill. He made an announcement 

(says he caught the Sr. Pastor off guard when he raised his hand) 

about why he was in town and what More Light Presbyterians is and 

if anyone has any other questions, they could talk with him after 

church. Go Brian!!! Fort Hill is the church that supports the 

Presbyterian Student Association connected with Clemson 

University that Brian got involved with during college. It was 

at this church that he claimed his first church home and joined 

the Presbyterian Church. I'm sure he did a fabulous job 

witnessing to the faith that they inspired in him and helping to 

illuminate for them why extending welcome to all of the students 

is so crucial. He credits that campus ministry with helping him 

except that he is gay and to embrace himself fully. They aren't 

fully aware of the ministry that they have inspired through 

Brian, but we sure are thankful!



Meanwhile, Mardee, Julie, and I worshipped at North Anderson 

Community Church Presbyterian where Rev. Susie Smith (our tour 

partner) serves as their pastor. I had the joy of guest 

preaching. What a magnificent community of God's worshipping 

people! I was so impressed with the ways in which this community 

lovingly relates to one another. There was a wonderful diversity 

including a lot of dogs (this is a pet friendly church). This is 

a wildly inclusive church that doesn't know it. Empowered 

folk, great artwork all around, they meet sitting in the 

round with an oil lamp lit in the center of the room throughout 

worship. Before the benediction, the congregation takes about 

twenty minutes to ask questions and discuss the sermon. There 

were many rich and informing questions about More Light 

Presbyterians and what does one do to become a More Light church. 

It was great to have those questions asked while the congregation 

was still gathered so that everyone could be a part of the 

conversation.



When we broke for coffee break and meet & greet, I intentionally 

approached and introduced myself to one particular gentleman. 

This was his first time visiting the church and he brought his 

two young daughters with him. I made a point of talking with him 

because I wanted to know what his experience was entering into 

worship a little late this morning just as Susie was introducing 

me as the guest preacher. You see, during the time he entered and 

was getting himself and his age-school daughters settled, Susie 

was telling a story that referenced "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, 

Transgender" several times and then went on to introduce me as a 

lesbian woman. They appeared to be first-time visitors. There was 

a moment of nervousness as we all wondered what he was feeling 

having walked into the church community for the first time at 

that particular moment. So I approached him after the service. 

After hearing about how he has been looking for a new church 

home, visiting several churches with no luck of landing yet, I 

asked what his response was to walking into this church community 

for the first time. The response he gave was so powerful to me. 

He said that at first he thought, "Whoa, have I walked into a 

community center of some kind and this really isn't a church, but 

rather some support group of some sort." He then went on to share 

that he has recently been through some hard times. He has just 

been through a divorce and he has the two little girls with him 

full time and that life has been really hard. Becoming a single 

parent has been challenging. He said that other churches have 

shunned him because he is now a divorced man. He shared that as 

he listened to the barriers that I have faced, he could really 

relate in his own way. He then said that he knew this must have 

been the right church to walk into because if we were accepted as 

gay folks then maybe he'd be accepted as a divorced man. He was 

Southern Baptist and has been looking for a church where he and 

his daughters would be fully welcomed. What a joy it is when (and 

it does happen often) our witness for full inclusion of LGBT 

persons serves as welcome to others. I was reminded of the song 

we sang in our worship service at GA last summer called "Dazzling 

Bouquet." The refrain sings, "Ours is the church where 

everybody's welcome, I know 'cause I got in the door." What a 

wonderful God-moment this was with this man. I told him how glad 

we are he came in the door.



Following worship was a coffee time and then about twenty members 

stayed for a pizza lunch where we discussed becoming a welcoming 

church more in depth. Again, great questions were asked and 

passionate comments shared. One woman named Shell shared how 

young heterosexual families with children seem to be the high 

commodity, the most desirable new members to churches and how 

that's hurtful to her as a young lesbian woman in a partnership. 

It is hurtful how her relationship is not seen as a family with 

something to offer. She is tired of hearing the argument that 

becoming a More Light church would somehow make those families 

feel less welcome. Also, there are young heterosexual families 

that are committed to raising their children in church 

communities that aren't homophobic. She said, "This would be a 

sign of welcome to them, too. But I don't like the feeling that 

somehow my family is less valuable." Several others shared. 

Francis, the senior member of the church, listened closely to all 

that was being said and then rose and declared that she would 

stand before the Presbytery and preach against injustice until 

her dying breath! -- Rev. Katie Morrison, National MLP Field 

Organizer, Outreach to Youth, Young Adults, and Seminarians, 

katie@mlp.org, 617-547-5222.



And now a quote from MLP Board Member Ralph Carter:



     "My heart is warmed by the fresh air and ministry and 

     pastoral care that the "More Light Across South Carolina" 

     trip represented. A survivor of spiritual abuse myself, as 

     so many of us native Southerners, knowing this trip even 

     took place brings hope and reassurance to the whole church."



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



MLP PEOPLE



        Transsexual Candidate for PCUSA Ministry Affirmed



Dear More Light Friends,



I want to share with you about a wonderful day we had at First 

Presbyterian Church of Waltham, MA. This day included two 

worship services and a reception. I wrote about this special 

congregation in the More Light Update several months ago, raving 

about the ways in which this worshipping community is truly 

diverse and how I was moved by the different communities they 

serve and minister with. This wonderful diversity is in a large 

part due to the evangelism and welcome that seminary intern Sa`ra 

Herwig has embodied and the ministry she offers.



Sa`ra has been responding to a call to ministry for many years 

now. As a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 

1984, Sa`ra has been in a process of preparing for ministry for 18 

years. During these years, Sa`ra has been doing the work of 

reconciling an inner incongruity. Despite the physical evidence 

of masculinity to the world around her, she has had a deep inner 

sense that she is, in fact, actually female. "Those of us," she 

shares, "who become aware of this incongruity between our own 

self awareness as one gender and the expectations we are 

subjected to because of our anatomy, often withdraw from the pain 

of the world around us, isolate our true selves deep within, and 

build around it a facade based on those expectations. It may 

take years before we deal with these issues openly and honestly." 

This, Sa`ra has done, and she has done it with integrity and with 

a great deal of openness and honesty.



Sa`ra testifies to her faith when she speaks of this journey. She 

says that it is God who worked to help her break through the 

facade she had constructed in order to embrace her as God's 

beloved child, the work of God's creative power. After 

graduating from college, Sa`ra married the person she had been 

dating since high school. In her second year of seminary they 

had a child. Sa`ra writes, "In spite of all my efforts to fulfill 

the male social role in my life, my core female gender identity 

kept rising from the depths where I had tried to banish it. I 

had been to a number of counselors and psychiatrists under the 

guise of dealing with my clinical depression. But none seemed to 

understand the depth of this core identity." By her final year 

of seminary she decided that in such a condition, she could not 

pastor a church and withdrew from the candidacy process.



Meanwhile, Sa`ra stayed involved with church serving as a deacon, 

teaching Adult Sunday School, Bible Studies, participating in 

leading worship, singing in the choir, and continuing to struggle 

with the seeming contradiction in her own being and God's seeming 

indifference to it. In 1990, she and her spouse were divorced.



It was then that she began to honestly deal with her gender 

issues. Around the mid 1990's, after extensive therapy, personal 

study, and spiritual reflection, she gradually came to accept her 

transsexualism. By the summer of 1997 Sa`ra decided to seek the 

prescribed medical treatment of transition from living in the 

gender role of male to living in that of female. When she came 

out to her family, Sa`ra was disowned by her father and brothers, 

but her mother has stood by her through everything. Sa`ra spoke 

with the pastors of the church she was involved in and after two 

meetings, decided the best thing for her and the church was to 

leave quietly. On Christmas Eve, 1997, Sa`ra walked away from the 

church, her faith, and God -- or so she thought.



Sa`ra began living full time in her female gender role in June of 

1998. Over the years that have followed, Sa`ra said that God 

brought a number of people into her life, from her gender 

therapist to her current pastor as well as several friends, all 

of whom have played an important role in her returning to this 

path toward the preparation for ordained ministry. It was at the 

Witness Our Welcome conference in the summer of 2000 that she 

felt the call to rededicate herself to ministry. This was an 

experience, says Sa`ra, that "echoed and affirmed the calling I 

had sensed twenty-six years earlier and still experience today." 

Since the conference, Sa`ra has been fully supported in her 

process by the First Presbyterian Church of Waltham including 

their pastor, Rev. Jean Southard, the session, and the 

congregation. She is actively involved in the life of the church 

there and is fully adored, which is evident whenever I visit and 

join with them in worship. Sa`ra teaches the adult education 

class, works with the young adult group, preaches, and ministers 

to members of the congregation. Sa`ra is also an incredible 

evangelist. First Presbyterian Waltham is the only Presbyterian 

congregation I know of that has successfully welcomed and 

integrated into their life and ministry members from the 

transgender community. Because Sa`ra serves as a leader in 

worship and is so fully involved in the life of the church 

community, she has been able to serve as a witness to other 

transgender persons that one does not have to separate their 

often extremely isolating process of transitioning from their 

faith -- that there is a worshipping community that will not only 

accept and embrace them, but welcome them at whatever part of 

their journey they are in. One member remarked this morning 

after worship how exciting it is to not have to wear a wig 

anymore now that her own hair has grown long enough, another step 

along a journey of living more fully into her female gender 

identity. These are some of the step-stones that members of 

First Presbyterian Waltham not only are made to feel comfortable 

sharing, but are also celebrated without hesitation as would an 

announcement of cancer going into remission or a high school 

graduation.



This day at First Presbyterian was one of great celebration as the 

church joined in a special afternoon worship service affirming 

Sari's acceptance as a candidate for ordination. She was 

received as a candidate to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in 

the PCUSA by the Presbytery of Boston at its stated meeting on 

September 28, 2002. The *Book of Order* includes a provision that 

allows for a commission of the Presbytery to be formed in order 

to formally celebrate this step in the journey in the context of 

worship. How worshipful and how meaningful this affirmation 

was!



Sa`ra Herwig is the first out transsexual candidate for ministry 

in the PCUSA. We celebrate this faithful step as we celebrate 

God's call in her life! We pray a prayer of thanksgiving for 

Sa`ra who has chosen to respond faithfully to God's call. We also 

pray for those who do not yet understand her chosen-ness. May 

God work in their hearts and inspire them to seek out solid 

resources that will expand their capacity for understanding.



Sa`ra says, "What my ministry will look like in the future only 

God knows. But I know that it will be a ministry of calling 

people home and welcoming them in the love of Jesus Christ." She 

believes this can best be done in the setting of the local church 

as a vital community of faith in which people may grow and mature 

in Christ.



Let us keep Sa`ra in our prayers as she continues her preparation 

as well as all of our More Light and supportive seminarians. It 

takes such faith to be out in this time in our denomination. If 

you are a seminarian, or you know one who could use more support 

in the process, please have them contact me (Katie@mlp.org) so 

they can better know about avenues of support and community.



We will be offering a historic, first-ever national gathering of 

LGBT seminarians and alumni and supporters at General Assembly 

this year. Please encourage friends, supporters, and those who 

might not yet know about the realities that seminarians face to 

attend this gathering. It will be held on May 29th, 12-2 p.m. in 

the Hyatt Regency Moulin Rouge Room. Join LGBT seminarians, 

alumni, allies and friends for "Love According to Luc" with 

composer/singer Alicia Mathewson, the hot ticket off-Broadway 

musical play about a seminarian's struggle to live into her call 

to ministry. This program is being sponsored by More Light 

Presbyterians, That All May Freely Serve, and The Shower of 

Stoles Project.



I continue to be so grateful for the opportunities to serve on 

behalf of More Light Presbyterians with a focus on reaching out 

to youth, young adults, and seminarians. -- In Christ's Service, 

Rev. Katie Morrison



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



                        A PCUSA Inquirer





Dear Home Church Session,



I am writing this letter to request that you release me from 

Inquirer status and from your membership rolls. I am 

transferring to another church and Presbytery, where I have 

already been taken under care pending your release.



Because of the history my family and I have with you, I feel I 

should provide you with an explanation for why I'm transferring. 

Some of you probably know bits and pieces of this story already, 

but for the sake of having it all out in the open, here it is.



When our family first came to the church, I was a lonely and 

frightened fifteen-year-old, recently uprooted from home and 

friends thousands of miles away. This church welcomed us all 

with warmth and laughter. I found new roots in the lively youth 

program and the spiritually fulfilling music program. As my 

faith in Christ grew, I began to experience a call to ministry. 

You all nurtured and affirmed that call. You gave me 

opportunities to preach and to go on a mission trip. Despite my 

youth, you elected me to serve as an Elder and commissioner to 

Presbytery. In high school, peers would occasionally say I 

should not be able to ever serve as a minister, because of Paul's 

words to Timothy that women should remain silent in church. But 

you understood that God's grace is bigger than the church's 

history, and you didn't consider my womanhood any obstacle to my 

calling. Thankfully this church has welcomed and ordained women 

as elders for two decades.



While I was attending college, you helped support me with 

scholarships. A week before I went off to seminary, the senior 

pastor embarrassed me a little bit in front of the congregation 

(a pastime of his that I'm sure you all remember) and suggested 

that maybe someday I'd come home to serve my own home church as a 

pastor. You all are an enormous part of why I'm in seminary 

right now.



What I never told anyone was that when we moved to your town, I 

was moving away from someone I dearly loved: a girl with whom I 

shared a very close and ambiguous friendship in tenth grade. 

Already I was terrified of being gay, mostly because I had the 

idea that being an O.K. human being meant marrying a man and 

having babies, and because I saw the only openly gay student in 

our high school suffer physical violence on a regular basis. My 

internal terror was compounded by the church's teaching that what 

I felt was sinful. The doctrine of "love the sinner, hate the 

sin" made logical sense, but in my ears it was really very much 

like a black person hearing "we love you in spite of your skin 

color." It sank in deep, and it hurt. But thankfully, the 

church's teaching about the transformative love of Jesus Christ 

sank in even deeper. I know because I have experienced the power 

of Christ to change lives, to foster deep relationships, to bring 

about grace and truth where there was once pain and fear. For 

me, that has meant telling the truth about being lesbian. 

Because of Christ, the timidity and dishonesty that ended one 

relationship in my life have become honesty and courage.



The really confusing thing is trying to live this out in the 

church. I can lie and continue to be welcome in church, or else 

I can tell the truth and be unwelcome. I have heard the stories 

of many other gay seminarians and clergy who have chosen 

dishonesty and silence for the sake of fulfilling their call to 

ministry. I have heard the stories of gay clergy who are honest 

both about their sexuality and about their celibacy, and despite 

their explicit compliance with G-6.0106b, no church will call 

them because no church will believe that a gay person can really 

be celibate. The committee on preparation for ministry gave me 

the option of becoming one of these people, but I find myself 

unable to promise never to have a family of my own. I also find 

myself unable to believe that God calls people to a life of lies 

for the sake of ministry. And so, because of God's insistent 

call to ministry and providence in leading me to a second church 

home, I am transferring my care process there.



This isn't really the place for a lengthy explanation of my 

Biblical and theological views on homosexuality, but I do want to 

ask you to remember the congregation's need for care. I see the 

way you welcome women to God's service and the way you welcome 

people who are divorced and remarried. Often these people carry 

deep wounds from Catholic or fundamentalist Protestant churches, 

where they have been hurt and rejected. But with you, they find 

not only acceptance but an invitation to serve with their God-

given gifts for ministry. Your leadership could have chosen to 

emphasize Paul's view of women or Jesus' view of divorce and 

remarriage, but instead you emphasize the limitless grace of God, 

and the fact that our tradition is Reformed and always reforming. 

Please know that I am not the only gay person from our 

congregation, and gay people need our care just as much as women 

and divorced/remarried people do. You may not know who they are, 

but that doesn't change the needs of their souls. Especially 

because of your history on other issues, it doesn't seem too 

difficult to begin welcoming gay people in a way that is 

Biblically and theologically sound.



In closing, I want to thank those of you who have continued to 

extend care. I thank the people who know that I'm gay and still 

welcome me home at the holidays. I thank those Elders who are 

supportive of people like me. And most of all, I thank you for 

your care and nurture and affirmation over the past seven years. 

At seminary, we often talk about how we got here, and I can't do 

that without talking about my first home church and what you all 

have done in my life. -- Yours in Christ's service, an Inquirer 

in the PCUSA.



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



                 Janie Spahr at Voices of Sophia

                      General Assembly 2002





                          Introduction



Thank you, Mieke, for your wonderful leadership of Voices of 

Sophia and for your very loving introduction.



Thank you, Susan Craig, for offering your magnificent musical 

abilities.



Thank you, Barbara Battin for creating a beautiful liturgy.



Thank you, Mary Kuhns and Sylvia Thorson Smith, for creating this 

amazing organization.



Our dear sister and friend Ginny Davidson could not be with us 

this year because she broke her hip. I spoke with her last night 

and how she wishes she could be with us. She sends her love. She 

is doing better day by day and she says she will be with us in 

Spirit.





                           Basketball



It is the "swish" sound of the basketball through the net I think 

that first stirred me inside -- SWISH -- and I was hooked on 

basketball.



As a freshman in high school I would sneak over to the gym in the 

evening and shoot baskets. There were some nights, the moment the 

ball left my hands, I could feel the SWISH coming -- in she sank. 

From dribbling to hook shots -- I was in tune with my body -- my 

essence -- the communion with God was so easy --  God, basketball 

and me.



The mutuality -- the team -- the passing -- the lay up. But it 

was at night, I would turn on a special lone light in the gym and 

had my best talks with God and oh how I listened. There was no 

still small voice -- the sound was BIG -- yet soft like the 

SWISH.



In this upper middle class predominantly white (except for 

international students) Prep School with its ivy-covered brick 

buildings and manicured lawns, **I met her**.



Yes, one day as I was entering the ivy-covered classroom 

building, the white wooden door swung open and there she was -- 

her dark eyes pierced into me and I felt known -- like I felt 

when playing basketball -- SWISH!



Her name was Annie and in the days and weeks to follow I knew 

something so beautiful was happening to me and in the evening 

playing basketball I talked with God about Annie -- about the 

sacred feelings and connection I had with her. These connections 

were like knowing God in a deeper way. It was in that knowing 

that Sophia made herself known to me and inside of me. I felt 

free, alive, ready to do and be me in a whole new way. God, 

basketball, Annie and me.



As the weeks followed, I overheard friends talking about two women 

who were seniors. I noticed Bebe and Sally -- that they too looked 

at one another in that knowing way. The way that made me tingle 

inside -- like Annie and me. Then the talk began. The quiet 

whispers, a word I hadn't heard -- they are homosexual, they are 

dirty, they are bad.



I began to whirl inside. What was this? What were others saying? 

And in the weeks to follow Sally and Bebe were invited -- yes, 

escorted out of our school.



The cacophony of sound outside -- all the noise outside seeped 

into my insides and the sacred connection, the big sound, began 

to become smaller. I felt a sense of desperation. I couldn't feel 

or hear her in me and I became suspect to myself. What I knew to 

be true was shattered and I feared myself with Annie.



No longer going to the Presbyterian Church where I taught Sunday 

School to 1st graders each week, but racing to the local Roman 

Catholic church -- in the quiet -- the candles flickering, I 

prayed -- help me Godde -- how can this be happening? How can 

anything so good be seen as bad or wrong? But the outward sounds 

snuffed out my inner one and it wasn't until I was 38 that two 

little boys and their Daddy coaxed me back to life once again. 

The SWISH sound came back into my life. Once again I could feel 

and hear. I could breathe deeply. I let Sophia in again -- SWISH 

-- the deepest crevices shut off were healing. I was coming back 

and my lesbian self, honored by two little boys and their father, 

began to flourish -- and surely as I am standing here before you 

Sophia said to me **"Welcome Home to Yourself"** and the church 

said, "Go away."



From that time onward Sophia has invited me into places and 

ministries I would never have dreamed possible. From that time 

onward with a sense of peace in my core, a hermeneutic of 

suspicion to challenge economic disparity, to challenging 

environmental disaster, a critical view from my social location 

as white and therefore privileged caused me to see caste systems 

and hateful prejudice. I was ravenous to read -- to think 

critically -- to live differently.



When did Sophia first visit you? When did you feel her and know 

her? What happens to us when Sophia rises within us, calling to 

us to come into the open air -- to come to the city gates, to the 

highways and by ways of our lives -- calling us out into what is 

really going on, calling us forth to dig deeper?



In Alice Randall's *The Wind Done Gone*, as a little girl is raised 

in slavery, the man who owned her, the man who taught her to read 

and write, the man who traveled with her who took her everywhere, 

the one who schooled her, *his woman*, she says this about him,



     "R wants to marry me. He asked me on bended knee, and I 

     would have been honored except he wants us to live in London 

     and he wants me to live white.



     "I crowed at that. I laughed so hard not a tear came. He 

     couldn't understand it. I don't often think on how white I 

     look; it has always been a question of how colored I feel 

     and I feel plenty colored. He said no one in London will 

     know I'm supposed to be colored. I said I am colored -- 

     colored black -- the way I talk, the way I look, the way I 

     do most everything, but he said you don't have to be. At 

     last that explained everything.



     "You've got to be in your skin to know. It is not in the 

     pigment of my skin -- no, it is not the color of my skin -- 

     it is the color of my mind, and my mind is dark, dusky, like 

     a beautiful night. I cannot go to London and forget my 

     color. I don't want to -- not anymore."



Sophia Wisdom -- the way of knowing who she is, who calls us out 

through our pain, through the oppressive systems into new 

knowledge. It is tasting, touching, feeling the freedom. It is 

the voice so small that grows louder and louder inside, your 

heart racing -- OUT OF THE ABUSE, OUT OUT OUT.



Simple fools, Simple fools, she cries us through our tears -- her 

tears into communities of healing and wholeness.



Another person whose life was changed by Sophia is Terry Tempest 

Williams, writer and naturalist who juxtaposes the progression of 

her Mother's breast cancer and death with the perilous rise of 

the Great Salt Lake that endangers the wild life there. What 

happened to this Mormon woman searching for her soul? She says,



     "Once out at the lake, I am free. Wind and waves are like 

     African drums driving the rhythm home. I am spun, supported 

     and possessed by the Spirit who dwells here. The Great Salt 

     Lake is a spiritual magnet that will not let me go. Dogma 

     doesn't hold me. Wildness does -- a spiral of emotion. It is 

     ecstasy without adrenalin."



Today this presence she calls Holy intuition, the Gift of the 

Mother. She says,



     "My prayers no longer bear the proper masculine salutation. 

     If we could introduce the Mother body as a spiritual 

     counterpoint to the Godhead, perhaps our inspiration and 

     devotions would no longer be directed to the stars, but our 

     worship could return to the earth."



Her physical mother is gone, but her spiritual Mother remains. 

She says, "I am a woman rewriting my genealogy."



To make our way in and through our Traditions, to question, to 

reimagine, to rethink, to re-feel, to reclaim who we are, to feel 

and know Sophia in us and through us. How do we live knowing we 

are called into a world of commodities of buying and selling? 

Where bigger is better? Where multinational Corporations run our 

governments? Where the color of our skin characterizes us as less 

than? Where the global village is war torn, wounded and run by 

patriarchal systems of power over relationships? How do we live 

when we become awake? When we become conscious?



We begin by asking questions. We begin by challenging from our 

lens and social location. We organize. We begin where we are. We 

begin here and there. What coalesced inside of me -- inside of 

you -- inside of us when Sophia asked, "What will you do now that 

you know?"



For in fact if Jesus is the Sophia of Godde -- is the Wisdom of 

Godde -- then what he did and how he lived was to challenge 

oppressive systems in which he, too, was challenged by his own 

racism -- challenged by a woman -- do we remember?



Who challenges you and me? Who do we read? Elizabeth Schussler 

Fiorenza, Johanna Bos, Dolores Williams, Katie Cannon, Letty 

Russell, Joy Harjo, Anna Maria Isasi-Diaz, Kwok Pui-Lan, Beverly 

Harrison?



For me in the inner city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the city 

where I was raised, Wanda Graham Harris took this well-read white 

privileged woman and taught her first hand about racism, 

classism, ageism, sexism, from her social location. From the 

streets of Hazelwood in a "changing neighborhood" where hunger 

and poverty seeped under the doors, where violence lived inside 

and outside the homes, when absentee fathers and head of 

household mothers tried to raise their children in a system that 

was breaking up family and community. It was the city where I was 

raised. This was a different part of the city where I was told, 

"Don't go there, you will be hurt, you will be raped." But Evie 

Holmes, a neighbor, called me on the phone and said, "Don't tell 

your mother I told you but there is a an opening in Hazelwood and 

you ought to apply. Don't tell your mother."



I was so glad to get that call. Women couldn't find jobs in 

ministry, not hardly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This was a 

nibble and I was going to find out and see for myself. So, Jim 

and our two sons, Jim and Chet, drove to Hazelwood in time to 

meet Wanda and her family dousing out a fire around the garbage 

cans in the back of the church. Kids were meddling here," she 

yelled, "Come on in." My boys went to play with her sons and Jim 

and I sat in her office and she told us about Hazelwood 

Presbyterian Ministry.



I knew Sophia -- I met her in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "You know 

nothing about being poor -- oh you read about it, and you may 

think you know, but come with me." She took me to the streets, to 

the projects, to the schools, side by side we worked through 

summer programs with black and white city youth on the streets 

and on retreats, praying from our guts. After the third month -- 

a note was slipped under my door. "Welcome to my world, Janie 

Spahr." I am reminded here of a saying "If you come to help me, 

you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your 

liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."



And so we did. This naive, liberal white privileged young Mother 

Preacher went to graduate school in life experience. No longer 

naive. Sickened by how racism and classism devastate a community. 

We went to work. Wanda mentored me. "Always use your privilege 

for good." So I learned. I learned to ask for money. I told the 

carpenters and electricians that it was for the good of their 

souls to help us out because it was a matter of justice and 

kindness, yes, because of the faith of Wanda Graham Harris and 

the presence of Sophia in every justice act we did, I grew up 

with knowledge deep in my bones.



"There are no children in this church Reverend," said Mrs. Lamp. 

"Well, Mrs. Lamp, I understand your children have moved away, but 

there are 75 African American children downstairs in our 

classroom every Sunday. These are our children, Mrs. Lamp." "It's 

a changing neighborhood Reverend." "Yes ma'am," I said, "and 

aren't we the luckiest that we can live into that change?" She 

smiled at me -- at 89 years old -- "I like you" she snapped. "I 

like you, too, Mrs. Lamp." "Well, when you put it that way about 

the children, we ought to be glad they're here." "Yes ma'am," I 

said, "we are glad. You ought to stop by next Sunday and see for 

yourself." "It's hard for me to get up and down these stairs" but 

sure enough, she came to see for herself -- gave me a wink, she 

did.



By August, Jim had been let go -- fired. Wanda and I sat on her 

screened in porch. "You're going to a big white church when you 

move from here." "No way," I said, "I love the inner city. You've 

taught me so much. I'm scrappy now. I want to be here." "No, I've 

seen where you are going to be," she said. "Now don't be pulling 

all the God stuff with me," I said. "Now listen," she said. "You 

are going to a big white suburban church. When you go there, I 

want you to tell them what you learned here so they understand 

and then I'll come and I'll know how well you prepared them by 

how they welcome me." And Wanda was right. I did go to a big 

white suburban church and she did come and visit and she danced 

and she prayed and she opened the folks there the way she opened 

me.



When I was invited to become a co-pastor to the Downtown United 

Presbyterian Church in Rochester, N.Y., I called Wanda. She said, 

"You know Janie, I have been curriculum for the Presbyterian 

Church for 30 years. In the early years folks would come and ask 

if they could touch my hair." She asked me, "Are you called to be 

curriculum for the Presbyterian Church?"



Again, I met Sophia. It was the sound of the drum. The feast day 

of the Laguna people of the Paguate Village. They were moving in 

a circle from the youngest 2 or 3 years of age to the oldest in 

their nineties. In their Traditional dress, the men, women and 

children pray for our world. Some were Presbyterian, some are 

Catholic, and some are Methodist. Today they are the Laguna 

people doing what they have done for centuries. The families of 

the tribe sit in certain places around the center of the Village. 

Others had set up tables where on the periphery pottery and 

silver were displayed as visitors moved about buying and watching 

as the eagle, buffalo, and deer dancers took their respective 

turns. The village was alive. To dance, one must pray and fast -- 

to participate -- to be ready -- to be present. It is a sacred 

time, where all are invited for food and hospitality. At one time 

an onlooker, now as though something happened inside, I was a 

participant in a holy gathering.



We are to know that over 106 Native American Presbyterian 

churches exist -- that hundreds of Native American youth are 

coming to our denomination. A denomination that has little 

understanding of land and spirituality. A denomination who has 

participated in colonizing and christianizing a people to the 

expense of their culture, tradition, language and religion.



The indigenous people of this church, this country and I dare say 

this world can teach us well about reciprocity and the sacredness 

of two legged, four legged, winged friends of the earth which is 

sacred -- called our Mother. All relations mean all -- an 

interconnectedness with all of creation. It is only recently that 

the Iroquois women have been recognized to have had great 

influence on such women as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady 

Stanton from upstate New York, who saw the balance and respect 

among the men and women from the Iroquois nation. From this came 

a vision for women's rights -- a possibility to be achieved.



This reciprocity is about balance. We are not to co-opt their 

culture or religion but listen and learn. Many native people feel 

their religious traditions have been subject to consumption by 

"hungry non-natives" as a spiritual delicatessen. Says E. Donald 

Two-Rivers in his book *Survivors Medicine*, "It feels like 'Give me a 

slice of sweat lodge and piece of vision quest with mayonnaise on 

fry bread.'"



I met Sophia again at the kitchen table of Lucy Platero. In the 

early morning Lucy rises to greet the sun. She likes to get up 

quietly, fix her coffee, and eat a piece of toast. She was raised 

in Tohajillee where the mountains surround her community and it 

is quiet enough to hear the sound of goat bells as the goats feed 

in a field nearby. I have never known quiet like this.



Lucy survived a government boarding school where native children 

were brought to "civilize" them, to "colonize" them into leaving 

behind their tradition and culture. Since community is the center 

of life, taking children away from family is taking them from 

their identity. Individualism is hard to comprehend when one's 

identity is tied to the land, where one is defined by their tribe 

and clan. Lucy is Navajo of the Water Edge clan, a Presbyterian 

elder.



She is comfortable with herself. She has reclaimed her roots, her 

ancestors, and her pride in speaking her mother tongue, which was 

denied to her for so many years. She has survived and with that 

laughs with her eyes -- an innocence, a kindness, a way of knowing 

from generations long ago. She is one whose great grandmother 

lived through the Long Walk between Fort Sumner in New Mexico and 

the Navajo Nation in which thousands of Navajo people died at the 

hands of U.S. Soldiers.



And lastly Sophia arrives once again as I drove up every morning 

to the Chinese Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California where 

elderly Chinese women, having finished their Tai Chi class, bow 

to me -- back and forth we bow.



Here our youth groups were not separated into Junior High, Senior 

High, or College age as in many Anglo churches. A 

multigenerational youth group came together for Bible study, fun, 

and retreats. I loved that my office with the Oakland Council of 

Presbyterian Churches was housed there for I was able to work 

with the youth whenever time would allow.



There were two representatives from the Chinese Presbyterian 

Church who sat on my board. I will never forget at my last board 

meeting, when I was no longer able to serve because I am a 

lesbian, the two Chinese representatives said, "We don't care 

what Janie's sexual orientation is. She loves our children and 

they love her. We want her to stay and work among us." But I 

never did again.



I am stunned by a Presbyterian church who is so wrapped up now in 

the Lordship of Jesus Christ that we forget through how many 

ways, traditions, and cultures God comes to us. Sophia, who is 

the co-creator with God, she who moves in us, through us and 

among us, Yes, Sophia shows up in our streets and on our 

reservations. Sophia shows up in Afghanistan where women have 

been resilenced, coaxing them into freedom.



SIMPLE FOOLS, SIMPLE FOOLS, Sophia yells. Have you forgotten you 

cannot bind me? For when you bind little Chinese girls" feet, I 

will rise up within them and untie their spirits -- I will free 

them to organize to speak out.



When you cut out the women's clitoris in Africa, I will heal them 

-- rise up in them for you have cut out the pleasure that was 

mine to give. I will rise up in their bodies. I will rise up 

women and men to stop this madness.



Sophia shows up crying out to a church who is rule led rather 

than Spirit fed. She speaks,



     When church, you participate in excluding lesbian, gay, 

     bisexual, and transgender children from living out their 

     full selves, causing death, violence, and abuse.  I will 

     rise up within them and set them free -- for they are my 

     delight and you are messing with sacred mystery.



     I am Sophia, the wisdom of God who created you. You cannot 

     confine me. I am the breath of the power of God.



     Come into the open air -- the city streets -- out of your 

     comfortable church pews. Come find me in yourselves once 

     again. Then see what kind of worlds we will build together.



How can we from our social location -- peering through our lens -

- be transformed by Her Wisdom to make a difference?



Sophia says the ball is in your court sisters and brothers of Her 

Voice.



I hear the SWISH. Can you hear Her? Can you feel Her? Can you 

feel you?



SWISH -- SWISH -- SWISH



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



         The Christian Homosexual: My Sister, My Brother



                          A Woman's Journey

                 by Joan Jacobs, Seal Beach, CA



Journeys of the spirit are processes that begin somewhere in the 

unconscious regions of our hearts and minds. The decision to 

be inclusive of homosexuals has roots in my growing-up years. I 

was raised to believe racial and national differences intriguing, 

economic status unimportant, people more valuable than things. In 

my twenties I was converted to an evangelical Christian faith and 

the person of Jesus became very present in my thinking.  Formal 

Christian education furnished me with a high view of the Bible as 

my authority for faith and practice. I learned that the main 

message of our scripture is greater than the sum of its parts. I 

learned that we build structures from the Bible which affect 

people only when the evidence is solid. Now, in my 70s, I am 

near the end of this particular journey.



When denominations began to debate the role of homosexuals in the 

church, I realized the time might come when, as part of a 

congregation, I would need an opinion, perhaps even a vote. I was 

certainly not prepared for that to happen.



The first conscious step toward the long sporadic spiritual 

process of including gays and lesbians came with a sermon in the 

early '80s.  The message: homosexuals are welcome in the church 

as long as they do not express their sexuality. This seemed all 

right except for a nagging sense of hypocrisy. I reasoned that 

heterosexuals are free to allow this most pervasive gift to 

inform their direction in life, and we Christians sometimes abuse 

it: we have affairs, we're familiar with adultery, and we know 

domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse are present in our 

congregations. Who are we to tell anyone else how to handle his 

or her sexuality?



Trusted friends who are at ease accepting homosexuals as they 

are, and supportive of those who claim Jesus Christ as Lord, 

modeled a lifestyle that brought me to the second step in my 

process. I wanted to know more, to talk about the acceptance of 

gays and lesbians, but I found in my own church experience almost 

no one willing to pursue such a conversation. I began to think 

that perhaps we were poorly informed about what it is like to be 

gay or lesbian and simply lacked the information necessary for a 

discussion.  I knew three friends with gays in their families who 

found they had no Christian setting where they could talk about 

the pain of their men. I could only listen. Meanwhile, in 

conversations with other, more conservative Christian friends, I 

found it difficult to talk calmly and rationally. Words and 

attitudes silenced me: "Homosexuality is an abomination to God." 

"No way around it, it's sin." On the other hand, one set of 

conversations with an evangelical friend really made a 

difference. My friend listened willingly and was ready to think 

with me fairly and thoughtfully; the relief amounted to joy, and 

we found we understood our hesitations as well as affirmations.



My experience was that open-minded conversation is very important 

and hard to find. Dr. Jack Rogers, recent Moderator of the 

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) said in an interview, "I'm 

convinced that we have not had any actual discussion of 

homosexuality for the 20-some years we've discussed it. People 

think there's nothing to discuss. They know what the answer 

is."[1]  I found that real discussion goes a long way toward real 

change.



During the third part of my search I purposely eliminated the 

terms "they" and "them" from my vocabulary -- two words which 

tend to blind our eyes and stop our ears. Jesus did not bunch 

people into categories. I had begun to see homosexuals as 

individuals, not lumped into the practice of multiple liaisons, 

strange gay parades, pedophilia, and so on. In the same way, with 

no strain at all, I exempt heterosexuals in general from being 

rapists, wife beaters, perpetrators of incest and so on.  

Dropping stereotypes helped me focus attention on homosexuals who 

claim Jesus as Lord.



I discovered that I felt the same way about homosexuals as I did 

about boys as an adolescent growing up only with sisters: I 

didn't know any of these humans who were different. I wanted to 

know some gay and lesbian Christians, to get past the discomfort 

that always comes with not knowing face-to-face. Fear played its 

part, yet in I John 4:18 we find "there is no fear in love, but 

perfect love casts out fear ...."  I certainly wanted to be 

guided by love, not by fear.



During the fourth stage I concentrated on books which provided 

insight. In *Jesus Before Christianity* Alfred Nolan helped me 

see more clearly how Jesus deliberately chose to identify himself 

with people of no esteem, those shut out by the religious 

establishment. Jesus chose to be with the discouraged and poor in 

spirit.



Other books introduced me directly to the world of gays and 

lesbians -- while not face-to-face relationships, they were next 

best. *We Were Baptized Too* by Marilyn Bennett Alexander and James 

Preston calls congregations to honor the commitment made at the 

time of baptism, enfolding and nurturing lesbians and gays rather 

than excluding them. One author was baptized as an infant in a 

Methodist congregation, the other by profession of faith as an 

older child in a Baptist church.



*The Truth Shall Make You Free* by Sally Lowe Whitehead is the 

first-hand account of a dedicated Christian family confronting 

the fact of the father's latent awareness of his homosexual 

orientation. In vain he tried to become a heterosexual through 

the efforts of an organization holding out that promise. He and 

his wife then united in search of support first from a 

fundamentalist house church, then a conservative congregation and 

finally found an understanding pastor where the healing began. I 

recalled a family in our Christian community years earlier who 

had to work through the husband and father's gay orientation.



John McNeill, a gay Roman Catholic priest, tells of his spiritual 

journey in his autobiography *Both Feet Firmly Planted In Midair*. 

At a time of great despair, ready to commit suicide, he 

experienced a special touch from God, a deep trust that God heard 

his prayers and was close to him. He has a partner of thirty-some 

years.



Malcolm Boyd's *Simple Grace: A Mentor's Guide To Older Age* gave 

me pointers toward genuine maturity as I face growing older. He 

and his partner have been together over twenty years.



With cumulative understanding I became aware that gays and 

lesbians do not choose their sexual orientation. I reasoned, "Why 

would someone choose a lifestyle that subjected him or her to 

discrimination and persecution? Why, if this is a choice, would 

anyone choose a way of being which calls for hiding or facing the 

agonizing process of 'coming out,' the painful uncertainty of 

changed relationships with family, friends, and perhaps a whole 

community?" I remembered my first experience years earlier in a 

group of co-eds: the mingled excitement and pain of a young woman 

who had finally gathered the courage to tell her mother that she 

was a lesbian.



My need to confront what the Bible says or does not say about 

homosexuality was the final barrier and had to be faced during 

this inner exploration. Experience is vital in the way God guides 

us, but we can test it out under the authority of our scripture. 

I knew that the law in Leviticus gives us that term 

"abomination," but I knew also that we cannot, nor are we 

required to, follow that ancient and convoluted law. And I 

listened again to the great Apostle Paul's word in Galatians 5:23 

that against love there is no law.



What about the sins of Sodom and the identification of 

homosexuality as sodomy? In a more careful reading of the Lot 

story in Genesis 19 I discovered that though sexual sin is 

present, the sin of Sodom is not identified as homosexual. 

Ezekiel 16:49,50 gave me an interpretation from the Bible itself.



"This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters 

had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid 

the poor and needy." The "abominations" of verse 50 could only 

mean those preached over and over again by the old prophets to 

the nations of Israel and Judah -- the breakdown of family life, 

the corruption of kings and priests, the abandonment to pagan 

gods with accompanying atrocities such as the sacrifice of 

children to Moloch and so on.



Passages invoked against lesbians and gays in the New Testament 

called me to common sense. I discovered there is no New Testament 

Greek word for "homosexual" and became aware that the lists of 

sins in 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1 depend on the selective 

wisdom of various translators.  The inventories of sins, 

occurring in most of the epistles, seem to be put together in no 

particular order as the author sought to identify people who are 

determined to disobey God. Romans 1:27 is generally considered 

the last word on this subject. As I read through this chronicle 

of inhuman acts, (which really begins at verse 18 and continues 

at least through the end of the chapter) I found Paul describing 

the state of humankind apart from God. Nowhere in that dread dark 

picture, or in the other epistles, could I place the man and 

woman longing for inclusion in their childhood congregations, or 

John McNeill, or Malcolm Boyd, or the Christian couple struggling 

with the truth of a father's sexual orientation, or the seminary 

student I know who longs to be a leader in the denomination of 

her childhood.



I read *Homosexuality And The New Testament* by Robin Scroggs. 

Scroggs warns that if we are going to prohibit something based on 

the Bible, we had better know what the Bible really says. Having 

researched the culture of Greek cities in Paul's time, he 

concludes that Paul saw in the popular cult of male beauty the 

attachment of older to younger men. It is that to which Paul 

takes issue, something very different than homosexuality as it 

confronts us in the Church today.



What remains of my journey is a developing friendship with the 

few gays and lesbians I've met in the Church. I've met one 

transsexual who seeks to serve Christ. These friendships go 

slowly partly because I do not know of any gays or lesbians in my 

own congregation, and partly because any new experience of 

friendship with someone who is different takes time. I don't 

often go out of my way to pursue anyone I think is outside my 

comfort zone. I am not naive about these new relationships and 

conversations. I know that they will reveal the complications 

common to any over-arching concern.



I have undertaken only a few causes in my lifetime unpopular with 

Christian friends, and always with reluctance. I have very little 

willingness to ruffle my relationships, especially with those who 

are dear to me, and any fear that remains has to do with these 

relationships. Acrimony within the body of Christ was the one 

great concern to the evangelical friend who was willing to engage 

me at length on this subject. Nevertheless, on Pentecost Sunday 

we sang what I hope will always be a way of God with me.



     Spirit, spirit of gentleness

     Blow through the wilderness, calling and free

     Spirit, spirit of restlessness,

     Stir me from placidness, Wind, wind on the sea.





1. *Presbyterians Today*, May 2002, p.25.



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



BOOKS



       The Art of Biblical Translation and Interpretation



                      Clobber Text Update:

             Evangelicals Advance, Abingdon Retreats



              A Survey by the Rev. Tom Hanks, Ph.D.





     [Editor's note: This may be tough going for some of us, but 

     it's well worth the effort. Questions? Send a note or email 

     to Tom Hanks, our liaison for ILGA, the International 

     Lesbian and Gay Association, and Director of "Other Sheep" 

     in Argentina, Lavalle 376-2D, 1047 Buenos Aires, Argentina, 

     thanks@thanks.wamani.apc.org -- JDA]



In 2002 the scholarly world celebrated the 50th anniversary of 

the publication of the Revised Standard Version (RSV, 1952, 

anticipated by the New Testament publication, introducing the 

word "homosexuals" in two texts in 1946). At the same time, the 

American evangelical world witnessed the publication of a less 

homophobic English Standard Version (ESV) and a controversial 

"dynamic equivalent" TNIV (Today's New International Version), 

cautiously inclusifying the popular NIV. For those mature enough 

to recall the incredible outcry vilifying the 1952 RSV (mainly 

for substituting "young woman" in place of "virgin" in Isaiah 

7:14), the slavish and mindless evangelical imitation of the 

RSV's translation of *arsenokoitai* by "homosexuals" (finally 

recognized by Frederick Danker as erroneous in the latest Greek 

lexicon, DBAG[1], University of Chicago) is highly ironic. It 

would also be amusing were it not for 50 years history of 

adolescent suicides and violence against gay men and lesbians 

inspired in part by such prejudiced Bible translations. A liturgy 

mourning their deaths might be more appropriate than the 

celebrations we are witnessing.



To begin with the new evangelical ESV (Crossway Bibles, Good News 

publishers, Wheaton, IL, 2002), *arsenokoitai* ("males-bed," 

literally, with "bed" a euphemism for a sexual act) in both 1 Cor 

6:9 and 1 Tim 1:10 is rendered: "men who practice homosexuality."



Obviously, this corrects the grossly defective RSV at two points 

by recognizing that the Greek word refers only to males, not to 

lesbians, and to a sexual act, not an orientation. The stubborn 

anachronistic maintenance of the 19th century neologism 

"homosexuality" (a concept and term unknown to Paul) is confusing 

and regrettable, but at least two of the worst misunderstandings 

of the 1946 RSV New Testament have been corrected. The ESV 

footnote goes even further, indicating that in the case of 1 Cor 

6:9 "The two Greek terms translated by this phrase refer to the 

passive and active partners in consensual homosexual acts," which 

delicately informs the reader that the prohibition is limited to 

male-male anal sex (in an age ignorant of safer sex and condoms). 

The ESV qualification of the anal sex as "consensual" is totally 

gratuitous and has no basis in the Greek, since in the ancient 

world the male-male anal sex most commonly practiced was 

paedophilia, often violent and abusive (the humiliating 

penetration of young slaves and prisoners of war; see Robin 

Scroggs 1984; Hanks 2000; Robert Goss 2002).



In Jude 7, the ESV does not even attain to the accuracy of the 

King James ("strange flesh"), and renders the reference to the 

attempted gang rape of angels in Sodom (Genesis 19) as "unnatural 

desire." However, as the ESV footnote accurately indicates, the 

Greek speaks literally of "other flesh" (Greek, heteros, as in 

heterosexuality), so the importation of the concept of natural and 

unnatural desire from Romans 1:26-27 is again totally gratuitous 

and misleading. The Jerusalem Bible (JB, Roman Catholic) thus 

remains the only modern translation that renders *sarx heteros* 

accurately. As in several other versions, the JB note properly 

explains that the reference is to angel flesh, hardly what a 

modern reader would understand as "homosexuality." The mistaken 

neoplatonic notion that angels are non-material "spirits" 

commonly leads translators and readers to misinterpret Jude 7 

(see Jude in Hanks 2000).



In the Hebrew Bible, the ESV corrects the worst error of the sex 

texts in the King James Version, replacing the reference to 

"sodomites" with "cult prostitutes":



     None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute 

     and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. 

     You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of 

     a dog into the house of the LORD your God ... (Deut 23:17-

     18).



With this correction in Deuteronomy and similar texts in Kings, 

plus the common modern recognition that Genesis 19 condemns an 

attempted gang rape of angel visitors to Sodom (not the 

"homosexuality" of the 19th century, nor the sin of "sodomy" 

invented in the late middle ages), some 50 of the 56 traditional 

clobber texts disappear. The ESV's literal maintenance of "dog" 

as a euphemism for male cult prostitute enables the reader to 

resist David Aune's error in interpreting "dog" in Revelation 

22:15 as an exclusion of "homosexuals" from the New Jerusalem 

(see Revelation in Hanks 2000).



Unfortunately, the TNIV (Today's International Version, 

International Bible Society, Colorado Springs), although superior 

to the RSV at these points, does not attain to the level of the 

ESV. In both 1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Tim 1:10 *arsenokoitai* is rendered 

"practicing homosexuals"! This translation thus perpetuates the 

myth that these texts condemn lesbians, and the condemnation 

falls upon a group of persons with a certain sexual orientation. 

Should a heterosexual or bisexual person commit such an act, as 

commonly happens where the aim is violent humiliation, not sexual 

fulfillment, the TNIV implies the person would be blameless, since 

he or she is not of homosexual orientation. On the other hand, 

the TNIV dynamic equivalent translation in this case does render 

the Greek more literally, since it reflects accurately the fact 

that in 1 Cor 6:9 the Greek has two terms, the first of which 

("softies" literally) the TNIV renders "male prostitutes"! To the 

careful reader this might at least suggest that the "practicing 

homosexuals" are diligently practicing their sex with male 

prostitutes. More mature readers who no longer feel the need to 

"practice" and "only give concerts" will thus not feel threatened 

by the TNIV.



In Jude 7, instead of the Aristotelian and Thomistic importation 

of the concept of "natural/unnatural," the TNIV imports a 

mistaken concept of freudian psychology and categorizes the 

Greek reference to "other [angel] flesh" as a "perversion." This 

it may well be, but Jesus' brother had not read Freud. Sadly, 

contemporary evangelicals who like to boast of being 

"conservative" often fail to be so when such a stance would be 

accurate and admirable, but rather fall prey to the kind of chic 

neologisms they denounce when they clash with hoary prejudice.



While the ESV, and especially the TNIV, fail to progress as far 

and fast as progressives might wish, their turtle-like plod 

toward the sea of truth contrasts dramatically with the 

disastrous retreat of Abingdon Press toward the dark 

fundamentalist forest of total obscurantism. The publication of 

Robert Gagnon's bombshell in 2001 (*The Bible and Homosexual 

Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics* -- just in time to negatively 

affect presbytery votes in our Presbyterian trench warfare), is 

now crowned with volume X, the last to be published in the twelve 

volume *New Interpreter's Bible* ("NIB"; Nashville: Abingdon, 

2002). Volume X includes Romans, as well as 1 Corinthians, thus 

takes us beyond problems of translation into the nettle of 

hermeneutics. Proper balance requires us to recognize that, 

except for its ominous tilt toward homophobia, Abingdon's *New 

Interpreter's Bible* is an admirable set, erudite and readable, 

advancing concerns of Latin America's liberation theologies for 

the poor, as well as significant feminist and womanist 

contributions.



In 1994 I was amazed to see that editors of NIB volume I had 

assigned Leviticus to conservative evangelical Walt Kaiser, a 

life-long militant against the documentary hypothesis. I could 

hardly be surprised, then, that the treatment of Leviticus 18:22 

and 20:13 (p. 1127) was staunchly traditional (for my former 

classmate in Wheaton Graduate School of Theology, 1956-57, the 

documentary hypothesis advocate Wellhausen has been more an 

abomination than homosexuality).



NIB-XII (1998) included the work of Duane Watson on Jude. Since 

NIB includes the text of both NIV and NRSV, the reader was given 

both the rendering of "other flesh" (Greek, Jude 7) by 

"perversion" (NIV) and "unnatural lust" (NRSV), corrected with 

NRSV note b: "Gk went after other flesh." Watson properly points 

out that the sin of Sodom involved inhospitality and attempted 

rape of two visiting angels. However, his terminology is 

sometimes incorrect and confusing, as when he refers to the 

"second sin" as "that of homosexual practice and rape" (p. 489). 

Does anyone ever refer to rape as "heterosexual practice"? Or 

David's "heterosexual practice and adultery"?



In NIB X (2002), Paul Sampley's contribution on 1 Corinthians 

provides the least objectionable NIB treatment of a clobber text 

(1 Cor 6:9, pp. 858-859). Basically he views the two sexual terms 

as referring to sexual acts that involved abuse and exploitation 

(see the reference to "oppression" that heads the list, Hanks 

2000). Sampley also refers readers to Victor Paul Furnish's work 

for a balanced and thoughtful treatment of the issue. Personally 

I prefer to avoid any reference to "homosexual/ homosexuality" in 

the Bible, since it is grossly anachronistic and confuses readers 

(especially the traditional minded who prefer confusion to more 

light). For the rest, one might disagree with details of 

Sampley's interpretation, but nothing in them smacks of 

homophobic prejudice.



Alas, the same cannot be said of the contribution on Romans by 

N.T. Wright, a scholar whose work I greatly admire. His NIB 

commentary on Romans is of the highest quality, sadly marred by a 

couple of homophobic pages on Romans 1:26-27 (NIB 433, 435), 

where his only bibliographical references are to Robert Gagnon's 

work and Richard Hays' *The Moral Vision of the New Testament* 

(Harper, 1996). Since I have written repeatedly and extensively 

on the Romans text (most recently in *The Subversive Gospel*, 

Pilgrim, 2000), I will not rehearse my disagreements with Wright 

here. My almost finished review (20 pages) of Robert Gagnon's 

work updates a few significant points. Gagnon's work, detailed 

and scholarly (in the area of exegesis, not science), deserves a 

careful reading and refutation. Following Gagnon, Tom Wright got 

it wrong in the NIB: "the God-given male and female order is being 

fractured" (p. 435), which is Gagnon's ill-chosen trump card. So 

Wright's excellent work on Romans is best studied for the many 

other areas where he provides much light.



1. DBAG: Danker, Frederick William (ed.). A Greek-English Lexicon 

of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Third 

edition revised. (University of Chicago Press, 2000).



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



**Bethlehem Road**, by Nancy Crowe. Anaheim, CA: Odd Girls Press, 

2002. 234 p. $12.95 paper. Reviewed by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott. 

Reprinted with thanks to and permission from EEWC Update, Spring 

2002.



If Nancy Crowe is not already a member of EEWC (Evangelical and 

Ecumenical Women's Caucus), she would make a most welcome 

addition. Her understanding of the Christian virtues is similar 

to ours: for instance, she shows that it is not as important 

*whom* you love as *that* you love, and that the loving is 

sincere and mutually supportive. Her approach to Scripture is 

also similar: the Bible can mean differently to members of 

various interpretive communities, but context makes a huge 

difference, and anything interpreted lovelessly leads to pain and 

suffering for everyone concerned. Ordinary people can grasp basic 

biblical principles, and life's anguish will teach them to any 

open-minded person who lives long enough.



That all this theological sophistication is packaged in a well-

written first novel about a lesbian relationship by a lesbian 

author, and published by a lesbian feminist press, comes as a 

delightful surprise. After all, the protagonist of *Bethlehem 

Road* is like many lesbians who have encountered hypocrisy and 

hostility among Christians. By the time Ruth has become 

comfortable in San Francisco's social and political scene, she 

has made the rather typical decision "never again to have anything 

to do with organized religion." Like the reasoning of many 

lesbians, Ruth's goes beyond dislike of individual hypocrisy to 

pinpoint a more corporate discontinuity: "Maybe there were a few 

isolated places on the planet where you could sing, in a room 

full of people, about God's love and know that there would be no 

qualifiers or conditions tacked on down the line, but she doubted 

it." It seems miraculous that knowing all this to be true, Nancy 

Crowe could write such a spiritually reconciling novel and that 

Odd Girls Press would be able to recognize and promote its skillful 

artistry.



The novel describes a clash of values symbolized by the contrast 

between San Francisco and the tiny town of New Bethlehem, 

Indiana. But the deeper contrast occurs between people who 

confuse traditional culture with eternal verity and people whose 

life experience has forced them to learn a more nuanced 

understanding of The Way Things Are.



The characters names (Ruth, Naomi, Dr. Boaz) and the four 

sections of the novel (Sojourn, Cleaning, The Threshing Floor, 

The Gate) ask us to read *Bethlehem Road* as a modern reworking 

of *The Book of Ruth*, but there are significant departures from 

the ancient short story. (For instance, it is not to Naomi, but 

to Dr. Belinda Boaz, that Ruth utters the famous pledge, 

"Wherever you go, I will go.") But Naomi is indeed bitter as she 

returns to her Indiana home town ten years after leaving for San 

Francisco with her husband and two daughters, one of whom had 

been the partner of Ruth; and like her biblical namesake she 

undervalues Ruth's kindness in accompanying her on the long 

drive. But the deepest similarity to the Old Testament narrative 

is this: *Bethlehem Road* describes an outsider who becomes an 

insider, not without hardship and some determined plotting and 

planning. Along the way there is considerable help from the Rev. 

Jim Foster, who knows that kindness counts and who enjoys 

preaching about biblical imagery of God as female.



After living my life as an evangelical lesbian and a liberation 

theologian, I can testify that Nancy Crowe has depicted lesbian 

experience with great accuracy. Many of the lesbians I know could 

tell stories that are similar to Ruth's experiences. For 

instance, I smiled ruefully at Lula's refusal to believe that the 

women-friends in *Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe* 

were also lovers. ("This is a perfectly nice story," Lula 

declares at the local book club discussion. "I just don't believe 

the author would put a nasty thing like that in there.") 

Similarly, one of my colleagues in inter-religious dialogue 

resolutely refused to believe that Shug and Celie were lovers in 

The *The Color Purple* -- even when I pointed out to her that in 

a subsequent novel, Walker depicted them as having lived together 

for many years.



Never mind all that: as one finds out in Bethlehem Road, 

people have their own reasons for refusing to see what they are 

looking at, and also for hating those they hate. A high official 

at my alma mater, fundamentalist Bob Jones University, once wrote 

that I am a "devil" and suggested that "it would not be unfit to 

pray for [my] destruction." Nevertheless, I hope that the more 

centrist Louisville Seminary is proud of its graduate Nancy Crowe 

for embodying a liberating theological perspective in a readable, 

attractive novel. It is every inch as good as Isobel Miller's 

lesbian classic *Patience and Sarah*. And as a fan of Alice 

Walker, Dorothy Sayers, Iris Murdoch, and Laurie R. King, I am 

always happy to find another woman who writes good fiction with 

strongly theological overtones. Nancy Crowe, here's hoping you 

have another novel in the works!



     Reviewer Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, Ph.D., taught literature 

     at the university level for 44 years, 30 of which were at 

     William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. ... Virginia is 

     one of EEWC's founding members, a prolific author, and a 

     popular speaker ....



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



                     Chris Glaser's New Book



**Henri's Mantle: 100 Meditations on Nouwen's Legacy** (Pilgrim 

Press, 212 pp, $18) by Chris Glaser. ISBN # 0-8298-1497-3.



Long-time MLP activist Chris Glaser's most recent book has just 

been published by Pilgrim Press: *Henri's Mantle: 100 Meditations 

on Nouwen's Legacy* (www.pilgrimpress.com). Glaser was one of the 

first openly gay seminarians denied ordination by the 

Presbyterian Church and served on the Task Force to Study 

Homosexuality. He was also national coordinator of Presbyterians 

for Lesbian & Gay Concerns, editor of *More Light* (predecessor 

of the *More Light Update*), and founding director of the Lazarus 

Project, the denomination's first official ministry of 

reconciliation between the church and LGBT community.



Consider mentioning or reviewing this new book in your church 

newsletter or bulletin. Feel free to quote it with attribution.



*Henri's Mantle* takes its name from the mantle that fell from 

Elijah to Elisha, passing on spiritual strength and wisdom. Henri 

Nouwen's forty-plus books on the spiritual life collectively 

serve as a mantle passed on to his readers. His student and 

friend, Chris Glaser, who has written books of daily meditations 

based on sacred writings from the Bible, interprets Nouwen's 

"sacred writings" on a wide range of topics to uplift and 

encourage spiritual seekers. What results is a touching, 

accessible book on the inner struggles of the spiritual life.



Chris Glaser, M.Div., is the author of nine books on the 

spiritual life, including *Reformation of the Heart* and *Communion 

of Life: Meditations for the New Millennium*. A graduate of Yale 

Divinity School, he travels widely from his home in Atlanta, 

Georgia, as a speaker and as a leader of workshops and retreats.



Glaser is available for workshops and retreats, presentations and 

sermons, ranging from LGBT issues to spirituality, the latter 

including developing a prayer life, spiritual autobiographical 

writing, and the legacy of spiritual author Henri J. M. Nouwen. 

*Open Hands*, the magazine he has edited the past four years, has 

ceased publication, so he is eager for work. Visit his website 

(www.chrisglaser.com) or contact him at: chrsglaser@aol.com, 

phone/fax 404/622-4222, address: 991 Berne St. SE, Atlanta, GA 

30316-1859.



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



OUR ALLIES



                Help the Shower of Stoles Project

                   Gather Stoles for WOW 2003!



The Shower of Stoles Project is a collection of close to a 

thousand liturgical stoles from gay, lesbian, bisexual and 

transgender people of faith from 20 denominations across North 

America. The Project is now gathering stoles for WOW2003: 

Witness our Welcome. WOW is the largest LGBT ecumenical 

conference in the nation; over 2,000 are expected to gather in 

Philadelphia Aug. 14-17, 2003. We are hoping to have the largest 

collection of stoles in our history on display at WOW. You can be 

a part of it!



**Who can donate a stole?** The Shower of Stoles is not limited to 

those who have been ordained, or have lost their ordination. 

**Any gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person who is active 

in the life and leadership of their faith community can donate a 

stole!** We have stoles from church school teachers, musicians, 

trustees, students and many others. Your church can also 

participate by making a signature stole of support.



**How do I donate a Stole?**  You can find out everything you need 

to know about making a stole for yourself or your church by 

visiting our website at www.showerofstoles.org. Make a 

celebration out of it! Have a stole-making party at your church -

- an easy way to make several stoles at once. Further questions? 

E-mail us at stoleproj@aol.com.



**What are the deadlines?** Stoles received by May 2 will go with 

us to PCUSA General Assembly in Denver. Stoles received by July 

18 will be taken to WOW2003.



**We'd like to see the stoles before making some**.  Consider 

having a small display of stoles at your church someday soon. You 

can order as few as 10 stoles, and requests for small numbers of 

stoles can usually be filled on short notice. More information 

about arranging for a display of stoles can be found on our 

website: www.showerofstoles.org.



**We'd like to hear from you!**  Email us today at 

stoleproj@aol.com with your questions about making stoles, or 

arranging for a display. We'll give you all the help you need!



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



                 Covenant Network Broadens Focus



             Group Will Go Beyond Gay-Rights Fight,

                  Promote "Progressive Theology"



          by John Filiatreau, Presbyterian News Service



Minneapolis,  November 11, 2002 -- While affirming the purpose 

for which it was founded in 1997 -- the inclusion of gays and 

lesbians in all ministries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) -- 

leaders of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians said during its 

recent annual conference here that it will organize in 

presbyteries around the country and broaden its scope, striving 

to become the voice of "progressive theology" and "a new 

ecclesiastical spirit" in the church.



The Network"s co-moderators, the Rev. Joanna Adams, co-pastor of 

Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, and Eugene Bay, pastor of 

Bryn Mawr (PA) Presbyterian Church, said the group will devote 

itself to "networking, informing and advocating" among 

"Presbyterians in the great middle of the church" -- and will try to 

do so, in Adams' words, "in a way that does not result in the 

church dividing."



Adams and Bay said the Network will concentrate on "building up 

chapters on the presbytery level," and has plans to hire a part-

time organizer to work in the southeastern United States.



"I should hasten to say," Bay added, "that this is going to take 

money."



The conference, whose theme was "Confessing Christ Today: Seeking 

Common Ground," attracted more than 500 Presbyterians to 

Westminster Presbyterian Church here -- an increase of about 150 

over last year"s turnout. Organizers said the group included about 

180 people who had never been to a Covenant Network conference 

before.



The meeting featured several sermons and lectures exploring what 

might be called the theology of inclusion:



The Rev. John Wilkinson, pastor of Third Presbyterian Church in 

Rochester, NY, and a member of the Theological Task Force on the 

Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, spoke of the *Confession 

of 1967* as a road map toward reconciliation that 

demonstrates that "cultural context matters, even as Jesus Christ 

is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow." Copies of "C-67" were 

included in the conference packet.



The Rev. Shirley C. Guthrie, a theology professor emeritus at 

Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA, who retired 

recently after teaching for 39 years, spoke about "authentic 

evangelism" in a multi-faith world, arguing that it can only 

spring from a Christianity "that reconciles people not only to 

God, but also to other people." In a message he said was intended 

for conservatives and liberals alike, he added: "Those who say 

they love God and hate other people are flat-out liars."



The Rev. Anna Case-Winters, an associate professor of theology at 

McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, pointed out that God 

"is present and active in the world, and not just in the church," 

adding: "There is more to God than Jesus. ... When we have said 

all we can say about Jesus of Nazareth, we have not told the 

whole story." She said God has unabridged freedom to save 

Christians and non-Christians alike.



In a sermon, the Rev. Cynthia Jarvis, the pastor of the 

Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia, made a 

similar point, noting that the Good Shepherd says in John that he 

has "other sheep who do not belong to this fold," and says, "I must 

bring them also, and they will listen to my voice." Jarvis told 

her audience that "God's freedom to be in relationship with other 

sheep is not bound by what God has done with us."



Another preacher, the Rev. Curtis Jones, pastor of Madison Avenue 

Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, referred to gay, lesbian, 

bisexual and transgendered Presbyterians as members that "the 

church has yet to stand with," adding: "It's interesting that our 

response to difference is fear. ... God made us and said we were 

good. ... This is a God that doesn't even make the snowflakes 

identical. ... Never stop fighting for who you are."



Participants took part in workshops on topics including "Being the 

Christian Church in Faithful Conversation with Jews & Muslims"; 

"Biblical Visions of a Hospitable and Transforming Church"; "Why 

Stay? Living with Integrity in the Shadow of G-6.0106b"; and 

"Christian Ministry in Multi-faith Neighborhoods."



In one workshop, "Interpreting Our Constitution Faithfully: Living 

with G-6.0106b," attorneys Peter Oddleifson and Doug Nave advised 

people to "start reading the words" of the controversial provision -- 

which Nave called "a harmful, painful, violent thing to have in 

the *Book of Order*" -- in order to fight it on legal grounds.



G-6.0106b states: "Those who are called to office in the church 

are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to 

the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these 

standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within 

the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or 

chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-

acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be 

ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders or ministers of the 

Word and Sacrament."



Nave said the language of the amendment leaves lots of room for 

interpretation of the meanings of such terms as "chastity," 

"unrepentant" and "compliance."



"This is not gamesmanship," he said. "This is not a game. It is not 

dodging, being tricky, fancy legal footwork." He said Presbyterian 

liberals "since 1996 have allowed conservatives to tell us what 

Amendment B (now G-6.0106b) means," but "there are a lot of 

interpretive issues in B" yet to be resolved.



Discussing the phrase, "a practice the Confessions call sin," Nave 

and Oddleifson pointed out that the Larger Catechism identifies 

253 specific sins, suggesting that any consideration of sin must 

take into account "context and degree."



The lawyers distributed a pamphlet titled, "Examination of 

Officers-Elect: A Resource for Sessions," that contains "sample 

answers" for candidates for ordination -- what Nave called "things 

gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people can say and be 

ordained." He said of G-6.0106b, "It's not that bad if we're careful 

about the words."



In another workshop, the Rev. Jack Rogers, moderator of the 213th 

General Assembly, said he found his year of travel around the 

church reassuring. "What I heard was a positive message of 

encouragement and hope," he said. "I discovered that 90 percent of 

Presbyterians are not upset with the church."



In a workshop on the Assembly Committee on Confessions and 

Christology during the 214th Assembly (2002), Case-Winters, who 

served as chair of the committee, said she expected the panel's 

deliberations to be rancorous and difficult, but they were not. 

"I still to this day don't know how we came together the way we 

did," she said. "I think it made a difference that a lot of 

people were praying for us."



The committee produced a report commending to the church a paper 

titled "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ" that had been written by 

staff members of the denomination's Office of Theology and 

Worship. The committee's report was then approved by a 497-11 

vote of commissioners to the 214th GA.



"Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ" affirms that "Jesus Christ is the 

only Savior and Lord, and all people everywhere are called to 

place their faith, hope, and love in him," but goes on to say: 

"We do not presume to limit the sovereign freedom of 'God our 

Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the 

knowledge of the truth' (1 Timothy 2:4). Thus, we neither 

restrict the grace of God to those who profess explicit faith in 

Christ nor assume that all people are saved regardless of faith. 

Grace, love, and communion belong to God, and are not ours to 

determine."



Wilkinson's presentation on the *Confession of 1967*, which he 

called "a theological and ecclesiastical watershed for the 

Presbyterian family" that "has a timeliness that feels very 

Reformed to me," set the tone for the conference.



He said the document, with its "litany of ethical and social 

concerns," speaks powerfully to us today because the issues it 

addressed 40 years ago -- such as civil rights, women's rights, 

population shifts, war and peace, the decline in the cultural 

influence of religion -- seem scarcely less current now. The 

document, he said, calls Presbyterians to "Christ's ministry of 

reconciliation" and makes clear that that ministry must take place 

in "a context of political give-and-take."



Paraphrasing poet T. S. Eliot, Wilkinson said, "Our fallen selves 

and our redeemed selves are one. ... The church and its Lord are 

one."



Part of the *Confession of 1967* was actually sung during one 

worship service, in a performance of portions of "The Spirit That 

Sets Us Free," by Stephen Paulus of nearby St. Paul, MN, which 

sets to music parts of C-67 and of the *Brief Statement of Faith*. 

"God has endowed us with capacities to make the world serve our 

needs and enjoy its good things," a choir sang. "Life is a gift to 

be received with gratitude; a task to be pursued with courage."



Among the performers at worship were the Macalester College 

African Music Ensemble, the Westminster Presbyterian Church 

Children's Choir, the Choristers of the House of Hope Choir 

School, a trio playing Gaelic music on vintage instruments, and 

the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus.



The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the PCUSA, told 

conference participants that Christians are "called, not only to 

preach, but to live the Beatitudes," and to "transform the world 

for the cause of Christ and be agents of God's reconciliation in 

the world." He pointed out that the scripture says, "For God so 

loved the world ..." rather than, "For God so loved the church ...."



Guthrie said he imagined that "evangelism is not high on the 

agenda of members of the Covenant Network," whose foundational 

documents don't even mention the word. He said that could be 

because many of us "are appalled by the kind of evangelism we hear 

on the radio and see on TV," which obsesses about "salvation of 

individual souls" and implies that "only Christians worship the one 

true God."



He said "authentic evangelism" differs from "self-glorifying ... 

Christian evangelism ... which can take a conservative or liberal 

form," in that it:



     * "Bears witness to God, not to our own personal religious 

     experience";



     * "Bears witness to God, not to the Christian community";



     * "Bears witness to the love of God for all kinds of people, 

     not only to people who are like us."



Guthrie said people are "weary and bored to death with an 

evangelism of cheap grace," and said Christians must recognize "the 

presence of Christ outside the Christian community" and witness to 

"a risen Christ that is alive in the world and not trapped in a 

church."



The Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the 214th General Assembly, 

prayed for peace in the Middle East and expressed concern about a 

possible U.S. attack on Iraq.



"I feel that in the United States we are becoming more isolated," 

he said. "As the only superpower, we think we can eliminate people 

completely and do whatever we want. ... We are telling the world 

the gun is the solution." (Jones had said in his sermon, "George 

Bush, who could not find oil in Texas, has his eye on somebody 

else's vineyard.") Abu-Akel said hospitality for "the strangers in 

our midst, the people who are not like us" -- the ministry to which 

he has devoted most of his life and career -- is the "No. 1 tool for 

evangelism."



Case-Winters pointed out that the *Second Helvetic Confession* says 

God "can illuminate whom and where he will," and advises that we 

are "to have a good hope (of salvation) for all." She warned 

against trying to "exclude any whom God would not exclude," or 

assuming that the second person of the Trinity is "the only locus 

of God's activity."



"Incarnation in itself may be redemptive ... might be enough," she 

said.



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



EVENTS



                      General Assembly 2003

                   May 24-31, Denver, Colorado



Our four major GA events are listed below. Each of them are 

"Three Sisters" events, jointly sponsored by More Light 

Presbyterians (MLP), That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS), and The 

Shower of Stoles Project.



Our hospitality suite, office and evening briefing room will be 

at the Hyatt as well as our National Dinner on Saturday, our 

National Luncheon on Tuesday, and our new event, the Seminarians' 

Luncheon on Thursday. So if you are planning to participate and 

serve at GA with us, the Hyatt would be a goof first choice 

hotel. -- Michael Adee, MLP National Field Organizer.



1. Saturday, May 24, 2003. National More Light Celebration 

Reception and Dinner, Hyatt Regency Imperial Ballroom, 4:00-5:30 

p.m. Cocktail Reception, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Dinner with program: 

"Turning the Page from Pain to Hope -- How the James Byrd family 

transformed an act of hate and violence into a hate crime 

protection law for all Texans." Come hear a member of the Byrd 

family and a Presbyterian pastor who worked beside them for this 

historic change.



2. Sunday, May 25, 2003. National More Light Celebration, 4:00-5:00 

p.m. with reception to follow at Montview Presbyterian Church, at 

Montview and Dahlia. All are welcome to join MLP, TAMFS, and The 

Shower of Stoles Project for a fully inclusive worship service 

celebrating the lives, faith and gifts of all of God's children, 

including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons and our 

families. Bus service will be provided from the Convention Center 

to and from the church.



3. Tuesday, May 27, 2003. National More Light Luncheon, 12:00-2:00 

p.m., Hyatt Regency Grand Ballroom. "Gay to Straight? Change 

Therapy = Bad Theology and Bad Medicine." How can the Church 

responsibly address the false claims, liabilities and harm of 

change therapy and so-called 'ex-gay' ministries? Join MLP, 

TAMFS, and The Shower of Stoles Project for this interactive 

educational program facilitated by clinical professionals and 

persons who have survived such experiences.



4. Thursday, May 29, 2003. National LGBT Seminarians Luncheon, 

12:00-2:00 p.m., Hyatt Regency Moulin Rouge Room. See next story!



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



    Our Special Seminarians Luncheon: The Movement Advances!



The movement advances!  Join us at General Assembly for lunch as 

we celebrate the ministries of our Presbyterian Lesbian, Gay, 

Bisexual and Transgender seminary students and alums.  Sponsored 

by More Light Presbyterians, That All May Freely Serve and the 

Shower of Stoles Project, LGBT folk with friends and allies will 

gather at this year's General Assembly in Denver Colorado on 

Thursday, May 29th (noon-2 p.m.) at the Hyatt Regency Moulin 

Rouge Room.  This historic "pan-seminary" lunch will provide the 

opportunity for LGBT Presbyterians, friends and allies, to 

organize, share stories, offer support and coordinate efforts and 

strategies that will lead to the inevitable open and affirming 

church that welcomes all whom God calls and the church affirms to 

serve in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  In addition to the 

strategic work of organizing for change in our church's policies, 

over lunch we will enjoy the production of "Love According to 

Luc" -- a hot ticket off-Broadway musical about a seminarian's 

struggle to live into her call to ministry as a Lesbian woman.



Presbyterian seminary students and alums have been about the work 

of organizing More Light and Inclusive Church chapters on our 

campuses for a number of years.  This General Assembly event will 

launch the combined work of these distinct groups joining 

together in a national movement in support of our Lesbian, Gay, 

Bisexual and Transgender seminarians, clergy and friends.



Will you be in Denver?  If so, plan to join us for this historic 

event!  Are you not able to join us at General Assembly?  You can 

help support the work of this pan-seminary national movement for 

full inclusion by your financial gifts.  For those able to attend 

the pan-seminary LGBT lunch, purchase your ticket through the 

Office of the General Assembly.  If you are unable to attend but 

would like to support this effort, send your contributions to: 

Pan-Seminary LGBT Support, c/o The Peace Center, 817 W. 34th 

Street, Los Angeles, CA 90004.



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



                            WOW2003



     WOW2003: God's Deliverance Is For All -- a gathering of 

    sexually and gender diverse Christians from the U.S. and 

     Canada, August 14-17, 2003, University of Pennsylvania, 

                          Philadelphia.



                  Planning News, November 2002.



It's hard to believe that WOW2003 is now just over 9 months away. 

Here's some recent news on WOW2003 as it is unfolding.



Preachers Confirmed: The WOW2003 Coordinating Committee is now 

confirming major speakers and preachers for the WOW2003 

Conference. Preachers confirmed so far are: Rev. Yvette Flunder, 

pastor of City of Refuge UCC, an Open and Affirming Congregation, 

in San Francisco; Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, lesbian feminist 

author -- her most recent book, *Omnigender*; Rev. Troy Perry, founder 

and moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches; and Rev. Janie 

Spahr, national evangelist of That All May Freely Serve.



More speakers and preachers will be confirmed in the coming 

weeks.



           Planning Moving Ahead -- Volunteers Needed



The WOW2003 Coordinating Committee is plowing ahead with 

finalizing plans for the program at WOW2003. As you can imagine, 

designing a program for such a massive event with such a diverse 

constituency is a monumental task. A few more planning volunteers 

are needed in the next few months to assist the Coordinating 

Committee with final preparations. Volunteers are particularly 

needed in these work areas: 1) Worship; 2) Workshops Development; 

3) Bible Studies; 4) Plenary Sessions; 5) Entertainment; and 6) 

Youth Program. If you are interested in giving a few hours a 

month between now and August 2003 to work on any of the above 

planning areas, see the Volunteer page on the WOW2003 web site 

http://www.wow2k.org/Volunteers.htm, or email 

volunteer@wow2k.org. It would be most helpful if volunteers can 

participate in the Coordinating Committee meetings that will be 

January 10-12 and June 20-22 in Philadelphia. Funds are available 

to help cover expenses for planning volunteers.



Persons in the Philadelphia area who are interested in assisting 

with local arrangements should be in contact with Kathy Stayton 

at kbstay@aol.com.



                  Publicity Materials Available



A WOW2003 postcard and a more detailed flier are now available 

from the WOW2003 office. If you'd like some copies to share with 

your congregation or program, send a request to WOW2003, 

PMB#111, 5250 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640, call toll-free at 

1-866-550-3500, or email to publicity@wow2k.org. Be 

sure to give your name, shipping address and quantity of 

postcards and/or fliers you can use.



        New Groups/Congregations Enroll as WOW Supporters



The list of groups that are involved with and support WOW2003 

continues to grow. Currently the supporting organizations and 

congregations are: SPONSORS: Affirming Congregation Program; 

Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists; Brethren Mennonite 

Council of Eastern Canada; Metropolitan Community Churches; More 

Light Presbyterians; Open & Affirming Ministries; Open and 

Affirming Program; Reconciling in Christ Program; Reconciling 

Ministries Network; The Shower of Stoles Project; Supportive 

Congregations Network; and That All May Freely Serve. PARTNERS: 

Pacific School of Religion. ALLIES: Central Baptist Church 

(Wayne, PA); Dignity; Heartstrong; Pilgrim Congregational UCC 

(Grand Rapids, MI); St. Francis in the Foothills UMC (Tucson, 

AZ). FRIENDS: American Friends Service Committee; First Baptist 

Church (Seattle, WA); Montclair Presbyterian Church (Oakland, 

CA). You can find information on how your congregation or group 

can support and be identified with WOW2003 on the web site: 

http://www.wow2k.org/Sponsorship.htm.



           Denominational Programs Planning Gatherings

                      Before/During WOW2003



Several of the groups that are sponsoring and supporting WOW2003 

will have gatherings before or during WOW2003. At this time, the 

More Light Presbyterians and the Reconciling Ministries Network 

(United Methodist) will meet on Thursday, August 14 -- preceding 

the WOW2003 Conference. Other groups are planning gatherings 

during WOW2003. WOW2003 will be the largest-ever gathering of 

LGBT-affirming Christians. Other groups or organizations 

interested in doing outreach with this massive gathering should 

be in contact with WOW2003 Coordinator, Mark Bowman, at 

markb@wow2k.org.



       Registration Materials to be Ready by February 2003



Registration materials for WOW2003 are expected to be ready in 

February 2003. Watch for news on when registration will open. 

WOW2003 participants will also be able to register on the WOW2003 

web site www.wow2k.org at that time.



You can begin to plan now for your participation in WOW2003. It 

is expected that the registration fee for the whole conference -- 

all program activities and meals -- will be around $275; with a 

reduced $150 fee for low-income persons, students and youth. You 

will incur additional costs for housing and travel. Scholarship 

funds will be available.



                         Call for Papers



WOW2003 is requesting proposals for scholarly work that could be 

presented at a Queer Theory and Theology Colloquium at WOW2003. 

Possible subjects of exploration include: queer theory, LGBT 

studies, LGBT identities and intersections between religion and 

LGBT people. Interested scholars should send three (3) copies of 

a 250-word abstract along with a brief biography to: Julie J. 

Kilmer, 1428 Jill Court, Glendale Heights, IL 60139. Direct 

questions to Julie at 630-469-3583. Deadline for submissions is 

January 31, 2003.



                Coordinating Committee to Meet in

                Philadelphia January 10-12, 2003



The Coordinating Committee will hold its next meeting on January 

10-12, 2003, in Philadelphia. As noted above, other persons 

volunteering to help with WOW2003 planning are welcome to 

participate in this meeting. The Coordinating Committee will also 

spend some time meeting with Philadelphia area supporters and 

volunteers.



                         Spread the Word



Please pass on this WOW2003 update to friends and lists you think 

would be interested. Encourage persons to sign on to our email 

list at: info@wow2k.org in order to get these occasional reports 

in the future. Also email us at info@wow2k.org if you wish to be 

removed from this list or change your email address. -- Marco 

Grimaldo & Wanda Floyd, WOW2003 co-facilitators, Mark Bowman, 

WOW2003 coordinator.



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



OTHER EVENTS



January 16-19, 2003, Thursday-Sunday, Intimacy and Ecstasy: A 

Retreat for Gay and Bisexual Christian Men, led by Chris Glaser 

and Terence J. Flynn. 6:30 p.m. Thurs. dinner through Sun. lunch. 

$315 ($160 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.



January 17-20, Friday-Monday, Announcing the first ever retreat 

for YAYAs! (Youth And Young Adults of the Welcoming Church 

Movement / Progressive Presbyterians, age 18-30 something), New 

York City. This will be a chance for us to hang-out, build 

relationships and networks of support, explore hopes and dreams 

for the PCUSA, engage in a local mission project together and 

maybe even catch a Broadway Show.  Don't miss out on this radical 

fun! Scholarships available. If you or someone you know may be 

interested in learning more about this retreat, please contact 

the Rev. Katie Morrison (katie@mlp.org).



March 28-30, 2003, Friday-Sunday. Calling All Princeton Seminary 

Graduates! Please join the new EQUALITY organization, an 

organization formed for all LGBT alums and their straight 

supporters. Plan to join us for our gathering, March 28-30, 2003 

on the campus of Princeton Seminary.  For further information: 

EQUALITY at Princeton Seminary, P.O. Box 337, Princeton, NJ   

08542-0337, Email: EqualityPTS@aol.com.



September 11-14, 2003, Thursday-Sunday, Voices of Sophia 

Gathering: Racism, Whiteness, and Resistance, Louisville, KY.



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



                    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



The Rev. Katie Morrison, 22 Park Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, 

office 617-547-5222, fax 617-547-8222, katie@mlp.org



                          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 (2005-G), 155 Prospect St., 

Northampton, MA 01060, 413-584-7935, dmriley@alumni.princeton.edu



TREASURER: Dick Lundy (2004-I), 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331, 

952-470-0093, dlundy@mchsi.com





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



                     MLP Board of Directors



Charles Booker-Hirsch (2005-G), 601 Howley Court, Ann Arbor, MI  

48105-1613, 734-663-5503 work, 734-665-9006 home, 

morelight@comcast.net



Ralph Carter (2003-G), 111 Milburn St., Rochester, NY 14607-2918, 

585-271-7649, rcarter@rpa.net, faxes: 1-530-380-9722.



Marco Antonio Grimaldo (2003-I), 221 Ridgemede, #109, Baltimore, 

MD 21210, 202-669-2153, mgrimaldo@earthlink.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@earthlink.net



Katie Ricks (2004-I), 2504 State St., Durham, NC 27704, 919-220-

0255, recassoc@mindspring.com



Bear Ride (2005-G), 1680 N. Holliston Ave., Pasadena, CA 91104, 

626-398-9936, bears@usc.edu



Mike Smith (2005-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, erin@erinswen.com



Lindsay T. Thompson (2005-I), 200 W. Mercer St., Suite 207, 

Seattle, WA 98119-3994, 206-285-4130 work, 206-328-3177 home, fax 

206-285-4610, tradelaw@thompson-law.com



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



                      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



SPOTLIGHT (MLP's Quarterly Outreach Newsletter): Gail Rickey, 

editor, 13114 Holston Hills, Houston, TX 77069m 281-440-0353, 

patrickey@aol.com



MLP DATABASE: Dick Lundy, 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331, 

952-470-0093, dlundy@mchsi.com



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: The Rev. Katie Morrison, 22 Park 

Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, office 617-547-5222, fax 617-547-

8222, katie@mlp.org; 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, 

CA 91104, 626-398-9936, bears@usc.edu; Tony De La Rosa, 3114 

Glenmanor Place, Los Angeles, CA  90039, 323-664-2787 (home), 

tonydlr@earthlink.net



JUDICIAL ISSUES: Bear Ride, 1680 N. Holliston Ave., Pasadena, CA 

91104, 626-398-9936, bears@usc.edu; Tony De La Rosa, 3114 

Glenmanor Place, Los Angeles, CA  90039, 323-664-2787 (home), 

tonydlr@earthlink.net; 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, jvangorder@mindspring.com



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. 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, erin@erinswen.com; Sa`ra J. 

Herwig, P.O, Box 474, Arlington, MA 02476, sjherwig@earthlink.net



YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT CONCERNS: Brian Cave, BrianMLP@aol.com; 

The Rev. Katie Morrison, 22 Park Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, 

office 617-547-5222, fax 617-547-8222, katie@mlp.org



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



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MLP Presbytery Liaisons (See: www.mlp.org/liaison.html)



MLP Chapters (See: 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.



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               MASTHEAD (Publication Information)



MORE LIGHT UPDATE, Volume 23, Number 1, Winter 2003.  

ISSN 0889-3985.  Published quarterly 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: Mar. 1, June 1, Sept. 1, Dec. 1.  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: 

$20.00.



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corrected version 12-30-2002.