Date: Sun, 17 Aug 97 19:34:52 EDT From: James Anderson Subject: MORE LIGHT UPDATE Sept.-Oct. 1997 (170K) MORE LIGHT UPDATE For all ministers, elders, deacons, members and friends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) September-October 1997 Volume 18, Number 1 Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns James D. Anderson, Communications Secretary P.O. Box 38 New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers University) FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers University) Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu) PLGC-List: plgc-list@andrew.cmu.edu (to join, send request to: plgc-list-request@andrew.cmu.edu) PLGC home page: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~riley/PLGC.html Masthead, with Publication Information at end of file. Note: * is used to indicate italicized or boldface text. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CONTENTS CHANGES Amendment B to Amendment A Shower of Stoles Has New Address New PLGC Officers and Coordinators Our 1998 Nominating Committee: Chapter Changes New MLCN Officers and Coordinators New Listings for Allied Organizations PLGC has a new area code New and Moving Coordinators OUR COVER: "Presbyterian Evangelism on the Streets of New York City" PHOTOS PEOPLE PLGC's Coordinator for Transgender Concerns Challenged EVENTS Intimacy with God: Mature Spirituality. Finding Our way in the Wilderness. REQUESTS Char and Gus Sindt More Light Church Seeks Pastor RESOURCES PLGC and the Internet, By Gene Huff, San Francisco PLGC-list on the Internet: 200 Strong, by Donna Michelle Riley, Webmistress The Judgement Road (video) FEATURES Moving Beyond Amendment B: Working Toward Amendment A "That All May Be One ... So That the World May Believe": Excerpts from an Open Letter to Presbyterians from the Moderator and Stated Clerk of the General Assembly The Values and Principles of Our Denomination's Government Reaffirmed by the Book of Order Committee. Presentation for the General Assembly Committee on the Book of Order Regarding Overture 97-10 as Amended [the new Amendment B], June 20, 1997, Syracuse, New York, by Laird J. Stuart, Chair Just Like Fools [A General Assembly Sermon], by Scott D. Anderson, PLGC's Co-Moderator Presbyterian Sin Analysis, by Merrill Proudfoot, COMMENTARY AND RESPONSE Getting Out of the Pelvic Zone, by Rev. Robert (Bob) Browne, Honorably Retired, Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery A Covenant of Affirmation Amendment B Turmoil, by David Ward Presbyterian Purgatory, by Howard Warren Amendment B Re-Ignites Fire of Action: A letter from Darryl Fenley Until Our Church Reforms Its Anti-Gay Policy: A Eucharistic Fast, by Chris Glaser MORE LIGHT CHURCH CONFERENCE SERMON "Follow Me," by Martha Juillerat BOOK REVIEWS Agony in the Garden, by Howard. Reviewed by Jud van Gorder. OUR CHAPTERS Big PLGC Banner in St. Louis Parade, by Peg Atkins Tips for Organizing a PLGC Chapter, by Gene Huff, PLGC's Chapter Liaison PLGC Chapters, Compiled by Gene Huff, PLGC's Chapter Liaison OFFICERS AND CONTACTS (at end of file) ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS (at end of file) MASTHEAD (publication information) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CHANGES Amendment B to Amendment A At G.A. we gave the new amendment a "B+" -- but now it appears that the new amendment's official designation is "Amendment A." So I guess we need to give it an "A" -- grade inflation? Let's go for it! -- JDA] Shower of Stoles Has New Address The Shower of Stoles Project has a new home: Martha G. Juillerat, Director, 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-8792, PNet: Martha Juillerat, email: martha_juillerat.parti@ecunet.org New PLGC Officers and Coordinators Please welcome our new Board Members: Tricia Dykers Koenig (1999), 3967 Navahoe Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44121, 216-381-0156, PNet: Tricia Dykers Koenig Donna Michelle Riley (1999), Box 323, 4902 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3702, 412-422-1822, 412-268-5550 w., email: riley+@andrew.cmu.edu Howard Warren, Jr. (1999), 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-632-0123 w., 317-253-2377 h. And bid Lindsay Biddle farewell from the board after many years of faithful and creative service. Hey, thanks, Lindsay! Continuing board member Tammy Lindahl has moved. New address and phone are: 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55407, 612-377- 2191 h., PNet: Tammy Lindahl, email: tammy_lindahl.parti@ecunet.org Our 1998 Nominating Committee: Lindsay Biddle (1997), 3538 - 22nd Ave. So., Minneapolis, MN 55407, 612-724-5429, PNet: Lindsay Biddle, email: lindsay_biddle.parti@ecunet.org Lisa Larges (1997), 426 Fair Oaks, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415- 648-0547 Glyndon Morris, 1150 Vultee Blvd. #B-204, Nashville, TN 37217- 2152, 615-361-9228., PNet: Glyndon Morris, email: luther.g.morris@vanderbilt.edu Kathleen Elise (Katie!) Morrison, 2340 Le Conte Ave., #303, Berkeley, CA 94709-1305, 510-649-1183. Michael Purintun, 522 Belgravia Ct., #2, Louisville, KY 40208- 2123, 502-637-4734, PNet: Michael Purintun, email: michael_purintun.parti@ecunet.org Chapter Changes Please made the following changes to our chapter listings. They have been incorporated in the complete listing at the end of this *Update*. PHILADELPHIA: New church-based group -- Gay and Lesbian Discussion Group, First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. 21st St. (at Walnut St.), Philadelphia, PA 19103, 215-567-0532, contact: David Huting; meets on 2d Tuesday of every month, 7 p.m. for discussion program followed by a vesper service in the sanctuary at 8:30 p.m. BALTIMORE: Strike the email address related to their newsletter. In addition to the contact shown for Joan Campbell add: Lew Myrick, 1225 Southview Rd., Baltimore, Md 21218-1454, 410-467-1191, email: myrick@jhu.edu, BALTPLGC@aol.com, PNet: Lew Myrick New Chapter! MIDDLE TENNESSEE: Glyndon Morris, 1150 Vultee Blvd. #B-204, Nashville, TN 37217-2152, 615-361-9228., PNet: Glyndon Morris, email: luther.g.morris@vanderbilt.edu; A new chapter preparing to serve central Tennessee and the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee; to center on social events and guest speakers. New chapter! MCCORMICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY STUDENTS: Jon Bassinger, 5555 S. Woodlawn, Chicago, IL 60637, email: JBassinger@aol.com; Marilyn Nash, 5555 S. Woodlawn, Chicago, IL 60637, 773-363-5587, email: mnash100@aol.com; Mark Wendorf, 737 N. Humphrey, Oak Park, IL 60302, 708-763-9540 h., 773-947-6326 w. OREGON: For the Oregon chapter listing, remove all names shown there now and add Susan Harlon, 1828 S. Olde Clark Rd., Mulino, OR 97402, 503-632-6868 Additions to contact list for other areas: Atlanta: For the Atlanta contact person, remove Jim Earhart and add: Victor Floyd, 853 Willivee Dr., Decatur, GA 30033, 404- 633-6530; email: RUVic@aol.com Iowa: Robin and Rick Chambers, 907 Fifth Ave, Iowa City, IA 52240, 319-358-1406; email: RChamb2912@aol.com Mid-America (Kansas City area): contact person listing remove Merrill Proudfoot (at his concurrence) and add: Judy Willis, 5914 N. Garfield, Kansas City, MO, 64118; PNet: Judy_Willis.parti@pcusa.org New MLCN Officers and Coordinators The list has been updated, so check the new listing at the end of this file! New Listings for Allied Organizations We have begun listing contact information for allied organizations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). See our initial list toward the end of this *Update*. This list is "under construction"! Please send me contact information for other organization that should be included. Thanks! Jim Anderson. PLGC has a new area code Our area code has changed from "908" to "732." Sorry, but we don't like change either -- well, some kinds of change! New and Moving Coordinators Jay Kleine, our coordinator in Austin, TX, has moved. His new address and phones are: 1108 Toyath St., Austin, TX 78703-3921, 512-477-7418 h., 471-5217 w. Board Member Bill Moss has moved to San Francisco, so he is being replaced as coordinator in the Washington, DC area by Marco Grimaldo -- see below! Bill and Chris have moved into their new house, so change their address to: 535 Steiner St., San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-864-0477. And Mary Rose, our coordinator in Northern Michigan has moved as well: Here's here new address, plus phone and email: Mary Rose, 204 W. Michigan Ave. #1, Marquette, MI 49855-4121, 906-226-7163, marrose@nmu.edu Please welcome new coordinators for the synods of Mid-America, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic: Mid-America: Victor Force, 412 N. 8th St., Manhattan, KS 66502- 5939, 913-539-5307, email: rabbif@KSU.edu; Shelly Holle, 1430 LeGore Ln., Manhattan, KS 66502, 913-776-8325. Mid-Atlantic: Marco Antonio Grimaldo, Grimaldo & Associates, 2848 Fairhaven Ave., Alexandria, VA 22303, 703-960-0432, 202-210- 3780. South Atlantic: Victor Floyd, 853 Willivee Dr., Decatur, GA 30033, 404-636-1429 ch., 404-633-6530 h., email: RuVic@aol.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OUR COVER: "Presbyterian Evangelism on the Streets of New York City" Our cover features a photo of the "Presbyterian Welcome" mini- float atop a van, being prepared for the annual LGBT pride march in New York City. The photographer, James Dale, is a former president of the BIGLARU (Bisexual Gay Lesbian Alliance of Rutgers University). PLGC's communications secretary Jim Anderson is the faculty advisor for this group. Dale is also pursuing a suit against the Boy Scouts for its anti-lesbian/gay discrimination. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PHOTOS Hey folks, if you like the photos we've been putting in the new *Update*, then we need your photos! Please send us all your PLGC- related pictures. We can use colored pictures just fine. Don't be bashful -- send them in! The photos in this issue were taken by (or contributed by) James Dale (cover photo), Jack Hartwein- Sanchez, William E. Palmer, Hugh Kremer, Howard Henry, Jim Oxyer, PLGC/St. Louis and PLGC/Oklahoma. We regret that these wonderful pictures are NOT in the electronic version! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PEOPLE PLGC's Coordinator for Transgender Concerns Challenged Cherokee Presbytery, in a special called meeting Tuesday night, June 3, 1997, voted to remove the ordination of one of its ministers, Carla Pridgen. Carla's transgendered status was very much a part of the Presbytery's decision. Cherokee Presbytery ... is located in the northwest corner of Georgia. This decision comes after a previous decision by Cherokee Presbytery to place Carla on the inactive roll of ministers was overturned by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of South Atlantic. The PJC has granted a stay of this new challenge, and a new appeal is in preparation. -- Carla Pridgen, Dallas Denny via GLB-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * EVENTS Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center 2495 Fox Gap Rd., Bangor, PA 18013-9359, 610-588-1793 Welcoming pilgrims seeking solitude and community, rest and discernment, toward personal and social transformation,since 1942. The Rev. Cynthia Crowner (Presbyterian Church U.S.A.), Director. Intimacy with God: Mature Spirituality. John McNeill and Scott Alexander, January 8-11, 1998. In this 11th annual gathering for gay and bisexual men, we will focus on the experience of emptiness, the primary dynamic in spiritual growth as found in the Buddhist tradition, the life and works of Thomas Merton and in gay life. Our long weekend together will include presentations, small groups, storytelling, praying, singing, and worship, creating a sense of community throughout. Led by John McNeill, Catholic priest, psychotherapist, co-founder of Dignity and "Dean" of gay events at Kirkridge beginning in 1977. He is the author of *The Church and the Homosexual; Freedom, Glorious Freedom,* and *Both Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-air: the Spiritual Journal of John McNeill*. Scott Alexander has been serving as a Unitarian Universalist minister since 1974 and is currently senior pastor of the Church of the Larger Fellowship in Boston. He is the Director of the Office of Lesbian and Gay Concerns and AIDS Action and Information Program of the Unitarian Universalist Association. 7 p.m. dinner Thursday through Sunday lunch. $295 ($150 registration deposit). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ghost Ranch Conference Center *An open space for spirit, body and mind* HC 77 Box 11, Abiquiu, NM 8751-9601 505-685-4333, 505-685-4519 Finding Our way in the Wilderness. October 26-November 1, 1997. A retreat for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, the transgendered -- as well as their friends, families, and advocates. (See Mar.-Apr. 1997 *Update* for description). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * REQUESTS Char and Gus Sindt *We have a special message for all PLGCers from Char and Gus Sindt, parents of our founder David Sindt and the PLGC's honorary "Mom and Pop"! Here it is:* On Monday, June 23, Gus & I celebrated 60 years of marriage. We have heard from *many* friends -- some we know, others we've never met -- but they are all special. We received a *big* card signed by "family" from the More Light Churches Conference in Portland, Oregon. We would like to thank all of those who were a part of that gathering and those who telephoned. It has been a most special celebration, with such a large and caring family. We feel so blessed to have such a caring family and would like to let them know. They are always in our love and prayers. -- *Our love to you always, Char and Gus Sindt, 2124 Woodlynn Ave. #14-C, Maplewood, MN 55109-1469.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * More Light Church Seeks Pastor Designated Pastor (1/2 time). Northside Presbyterian Church is a small intimate congregation in the diverse city of Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan. We work to build bridges within the body of Christ through active social ministries, commitment to the More Light movement and ecumenical partnership with St. Aidan's Episcopal Church. Northside seeks a pastor who will appreciate, participate in and encourage our strong sense of community and bring new levels of understanding of God's calling to care for our brothers and sisters everywhere. Send PIFs to: Presbytery of Detroit, Attn. Eunice Raar, 17575 Hubbell, Detroit, MI 48235. For more information about us see http://www- personal.umich.edu/~laustin/NorthsidePC.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * RESOURCES PLGC and the Internet By Gene Huff, San Francisco Electronically produced resources are now providing the PLGC / MLCN community with fascinating and extremely useful abilities to keep in touch with one another and to disseminate a wide variety of news and information on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues related to the church. For the benefit of those who are just coming on line and exploring the internet with its web sites, mailing lists, and email potential, here is a brief summary of what appears to be currently available. (The very nature of the phenomenon almost guarantees this may be somewhat out of date by the time you read it): PLGC Web Page: http://andrew.cmu.edu/~riley/PLGC.html First and foremost is PLGC's very own web site established and maintained by Donna Michelle Riley, PLGC board member and member of Sixth Presbyterian in Pittsburgh. It carries the latest news and other resources related to the movement and links to other supportive organizations. Lists of PLGC chapters and More Light congregations are maintained as well as articles and documents related to the news and history of PLGC. Each issue of *More Light Update* is carried on line. The page recently won an award for web excellence from Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered Disabled Veterans. PLGC-list PLGC-list is an internet mailing list (or listserv, meeting or chat room) which provides a chance to communicate widely with colleagues and friends. To subscribe, email Donna at plgc-list- request@andrew.cmu.edu. HESED: http://www.southwestern.edu/lewisv/Hesed/hesed.html Emerging during the voting on Amendment B earlier this year has been a great new web site called HESED (Hebrew for "steadfast love"). It is managed by Virginia L. Lewis, an elder at St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Austin, Texas. Hesed is an informal coalition of PCUSA pastors, elders, deacons and other lay church leaders dedicated to the affirmation of inclusiveness. Its web site has quickly accumulated a large and significant cache of resources, creating an ongoing dialogue related to the aftermath of Amendment B. Included are sermons and articles from around the church as well as covenants of dissent and news of session and presbyteries' reactions to the constitutional change. It can be accessed via a link from PLGC's page. Hesed also has a mailing list / chat room which can be subscribed to from its page. Stonecatchers: http://www.radix.net/~execware/stonecatchers/ Another page to follow is operated by the Stonecatchers, the coalition of Presbyterians in the District of Columbia area which fostered an early Covenant of Dissent and tracks the record of dissenting groups and individuals. It also carries information about other Amendment B reactions in the church. It can be linked from the above mentioned pages and also has a meeting on Presbynet. That All May Freely Serve: http://www.tamfs.org/ The evangelism witness of Downtown Church, Rochester, NY and Westminster Church, Tiburon, CA, led by Janie Spahr, maintains a web site bringing the latest news of its expanding program. Access it directly, or via links from other pages listed here. More Light Churches A growing number of More Light Churches maintain their own web pages. A partial list is carried on PLGC's site. Presbynet Then of course there is Presbynet with an ever expanding list of meetings where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues are discussed and Amendment B aftermath is tracked. Dorothy Fillmore of Richmond, VA coordinates PLGC participation . Among the meetings worth at least lurking in are: Lesbian and Gay Public Lesbian and Gay Private (contact Dorothy for entry) MLCN Private PCUSA Polity Discussion Fidelity and Integrity Fidelity and Inegrity Texts Amendment A Vote Amendment A Vote Discussion and on and on depending on your particular interest. Increasingly PLGC and MLCN people are doing their network business on line as more and more of the community have access to electronic mail and the net. *More Light Update*'s back page listings provide many useful email addresses. As we move into the 1997-98 voting on Amendment A these rapid communication opportunities through email and the net can be highly useful for the cause. While this is hardly an exhaustive record of what may be available now electronically, perhaps it is enough to whet the cyber appetites within the community of Presbyterians working to achieve full inclusiveness in the church. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PLGC-list on the Internet: 200 Strong by Donna Michelle Riley, Webmistress That's right! There are 200 people on this list, and it keeps expanding on almost a daily basis! I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few important administrative details with you: 1. THIS LIST IS BEING MONITORED by those actively working to defeat us. This comes with the territory when one maintains a published list, but let me suggest that a good decision rule in posting is to consider if you would mind your words being reprinted in *The Presbyterian Layman* (probably without your permission). We should all understand this risk so that we control what we publish on this list, and no one gets outed, or feels betrayed in some way. 2. Let me reiterate that the list is set up to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Christians, and to discuss the struggle for full equality in the Presbyterian Church. Topics of concern to LGBT Christians -- for example current events that affect our lives like the Hawaii marriage issue, or Ellen's coming out -- are welcome. Posts that are off-topic or that run counter to the goal of supporting LGBT folks are disruptive to the list. 3. Now to the mundane. Please remember that posts to the LIST go to plgc-list@andrew.cmu.edu. Administrative requests go to plgc- list-request@andrew.cmu.edu. Thanks to all of you for being on the list! -- Donna * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Judgement Road This stereo VHS 38-minute video was a Regional Award Winner for Best Drama in 1996, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, College Competition. "Family Values and Religion make a difference for Michael, when the question of his sexuality arises, and the possibility of suicide" -- publisher's blurb. "Great discussion starter for youth" -- Jim Anderson. $29.95 + $3.50 (shipping and handling) -- CA residents add 7.25% sales tax. Make check or money order payable to: Guardian Pictures, 211 Oro Dr., Arroyo Grande, CA 93420. Call 1-805-473- 8176 for Visa/MasterCard order. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FEATURES Moving Beyond Amendment B Working Toward Amendment A "That All May Be One ... So That the World May Believe" Excerpts from an Open Letter to Presbyterians from the Moderator and Stated Clerk of the General Assembly June 1997 Dear Presbyterians, The 209th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gave living expression to Jesus' high priestly prayer: "I ask ... that they may all be one ... so that the world may believe" (John 17:20-21). We felt the power of Jesus' prayer for unity among his disciples at the 209th General Assembly. We want to share with you some of the ways in which we felt the Holy Spirit working among us to unite us as Presbyterians and to call us forth with a new energy for Christ's mission in the world. The 209th General Assembly was preceded by a pre-assembly conference focused on "Common Ground." This gave an important momentum to commissioners as they gathered to seek anew the common ground we share in Jesus Christ. As always, the 209th General Assembly began with a service of holy communion and the commissioning of those in mission. Our outgoing Moderator, John Buchanan challenged us with the words of Ephesians 4:3, to "make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." We joined together as diverse members of the one body of Christ around the Lord's table and celebrated the commissioning of over 400 people who will represent the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in mission throughout this nation and around the world. This General Assembly reflected the commitment to unity in Christ in three very important areas: **Unity with the whole body of Christ** -- We believe the 209th General Assembly will be remembered for its important and historic steps in ecumenical relations. ... **Unity on divisive issues** -- This has been a difficult year for Presbyterians as we have confronted deep divisions within our family over issues surrounding Amendment B (the "fidelity and chastity" overture). While receiving Amendment B into our *Constitution,* the 209th General Assembly also proposed to the presbyteries for their consideration a new formulation of this amendment which would both maintain a focus on high standards for church officers and at the same time be more in accord with the historical understandings of Presbyterian polity. The new formulation reads as follows [for comparison purposes, I have added the original words of Amendment B as well -- JDA]: [The New Proposed Amendment] Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture and instructed by the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to demonstrate fidelity and integrity in marriage or singleness, and in all relationships of life. Candidates for ordained office shall acknowledge their own sinfulness, their need for repentance, and their reliance on the grace and mercy of God to fulfill the duties of their office. [The Old Amendment B] 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 of 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. In proposing this new amendment to our *Constitution* the assembly made it clear that it was not setting aside the authoritative interpretation that those being ordained should not engage in sexual practice outside of marriage but was rather seeking to focus on integrity and fidelity in both marriage and other relationships, to affirm our historical understanding of an ordered allegiance first to Jesus Christ, then to scripture, then to the confessions, and to recognize that all of us are sinners in need of repentance and the grace of God. **United through a common vision** -- The 209th General Assembly called on all Presbyterians to find common ground in the Great Ends of the Church: "The great ends of the church are the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world." It called for a special two year emphasis on the Great Ends of the Church and urged every governing body to pull together around this inclusive vision for the life and mission of the church. It was the fervent prayer of the 209th General Assembly that we indeed might be one in our commitment to proclaim the Gospel, to build community, to worship, to seek the truth, to promote social justice, and to live our lives in such a way as to exhibit God's love to the world. We leave the 209th General Assembly with a fresh sense of hope for the future of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Many issues still divide us, but we are united in important ways with the whole body of Christ, with one another, and with the gospel mandate to witness to the love and justice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We love this church. We love its commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the mission of Jesus Christ in the world. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve it. We ask you to pray for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the critical days ahead. -- Faithfully, Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly; Patricia G. Brown, Moderator, 209th General Assembly (1997) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Values and Principles of Our Denomination's Government Reaffirmed by the Book of Order Committee Presentation for the General Assembly Committee on the Book of Order Regarding Overture 97-10 as Amended [the new Amendment B] June 20, 1997, Syracuse, New York by Laird J. Stuart, Chair [Note: Laird Stuart, who chaired the Book of Order Committee at the Syracuse General Assembly, has shared his remarks in introducing the committee's majority report to the GA and asked that I put them out on several internet web pages in response to requests he has had for copies. So -- here they are! -- Gene Huff.] As the General Assembly's Committee on the Book of Order discussed various issues relating to amendment B, issues such as authoritative interpretation, the role of governing bodies in determining standards, and the dynamics of inclusiveness, we affirmed a number of the values and principles of our denomination's way of government. - We affirmed the role of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution. - We affirmed the right of the General Assembly to issue authoritative interpretations. - We refused to rescind any former authoritative interpretations. - We affirmed the right of the denomination to establish standards for ordination. Our Process I want you to know something about the process we used as a committee. First, the very large number of items referred to our committee was organized by the committee's leadership team into two large groups or categories. All the items referred to us on a variety of matters were in one group. All the items referred to us which were related to amendment B were put in another category. We dealt with all the items in the first category on Monday. Tuesday morning we held an open hearing on the amendment B related items. We had a sign-up sheet posted in the normal way in the announced place. When it was time to have the open hearing we did not constrain our speakers, except by asking each speaker to speak for three minutes. We did not try to orchestrate in any way who would or would not speak. We did not try to order comments along established lines of debate. We heard a chorus of voices from different points of view. It was obvious, however, that many of the people who spoke were telling us amendment B is not working. It is not healing our denomination's life. It is itself a source of conflict and fear. When our committee met, we took up overture 97-10 from Kiskiminetas Presbytery. It was the first overture on our list of overtures to be considered that day. Once it was placed before the committee, we moved into a quasi-committee of the whole. This allowed us to talk with each other without the need to follow parliamentary procedure. We spoke and listened for about 45 minutes to an hour. While I am from San Francisco, the committee was not from San Francisco. We are like every other committee of this General Assembly. We are like the General Assembly. We have people from north and south, east and west. We have people from rural settings and metropolitan centers, as well as people from suburban and town environments. What developed out of our committee's discussion was a desire to do something with amendment B. We decided it needed to be revised. The Case for Revision It is often asked: Why put the church through more conflict and debate? It was the conviction of the majority of the committee that something needed to be done. Based on what we heard in our open hearing, based on what we heard from each other, and based on our own experiences in our own churches and presbyteries, it seemed obvious to us amendment B is causing concern and conflict. The issues addressed by amendment B are difficult and challenging issues in and of themselves. But we came to believe amendment B itself was compounding the turmoil in our denomination's life. It is said we should stop the turmoil, accept amendment B, and move on to the other issues we need to address as a denomination. We want to stop the turmoil also. But we have come to believe the only way to stop or ease the turmoil is to move beyond amendment B. As I just mentioned, we believe amendment B generates tension. Many people find the language of amendment B disturbing and constricting. It is said further discussion and debate will be a waste of time. When did the search for healing become a waste of time? It is said we should wait and see how amendment B will work in our life together. We believe there is already enough evidence of how it is working. There is enough evidence of its shortcomings and problems. Regarding Our Proposed Amendment I want to tell you something about the proposed amendments or changes we are recommending to amendment B. Then commissioner Laurie Kraus, who presented these revisions to our committee, will speak for the amendment. Amendment B calls us to honor standards in our life together. Amendment B 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." Our proposed revisions to amendment B honor the role of standards in our life together, but expand the ones which are stated and place them in the appropriate sequence of authority. Our proposed wording states: "Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture and instructed by the historic confessional standards of the church." This language comes from the ordination vows presently in use by our denomination. It calls us to acknowledge that we are to live in obedience to Jesus Christ, then honor the authority of Scripture and be instructed by the historic confessional standards of our church. Secondly, amendment B calls us to responsibility in our relationships, especially marriage. Our proposal honors the need to be responsible in our relationships, but it calls us to practice fidelity and integrity in marriage and in all the relationships of life. Thirdly, amendment B called us to acknowledge our sins and to repentance. However it contained a reference to a catalogue of sins contained in the historic confessions of the church. This catalogue of sins is cumbersome and confusing. It contains sins which were regarded as sins in their historical context, such as having pictures of Jesus, which we do not believe to be sins now. Our proposal honors the need to confess our sinfulness, to express repentance, and then to receive the grace of God as we move into the practice of ordained office and the joys of our life and witness for Christ. Comment Attached to the Motion by the Committee [We printed this in the July-August *Update*, p. 11, so we don't repeat it here. -- JDA] Concluding Comments at the End of Debate This morning, for what should be obvious reasons, I felt a special need to read the Bible, to go to the well. I thought about several passages which I might read but decided I needed the 23rd Psalm. I opened my Bible to the psalm, but when my eyes first went to the page, I was looking at the opening of Psalm 22. Instead of reading "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want ..." I found myself reading, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? ..." Honestly my first thoughts were "I do not want those words for me." Yet the difference between the opening words of Psalm 22 and Psalm 23 points right to the issue before this denomination. There are too many people who feel forsaken, forsaken by the language of amendment B. It is not leading us together to green pastures and still waters. It is causing tension and estrangement. During this debate, several people mentioned the desire for peace, peace for our denomination, peace from this struggle. There are times when we are led to the peace of green pastures and still waters. There are times when we are led away from or beyond conflict. Yet at other times the way toward peace is to keep struggling and to move along the struggle in the presence of our Lord receiving from the Lord the peace he gives in the experience of discipleship. It is a peace which grows and is strengthened when during the struggle we insist on and practice a determined loyalty to each other as well as to our Lord. There is an obvious concern for the standards of our denomination. There is no interest in our committee to dismantle or undermine the role of standards in our life together. Yet just as justice needs mercy to temper it and keep it from becoming too severe, so standards need grace to temper them and keep them from becoming too severe. We believe our proposed amendments to amendment B will enable us to build a better nest. Even a nest has a boundary. Yet as we were reminded earlier this week a nest is meant to be a place of nurture.(1) It is a place of growth, spiritual, moral, intellectual and physical growth. On behalf of the committee I urge you to support our proposed amendments to amendment B. FOOTNOTE: (1) A reference to a sermon by The Rev. Linda C. Loving, "Birds' Nest or Hornets' Nest?" (Given at worship during the General Assembly). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Just Like Fools I Corinthians 1:18-31 PLGC's General Assembly Worship Service, June 15, 1997 Park Central Presbyterian Church, Syracuse, New York by Scott D. Anderson, PLGC's Co-Moderator In April I taught a four week class at my home church on the award winning movie, *Dead Man Walking*. A year ago I first viewed this film about Sister Helen Prejean who befriends convicted murderer Matthew Poncelet. I thought it would be a powerful teaching tool in raising the issue of capital punishment from the perspective of Christian faith. When I suggested to the Adult Education Committee that they offer the class, in predictable Presbyterian fashion they responded ... "and you can teach it!" Several weeks before we started, as publicity about the class went out in the church bulletin, one of our congregational curmudgeons came up to me. She saw that I was leading this series, and so she asked, "Is this going to be another class on homosexuality?" No, I said. She looked relieved. Her question, though, was a bit prophetic, at least for me personally. At the end of March -- a month before our class began -- my life was turned upside down and inside out when it became clear that Amendment B would pass. It wasn't only my own sense of personal defeat, anger and profound disappointment I had to contend with. The national media went into an absolute feeding frenzy. Fourteen major dailies, *Time* Magazine, NPR and *ABC News* were all on the phone that week. They were mesmerized by the political conflict, looking for the drama in this story, sizing up the winners and the losers, as if this struggle is over. The hardest part has been fielding the phone calls from Presbyterians around the country whom I have never met. Mostly they were elders and deacons, gay and straight, all with the same basic question: "Is it time for me to leave the Presbyterian Church?" For the first time in many years, it was a question I was beginning to ask myself. This is the baggage I carried with me as I sat down in early April, with my sketchy lesson plans and the video of *Dead Man Walking* to prepare for my class. As I watched the movie this time around, it soon became clear that *Dead Man Walking* was less about a theology of capital punishment and more about the kind of God who had come to meet me at this moment in my life. If you've seen the movie you know it's a story about overwhelming tragedy, and horrendous, calculated injustice that results in what I believe is a human crucifixion. It is a story of death and pain, and unimaginable suffering on the part of the victims of violent crime and their families as well as the perpetrators and their families, the kind of suffering most of us will never experience nor would wish upon anyone. And yet, in this story, is the gentle, unsuspecting hand of God, at work through an incredibly naive but transparently good Catholic nun, the first woman to become spiritual advisor to a death row inmate in Louisiana. Sister Helen Prejean steadfastly offers Matthew Poncelet her unconditional love, confounds the church and state authorities that believe she is a fool and that her work is doomed from the start. Her unfailing compassion and empathic suffering with Poncelet as the end draws near opens the door to his spiritual freedom. This is not a story about a far away, detached God who is busy dispensing out some perverse sense of divine justice, as if there are winners and losers to be decided, saints and sinners to be chosen, as all the powerful people in control of this execution would have us believe. It's a story about a profoundly *passionate* God who draws very near, who in weakness and vulnerability turns tragedy and injustice on its ear. I believe this weak and vulnerable God, who comes along side of us, and suffers with us, is most profoundly revealed in the crucifixion of Jesus. It is a counter-intuitive, paradoxical, confounding understanding of the divine presence in our world, and, as we glean from Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth, it was noticeably absent in the faith and life of that community. There are deep divisions in the Corinthian Church, evident in the fact that different groups of believers appeal to different church leaders to whom they look to define their faith. While we don't know much about the substance of this conflict, we do know about its tragic results. Some of the groups claim to be "better" than other groups -- more eloquent in their presentation of the gospel, perhaps; better versed in church teaching, perhaps. What results is an imbalance of power in the Corinthian congregation, as some groups wrestle for control by proclaiming the "true" Christian faith and pushing the others out to the margins of community life. Paul gets wind of this conflict. He fires back this masterful letter which describes how God is subversively working within the Corinthian congregation to level the playing field and bring this power imbalance back into equilibrium. The people in control have it all wrong, Paul writes. "For Jews in this congregation demand signs" -- presumably from a God big enough and powerful enough to provide them. And Greeks in the Corinthian Church desire the best of human wisdom, which is a privileged and special knowledge of God that others in the congregation conveniently don't possess. "But we proclaim Christ crucified," Paul writes, "a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." "We proclaim Christ crucified." That kind of proclamation is not very popular in our community. We are more at home with the prophetic words of an Old Testament prophet railing against injustice or the compassionate ministry of Jesus pushing the boundaries of acceptability, than we are with Paul's preaching about crucifixion. I think it's because Good Friday hits too close to home. We in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community know all about injustice, and we know all about suffering, and we know all about feeling forsaken by God. Good Friday is all too real for many of us and our friends and our community. What some of us may be missing is Paul's perspective: standing at the empty tomb of Easter and looking back at the tragedy of Good Friday, Paul understands that God was not a distant spectator to all that happened that day, but was intimately present, speaking, acting, suffering in all that Jesus did. The full force of that horrendous crucifixion, its human alienation, its hostility, its injustice, are *all* experienced by God, whose power on that cross is weakness, whose strength is complete and disarming vulnerability. One of the phone calls I received in April from a Presbyterian I have never met came from David Tomb (pronounced Tom). David is a lifelong Presbyterian and a member of a large evangelical congregation in Orange County, California. David works as a reservations agent for United Airlines and is the head of its lesbian and gay employees association, known as "United at United." Over the last year David and his group have been at the center of the controversy at United over domestic partner benefits. In that conflict David was led to fully come out of the closet as a gay man *and* as a Presbyterian. After reading in *Time* magazine about the Presbyterian Church and Amendment B, David called me out of the blue for some feedback. He said, "When I tell my gay friends that I'm a Christian and a Presbyterian, they think I'm nuts! Have you had that experience?" he asked me. But what David was really worried about was a recent invitation from the Adult Education Committee of his church to lead a two- week session on being gay and Christian. "Has your church ever had any educational experience around this issue?" I asked. "No, never." "Has the pastoral staff ever preached on the subject?" "Not to my knowledge," he said. "So this is the first class and you are the first gay person to speak to them publicly." "Yes, I'm sure the first." David had been reading like crazy to prepare for this experience, concerned that he would be asked a question about the Bible that he could not answer or that his understanding of the Christian faith wouldn't be quite acceptable. He asked me to recommend any other books to add his formidable bibliography. I said, "David, instead of preparing to have a debate about the Bible, why don't you share what's happened in your life over the last couple of years." David, the good evangelical that he is, responded, "You mean, give my testimony?" "Well, yes." "As a gay man?" "Of course." "In the middle of Orange County?" "Yes!" There was a pregnant pause on the phone -- I suspect this was a scary thought for David, as I suspect it is for all of us the very first time we are called upon to do this: to speak honestly and to bare our souls about some of life's injustice, to expose the sensitive and most vulnerable parts of ourselves and in that witnessing to a God who draws very near to us, gently weaving our sexuality and spirituality into wholeness. This is what it means for us -- gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered Presbyterians -- to proclaim the crucified Christ, to suggest that this weak and vulnerable God of Good Friday is at work in and through and with our sensitive and vulnerable witness. And it is the awesome power of that witness that is leveling the playing field in our church, disarming and confounding and subverting all that the powerful say and do and proclaim. "Consider your own call, my brothers and sisters; not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many of you were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that *no one* might boast in the presence of God." How is God leveling the playing field in the Presbyterian Church? First, by shaming the strong. The word Paul uses, *shame*, in the Greek does not mean the kind of internal, psychological condition of shame that the popular psychologist John Bradshaw describes. Shame here refers to a change of status in the community. So someone who is powerful is shamed -- brought down -- into a more humbling position. Someone who is honored is shamed into a less honorable status. One lesson we have painfully learned these last 25 years is that anyone in authority in the Presbyterian Church, be it an elder, be it a pastor, be it a Presbytery Executive, be it a seminary professor or a Moderator of the General Assembly, anyone with power in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who hears and believes the gospel through our weak and vulnerable witness will pay a price, or, to paraphrase Paul, will experience a change in status. There is no easy faith, no cheap grace connected to the cross. Desmond Tutu was right when he said, "suffering for the sake of Christ and for the Gospel's sake is an inescapable part of being a disciple." Any elder who has led their congregation through the minefields of becoming a More Light Church knows exactly what I'm talking about. Any pastor who has garnered the courage to preach her first sermon about us knows exactly what I'm talking about. Any church leader who has spoken out on our behalf and found their words and motives twisted in the pages of *The Presbyterian Layman* knows exactly what I'm talking about. There is no easy faith, no cheap grace connected to the God of Good Friday. Through the power of our weak and vulnerable witness, God is at work leveling the playing field. The strong are made weak, and we must acknowledge, as part of our ministry, that while most of the movers and shakers of the Presbyterian Church are absolutely terrified by any potential loss in their status, those who do hear and do respond to our proclamation must be nurtured and cared for in their new-found weakness and vulnerability. The surprising and hopeful lesson we've learned is that through our witness *we* are gaining strength, the other half of God's subversive work in leveling the playing field. Through the years, our opponents have spent millions labeling us as sinners, heretics, troublemakers, bent on the destruction of the Presbyterian Church, and we have been blamed for almost every problem confronting our denomination over the last two decades. And yet, despite all of this, including their ultimate threat, to leave the denomination if they do not get their way, our weak and vulnerable witness absolutely confounds and disarms them as we gain strength. When this movement began, we were lucky to get 10% of the vote on the floor of the General Assembly. Last year, 43% of GA commissioners voted in our favor. The popular vote on amendment B in the Presbyteries is much closer. Given the enormous power that we're are up against, what has happened is no less than a miracle. [Scott presented this sermon *before* the 60% vote by General Assembly in favor of a revised, improved, and inclusive Amendment B! -- JDA] There are more More Light Churches, and more still who are considering the possibility. There are more sessions who are adopting statements of inclusivity. There are more heterosexual supporters providing leadership. There are more seminary faculty, more supportive ministers in local congregations, more parents of lesbians and gays who are speaking out. There are more PLGC chapters forming and more lesbian and gay evangelists to be deployed. And the list goes on and on. We are gaining strength. I know there are many discouraged and defeated people right now in our Presbyterian Church, people who are asking, "should I stay or leave?" To those who choose to leave, we honor them in that decision. Go with God. To those of us who choose to stay, God is beckoning each of us to see much more than tragedy and defeat in our situation. As the nature mystic Loren Eisley suggests, we humans are like the Brazilian amphibian fish whose eyes have two lenses, one for seeing under the water, and one for seeing above the water. We need to start looking through our above-water lens. God is powerfully at work leveling the playing field in the Presbyterian Church through our weak and vulnerable witness of the crucified Christ. That foolish witness is our most powerful resource, and we need to keep focused like a laser beam in spreading that witness to every corner of this church. May God grant us the strength, the courage, and the perseverance to do it. -- Amen. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Presbyterian Sin Analysis by Merrill Proudfoot, upon receiving the 1997 PLGC Inclusive Church Award, Syracuse General Assembly, June 14, 1997 Please be seated. I am neither Bill Clinton nor Patricia Brown*, though I concede that I may have the good looks of the one and the sexual interests of the other. [FOOTNOTE: *Newly elected G.A. moderator.] The great honor I feel at being selected for this award does not prevent me in the least from recognizing that the true heroes of the inclusive church today are those persons whose witness appears in the book *Called Out With*[*] and countless other straight allies like them. It is almost automatic to squeal when your own tail is stepped on. The true test of one's Christianity is to be able to squeal for the hurt in someone else's tail. * FOOTNOTE: *Called Out With: Stories of Solidarity, in Support of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Persons.* Sylvia Thorson-Smith, Johanna W. H. van Wijk-Bos, Norm Pott, William P. Thompson, editors. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, c1997, xi, 166 p. ISBN 0-664- 25719-4. "Royalties from this book will go to Presbyterian groups working for justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons" -- title-page verso. Your selection of me for this award has caused me to break a promise -- and breaking a promise is a sin, isn't it? Oh, dear! I get so nervous these days about what is a sin and what isn't. Fortunately, having learned that Presbyterians have gone in for sins in a big way, Microsoft has developed a special piece of software for us. I have it right here, programmed into my little hand-held computer. It's called "Presbyterian Sin Analysis." I'll show you how it works. I turn it on, and the screen displays 3 vertical columns. The first is labeled "Description of the sin." The second is headed "Self-Acknowledged?" and asks you simply to punch "Yes" or "No." The last column is "Penalty Rating." Let me just browse down the list here looking for "Breaking a promise." Some of the more popular sins are already programmed. I try "Heterosexual sex before marriage." I mark "self- acknowledged," and the Penalty column flashes orange-red with the number "6." The scale is 0 to 10, so you can see that "Heterosexual sex before marriage" is pretty bad. Here is one I wouldn't myself have thought of entering: "Sex between unmarried heterosexuals over the age of 65" -- "Self- acknowledged." Just a dim yellow light, and the number "1 and 1/2." That's nice! A senior citizen discount. Something which so many Presbyterians can take advantage of. We tried "Heterosexual sex before marriage." Let's see if "Homosexual sex before marriage" has the same rating. Self- acknowledged? Yes. Hmmmmm. Odd. The response is "Non- category; there is no homosexual marriage." I delete the words "before marriage," leaving just "Homosexual sex." Bong! I hit the jackpot with that one, it's a flashing red, number 10! And apparently it's 10 at all times and in all situations. We're getting side-tracked here. Computers will do that to you. So will sex. We set out to look for "Breaking a promise." Self- acknowledged? -- Yes. Penalty: Deep orange number "5." That scares me, because if I accumulate too many points, they may take away my license. Just one more: "Causing *someone else* to break a promise, self-acknowledged -- Orange-red, number 7. Your sin is worse than mine! And that's important to know: The whole Presbyterian project is about whose sin is worse. By the way, I understand that if this new computer program catches on among Presbyterians, Microsoft intends to alter it just a bit and peddle it to the military. The promise I broke? You remember: Almost the last thing I said to you at last year's GA was that that was the last GA at which I would be with you. But God has been good to me. About six weeks ago I started a new chemo-therapy that required an injection only once a month. Two weeks after the first injection I went in to see the doc, feeling pretty bad. He looked at my stats and drew an upside down Bell curve. He reassured me, *"You're just in the low period of your monthly cycle."* Wow! I have monthly cycles with periods? And I recalled that ever since the hormone therapy started I've had hot flashes. It looks like any day now I may have to transfer the center of my activities from PLGC to Voices of Sophia. That would not be bad: Our movement has something important to learn from the struggle for the ordination of women, and maybe I could learn it there. The question I'm going to ask when I get over on the other side, so to speak, is "How did you women persuade the Church to turn down the volume on Paul low enough that the Church could hear Jesus?" To tell you the truth, I wasn't concerned about your having chosen the right *person*, I was concerned that you might have chosen the wrong *award.* Do I even want an *inclusive* church, I had to ask myself. Don't I really wish that all those bastards that voted for Amendment B would just go join the Presbyterian Church in America? And then I realized that was a silly thought. The PCA is also a part of the Body of Christ. There is only one Body of Christ. Someone who knew Paul's mind better than any of us, the writer of Ephesians, begged us "to bear with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." For, he explained, "There is *one* body and *one* Spirit, just as you were called to the *one* hope of your calling, *one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God* and Father of us all" (Eph 4:3-5). And if we may latch onto my own favorite verse, this time from Paul himself, pleading with the folks in the church at Corinth not to let their religion be too small: "*All* things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future -- *all* belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God (I Cor 3:21-3). I wonder whether this may not be God's special word to us at this time. So, you see, we have no choice. And out of that grows an ironic consequence: The 51% of ministers and elders who voted for Amendment B had their chance to vote for an inclusive church and muffed it. Now the burden of maintaining an inclusive church falls upon *us.* It will not be easy to do the two things at once: to continue the struggle for justice, and at the same time refuse to think of those who oppose us as enemies -- much less "bastards" -- but as sisters and brothers in Christ. Let no one say we don't respect the authority of the Bible. I leave you with another word of Paul, who I think has been much neglected by our side in the dialogue. It's Romans 15:7 -- "Welcome one another just as Christ has welcomed you." This is the conclusion of a discussion of how the weak and the strong can get along in one church. I have always felt it a little unfair that Paul puts the major burden on the strong -- but how else could it be? The weak by definition are those who are made very uncomfortable by the notion of an inclusive church. And who are the strong? Those who know that "everything indeed is clean" (14:20). The strong are us. And Paul, with some Biblical authority, is saying to us that we must welcome all those who voted for Amendment B as brothers and sisters in Christ, because they are and we are. "WELCOME ONE ANOTHER, THEREFORE, JUST AS CHRIST HAS WELCOMED YOU." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COMMENTARY AND RESPONSE Getting Out of the Pelvic Zone by Rev. Robert (Bob) Browne, Honorably Retired, Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery Syracuse, 21 June 1997 -- "The Presbyterian Church will never get out of trouble until it gets out of the pelvic zone." Price Gwynn, a former GA moderator, spoke this prophetic word to the General Assembly Council at their recent meeting. Imagine that! My word, Emma! Upon my soul! Whether the Council agreed with Gwynn or not, denominational leaders were clearly aware of the pain of many Presbyterians caused by the presbyteries' approval of Amendment B. They had also noted centrifugal forces driving many loyal members from the center of the institution's life toward its periphery and some farther still. Leaders knew they were dealing with a giant case of Ooops! Thus, the overriding theme of this General Assembly became "Unity! Unity! Unity!" The word and its synonyms were spoken repeatedly in worship, committee meetings and business sessions as though its magic would create warm fuzzies. It sounded like motherhood, apple pie and ... fidelity. Yet the emphasis on unity sounded to many like a threatening denial of the right to dissent and an idolatry of the institution. Their dissent, they claim, is not a violation of the grace, mystery and purposes of God; but a legitimate response to abuse by an institution ruined by dogma. An institution, even the PCUSA, is a temporal occurrence, available to the senses, a fixed medium for realities that transcend its structures in the same way the sun transcends a solar battery. If our institution demands blind obedience to what many consider a violation of transcendent truth, it is invoking an authority over conscience -- an authority it dare not claim. In a church of the reformation that, at least until now, has believed that "God alone is Lord of the conscience," dissension is a blessing, not a curse. And a major strength of reformed traditions has been their allowance of difference. Some at the Assembly grieved that this may be a genesis moment of oppression in the PCUSA, a birth of contemporary dogma. Faith and its implementation are structurally unhealthy if they employ unhealthy means or lead to unhealthy outcomes. Argumentation and conflict are normally benign in the church, often leading to greater understanding and faith. The scariness of this current squabble is that it strikes at the heart of what it means to be human. If those in authority (read power) teach or enforce belief or behavior that fails to correspond to the genuine experience of the People of God, those teachings and enforcements manifest their own unbelievability. Any religious plan, teaching or amendment that divides the individual human person, igniting conflicts between body and soul or intellect and emotions, is, has been, and always will be unhealthy. Religious leaders whose teachings or enforcements on sexuality remain based on this butchered model of human personality lose credibility among the faithful; so do their teachings. Forays into the most intimate and sensitive facets of individual lives leave an enormous chasm between the institution and the People of God. Any religious body with accepted authority is comfortable with human persons, integrating them with, not alienating them from, their sexuality. Jesus' chief targets were religious leaders who perpetuated their minute control of people's behavior through managing a hypocritical religion of obsessive external regulation. On the other hand, if the institution could seize this moment and respond to it gracefully, this time could generate an outbreak of faith, love, hope and greater truth than we now understand. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. But the second step often consists of sitting down to remove the stone from your shoe. "Amendment B-plus" may be that second step. Failing that, the PCUSA will have walked into the deepest do-do of its recent history. And its greatest hope will be in knowing that few Presbyterians pay any attention to the staples of institutional concern. The show goes on, but the audience has drifted away. Most are too busy with real life to notice what is playing at the institutional festival. And, like Elvis, the denomination may become even more fat, slow and lazy, then self- destruct; only to re-surface at shopping malls and service stations across rural America. Faith, even the Presbyterian brand, is not a controlled substance. Denominational survival usually comes by dumb luck and forgiveness. -- *PC(USA) News mailing list.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A Covenant of Affirmation This "Covenant of Affirmation" was adopted on June 30, 1997 by the session of Lowe Avenue Presbyterian Church in Omaha, Nebraska. When other sessions adopt this, in addition to sending copies to the national and presbytery Stated Clerks, please have them send notification of their adoption to either myself or my pastor through e-mail (Cleve Evans, cevans@scholars.bellevue.edu; or Lorna Kuyk, lorna.kuyk@pcusa.org), or to the following U.S. Mail address: Cleve Evans, Mission Chair Lowe Avenue Presbyterian Church 1023 N. 40th Street Omaha, NE 68131 We'd like to encourage churches to modify the "whereases" however they want, but no matter how these are changed, if a session adopts the gist of the "Therefore" paragraph we hope they'll tell us about it. Finally, before I type out the Covenant, a word about Lowe Avenue: we are an inner city church that will celebrate its 110th anniversary in three days (July 3). We have only 61 members, average age in the 70s, and undoubtedly more "working class" than most Presbyterian congregations. At this moment we can only afford to pay a stated supply pastor a one-third time salary, and we can't even afford the postage to mail our covenant to all of the 56 churches in our presbytery (we are asking the presbytery office to include it in their next newsletter). In other words, we are a congregation "at risk" -- but I'm proud to say that when we discussed this tonight, every session member present was strongly for it. Though perhaps it doesn't take quite as much courage to sign on to this "affirmation" as it does to sign on to a Covenant of Dissent, I am very, very proud of my little church for starting the ball rolling on this Affirmation of "B-plus." (And I think it will mean a great deal to them if we can get a lot of other sessions to sign on with us!) Covenant of Affirmation Whereas the newly-adopted Section G-6.0106b of the *Book of Order* (formerly "Amendment B") attempts to impose one particular understanding of God's will and Biblical interpretation about controversial issues of sexuality upon all members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and in so doing has deepened the conflicts within our denomination; Whereas Section G-6.0106b, if scrupulously applied, would encourage nominating committees in local congregations as well as candidates' committees in presbyteries to invade the privacy of persons being considered for ordination, and/or lead to hypocrisy concerning the many issues the confessions of our church call "sin"; Whereas Section G-6.0106b has already caused severe problems in ministry for Presbyterians who wish to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to homosexual and bisexual persons, their families and friends, and many other concerned individuals both within and without the church; Whereas the new language proposed for section G-6.0106b by the 209th General Assembly calls church officers to "lead a life in obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture and instructed by the historic confessional standards of the church" and so restores the proper relationship between Christ, Scripture, and the confessions found in the Reformed tradition; Whereas the language proposed by the 209th General Assembly calls all officers to "demonstrate fidelity and integrity in marriage or singleness, and in all relationships of life," removing the undue focus of the present G-6.0106b on sexual issues; Whereas we believe with the 209th General Assembly that the proposed new section G-6.0106b will call us to "common ground in the one spirit of Jesus Christ" and "allow us the grace and the space to grow toward rebirth as a community of God's people"; Whereas we affirm with Paul that "in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male and female" (Galatians 3:28) and believe that the proposed new language for G-6.0106b will allow the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and our own congregation to more fully embody Jesus Christ's inclusive Gospel to all our diverse brothers and sisters in our community and world; THEREFORE, the Session of Lowe Avenue Presbyterian Church by unanimous vote AFFIRMS the 209th General Assembly's proposed revisions of G-6.0106b, URGES our presbytery and all presbyteries to pass this amendment, and PLEDGES to work for greater inclusivity in our congregation and denomination while continuing to discuss and discern God's will for our Church. Be it resolved that the Clerk of Session send copies of this resolution to (1) the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), (2) the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Missouri River Valley, (3) the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Missouri River Valley, and (4) the congregation of Lowe Avenue Presbyterian Church through the newsletter or other appropriate means. -- Adopted June 30, 1997 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Amendment B Turmoil by David Ward *Amendment B has caused turmoil in my family. My mother, sister and I have left the church, my brother and sister-in-law are struggling with what to do, and the Syracuse G.A. offers gays and lesbians more scraps from the table. Amendment B-Plus/B-Lite is mere pabulum. Instead of scraps, we should be demanding a seat at the table. With all that the denomination has put us through, they should be giving us the whole table! I wrote the following letter out of frustration with the apologists and collaborators who would have us believe that gay and lesbian people are welcome in the PCUSA. I ask my fellows: Does the PCUSA openly ordain gays and lesbians as Ministers of the Word? Has it offered an open and affirming statement that welcomes and encourages the full participation of gays and lesbians in every aspect of church life, while apologizing for the homophobia that has gripped this denomination since 1978? What I said in the following letter still holds true, in fact, reactions I have been getting from a number of churches reveal a homophobia that is so subtle, yet so pervasive and destructive, that it only affirms my call to leave the denomination. I would encourage others to do so as well. At least have the conversation about leaving. We rarely hear the tales of those who have left discussed in the **More Light Update**. I assure you that our numbers are legion.* -- David Ward. June 11, 1997 Dear Presbyterian Friends, Please forgive the *group* salutation of this letter, but I feel that it's important to share some thoughts I have been having about the state of the Presbyterian Church and to encourage dialogue about the place that gay and lesbian people have in the church. As a life-long Presbyterian, having served two congregations as an Elder, having sung in countless churches, and as a gay man who has been officially maligned by the denomination, I feel particularly qualified to write to you. Also, as a friend and as someone who has been a part of your life, I feel called to challenge your culpability in the shame that has stained the church. I recently wrote to my home church, First Presbyterian Church in New York City, and requested that I be removed from the rolls, that I no longer wanted to be associated with a church that would invoke Amendment B, denying gay and lesbian people their rightful place in the church. I am advocating that gay and lesbian people leave the church, find another spiritual home and refuse to associate with this denomination until this heinous Amendment is revoked and full rights are given to gay and lesbian people. Since that time I have had no less than three phone calls from Presbyterian churches requesting that I sing for them. I have told them that as long as I am ineligible for a full leadership role in the church, I am ineligible to sing for them. I have had numerous conversations with gay and lesbian people who feel completely betrayed by the denomination and their own churches, and I have encountered numerous people who have said "oh, yeah, I used to be a Presbyterian, but they hate gay people so I went elsewhere." How dare the church ask for our time, our talents, our money, and at the same time endorse Amendment B. This, my friends, is fact, not fiction. Without even giving it any thought I can think of six people who have left the ministry because they were gay, in most cases hounded out, three of whom have left the denomination altogether. Since Amendment B, I have spoken with friends who have resigned from their Sessions and more than a few who have moved their memberships elsewhere. As I communicate with friends around the country I realize that this number of the *departing* is growing. My sister is now a member of the United Church of Christ (which has a national policy towards gay and lesbian people that is officially *open and affirming*) and my parents, in the process of moving to Maine, had decided to attend a Presbyterian Church in the Freeport area but as a result of Amendment B have decided to seek another denomination. They cannot in good conscience be part of a church that refuses to let their son sit with them as full member. My mother has officially removed her name from the roll of the church to which she has devoted her entire life. Those of you who know my mother must recognize just how serious the consequences of Amendment B are. I fear that those of us who are leaving will never be counted, though surely missed. Are you aware of the sickness afflicting the church? This is homophobia hard at work, driving people out, turning people away from what was supposed to be a safe haven in this world. The rage I feel towards the church is intense. I have always been part of the PLGC gang that says if we just keep fighting, struggling and witnessing, we'll succeed. Now it feels futile. I have no faith that the church will rise to successfully defeat the powers of hatred that now drive the denomination, and have been for some time. To honor myself and to continue my own healing, I need a place of acceptance. Can you honestly sit in a Presbyterian pew and feel you are following Jesus' call to stand up for justice? I am called to follow Jesus as a Christian and to stand up for myself and for others. Jesus would never have accepted Amendment B. He would have driven you all from the Presbyterian temple himself. In the past month I have encountered far more apologists for the denomination than I had expected and ministers who say "What can we do? The issue just upsets people," or "we don't have any gay people in our church." I have also run into people who say, "but we're doing thus and such, we've always been supportive." I say, TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE. My own church, First Presbyterian in New York's Greenwich Village, has a fairly good track record but over the years when I asked why we weren't a More Light Church, I was told that they didn't want to go that route, they wanted to address the issue from another direction. I applaud their current efforts, but where were they several years ago when they could have been a leader on this issue? First Church has always had gays and lesbians in the congregation, and Barrie Shepherd has been an important advocate on our behalf, but I fault First Church for timidity and a lack of courage. Gay people are supposed to be satisfied with recent activity? New York City's West-Park Church, Jan Hus Church, and Rutgers Church, Rochester's Downtown Church, Baltimore's First & Franklin Church, Washington's Westminster Church have all been passionately active for years, fighting and advocating on behalf of the gay and lesbian people in this denomination. I find it difficult to be impressed by First Presbyterian's recent conversion. Perhaps this church will lead the way towards a new denomination. New York City's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church had its share of gays in ministry for most of the years I have been in New York, and where has that church been? In the closet. A major church like that could have been a leader, but has wallowed in fear, providing no guidance and no direction. Brick Church is another example. Naturally, the gay ministers at these and other churches could not lead the fight, indeed feared the fight -- they could lose their jobs. But where was the church? The people in those churches knew about these men and women. Where was the leadership on this issue? What did they do to protect them and advocate on their behalf? These churches have utterly failed the gay and lesbian people in their midst. Their timidity has resulted in Amendment B. Then I come to suburban churches like West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, NJ, where gay people are much less in number, yet vital to the life of these churches. My life was intimately intertwined with that congregation for over three years, and yet when I expressed my discontent with Amendment B and suggested, in refusing an opportunity to sing for them, that the congregation be told why I was refusing to sing, I was told that it would be problematic, that it would do more harm than good, that it would upset people. God forbid that the people of God be made uncomfortable in their cushioned pews because the denomination has locked gay and lesbian people out of the church. Two cousins serve a rural church in Seville, Ohio, and I refused to sing there recently because of Amendment B. I was mortified to hear that the Presbytery, the same where I served as an Elder while at the College of Wooster's Westminster Church, had voted in favor of Amendment B. My cousins were encouraged by the closeness of the vote. I felt betrayed. To their credit, my cousins stood in solidarity with me and told their congregation why I wasn't singing. After church they received affirmations from a number of their parishioners who expressed concern about the exclusive nature of this denomination. What will this church teach their children about the love of God? Some are welcome? The Presbyterian Church is an abusive institution. An individual seeking to recover from abuse learns that you can't change the abuser. In order to escape the abuse, you must leave the abusive situation. For that reason, I am advocating that gay and lesbian people leave the church. The left wing of the church, the *northern* part of the church, says they can change it, that they can reverse the situation. I believe that this is fanciful thinking. The only way for the church to recover is to end the abuse. The denomination must split apart. I accuse the *northern* churches of extreme *naivete* in thinking they can outmaneuver the powerful right wing of the church, the *southern* part of the church. Ever since the merger, the left wing has been floundering. The result has been gross abuse of the staff in Louisville (ask any of the numerous church professionals who have been hounded from their jobs all in the name of Jesus), the fiasco after the Re-Imagining Conference and now Amendment B. Why do you suffer this abuse? Why does the *northern* part of the church collude with the abusers? I don't have high expectations for the denomination because I believe most churches lack the courage and the vision to respond with any kind of pro-active witness on behalf of gays and lesbians. The right wing churches have acted, they have been taking action for years. Now is the time for the rest of the church to either follow them, or resist. What a wonderful denomination of rich and talented churches we would have were the likes of First Church in NYC, Brick Church, even West Side and Seville, to side with gay and lesbian people, with the original More Light Churches and issues of justice and peace, and to turn aside, and way from, the hateful, mean-spirited, and abusive policies of the current denomination. The lack of real guts sickens me. I challenge you, my friends and partners in a life-time of church-going, to act in a bold and spirit-driven manner. I am impassioned because I have always liked being a Presbyterian. I resent feeling thrown from the denomination and I resent that many of you don't see the significance of the *official position* of the denomination. You express concern and make apologies and yet you continue to affiliate yourself with a homophobic denomination. The church speaks of its connectional nature and yet refuses to take responsibility for what Amendment B really says: gay and lesbian people are excluded from this particular fellowship. I will be most curious to see who has the guts to say "we are a new church, and we are taking our buildings, our endowments, our choirs, our hymn books, our social halls, our hearts and starting a new church." In the meantime, I will be searching for a new church of my own, one that doesn't abuse me as a part of its official policy. And I ask you, can you worship in a Presbyterian church that doesn't allow your brother, your daughter, your friend to sit there and worship with you? -- Yours, David Ward PS: Feel free to return this to your pastor, your Session, the remaining gay and lesbian people sitting in your pew: _____ I agree _____ I disagree What is our plan of action? Some Responses *David has received a wide range of responses on the PLGC-list, our internet email list. Here are two of them:* I feel every emotion he stated, still I stay. Why? Because it IS MY church and I'll be damned (one way or another) if I'll let the b******* win. Once I'm out, I have NO say. Inside I at least have a chance to be heard and we ARE making a difference. Each year it gets closer. There will always be homophobia and exclusion, but not if I can help it. -- Dave Hooker an Elder at X-moderator John Buchanan's Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. "It ain't over 'till it's over!" It never ceases to amaze and sadden me that so much pain can be caused by people in the name of a God of love. -- Linda A. Malcor * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Presbyterian Purgatory by Howard Warren In these three decades we as God's Rainbow People (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and inclusive heterosexuals) have established a beachhead -- a community that grows and glows as it seeks, as have others in the past, through speaking out and acting up, to make sure that the wildly inclusive, extravagant love of God is fully open to all. Throughout the wonderful More Light Churches Meeting in Portland, knowing that we face a decade or more of church legalism, a name came to me to describe this time and place in which we are mired: "Presbyterian Purgatory." We know we are cherished by the very practical Trinity and are ordainable; yet, the court cases will go one and on. Money, time, and people's energies will be expended more on this than on grace and growth unless we put "Presbyterian Purgatory" in its place. In my limited understanding of purgatory, it is a place between Heaven and Hell where Roman Catholics wait while their salvation is still being decided. Prayers and masses are said for their movement toward Heaven, but they just aren't quite there with God and the saints. Our difference is that we are with God and the saints in this "Presbyterian Purgatory" on earth and dependent on the prayers and actions of more closeted Rainbow people and inclusive heterosexual Presbyterians to get the show on the road for a full place for all. In this period we must not let the focus of the church on legalism destroy the grace of the More Light we have discovered as Rainbow Presbyterians. We must not put all of our eggs in the basket of court cases. Instead, we need *MORE TIME TOGETHER* than simply General Assembly -- more local, regional and national conferences on our spirituality, what we are discovering as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and inclusive heterosexuals, so that when the church gets its heart/head together, we can offer our experiences, and the church can have a full soul. We must also work on visioning other church structures such as a More Light Presbytery or concepts similar to what Reverend Dan Smith envisions: "... it is clear to me that the Presbyterian Church is split into two camps. One group is very conservative, and the other progressive. I fully believe the time has come for the Presbyterian Church to separate into a Progressive and a Conservative stream. We not only have two ways of reading the Bible and doing mission, I believe we worship two completely different Gods. I am convinced the time has come for Progressive Christians to 'come out of the closet' and name our belief in a justice-loving, inclusive God. Not just a gay and lesbian inclusive God, but a fully inclusive God. One who rejoices in the diversity of creation and human life including race, gender, class, sexual orientation, culture and all the other 'isms' that currently divide and separate. To allow only one condemnatory voice to speak for all of Christianity is not right. Its effect is destructive both personally and spiritually. Just look at its effect in our own community." We can so easily become exhausted, discouraged by this "Presbyterian Purgatory," but there is lively hope. That All May Freely Serve, More Light churches, PLGC, the Shower of Stoles -- we are at work creating new miracles of grace, new paradigms of life, not legalese, and we must find/make time together to nurture one another where we are. It is a hard time to be a Presbyterian and not be treated as one. I just came back from a nine-day driving vacation on the Oregon coast. I was always pushing the seek button on the radio to find the PBS (NPR) and/or classical music station. Any time I heard the words "Christian station," I rushed to push the button. How sad that on their stations and in this denomination, "seek and ye shall find" does not include us. This war is over -- look at the popular vote on Amendment B* compared to 10 years ago. Let us do as Paul suggests, energize one another, find more ways to stand together, to serve together, to worship together, to have fun together. I don't know about Roman Catholic purgatory, but with "Presbyterian Purgatory" it is a phony place, and it will not stop us as the Rainbow people from getting our frequent flyer miles of first class ordination. In all of our times together we must pray for and sense God's time for a full place in the PC(USA) or in a new church open to all God's created people. What is God saying to us? One thing I am certain of: **GET OUT OF PRESBYTERIAN PURGATORY!** -- Shalom. Alleluia. Amen, Howard FOOTNOTE: *According to Robert H. Bullock of *The Presbyterian Outlook*, "an unofficial tally [of the voting on Amendment B] shows 97 (56.4 percent) [of the presbyteries] voting yes, 74 voting no, with one no action. The same report indicated that of the total votes cast in the presbyteries, 50.69 percent voted yes, 48.91 percent voted no and 0.40 percent abstained." -- *The Presbyterian Outlook*, June 2, 1997, page. 3. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [THE FOLLOWING STORY WAS INCLUDED IN THE JULY-AUGUST 1997 ELECTRONIC UPDATE, BUT NOT THE PRINTED VERSION! It is included in the September-October 1997 printed Update] Amendment B Re-Ignites Fire of Action There are lots of stories from across the church about how God's people are at work, inspired by the passage of amendment B. Here is an example of what I meant in my lead editorial in the May- June *Update*, that God would lead her people to turn evil into good! -- JDA A letter from Darryl Fenley April 3, 1997. The passage of Amendment B has proven to be a very motivating and empowering event in our lives (Alvin's and mine, that is). During the 3-year dialogue period we were part of the Presbytery dialogue team that went into congregations and shared of ourselves, our past, our present, and our hope for the future. If my recollection serves me well we did this on 15-20 occasions. There were times when one of us would say to the other, "What's the use?" Fortunately, at those times the other one would generally provide the encouragement and rekindle the motivation to continue. Also during those dialogue sessions, there were many bright glimmers of hope and a strong sense that some of what we were sharing was in fact being understood -- we experienced more than a few intensely emotional sessions that were most meaningful. After GA in Albuquerque, we met with a dear friend of ours who attended GA as a commissioner -- we were feeling both great disappointment and discouragement and had tentatively decided it was time for us to pick up our tent and go elsewhere. Our friend provided his insights as to the events that had occurred at GA, and most of all he provided us with some hope. So we decided to "cool our jets," and see what might happen. I noticed during December of last year and January and February of this year that our attendance at worship and participation in events at our church diminished greatly -- and it was as if we were beginning a separation process that would allow us to insulate ourselves from the pain of yet another organization telling us we weren't acceptable to the majority. And I -- yes, I! -- began to develop a real attitude, which those who have ever experienced my "attitude" can tell you is not a pretty thing. Also during this time I realized that I was ignoring the close personal relationship both Alvin and I have (and have had for some time) with our pastor, and that my conversations with him were generally quite cursory and defensively offensive. Alvin and I began to talk about doing some "church shopping" and targeted some congregations that we wanted to visit. It was not a good time in our house to talk of spiritual growth or Christian love, believe me! I even began to question my own faith, to the extent that I spent more than a few hours pondering the question of whether I might be an agnostic. Fortunately, and I believe providentially, we have many gay and lesbian friends and many very supportive straight friends, most of whom just happen to be Presbyterians as well, but, while we were all feeling the pain of exclusion, their pain didn't lessen mine, nor did it even begin to crack open my clamshell mind, which was quickly closing very tightly. When it was announced (unofficially) that the infamous Amendment B had passed, I found I was (a) shocked, (b) greatly disappointed, and, most of all (c) ANGRY! In a conversation with our pastor I told him I would like to have a minute for mission the following Sunday, as I felt it important to let our congregation (a combined American Baptist-PCUSA congregation) know briefly what had happened and what effect this might have on our church family. In that telephone conversation, Rod Frohman, our pastor, asked, "Why don't you do a forum on Sunday?!" Without hesitation I said I would. We then talked for a few more minutes, and as I hung up I realized that suddenly I had surfaced from the suffocating apathy I was beginning to fall into and that the old fire of action had been re-ignited. I immediately called Alvin at the clinic where he works, as I thought it best to ask him if he would participate in the forum, rather than to tell him I had committed him to do so. He was somewhat reluctant, but agreed to participate. At worship the following Sunday I did a brief announcement as to the certainty of Amendment B and the implications thereof, and also invited all to participate in the open forum after worship. Well, I want to tell you that what seemed so dark and bleak at 10 a.m. became a truly empowering experience at 11:30 a.m. that Sunday morning. We had friends and supporters who came for the forum from another of the Metro Presbyterian churches, but as the time for us to begin came, we only had eight people in the room - - I noticed that Alvin's expression was one of disappointment and "I don't want to be here." Then people began to come in -- young, old, married, single, male, female. We had to make two trips to bring in additional chairs! The forum actually evolved into an intense, open dialogue, and as the Holy Spirit took over it became a vehicle whereby I sensed the deep pain of everyone present -- I wasn't the only one! The cohesiveness of thought and the intense desire of all present to move forward became overwhelming -- and I have never before experienced such a powerful force. It was truly a blessing. I felt very privileged to be a part of this. What I didn't know, and didn't learn until afterwards, was that Alvin, upon seeing the few who initially ventured into the forum, had decided that was a sign that he needed to go elsewhere to worship the Risen Christ. But as everything played out, he too sensed the working of the Holy Spirit, and his own inner fires were renewed. It was truly a miracle! And it has had a most empowering effect on our congregation (at least on the 40 or so who participated in the forum) in that we finally and at last experienced something that was not divisive, was not the subject of debate of pros and cons, was not a case of "well we tried that once before and it didn't work," was not a case of "we don't have money in the budget for that" -- no, it was a case of immediately cutting through all that and going directly to the core of our individual and collective beings, and acting and speaking from the heart. For those of us who were present it was a time of affirmation of each other and our many unique gifts and talents - - one of the most striking examples of what I believe to be the Love of Christ that I have ever experienced. And it was truly a declaration of what Christ's church can truly be. There is hope! You may wonder where all this is leading -- which is: As I stated in the forum, and have stated more than several times since then, if this church doesn't want me *as I am* then they are going to have to run me out, because *I'm not leaving!* And I would hope that there are others out there who may be questioning their involvement with and participation in the PCUSA who will also adopt this attitude. At the risk of sounding trite, and certainly at the risk of not being of original thought, I can only say, "we SHALL overcome." -- *With love and hope and compassion and comfort for all who have been so pained and potentially disenfranchised by this enactment, Darryl.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Until Our Church Reforms Its Anti-Gay Policy A Eucharistic Fast by Chris Glaser Non-profit duplication encouraged. Other rights reserved. Copyright (c) 1997 by Chris R. Glaser. In the Introduction to the special *Illuminations 1997* section in the July-August 1997 *More Light Update*, I invited readers to join me in a fast of Holy Communion in Presbyterian churches. I decided to put the brief "Call to Action" out over the internet through my lover's access. The next few paragraphs constitute that message: *A Call to A Eucharistic Fast I have decided to embody my protest to Amendment B by fasting from Communion in any Presbyterian church until it is rescinded. I invite others, even those in More Light congregations, to do the same, to bear witness to the brokenness of Christ in our denomination. Paul wrote that those "who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves" (1 Corinthians 11:29). Though he may also mean without discerning the sacred dimension of the sacrament, it is suggested by the context that he means without discerning one's connection to other Christians (see 11:17-22). The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) practices a Communion in which Presbyterians do not discern their equal relationship with lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians. So I will not partake. If I don't, it won't mean much to Presbyterians. But if we all -- lesbians, gays, bisexuals, the transgendered, families, friends, advocates, and those who reject Amendment B for whatever reason -- fast from Communion, think how moving such a visible sign of the brokenness of Christ's Body it would be! I know that many of you celebrate or distribute Communion in your roles as ministers and elders; continuing to do so while fasting yourself will have all the more significance. Please prayerfully consider this. -- Grace and peace, Chris Glaser.* One of the reasons I am not on the internet (except in a closeted way through my lover's access on his computer) was confirmed when I received some immediate, negative responses, despite my invitation to "prayerfully consider this." People on the internet must pray as quickly as their computers compute! That's why I prefer my monastic computer! I was accused of several things: **Not valuing the Eucharist** -- One doesn't typically fast from something one doesn't value! At least, it doesn't have as much meaning as when fasting from something vital, that is, life- giving. **Politicizing the Eucharist** -- Though my decision was extremely personal and at heart, spiritual, please don't forget that *receiving* Communion is also a political act! **Letting THEM take Communion away from us** -- I give it up freely, and only in Presbyterian churches. I'll receive it among members of PLGC or in other churches. Remember, a fast (or boycott, if you really want to get political) is most successful when focused (or selective). **Allowing a mere human cause to interfere with receiving the sacrament** -- If I thought our cause in the church was merely human, I would've abandoned it long ago. It's a movement of God's Spirit, and in my view, one that requires radical, nonviolent action. **Being judgmental** -- You bet! When Jesus said, "Judge not," I believe he was referring to *ultimate* judgment regarding someone's worthiness to be in God's presence, which is the kind of judgment Presbyterians are practicing regarding *us*! Jesus went on to say, "Lest the judgment you give becomes the judgment you get." We are not practicing any kind of ultimate judgment to challenge our denomination's ultimate judgment. We are not saying our church is "not God's wish for humanity" as our church is saying of us! To explain myself further, I put out another note on the internet which has not been seen by other readers of the *More Light Update*: *Further Interpretation of "A Call to A Eucharistic Fast" The passion of some of the responses to my original suggestion verifies what a powerful witness fasting from Communion in Presbyterian Churches will make to ourselves and other Presbyterians. I'm glad so many of you share the same passion for Communion that I have, a passion that will prompt me to seek it out alternatively among PLGC folk and other lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgendered Christian groups and congregations, as well as Christian communions that do not forbid full membership to us. To my knowledge, my mother was the only member of the Baptist Church in which I was reared to abstain from Communion occasionally, following the apostle Paul's injunction against receiving it "unworthily." I frankly thought of her as far more "worthy" than the rest of us; and anyway, God made us all worthy in Jesus Christ. But, as the apostle Paul witnessed in the Church at Corinth, I've witnessed myself and other Presbyterians receive Christ's body and blood "unworthily." We get all caught up in the warm and fuzzy feelings of the moment celebrating our togetherness in Christ and fail to look around and see who's missing. I've written of this before as a kind of "idol communion" in which we revel in this simple foretaste of the commonwealth of God as if it *were* the commonwealth of God. And an "idol communion" leads to an "idle communion," that is, a communion that becomes stagnant with self-righteous self-satisfaction. Who's not there? you might ask. Well, together we could come up with a very long list, depending on the congregation. But in the instance of Amendment B, many of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered are in denial that a part of each and every one of us is not there: our callings to serve and to minister are not welcomed at the Presbyterian table. More importantly for me, however, is that the vast majority of my lesbian sisters and gay brothers and bisexual and transgendered brothers and sisters do not feel welcome even to be in the same "sanctuary" with Christ's body and blood, whether or not they receive Communion. And what of our posterity -- those like us who are being born into the Presbyterian Church during the time you read this? Unless we protest, they will not feel welcome at the table either. Communion becomes "idle," I believe, when it does not enter into the brokenness of Christ and of his Body, the church. Entering into that brokenness is indeed painful and yes, a sacrifice. Yet there is much spiritual value in fasting from the sacrament. Instead of pretending that everything's okay, let's join the only one who's not enjoying this crucifixion of God's wish for humanity: Jesus on the cross, who embodies God's solidarity with all sacrificial scapegoats and God's intention to resurrect us to full, abundant life -- in the church and our culture. Our movement in the church is no mere human cause nor no mere judgmental attitude, else we should not embrace it at all. Our movement is yet another prompting of the Spirit, the Paraclete, the legal Advocate for victims unjustly sacrificed on the altar of the "peace, unity, and purity" of our church. Jesus told us that first we must be reconciled with our sisters and brothers before offering our gift at the altar. I believe this applies to Communion as well. For Presbyterians, Amendment B constitutionally prevents any authentic reconciliation as sisters and brothers in Christ. Some Christians put both too much and too little store in Communion as a sacrament. Presbyterians do not believe that Communion is salvific. And I believe that Communion is great enough to reveal God's presence, whether in our receiving of it or in our fasting from it. -- Grace and peace, Chris Glaser* I did receive supportive comments over the internet, including those who said they would take it to their churches for consideration. The most supportive response came from our longtime PLGC friend Bob Lodwick, who has returned for a time to Geneva, Switzerland as Coordinator for the 23rd General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. He sent a description of another Eucharistic Fast. What follows are the Minutes of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) Proceedings of the 21st General Council held in Ottawa, Canada, edited by Edmond Perret and printed in 1983: The 21st General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian and Congregational) opened on Tuesday, August 17, 1982 at 10:00 a.m. with a Eucharistic Service at Dominion-Chalmers Church (United Church of Canada, Ottawa, Canada). The Service was led by the President, the Rev. Dr. James I. McCord, of the U.S.A. Before the Eucharistic Service began, Dr. James I. McCord gave permission to a delegate from the Reformed Church of Africa to read a declaration stating that, in view of the heretical apartheid policies of the white South African Reformed Churches, he and other Christians from Africa could not in conscience participate in the Eucharist. (See Appendix I.) APPENDIX I Declaration of 10 South African Delegates concerning their abstention from Holy Communion at the Opening Worship Service, August 17, 1982. *Dear Sisters and Brothers, There are some South Africans who have participated with pain up to this point in the Service, and who now feel constrained not to take part in the Lord's Supper, which is the essence of Christian fellowship (Matt. 5:23-24). The reasons for this refusal are threefold. 1. In our country, by custom and by church decision which are defended theologically, Black people are not permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper in the N.G.K. and the N.H.K. ... [two white Dutch Reformed Churches in South Africa]. 2. The theological heresy which undergirds apartheid racism finds its origin in separate communion. Our refusal to participate is a choice for righteousness and a refusal to reinforce the Christian roots of our oppression. These churches, which are members of the WARC, have consistently refused to have genuine reconciliation with us Black Christians through a confrontation with the evil of apartheid and by participating in the search for justice and peace and true humanity. To share communion with those who represent this disobedience to the Gospel would mean eating and drinking judgement upon ourselves. "For if he does not recognise the meaning of the Lord's body when he eats the bread and drinks from the cup, he brings judgement upon himself as he eats and drinks." (1 Cor. 11:29) 3. Our refusal to participate anticipates the day of our freedom when we shall all -- Black and White -- drink from one cup and eat from one loaf.* As a result of this action and the lively discussion which followed, the World Alliance declared that* "Apartheid constitutes a 'status confessionis' for our churches, which means that we regard this as an issue on which it is not possible to differ without seriously jeopardizing the integrity of our common confession as Reformed churches. We declare, with Black Reformed Christians of South Africa, that apartheid ("Separate Development") is a sin, and that the moral and theological justification of it is a travesty of the Gospel, and in its persistent disobedience to the Word of God, a theological heresy."* (p. 178 of the Minutes) Bob Lodwick adds this footnote, that "in this same document is a beautiful quote from John Calvin": **None of the brethren can be injured, despised, rejected, abused, or in any way offended by us, without at the same time injuring, despising and abusing Christ by the wrongs we do .... We cannot love Christ without loving Him in the brethren. -- John Calvin** By quoting all of this, I do not intend to suggest that we can come anywhere near the suffering that South Africa's policy of apartheid caused. But there is precedent for a eucharistic fast in the face of spiritual apartheid. You may rightly say, "But we're not being denied Communion." Yes, that's true, but we are denied full access to the table. Others will say, "But my church is different." That may also be true, but it is part of denomination that systematically excludes people because of our sexual orientation. Unsought by me, my good friend the Rev. Nancy Wilson, author of *Our Tribe* and vice-moderator of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, has publicly announced her support of this eucharistic fast, inviting all disfranchised Presbyterians to receive Holy Communion in MCC churches. In doing so, her intent is to encourage us in the struggle within our own faith communion. I am grateful for her kind words of support for me personally in the process. The first Communion service I attended after beginning my fast was in my neighborhood congregation, Ormewood Park Presbyterian Church, which has since become a More Light Church. Of all things, I had been invited to co-celebrate the Eucharist with our pastor, though I reminded her of my intent not to partake. It became one of the most meaningful Communions in my life. I felt more keenly the pain of those who do not have access to the table because of our denomination's heterosexist lifestyle. My lover Mark also did not partake, and he too, felt transformed, radicalized -- and it was his letter to Session that reopened the discussion as to whether or not to become a More Light Church. One could say I "fasted" from General Assembly for the first time in 20 years: I did not go to Syracuse. That the Spirit moved and we now have "Amendment B+" testifies that God will not let us go (neither will PLGC, the More Light Church Network, or the Witherspoon Society!). But though the changes -- if ratified by a majority of presbyteries -- open up the language of our *Book of Order* to our full participation and restores a Reformed understanding of Jesus, the Bible, and our Confessions, the anti- gay policy of the past will continue to be in effect. **Thus I will extend my fast until the anti-gay ordination policy is overturned by our denomination, until we have our place at Christ's table, not only to partake, but to serve.** What I especially like about a eucharistic fast is that it is egalitarian -- anyone can do it, from the closeted Presbyterian sitting in a pew far from "power" (whether in the church or in our movement) to the publicly supportive Presbyterians in "high" places. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MORE LIGHT CHURCH CONFERENCE SERMON "Follow Me" A sermon preached by Martha Juillerat at the More Light Churches Network Conference, Portland, Oregon on May 25, 1997 I Samuel 3:1-10 (The call of Samuel) Colossians 3:12-17 (You are God's people, chosen and holy) Text: Matthew 4:18-22 (Jesus calls the first four disciples and promises to teach them to "fish for people") This is the simplest, most complicated passage in all of scripture. Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee and comes across two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew, who are fishing. This is the first time we hear anything about Peter or Andrew in the New Testament. And, according to Matthew, this is their first encounter with Jesus. Jesus calls to these two strangers, saying simply, "Follow me." No explanation is given. They've seen no miracles, heard no preaching. They're already at work, doing something worthwhile, so they're not necessarily looking for a new life. They're not told why they should follow him, what it will mean, or where it will all lead. But with this one command, they drop their nets, walk away from their boats, and follow him. Period. Further down the shoreline, the encounter takes place again. A second set of brothers, James and John, are in a boat with their father, mending nets. Once more, Jesus does nothing more than call to these two men, and they drop their work, walk away from their father, and follow him. This little bit of scripture fairly cries out for scholarly criticism of one sort or another. Surely some scribe, some medieval monk somewhere, has left about seventeen paragraphs out of this passage. The story behind the story drives me batty: What happened to all their stuff? And wouldn't you expect father Zebedee to put up at least a little bit of a fuss? "Hey, waddaya think you're doing? We've got work to do here. You don't need to be following some religious nutcase around. This ain't Southern California, you know!" And even if all these guys were willing to drop everything and take off on a adventure, wouldn't you expect at least one of them to say something like, "Sure Jesus, where're we going?" But, they don't. In fact, all we're told is that Jesus proceeds to go all over Galilee, teaching in synagogues, healing people, and gathering huge crowds as his fame spreads all over Syria, Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea beyond the Jordan. Not another word do we read about these brothers for pages. This is a very simple, very complicated story. Following the call of God is never as simple as it first appears to be. Ask anyone who's studied Greek, or taken the Standard Ordination Exams for example. And as many of us in this room know all too well, sometimes even when God's call to us is crystal clear, even when our gifts and talents are obvious, the church can still manage to hurl some boulders in our path. Let me tell you a little tale that illustrates this point. Many years ago in a faraway land, a great king issued a challenge to his knights: "Whichever one of you seeks out and destroys the mighty dragon that plagues our nation will be made the supreme commander over all my troops." None of his knights came forward immediately. But a young apprentice, a strong and handsome young man who was devoted to the king, considered this noble calling. Then, one night as he slept, he had a vision of slaying the dragon, and heard a voice say to him, "You are the one who will prevail." And so early the next morning the brave apprentice declared his intention to his king, who blessed the lad and gave him his fastest horse. The young man set out into the countryside searching high and low for the dragon. Through rain and snow and bitter cold he struggled on through woods and thicket. Villagers along the way offered him shelter, but he refused, saying, "I live only to do the bidding of my king. I will not rest until I slay the dragon, or go to my death in the attempt." Finally he came upon the dragon, and with his last ounce of strength he fought the great beast, until at last the dragon fell. The victorious youth returned to the castle, but news of his courageous act had already reached the king. With great fanfare the king greeted him, declaring, "Although but an apprentice, you have proven yourself to be a brave and skilled warrior. This very day you shall become a knight and take your place as the commander of all my troops." The crowds cheered as the king continued, "This evening you shall sit with me at a banquet to be prepared in your honor." Then with a wink, the king added, "And who shall be seated next to you at the feast, brave knight?" Joyfully, the young man replied, "Why that would be my love, and the light of my life, Sir Frederick the Fair." Whereupon the young man suddenly found himself with a millstone tied to his feet, sinking to the bottom of the moat. Ah, the complexities of trying to do nothing more than that to which you were called. But we've all been around this block before. So let's go another way this morning. There's a much more important truth to be gleaned from this passage in Matthew. This story is quite simple for a reason. It's not meant to discount the difficulties of discipleship; all one has to do is read the last few chapters of Matthew to see the mountain of trouble that these followers of Jesus would eventually run into. What this story can do, though, is to help us understand this business of call more clearly. Let me tell you how this has been true for me. Two years ago I decided to set aside my ordination and leave the ministry. It was, without a doubt, the most difficult decision I had ever made in my life, and one that was made much more difficult by all the wonderful advice and opinions that were offered to me around this. I often heard, "You can't go, the church needs you," and "You'd be more valuable staying in the church and working from within the system" from folks who had never uttered a word of support for us in any arena. There were the thoughts of "Well, why don't you just become UCC or Unitarian" from folks who obviously didn't realize that when I'm cut I bleed Presbyterian. And then there were those well-meaning "Are you sure you're making the right decision" words from friends, just to ensure that I'd lie awake a few *more* nights, wondering if I'd made the right decision. All this made me dread one phone call in particular. That was to my father, who had been an elder for over 50 years, had done lay mission work in the Presbyterian Church for 30 of those years, and who had committed his whole life to this church. He had been my role model for ministry. How could I tell him now that I was leaving, giving it all up, because I was just so angry at the church that I couldn't stand to sit in a pew on Sunday morning any longer? I expected to hear yet another "You can't go." But instead, he just listened. And after I had laid it all out, he said simply, "Well, if we can't do the work here, we'll do the work somewhere else. The important thing is that we keep the faith, and do the work." It was a moment of grace for me. Somehow, a new way would be made clear. In an instant, all those layers of church and homophobia and presbyteries and politics and junk were peeled away, and for the first time I understood those words in all of their simplicity: "Follow me." Faith is at the heart of discipleship, in two forms. First, discipleship requires the faith that God is much, much bigger than any one church. Therefore, God's call to care for others and to work for justice and seek peace is much bigger than any one particular place or situation. This absolutely does not mean that we should necessarily walk away from our struggles in this church just because one more fortress wall has been built in front of us; God's call to work for justice must begin and end with the church itself. But it does put it in perspective; this struggle is but one piece of God's call to restore a broken church and a hurting world to wholeness. Second, discipleship requires that we have faith in ourselves. But that faith, too, begins with God. You see, Jesus didn't say to these four brothers by the lakeside, "Lordy, y'all smell like dead fish. And you say that none of you can type? And not one of you has any public speaking experience? Well, come along, anyway." Instead, Jesus called them to be partners with him on the journey, without qualifiers. They would learn what they needed to know along the way. In the same way, God calls us without qualifiers, knowing full well who we are. So in the end, what's most important is not whether we are gay or straight, or black or white, or rich or poor, or even if we smell like dead fish. What's important is that God has called us, and we are therefore God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. These are empowering words, and great words of hope. We are God's chosen ones, holy and loved. If this is what we believe, then I think it must change not only the way in which we relate to God, but also to one another. You see, most of us discern our calls through community, sharing our stories and our dreams with others as we seek their guidance. Now, some of you may have been thunderstruck by God in a moment of enlightenment; I recall one young candidate who came before Heartland Presbytery and explained that, one night while he was driving somewhere, Jesus came down from Heaven and stood before him on the hood of his car, calling him to ministry. (Of course, he had neglected to share this with the Candidate's Committee earlier.) This does happen, I know. But our Reformed faith teaches us that we are called by God through a community of faith which sets us apart for a particular ministry within the community. So if we are to be community for each other, then we need to have faith that God's call to us is greater than we can possibly imagine. And we need to have faith that the way will be made clear for each of us, even if it doesn't make much sense at the present moment. What that means is that we need to learn to be Eli's for each other. Eli played an interesting role in the call of Samuel. At the time, Eli had some self-interest at stake with Samuel. Eli was old, and growing blind. He was dependent on Samuel for his needs; what would happen to him if the boy were called away? Furthermore, an unnamed prophet had come before Eli recently and warned him that the house of Eli would be punished for the misdeeds of his sons. He would rather not hear anything more about that. Nevertheless, when Samuel heard a voice one night and mistakenly thought it was Eli calling him, Eli put his own interests and fears aside. He told Samuel to go lie down again, and listen for God's voice. This is the faith that we need to hold for each other. If we're to be Eli's for each other, we need to help each other turn down all that "You have to stay, you have to go, you'd be better off in a convent than you are here, honey!" -- all that noise in our lives, and just start listening, listening for God's call all over again, fresh and new. You see, in that listening, there's a good chance we'll rediscover that ministry can and does happen in ways that we haven't yet imagined. God has called every single one of us in this room to do ministry of one sort or another. This morning I would invite you to remember that call, to turn down all the noise around you and listen for that call in a brand new way. Remembering that call is what will renew our hope, and give us the strength to break down walls. Recalling that vision of a world restored to wholeness is what will give us the creative spirit to do ordinary ministry in extraordinary ways. As you leave this place today, I pray that God will set your spirit free to see the world around you in a whole new way. Live into hope, people of God. And may God, who's love exceeds our wildest imaginations, give you peace. Amen. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BOOK REVIEWS Agony in the Garden **Agony in the Garden: The Story of a Gay Minister**, by Howard Hannon. Portland, OR: OutWrite Publishing, 1996. xi+226 pp. $12.95 paperback, ISBN 1-887092-01-3. Reviewed by Jud van Gorder. The author feels he wrote under divine direction, to tell his grandchildren and others about his Presbyterian ministry in Coos Bay, Oregon. "There are three entwining facets in this journey: my life, the theology given in the sermons (and condensed for this book), and the reaction of the members to that message" (p. viii). His recounting begins when he was in his mid-teens. Originally Hannon's work was going to contain just sermons, until he was advised to expand it. Nearly 30% of the present book is sermonic material, and he believes these messages are still important for our "quasi-fundamentalist" Church 20-30 years later. In any case, benefit would have accrued from more careful proofreading. I beg to differ on emphasis. The sermons have good stuff, but it's second- and third-hand, bearing the aura of the 1960s and 70s: the "God-Is-Dead" school, Bonhoeffer, Tillich, even Ken Kesey -- the 'Usual Suspects' of that era. To me, the book's import comprises Howard Hannon's courage in writing it, sharing the agon* of his emergence as a gay minister, and stimulating readers to their own self-searching. This is what's fresh and vital. [FOOTNOTE: *Yes, "agon" -- "the conflict of characters in a drama" -- *Webster's New World Dictionary* -- JDA.] So a more interesting framework is in the parallels between his marriage and his ministry, involving his sexuality. In both he could function physically to a degree, but not become emotionally intimate. He could not find a new name for God, nor could he ever call his wife by her name. While he was a young minister in Wisconsin, Hannon's daughter fell sick and was in a hospital. His wife was more upset than he, and then is when out of the blue he chose to tell her he was attracted to men. Later, a psychiatrist pointed out he had done so because unconsciously his decision was to get out of the marriage. One wonders if tactics of "attack, subdue, and put on the shelf" traditional doctrines (p.120) were his unconscious means towards getting out of ministry? Actually, both marriage and ministry lasted quite a while. At a reunion with some church members about 15 years after the author left Coos Bay, he was asked if he could have had the theology without the sexuality. "I do not think so" (p. 217). Perhaps the search for a new name for God was the covering for seeking his own new name, his reality as a gay man. This reviewer does not wish to be skeptical or prurient about someone encountered only through his book. After all, he and I did attend the same seminary, a few years apart; had long pastorates at that time of social turmoil; studied the same contemporary theologies and exegeses; had a phase of difficulty completing sermons by deadlines; came to full awareness of our orientation by tortuous (though variant) paths. So I can relate to much of the content. The story raises the old issue of whether persons feel called to a profession more to work out their own problems than to serve others. Hannon does acknowledge, "From hindsight I can see ... the sermons I was giving were answers to my own situation" (p. 139). He confesses to a one-track mind, ego getting in the way, anger and frustration with lack of change. Often, his use of "we" for what was going on in the church sounds like a pastor's "Royal We." Hannon's preaching shifted frequently with every breeze of latest article or lecture. He had a compulsion to experiment with everything: program, liturgy, education, furniture, decor, social contracts, schedules; and apparently without much Session consultation. None of this, not all of it together, "fixed" the perceived problems. The outcome was "members ... as befuddled as I" (p. 133), and a decline in attendance. (There was a remnant of appreciative people who valued the directions taken.) Do we ministers, in our desperation for "results," try to see how far we can push people before they react or reject us? A sense of relaxation and peace came to the author with his divorce and coming out. Hannon's son told his parents he would have turned them off, if they had not been honest about the reason for the divorce. So it is curious that the church was told first of the divorce -- and only later about the pastor being gay. Even that step came in bits and pieces. The personal price paid was that after he left Coos Bay, Hannon was kept from any further church positions. Nevertheless I find the book's title, fitting his experience to the Passion narrative of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, a bit overweening. The Gospel crises are more likely a recurring pattern in Christian life than a one-time conversion. And there is an implication here that we would rather get rid of "The-God-Up-There" because it eases our guilt over practices considered taboo by the majority. I hope this does not give aid and comfort to those who accuse us of that very thing, bashing our gay givenness and enlightened faith alike. But if any would cast stones against Howard Hannon or his book; first lay yourself as open and vulnerable as he has in life and print for the sake of our common Church. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * OUR CHAPTERS Big PLGC Banner in St. Louis Parade by Peg Atkins A big PLGC banner was carried in the St. Louis Pridefest Parade for the sixth year -- and as usual, it was the highlight of our year to walk with it. Four other Presbyterians joined us: Dr. Carol North with twin mastiffs, Kay Schneider, the Rev. Mike Wakeland (Pastor of Tyler Place Presbyterian Church), and three- year-old daughter Sara. We were the only religious group represented other than MCC and Dignity, which is large in this Catholic city. We delighted in the response from the sidewalks to our banner, "PRESBYTERIANS ...!" -- lots of waves and big applause! The dogs helped -- two gorgeous, horse-sized creatures walking beside the banner drew a lot of attention. The banner was pictured briefly in local TV news coverage that night. There are not enough "out" Presbyterians here to keep a PLGC chapter going, so we join with others who are in the same situation (everyone except the Catholics) in an ecumenical group, the St. Louis chapter of Other Sheep. This chapter offers fellowship and opportunity to work on an annual program and a Picnic With Pride in The Park. Mel White, Janie Spahr, Chris Glaser and Melanie and Eleanor Morrison have been presenters for our annual late-winter two-day programs, and our fourth Picnic, sort of a "church picnic with free ice cream" will be held in September. We present these activities in a spirit of "Come home to the church." We are pleased with the lengthening list of participants and supporters. I remember Letty Russell saying that she stays connected with events and people outside the church to gain strength and vitality to go back into the church. Other Sheep does that for us and many other here. BUT -- there's nothing to compare with walking behind our banner proclaiming "Presbyterians" in the parade. We wouldn't miss it for anything. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tips for Organizing a PLGC Chapter by Gene Huff, PLGC's Chapter Liaison It doesn't take a tremendously large group of interested people to start a local chapter of Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns. Four or five persons willing to commit even a modest amount of energy and time can do it. Yet the value of an additional presence and visibility in a community and in a presbytery area can hardly be overestimated as we continue our struggle to achieve full inclusiveness within the Presbyterian Church. Each new chapter can help move us closer to that goal. Here some suggestions on how to do it. 1. A small group of interested Presbyterians -- gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and straight supporters can form a steering group in order to plan the organizing effort. 2. The steering group can request use of the national PLGC mailing list (the list of those receiving the *More Light Update*) for a specific area via a local PLGC coordinator or board member, or it can ask that PLGC send out a notice to folks on the PLGC mailing list (contact Jim Anderson, national communications secretary, for this). The PLGC national list will give the group an idea as to the number of people at least interested enough in the cause to receive our regular mailings. The initial meeting announcement can be mailed to all on the list. See the back pages of *More Light Update* for PLGC coordinators or board members in your area. 3. Identify Presbyterian ministers who are supportive and invite their participation and advice. 4. Find a friendly church for meeting space. Approach the pastor of a church you know or believe is supportive and ask that the session approve the use of church facilities for regular chapter meetings. If this is not possible in your area, groups can of course meet in one another's homes or locate other public space that might be available at low or no cost. 5. Plan an initial meeting with the expressed purpose of gauging the amount of personal interest in being part of a chapter. Give plenty of advance notice. In addition to using the mailing list for an attractive announcement of the meeting, contact key people personally or by phone to encourage their attendance. 6. Plan the initial meeting well and involve several people in the leadership of it. Typical activities for chapter meetings include: self-introductions, sharing of personal journeys and information about local resources in support of lavender people, watching videos, listening to a speaker or panel -- and usually food or refreshments, quite often starting the meeting with a potluck meal together. Also very meaningful for local chapters is the opportunity for worship together using resources which stress the love and justice of God for the whole human family. The initial meeting will of course want to allow plenty of time for brain-storming ideas for the future and will need to identify a moderator or co-moderators for on-going leadership for the group. 7. Be sure to take a record of attendance at each meeting including address information and develop a regular mailing list for the chapter. 8. Consider various meeting patterns, recognizing that geographic considerations effect how often and where meetings are held. 9. Money is a necessary consideration. Mailing and program costs need to be covered. Some fund raising may be needed although some groups thrive on individual contributions gathered at the meetings. Sometimes a friendly church can provide financial services for a chapter until it needs to establish its own bank account. 10. Consider a newsletter to go out each time you send a reminder about the next meeting. Include reprints of helpful articles or opinion pieces written by group members as well as local news of chapter activities, Presbytery issues, etc. Send it routinely to all the churches in the presbytery. 11. During meetings give plenty of time just for sharing and telling personal stories as persons are comfortable, providing support based on getting to know one another well. Chapters can be of inestimable value in supporting Presbyterians in the process of coming out to themselves and/or to family, friends or congregations. 12. Take pictures of chapter events and write stories to submit to the *More Light Update* 13. Encourage people to subscribe to the *More Light Update* if not doing so already. 14. Place the name of a contact person with address, phone and email information in local LGBT publications and organization listings and send that information also to the national PLGC board people coordinating chapter development so the chapter can be listed regularly in the *More Light Update* and PLGC's Web Page. 15. Be sure to get out a mailing to all ministers and churches in the presbytery area about the forming of the chapter and request announcements about its meetings and what it has to offer. 16. Plan an appropriate presence at presbytery meetings, providing literature, offering to join in panel discussions or to provide speakers or videos for congregational education events. 17. Chapters can help organize strategies for presbytery action, drafting overtures, and getting out the vote campaigns. They can also assist congregations considering joining the More Light Church Network. 18. Arrange a chapter presence in local gay pride marches and AIDS walks with an appropriate banner. 19. Consider outreach to a local college, university or seminary. 20. Establish a legislative watch group to monitor local LGBT issues so as to be ready for advocacy. 21. Establish relationships with other religious LGBT groups in the area in order to foster joint programs and community advocacy efforts. 22. Plan a big meeting once a year, bringing in an outside speaker -- consider Chris Glaser, Janie Spahr, Laurene Lafontaine, Scott Anderson, Lisa Larges, Dan Smith, Chuck Collins, Howard Warren, Lew Myrick, Martha Juillerat and the Stoles Project, and others who are emerging in our leadership. Invite the whole community. Arrange lots of publicity including local media coverage. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT CHAPTER FORMATION AND TO REGISTER YOUR NEW CHAPTER IN OUR LISTINGS PLEASE CONTACT: Gene Huff, 658 25th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121, 415-668-1145, email: huffrevs@hooked.net; or Rob Cummings, P.O. Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 16133, 412-475-3285, email: robcum@pgh.net * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PLGC Chapters Compiled by Gene Huff, PLGC's Chapter Liaison Names shown identify moderators or contact persons for each chapter BOSTON AND NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND: Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602; 802-229-5438; email: garyire@aol.com; Serves Presbyteries of Boston and Northern New England; meets about every 6 months; holds annual retreats with Southern New England chapter and other gatherings in Mass. and NH. SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND: John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698; Serves Presbytery of Southern New England; meets irregularly but has included a tri-presbytery meeting in Boston with Clark Chamberlain as speaker; maintains regular contact with presbytery. NEW JERSEY: James D. Anderson, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, email: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu; Serves all of NJ's seven presbyteries; irregular meetings, including "potluck with program" meetings; member of NJ Lesbian and Gay Coalition. Chapter is one mostly "of correspondence." GENESEE VALLEY: Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, 716-663-9130; Ralph Carter, 111 Millburn St., Rochester, NY 14607-2918, 716-271-7649, email: ralph.carter@pcusa.org; Organized in 1978, serving Rochester area and Genesee Valley Presbytery; meets monthly for potluck and program; has met in homes but now in churches to improve visibility; quite effective in fostering More Light Church movement in Rochester; tries to keep a member on presbytery nominating and other committees; provides strong support for churches and individuals involved in the struggles over Presbyterian issues; active in regional gay/lesbian advocacy on an ecumenical basis. PITTSBURGH: Jim Bozigar, 3229 Parkview Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213-4513, 412-683-5239; Verna Morrison, 131 Saylong Dr., Pittsburgh, PA 15235, 412-371-2904; Serves western PA; meets monthly at Third Presb. Ch., Pittsburgh, for worship and educational programs. Recently sponsored presentation by Wm. Sloan Coffin on "The Church, the Military and Homosexuality" with 370 attending. Active in presbytery and its events, often making education and advocacy materials available. PHILADELPHIA: Jim Ebbenga & Kurt Wieser, 203 E. Prospect Ave. North Wales, PA, 19454-3208, 215-699-4750; Serves greater Philadelphia area, irregular meetings; several congregations now have their own groups; has mixed relationship with the presbytery. One such church-based group is the Gay and Lesbian Discussion Group, First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. 21st St. (at Walnut St.), Philadelphia, PA 19103, 215-567-0532, contact: David Huting; meets on 2d Tuesday of every month, 7 p.m. for discussion program followed by a vesper service in the sanctuary at 8:30 p.m. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Cindy Herron, 803 Delaware Ave., SW, Washington DC 20024, 202-488-4220, Pnet: Cindy Herron; Serves DC area including neighboring counties in MD and northern VA; quarterly meetings; for potluck, Bible and book study, videos, summer picnic (jointly with Baltimore in 1996). Have had Laurene Lafontaine as speaker. BALTIMORE: Joan Campbell, 3401 White Ave, Baltimore MD 21214- 2348, 410-2540-5904, email: ThomCAM96@aol.com; Lew Myrick, 1225 Southview Rd., Baltimore, Md 21218-1454, 410-467-1191, email: myrick@jhu.edu, BALTPLGC@aol.com, PNet: Lew Myrick. Serves Baltimore Presbytery, meets monthly; publishes extensive newsletter; meetings include strategizing re Presbyterian issues with regular potluck and program format. EASTERN VIRGINIA: Carol Bayma, 4937 Olive Grove Ln., Virginia Beach, VA 23455, 804-497-6584, email: CZSR15A@prodigy.com; Serves E. VA Presbytery; meetings held about every other month with worship, program and support; have invited local ministers to bring devotions at meetings; active in Gay Pride events locally. NORTHERN OHIO: Miles Doane, 1689 Glenmont Rd., Cleveland Hts., OH 44118, 216-932-1458; Serves Cleveland area and northeast Ohio; meets monthly for worship and programs; hosts for the 1997 mid- winter PLGC retreat. Helped organize presbytery dialogue; encouraging Cleveland area's one More Light Church; marched behind a banner in Gay Pride parade. Very active in metropolitan area. MIDDLE TENNESSEE: Glyndon Morris, 1150 Vultee Blvd. #B-204, Nashville, TN 37217-2152, 615-361-9228., PNet: Glyndon Morris, email: luther.g.morris@vanderbilt.edu; A new chapter preparing to serve central Tennessee and the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee; to center on social events and guest speakers. CENTRAL INDIANA: David Wene and Jay van Santen, P.O. Box 88190, Indianapolis, IN 46208-0190; David: 317-931-9553, Jay: 317-924- 0277, email: jvansanten@surf-ici.com; Serves Indianapolis area and nearby counties; meets monthly for potluck, worship and program; has regular newsletter; provides support for individuals and for presbytery strategy; has sponsored Jane Spahr appearance in area and hosted 1996 midwest PLGC retreat; also brought Chris Glaser to Indianapolis area. DETROIT / SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: Jim Beates, 18120 Lahser Rd. #1, Detroit, MI 48219, 313-255-7059; Serves Detroit and nearby area; meetings monthly for worship and program; maintains P.O. Box and phone numbers for listing in gay publications; strategizes on Presbyterian issues, often joined by local friendly pastors. WINNEBAGO, WISCONSIN: Dick Winslow, 111 E. Water St. #100, Appleton, WI 54911, 414-731-0892; A newly forming group serving northeast Wisconsin; has had its initial meeting; starting small but with a number of supportive pastors identified. TWIN CITIES AREA: Ralph & Claire Henn, 9931 Elliot Ave. S., Bloomington, MN 55420-5125, 612-884-6908, email: rwhenn@winternet.com; Lucille Goodwyne, 5525 Timber Lane, Excelsior, MN 55331, 612-470-0093, email: c/o Dick_Lundy.parti@ecunet.org; Serves Twin Cities Area Presbytery; meets monthly to talk and strategize. CHICAGO: David Hooker, 175 E. Delaware Pl. #5618, Chicago, IL 60611, 312-751-0250; Karen Muller, 733 W. Briar Pl, Chicago, IL 60657, 773-348- 1508; Serves metropolitan Chicago and Chicago Presbytery. Has met monthly although currently undergoing some reorganizing and hoping to expand program. MCCORMICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY STUDENTS: Jon Bassinger, 5555 S. Woodlawn, Chicago, IL 60637, email: JBassinger@aol.com; Marilyn Nash, 5555 S. Woodlawn, Chicago, IL 60637, 773-363-5587, email: mnash100@aol.com; Mark Wendorf, 737 N. Humphrey, Oak Park, IL 60302, 708-763-9540 h., 773-947-6326 w. ST. LOUIS: Doug and Peg Atkins, 747 N. Taylor, Kirkwood, MO,63122, 314-822-3296, email: peganddoug_atkins.parti@pcusa.org; Presbyterians in St. Louis participate in an ecumenical chapter of "Other Sheep," the ministry of Tom Hanks, including UCC people, Disciples and Episcopalians, as a support and advocacy group. CENTRAL ARKANSAS: Greg Adams, 314 Steven, Little Rock, AR, 72205, 501-224-4724, email: sgadams@Aristotle.net; Serves Little Rock area, meeting approximately monthly; have organized education teams for church groups; involved in Inter-faith worship services; does strategizing and organizing around Presbyterian issues. LOUISIANA: Ellen Morgan, 2285 Cedardale, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, 504-344-3930; An informal group providing support and community to gay and lesbian friends primarily in the Baton Rouge area and Southern Louisiana Presbytery. NEBRASKA: Cleve Evans, 3810 S. 13th St. #26, Omaha, NE 68107, 402-733-1360, email: cevans@scholars.bellevue.edu; Serves Missouri River Valley Presbytery area, meeting periodically for support, program and advocacy planning. OKLAHOMA: John McNeese, P.O. Box 54606, Oklahoma City, OK 73154- 1606, 405-848-2819, email: mcneese@theshop.net; Serves Oklahoma and its three presbyteries; meets every other month; hosted Janie Spahr and Virginia Davidson in all three presbyteries in 1996 and Scott Anderson and Martha Juillerat and the Stoles Project in June, 1997; publishes a first class quarterly newsletter: *More Light Oklahoma*. NEW COVENANT (HOUSTON AREA): Gail Rickey, 13114 Houston Hills, Houston, TX 77069, 713-440-0353, email: patrickey@aol.com; Newly formed chapter; serves greater Houston area and New Covenant Presbytery; meets monthly. Initial meeting had 25 attendees from six churches; forming a speakers' bureau and working on presbytery strategy. Gail was one of organizers of PFLAG's Heart to Heart program prior to the Albuquerque assembly. SAN FRANCISCO: Richard Sprott, 3900 Harrison, Apt 304, Oakland, CA 94611, 510-653-2134; Serves San Francisco Bay Area; while not as active with regular meetings as in earlier years, maintains strong contacts within the Presbyterian community, working closely with six More Light Churches and several gay-friendly congregations; periodic gatherings; working relation with Witness for Reconciliation led by Lisa Larges. OREGON: Susan Harlon, 1828 S. Olde Clark Rd., Mulino, OR 97402, 503-632-6868. Organized several years ago with the help of Dick Hasbany; serves Cascades Presbytery with an active sub-group in the Portland area; meets regularly during each presbytery meeting; has had regular newsletter; active in strategizing re Presbyterian issues. SEATTLE: Michael Tsai, 1622 W. James Pl. # 2-F-2, Kent, WA 98032, 206-859-5686, email: michaelnw7@aol.com; Serves greater Seattle area and presbytery; meets monthly for program and strategizing re Presbyterian issues. Contact Persons for Other Areas New York City: Charlie Mitchell, 56 Perry St., #3-R, New York, NY 10014, 212-691-7118 Long Island: John Deitz, P.O. Box 389, Upton, NY 11973, 516-268- 3178 Wilmington, Delaware: Jeff Krehbiel, 207 Edgewood Dr., Wilmington, DE, 19809, 302-656-8362, email: Jeff_Krehbiel.parti@pcusa.org Atlanta: Victor Floyd, 853 Willivee Dr., Decatur, GA 30033, 404-633-6530, email: RUVic@aol.com Richmond: Dorothy Fillmore, 7113 Dexter, Richmond, VA 23226, 804- 285-9040 h., 804-828-8420 w., 804-274-0874 voice mail, email: dfillmore.parti@ecunet.org, dfillmor@atlas.vcu.edu, PNet: dfillmore Louisville: Michael Purintun, 522 Belgravia Ct. Apt 2, Louisville, KY 40208, 502-637-4734 Upper Peninsula Michigan: Mary Rose, 204 W. Michigan Ave. #1, Marquette, MI 49855-4121, 906-226-7163, marrose@nmu.edu Iowa: Robin and Rick Chambers, 907 Fifth Ave, Iowa City, IA 52240, 319-358-1406, email: RChamb2912@aol.com Madison, Wisconsin: Sue Jones, 2313 Bashford Ave., Madison, WI 53704, 608-244-4820 Southeastern Illinois: Charles Sweitzer, 809 S. 5th, Champaign, IL61820, 217-344-0297 Mid-America (Kansas City area): Judy Willis, 5914 N. Garfield, Kansas City, MO, 64118, PNet: Judy_Willis.parti@pcusa.org Dallas: Rodger Wilson, 3235 Kinmore St., Dallas, TX 75223-2444, 214-823-2317, email: designguy@msn.com Denver: Laurene Lafontaine, 1260 York St. #106, Denver, CO 80206, 303-388-0628, email: eclaurene@aol.com Arizona: Rosemarie Wallace, 710 W. Los Lagos Vista Ave. Mesa, AZ 602-892-5255 Note: *More Light Update* contains a number of other contact persons among the listing of PLGC Coordinators and Liaisons. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PLGC OFFICERS AND CONTACTS CO-MODERATORS: Scott D. Anderson (1998), 5805 20th Ave., Sacramento, CA 95820-3107, 916-456-7225 h., 442-5447 w., email: hn0029@handsnet.org; Laurene Lafontaine (1999), 1260 York St. #106, Denver, CO 80206, 303-388-0628, PNet: Laurene Lafontaine; email: EClaurene@aol.com COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY: James D. Anderson, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers Univ.), FAX 732-932-6916 (Rutgers Univ.), email: jda@scils.rutgers.edu RECORDING SECRETARY: Rob Cummings, P.O. Box 394, Jackson Center, PA 16133-0394, 412-475-3285 TREASURER: Lew Myrick, 1225 Southview Rd., Baltimore, MD 21218- 1454, 410-467-1191 h., 410-516-8100 w., FAX 410-516-4484 w., email: myrick@jhu.edu PLGC Coordinators & Liaisons ISSUES: Mike Smith -- see Exec. board. JUDICIAL ISSUES: Tony De La Rosa -- see Exec. board; Peter Oddleifson, c/o Harris, Beach and Wilcox, 130 E. Main St., Rochester, NY 14604, 716-232-4440 w., -1573 fax. BISEXUAL CONCERNS: The Rev. Kathleen Buckley, 2532 Rosendale Rd., Schenectady, NY 12309-1312, 518-382-5342; Skidmore College chaplain 518-584-5000 ext 2271, email kbuckley@skidmore.edu; Union College protestant chaplain, 518-388-6618, buckleyk@gar.union.edu TRANSGENDER CONCERNS: The Rev. Carla T. Pridgen, 5 Delano Rd., Asheville, NC 28805, 704-285-9752 STOLES PROJECT: Martha G. Juillerat, Director, 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55405, 612-377-8792, PNet: Martha Juillerat, email: Martha_Juillerat.parti@ecunet.org PRESBYNET: Dorothy Fillmore, 7113 Dexter, Richmond, VA 23226, 804-285-9040 h., 804-828-8420 w., 804-274-0874 voice mail, email: dfillmore.parti@ecunet.org, dfillmor@atlas.vcu.edu, PNet: dfillmore PLGC'S WEB PAGE: Donna Michelle Riley, Box 323, 4902 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3702, 412-422-1822, 412-268-5550 w., email: riley+@andrew.cmu.edu PRISON MINISTRIES: Jud Van Gorder, 915 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95060-3440, 408-423-3829. LIAISON TO PRESBYTERIAN AIDS NETWORK (PAN): John M. Trompen, 48 Lakeview Dr., Morris Plains, NJ 07950-1950, 201-538-1655 LIAISONS TO PRESBYTERIAN ACT-UP: Susan Leo -- see Exec. board; Lisa Bove, 1707 Micheltorena St. #214, Los Angeles, CA 90026, 213-664-8654; Howard Warren, Jr., 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-632-0123 w., 317-253-2377 h. EUROPE: Jack Huizenga, Voice of America, 76 Shoe Lane, London EC4A 3JB, U.K., email: jwhuizen@dircon.co.uk, tel: (171) 410- 0960, preceded by 011-44 if calling from the U.S. ALASKA-NORTHWEST (AK, WA, No. ID): Richard Gibson, 4700 228th St., SW, Mount Lake Terrace, WA 98043, 206-778-7227; Michael Tsai, 1622 W. James Pl. #2-F-2, Kent, WA 98032, 206-859-5686 COVENANT (MI, OH): Rev. James J. Beates, 18120 Lahser Rd. #1, Detroit, MI 48219, 313-255-7059; Mary Rose, 204 W. Michigan Ave. #1, Marquette, MI 49855-4121, 906-226-7163, marrose@nmu.edu LAKES AND PRAIRIES (IA, MN, ND, NE, SD, WI): Cleve Evans, 3810 S. 13th St., #22, Omaha, NE 68107-2260, 402-733-1360, email: cevans@scholars.bellevue.edu; Richard Winslow, 111 E. Water St., #100, Appleton, WI 54911-5791, 414-731-0892 LINCOLN TRAILS (IL, IN): Mark Palermo, 6171 N. Sheridan Rd, #2701, Chicago IL 60660-2858, 312-338-0452 LIVING WATERS (KY, TN, MS, AL): Michael Purintun, 522 Belgravia Ct., #2, Louisville, KY 40208-2123, 502-637-4734, PNet: Michael Purintun, email: michael_purintun.parti@ecunet.org MID-AMERICA (MO, KS): Merrill Proudfoot, 3315 Gillham Rd., #2N,Kansas City, MO 64109, 816-531-2136; Victor Force, 412 N. 8th St., Manhattan, KS 66502-5939, 913-539-5307, rabbif@KSU.edu; Shelly Holle, 1430 LeGore Ln., Manhattan, KS 66502, 913-776-8325 MID-ATLANTIC (DE, DC, MD, NC, VA): Marco Antonio Grimaldo, Grimaldo & Associates, 2848 Fairhaven Ave., Alexandria, VA 22303, 703-960-0432, 202-210-3780; Elizabeth Hill, P.O. Box 336, Grimstead, VA 23064-0336, 804-741-2982; Brent Bissette, 223 Riverwalk Cir., Cary, NC 27511, 919-467-5747 NORTHEAST (NJ, NY, New England): Gary Ireland, 10 Winter St., Montpelier, VT 05602, 802-229-5438; John Hartwein-Sanchez, 149 Bramble Way, Tiverton, RI 02878, 401-624-6698; Charlie Mitchell, 56 Perry St., #3-R, New York, NY 10014, 212-691-7118; Kay Wroblewski, 74 Freemont Rd., Rochester, NY 14612, 716-663-9130 PACIFIC (No. CA, OR, NV, So. ID): Richard A. Sprott, 531 Valle Vista Ave., Oakland, CA 94610-1908, 510-268-8603, fax, 510-271- 0127, email: sprott @cogsci.berkeley.edu; Dick Hasbany, 4025 Dillard Rd., Eugene, OR 97405, 541-345-4720, dhasbany@oregon.uoregon.edu ROCKY MOUNTAINS (CO, MT, NE Panhandle, UT, WY): Laurene Lafontaine -- see Officers. SOUTH ATLANTIC (FL, GA, SC): Victor Floyd, 853 Willivee Dr., Decatur, GA 30033, 404-636-1429 ch., 404-633-6530 h., RuVic@aol.com; Jim Earhart, P.O. Box 8362, Atlanta, GA 31106, 404-373-5830; Laurie Kraus, 5275 Sunset Dr., Miami, FL 33143, 305-666-8586 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND HAWAII: Rev. L. Dean Hay, 2851 S. La Cadena Dr., #71, Colton, CA 92324, 909-370-4591 SOUTHWEST (AZ, NM): Linda Manwarren, 7720 Browning Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109-5303, 505-858-0249; Rosemarie Wallace, 710 W. Los Lagos Vista Ave., Mesa, AZ 85210, 602-892-5255 SUN (AR, LA, OK, TX): Greg Adams, 314 Steven Dr., Little Rock, AR 72205, 501-224-4724; Jay Kleine, 1108 Toyath St., Austin, TX 78703-3921, 512-477-7418 h., 471-5217 w.; John P. McNeese, P.O. Box 54606, Oklahoma City, 73120-1404, 405-848-2819, email: mcneese@theshop.net; Gail Rickey, 13114 Holston Hills, Houston, TX 77069, 713-440-0353, 713-440-1902 fax, email: patrickey@aol.com TRINITY (PA, WV): Rob Cummings -- see Officers (Recording Secretary); Eleanor Green, P.O. Box 6296, Lancaster, PA 17603, 717-397-9068; Jim Ebbenga & Kurt Wieser, 203 E. Prospect Ave., North Wales, PA 19454-3208, 215-699-4750 PLGC Executive Board Gene Huff (1998), 658 25th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121, 415- 668-1145, email: huffrevs@hooked.net, or Eugene_Huff.parti @ecunet.org; PNet: Eugene Huff Susan Leo (1998), 4508 SE Lincoln, Portland, OR 97215, 503-235- 6986, email: sleoclu@aol.com William H. Moss (Bill, 1998), 535 Steiner St., San Francisco, CA 94117, 415-864-0477, email: WHMoss@aol.com Donna Michelle Riley (1998), Box 323, 4902 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3702, 412-422-1822, 412-268-5550 w., email: riley+@andrew.cmu.edu Mike Smith (1998), 1211 West St., Grinnell, IA 50112, 515-236- 7955, PNet: Michael D Smith; email: Michael_D_Smith.parti@ecunet.org Tony De La Rosa (1999), 5850 Benner St. #302, Los Angeles, CA 90042, 213-256-2787, PNet: Tony De La Rosa; email: tony_de_la_rosa.parti@ecunet.org or tonydlr@ix.netcom.com Tricia Dykers Koenig (1999), 3967 Navahoe Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44121, 216-381-0156, PNet: Tricia Dykers Koenig, email: tricia_dykers_koenig.parti@ecunet.org Lisa Larges (1999), 426 Fair Oaks, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415- 648-0547 Tammy Lindahl (1999), 57 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55407, 612-377-2191 h., PNet: Tammy Lindahl, email: tammy_lindahl.parti@ecunet.org Howard Warren, Jr. (1999), 2807 Somerset Bay, Indianapolis, IN 46240, 317-632-0123 w., 317-253-2377 h. Our 1998 Nominating Committee Lindsay Biddle, 3538 - 22nd Ave. So., Minneapolis, MN 55407, 612- 724-5429, PNet: Lindsay Biddle, email: lindsay_biddle.parti@ecunet.org Lisa Larges, 426 Fair Oaks, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-648-0547 Glyndon Morris, 1150 Vultee Blvd. #B-204, Nashville, TN 37217- 2152, 615-361-9228, PNet: Glyndon Morris, email: luther.g.morris@vanderbilt.edu Kathleen Elise (Katie!) Morrison, 2340 Le Conte Ave., #303, Berkeley, CA 94709-1305, 510-649-1183 Michael Purintun, 522 Belgravia Ct., #2, Louisville, KY 40208- 2123, 502-637-4734, PNet: Michael Purintun, email: michael_purintun.parti@ecunet.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS This list of allied organizations working for a truly inclusive Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is "under construction"! Please send me contact information and brief descriptions for any other organization that should be included. Some of the following descriptions I composed myself. I encourage any group to send revisions! Thanks! Jim Anderson. More Light Churches Network More Light Churches are Presbyterian congregations that welcome "all people into the church as full participating members, entitled to all 'the rights and privileges of the church' including ordination should they be elected to leadership positions, regardless of sexual orientation." Congregations and individuals that are working toward such inclusiveness are also part of the Network. MLCN Steering Committee: Virginia Davidson, co-moderator for advocacy, 173 Gibbs St., Rochester, NY 14605, 716-546-6661 h., email: virginia_davidson@pcusa.org Dick Lundy, co-moderator for administration, 5525 Timber Ln., Excelsior, MN 55331, 612-470-0093 h., email: dick_lundy@pcusa.org Joanne Sizoo, secretary/treasurer, 5901 Cleves Warsaw Pkwy., Cincinnati, OH 45233, 513-922-8764 h., email: joanne_sizoo@pcusa.org Harold G. Porter, outreach, Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church, 103 Wm. H. Taft Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45219, 513-281-5945 w. Richard Sprott, conferences, 531 Valle Vista Ave., Oakland, CA 94610, 510-268-8603 h., email: richard.sprott@pcusa.org Chuck McLain, outreach, 932 E. 28th St., Oakland, CA 94610, 510-261-4696 h., 451-8639 fax, email: mcpresby@aol.com Sonnie Swentson, membership nurture, 775 W. Griswold Rd., Covina, CA 91722-3228, 818-915-4093 h., email: heysonnie@aol.com Ken Wolvington, communications, 118 Shore Rd., Burlington, VT 05401-2658, 802-862-2658 h., email: ken.wolvington@pcusa.org Cathy Blaser, development, 350 West 85th St., New York, NY 10024, 212-595-8976 h. And MLCN Partners The Rev. Dr. Johanna Bos, college/seminary chapters, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1044 Alta Visa Rd., Louisville, KY 40205-1798, email: johanna.bos@pcusa.org Ralph Carter, resources, 111 Milburn St., Rochester, NY 14607- 2918, 716-271-7649, email: ralph.carter@pcusa.org That All May Freely Serve (T.A.M.F.S.) T.A.M.F.S. focuses on a national effort to give voice to those disenfranchised by the Church's policies toward ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons and to educate others regarding biblical and theological connections supporting full inclusion. Contact the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, Lesbian Evangelist, P.O. Box 3707, San Rafael, CA 94912-3707, 415-457- 8004, 454-2564 fax, website: http://www.tamfs.org Send Contributions to: Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St., Rochester, NY 14614, 716-325-4000, -6023 fax. Presbyterian Partnership of Conscience (P.P.C.) P.P.C., a partnership project of PLGC, the MLCN, That All May Freely Serve, the Witherspoon Society, Semper Reformanda, Voices of Sophia, The Stole Project, and friends, helps coordinate faithful action and statements of conscience and supports *pro bono* legal counsel in defense of individuals, congregations, and governing bodies targeted for judicial action in the courts of the church. Contact Bear Ride Scott, Coordinator, c/o United University Church, 817 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007, 213- 748-0209 ext. 13, PNet: Bear Scott Hesed (Hebrew: The Covenant of Steadfast Love) Hesed is an informal coalition of PC(USA) ordained and lay church leaders dedicated to the affirmation -- in obedience to Scripture and within the Reformed Tradition and Presbyterian polity -- of the inclusiveness of God's Grace and of the love of Jesus Church for all his followers. Virginia L. Lewis, Moderator/Webmistress, 600-B Hedgewood Dr., Georgetown, TX 78628, 512-863-1802, 512-863-1846 fax, email: lewisv@southwestern.edu, website: http://www.southwestern.edu/lewisv/Hesed/Hesed.html Presbyterian Parents of Gays and Lesbians Caring for Each Other: A support group for parents. Jane C. Loflin, Director, P.O. Box 781-591, Dallas, TX 75378, 214-902-0987, 904-9695 fax The Witherspoon Society The Witherspoon Society is a society of justice-seeking Presbyterians ... advocating for peace, justice, the integrity of creation, and the full inclusion of all God's people in church and society. The Rev. Dr. Eugene TeSelle, president, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, 615-297-2629 h., 322- 2773 w., PNet: Eugene TeSelle The Rev. Robb Gwaltney, vice president, 5303 Indian Woods Dr., Louisville, KY 40207-2079, 502-895-2079, PNet: Robb Gwaltney The Rev. Jean Rodenbough, secretary/communicator, 313 S. Market St., Madison, NC 27025, 910-548-6158 h., PNet: Jean Rodenbough The Rev. Hank Bremer, treasurer, 4355 Kenyon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90066, 310-397-6916 h., 435-1804 w., 495-2223 fax, email: 72066.543@compuserve.com The Rev. Chris Iosso, issues analyst, 191 Revolutionary Rd., Scarborough, NY 10510, 914-944-8070 h., 941-1142 w., PNet: Christian Iosso The Rev. Tom Heger, membership coordinator, P.O. Box 1359, Manchaca, TX 78652, 512-282-7586 h., -6200 w., PNet: Tom Heger Ray and Betty Kersting, membership secretaries, 305 Loma Arisco, Santa Fe, NM 87501, 505-982-4548, PNet: Ray and Betty Kersting The Rev. Doug King, newsletter editor, 7833 Somerset Cir., Woodbury, MN 55125-2334, 612-731-4885 h., PNet: Doug King Presbyterian AIDS Network (PAN) PAN is one of 10 networks of the Presbyterian Health Education & Welfare Association (PHEWA). PHEWA is a related ministry of the National Ministries Division, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). PHEWA provides resources to individuals, congregations, and middle governing bodies in the fields of social welfare and justice ministries. PHEWA also works to make the church more responsive to the needs of the excluded and suffering. Alice Davis and Phil Jamison, co-moderators; Bob Gillespie, treasurer; Marge Marsh, secretary; Daniel Kendrick, at large member to the Executive Committee and PHEWA board; James Hicks, Annie Long, Dora Carrera, Marco Grimaldo, Lorna Jean Miller, Howard Warren, leadership team members. Address: c/o PHEWA, Room 3041, 100 Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202-1396. Presbyterian Welcome "Inclusive Churches Working Together," Cliff Frasier, Coordinator, Jan Hus Church, 351 E. 74th St., New York, NY 10021, 212-288-6743. The Lazarus Project "A Ministry of Reconciliation," The Rev. Donn Crail, Director, West Hollywood Presbyterian Church, 7350 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90046. Semper Reformanda Semper Reformanda: Always Being Reformed, is a coalition of Presbyterian groups and individuals working to keep the church reforming itself in the image of the inclusive Christ and in the spirit of historic Reformed traditions. Contact John N. Gregg, Secretary, 2222 E. Belleview Pl., #202, Milwaukee, WI 53211-4006, 414-332-4844 h., email: JohnGregg@mail.unidial.com Voices of Sophia Voices of Sophia is dedicated to the wisdom of women and their full and inclusive role in the church, including the continuing re-imagining of theological truths. Contact Sylvia Thorson- Smith, 1211 West St., Grinnell, IA 50112, 515-236-7955 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MASTHEAD (Publication Information) MORE LIGHT UPDATE, Volume 18, Number 1, September-October 1997. ISSN 0889-3985. Published bi-monthly by Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns, an organization of Ministers, Elders, Deacons, and Members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Elder James D. Anderson, Editor, P.O. Box 38, New Brunswick, NJ 08903- 0038, 732-249-1016, 732-932-7501 (Rutgers University), fax 732- 932-6916 (Rutgers University), Internet: jda@mariner.rutgers.edu (or jda@scils.rutgers.edu), 4 Huntington St., Room 316, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1071. Electronic version available via email. PLGC-List: plgc-list@andrew.cmu.edu; to subscribe, send message to: plgc-list-request@andrew.cmu.edu PLGC home page: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~riley/PLGC.html Send materials marked "For publication" to the editor. PUBLICATION DEADLINES: 6 weeks prior to issue months. Most material appearing in MORE LIGHT UPDATE is placed in the public domain. With the exception of individual articles that carry their own copyright notice, articles may be freely copied or reprinted. We ask only that MORE LIGHT UPDATE be credited and its address be given for those who might wish to contact us. Suggested annual membership contribution to PLGC: $50.00. Annual subscription (included in membership) to MORE LIGHT UPDATE: $12.00. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * corrected version 8-17-97