Date: Fri, 31 Mar 95 13:14:47 EST From: "James D. Anderson" MORE LIGHT UPDATE June-July 1994 Volume 14, Number 11 Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns James D. Anderson, Communications Secretary P.O. 38 New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0038 908/249-1016, 908/932-7501 (Rutgers University) FAX 908/932-6916 (Rutgers University) Internet: janderson@zodiac.rutgers.edu Note: * is used to indicate italicized or boldface text. CHANGES Dick Hasbany, our coordinator in Oregon and a leader of the More Light Churches Network has a new address and phone: 4025 Dillard Rd., Eugene, OR 97405, 503/345-4720. CHRIS GLASER'S NEW BOOK Chris Glaser's newest book: THE WORD IS OUT *The Bible Reclaimed for Lesbians and Gay Men* 365 daily meditations based on scripture HarperSanFrancisco Available July, 1994 / $12.00 Please order through your favorite bookstore! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Illuminations 1994 THE MEANING OF OUR MOVEMENT Twenty Years of More Light A reflection guide for individuals and groups, PLGC chapters and More Light Congregations by Chris Glaser. Dedicated to PLGC's founder, the Reverend David Bailey Sindt, and his parents, Gus and Char Sindt, our own First Family. Copyright (c) 1994 by Chris R. Glaser. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit duplication and use. Reflection I: Who Are We (PLGC)? When he was our Presbyterian representative in Europe, Bob Lodwick took me to see the Reformation Wall during a visit with him in Geneva, Switzerland. What struck me was that upon the wall was carved the Reformed motto, "POST TENEBRAS LUX," meaning, "After darkness, light." The deeply felt continuity with our own movement of reform within the church was inescapable and profound: our denomination's decision to seek "more light" on the issue of homosexuality and ordination, my own decision to call our newsletter "More Light," and the establishment of "More Light" congregations throughout our church that sought to be inclusive of us and sought illumination on sexuality. Now our denomination has -- at least in the minutes of last year's General Assembly -- expressed a need for more light than heat in a three-year dialogue on homosexuality. Though I am among those who stifle a sigh of "ho-hum, here we go again" and restrain my rage that the called-for discussion includes no vocational or personal protections for those who come out in the process, I am, as I've written before, a "prisoner of hope" (Zech. 9:12). I believe, as do most of you, that Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled once more in our own struggle, *As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. . . . Then the [Sovereign] will appear over them, and [God's] arrow go forth like lightning . . .* Zechariah 9:11-12, 14 The closet is "the waterless pit" for us, but then, so is the church when it closets our gifts and our love and our hope. Yet, just as the Israelites returned from exile, from their diaspora or dispersion among the Gentiles, so we are delivered from our own exile, from our own dispersion among those who do not share our experience. And what is the "stronghold" to which we "return"? In other words, who is "us"? Lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgenders, and our families, friends, and supporters. Some of us choke on such a mouthful of self-affirmations, but to leave any of these out is to do a disservice to all of us who have suffered for the cause, for the commonwealth of God is a realm in which we are *all* regarded -- even our opposition -- as people of the rainbow. Ultimately, in reference to our opposition, there is not really an "us" and "them." In the Body of Christ we are one: their healing, their reconciliation, and their peace is our healing, our reconciliation, and our peace. I have relished paraphrasing, "Anything worth devoting your life to requires more than a lifetime to achieve," mistakenly attributing it to Richard Niebuhr. A reader, reflecting on my "Niebuhrian" approach to our movement, recently sent me the full text of the quote from *Reinhold* Niebuhr in *The Irony of American History*: *Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope . . . Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint; therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.* How clearly this applies to our own movement within the church! Our truth, our beauty, our goodness may not "make sense" to our present time, but we have "faith in the idea that God had when God made us" (Isak Dinesen, *Out of Africa*). Those of us who are bisexual, transgender, lesbian, or gay know the virtue of our cause, but we know we cannot accomplish it without the love of our families and friends and supporters. And, as an organization, Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns has not stood alone in the church, for our friends have stood with us: the Witherspoon Society, the Presbyterian Health, Education, and Welfare Association, the More Light Churches Network, and the Presbyterian AIDS Network. Many if not most of us believe that despite the pain and the grief we have experienced at the hands of the church, we will express the final form of love: we will forgive the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) when it eventually confesses that its heterosexist expectations of members and ministers is contrary to God's wish for the Body of Christ. Participating in a conference at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago this past April, I heard someone paraphrase Paul Tillich: A true prophet is someone who not only lights the fuse, but stays for the aftermath. It is true that some of us have wanted to drop our little bombshells and disappear from the scene, yet those who stick it out have a greater opportunity to shape the new mountaintop of God that faith has moved. In the "mean"-time, to face the ongoing onslaught of the church's negativity, we need to know who we are. Psychologist Mark Friedman long ago theorized that lesbians and gay men may be better centered than the general public *precisely because* of the buffeting we endure at the hands of family, friends, and world. A strong sense of self protects us from interpreting others' expectations as needs we must fulfill. A strong sense of our identity helps us set our own agenda rather than simply pursue another's agenda. Mostly lesbian and gay congregations, such as Metropolitan Community Churches, have the opportunity to do their theology, celebrate their sacraments, and affirm their covenants relatively unhindered by the oppressor's agenda. That's why listening to such congregations is essential to fully knowing ourselves as Queer Christians. But PLGC does its work in the belly of the beast. It is difficult for us to set our own agenda. Originally I suggested midwinter PLGC retreats so we could meet without dealing with General Assembly issues, but now those very same retreats are often dominated by strategizing over our oppressors' agenda rather than reflecting together on who we are, how we experience God, and the shape of our spirituality. When the ordination issue emerged, someone said to me, "You guys picked the wrong strategy. You should have pursued membership rather than ministry." But pursuing ordination was not our agenda; it was the agenda of a church that resisted serious discussion of the matter until ordination was on the table, until openly gay and lesbian members responded to calls to serve our church. When last year's General Assembly voted on dialogue about homosexuality, I said then that if the commissioners were serious about encouraging discussion, they would have overturned "definitive guidance" that bans our ordination. Such a reversal of policy would have ensured that Presbyterians would begin talking about the issue. Discomfort always makes for discussion. But as long as the status quo is in place, Presbyterians are safe to avoid any dialogue, indeed, are threatened if they attempt it. We, on the other hand, may not "rest in peace" with a calcifying church if we are to "choose life" as did our spiritual ancestors. We hear afresh 1 Peter's declaration (2:10): Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. For reflection/discussion: What was it like for you before you knew or came into contact with PLGC? or with lesbian, gay, and bisexual Christians? or with friends, families and advocates of our cause? List your self-affirmations, as many as you can that together suggest the fullness of who you are. How have your self-affirmations been made possible by your faith and by "saints" in your life? What aspects of your faith and which saints assisted you? Who are we (PLGC) as a people? What mercies have we (PLGC) been shown? What mercies have we been denied? What does it mean for us to be God's people? Look carefully at the quote from Reinhold Niebuhr and consider: for our movement, what is our "hope", our "faith", our "love", and our "forgiveness" as he contextualizes them? Reflection II: What Do We Do? I was stunned when, during a local PLGC meeting, a long-time personal friend and member of a More Light congregation said he has never understood the purpose of PLGC! This person reads the More Light Update avidly and is very committed to both the local parish and the broader church, so his ignorance may not reflect his negligence so much as our lack of diligence in interpreting what we do. So it won't hurt for all of us -- no matter how familiar we are with PLGC -- to study again our official Statement of Purpose: *Statement of Purpose Mission. Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns is an organization of ministers, elders, deacons, and other members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) committed to: +The well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, their families and friends, within and without the church; +Proclamation of the liberating and inclusive gospel of Jesus Christ to all people; +Reconciliation among all Presbyterians; +Education and dialogue that nurtures our biblical, theological, confessional, spiritual, and personal development as individuals and as a church. Goals. Together, we strive to: +Ensure full membership and rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual members in both church and society; +Offer care, affirmation, and support to lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, their families and friends; +Study and raise the concerns of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people; +Witness to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community and to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that the church of Jesus Christ is the church of all God's people. Sharing Our Love Someone you know and love is Presbyterian and homosexual. Some lesbian and gay Presbyterians affirm their sexuality as a gift from God; they want to continue to serve as responsible members of the Presbyterian Church. They need our love. Some homosexual Presbyterians try to deny their sexuality, not believing it part of God's good creation. They need our love and the pastoral care of the whole church. Many Presbyterians love someone who is gay or lesbian: a friend, daughter, son, mother, father, cousin, aunt, grandmother, pastor, teacher, secretary. They need a full measure of love to affirm and support these lesbian and gay people in an oppressive world. All these Presbyterians need our love and God's love. They all deserve to be respected as full human beings and responsible members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns is an organization for all Presbyterians who care about lesbian and gay people and their full membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).* PLGC employs several means to accomplish these ends. I list them here in what I consider to be their order of importance. You might consider how you would order them. 1. The *More Light Update*. Communication is key to any relationship. So it is with PLGC. But the Update, edited for 14 years by a seemingly tireless and completely fair Jim Anderson, does not simply facilitate communication within our organization: it enables dialogue with and within our denomination. More so than any other publication, when the Presbyterian Church addresses our concerns -- however adequately or inadequately -- the *Update* lets all who read it know. Yet, having once served as editor of our newsletter, I'm also aware how we take it for granted. During our first national midwinter gathering, when participants were given time to work on PLGC ministries they were interested in, no one joined the PLGC newsletter work group. Other opportunities for ministry within our organizations seem more glamorous, but none have been as enduring as the *More Light Update*. And no PLGC outreach touches the lives of every PLGC member like our newsletter. Those who feel isolated by closets, geography, economics (unable to afford trips to PLGC gatherings), whatever -- may be part of our conversation, receive our support, and gain inspiration from our hope. 2. PLGC Network and Local Chapters The names of the people who have courageously and graciously agreed to be listed on the back of the Update are an invaluable resource to be called on for resourcing, counsel, information, referral, and guidance to lesbian, gay, and bisexual-friendly congregations and groups in the area one lives or is visiting. These volunteers are also sometimes taken for granted, and often we expect them to be as available and/or as effective and efficient as if this was their job! I've witnessed over and over again the lack of gratitude and cooperation shown those who lead us, and I believe burnout among our leadership is partly a result of how we treat them. The other part, of course, is how fatiguing it is to be a leader for our cause in a denomination that would prefer the whole issue to go away! How blessed are those geographical areas of PLGC that have a large enough and interested enough membership to have a local chapter. Handled carefully, a local chapter may become an emotional, social, spiritual, and political support for participants. Notice I say, "handled carefully." Those of us who are more politically-minded must keep aware that other PLGCers may be more concerned for a social outlet or a spiritual community. Those of us seeking a spiritual community to supplement the dearth of such in our own congregations must also remember our broader purpose to change church and society. Worship, program, partying, and justice-making are all integral parts of a PLGC gathering. When a PLGC chapter has been meeting for awhile, and/or when it is dominated by members of one particular church, PLGCers have to work all the harder to be inclusive of new people or people who do not attend the church in question. I have witnessed and have had others tell me that they have not felt adequately integrated into the life of a local chapter because of a seeming cliquishness. We can tell a lot about a group by looking around the room and seeing who is not there. If there is an inadequate representation of women, people of color, members of other congregations, and so on, evangelism ("being all things to all people" as the apostle Paul would have it) is in order. Many chapters incorporate non-Presbyterians looking for Christian community, and others coalesce with other denominational groups to maintain a sufficient core of participants. This contributes to the vitality of the group and prevents us from fixating on our own Presbyterian navels. 3. Contributions This listing may surprise some people. But supporting PLGC financially is one thing, like receiving the newsletter, that every PLGCer may do that benefits us all. As Jesus suggested, where our treasure is, there will our heart be, or, said another way, what we invest in we care most passionately about. As one-time director of a gay and lesbian-positive ministry, the Lazarus Project, I learned how vital it is to include a gay- positive line item in a church, presbytery, or synod budget so that more may share ownership of such ministry. Such a dynamic is true for individuals as well. And though "contributions to PLGC ought not displace or be a substitute for support of the local and general mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)," as we are required by our denomination to say, I have often thought that PLGC should take its own One Great Hour of Sharing Offering as a witness to the broader church of our continuing and generous support for a church that does not adequately nor generously support us. 4. PLGC General Assembly Witness and Midwinter Gatherings Nothing beats getting together with other PLGCers! Our love and inclusiveness and smiles and warm hugs not only give each one of us strength to return to our everyday life, they all bear witness to the Spirit of Christ within us to a church that officially denies that our movement is of God. At each General Assembly, the PLGC luncheon/reception, worship, exhibit booth, and hospitality suite welcome supporters, seekers, and even our opposition to engagement and dialogue on matters of concern to us. Our G.A. presence personalizes the issue of homosexuality in a way that enables conversion and transformation as reasoned discourse alone cannot. Our G.A. demonstrations give expression to our disappointment, frustration, grief, and anger that our gifts are not being welcomed in the church. Our annual meeting gives us a chance to express our views to those who govern our affairs, PLGC's Executive Board, elected by ballots distributed in the newsletter. Yet we do more than carry on what has been called "a ministry of presence." Since 1976, PLGCers have played active roles as lobbyists and strategists at each General Assembly. We are not so naive to think that the church will see what good little Presbyterians we are and change a course governed as much by inertia as heterosexism. We actively identify issues that concern us, seek out like- minded commissioners to voice our concerns, and develop a strategy to accomplish interim goals. We take seriously Jesus' advice to his disciples to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" before religious councils (Matt. 10:16 ff.). We do this between assemblies as well, in our local congregations, presbyteries, synods, and in our occasional wrangling with our denomination's ecclesiastical courts (hence, our justice fund). PLGC conferences, sometimes regionalized, give opportunity to gather outside the stress of General Assembly strategy and grow together as a community of faith. In the future, it might be wise to conduct these gatherings in conjunction with other church organizations to encourage the building of alliances, to increase attendance, and to decrease our expenses. [end of indent!] PLGC is both Martha and Mary. We are Martha, busy in the kitchen, doing the practical tasks to prepare for communion with our Savior and with our family of faith. We are Mary, sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to the Spirit of Christ among us, ready with a reverentially healing touch for the Body of Christ as Mary who, on another occasion, anointed Jesus' feet with a fragrant oil and wiped it with her hair. We are Martha running to meet Jesus when he comes after Lazarus has been closeted in a tomb, angrily faithful, faithfully angry, chiding, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask" (Jn. 11:21-22). We are Mary who grieves at home for our sibling, awaiting the Spirit of Christ who is "greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved" (Jn. 11:33) by our tears, prompting the Body of Christ to call Lazarus from a closet of death. We are action and contemplation, justice-impassioned and love- empowered, embodiment and receptor of God's Spirit by which the temple is cleared, the temple offering is purified, and the temple curtain is opened. For reflection/discussion: In your own faithful expressions, do you feel greater kinship with Martha or with Mary? List the ways you make a contribution to PLGC. List the ways PLGC contributes to your life. Of all the things that PLGC does, which is most important to you *personally*? Which do you believe to be most important *politically*? What other things would you like to see PLGC do? How do you offer thanksgiving for PLGC, or specifically those in leadership? How do you support other PLGCers, and the leaders of PLGC? A challenge: select another PLGCer to pray for, to assist, to take to lunch, to correspond with, and so on. Reflection III: Why Are We Here? In ancient Hebrew practice, a priest laid hands on a goat and projected the sins of the people onto it. As atonement for the people's sins, the goat was then sent away from the community -- excommunicated -- to die in the wilderness, away from communal access to food and water. Affirming ourselves as sexual-spiritual members of the community of faith, we have similarly been scapegoated. We bear the projected sexual sins and anxieties of the Presbyterian Church. We have been excommunicated, sent away from communal access to the means of our spiritual survival, the means of grace. Our manna in the wilderness has often manifested itself in the very thing our church wanted to deny us: our sexuality and our sexual communities. When denied access to our church's means of grace, we discovered lovemaking and a loving community as means of grace, as sacramental, as ways of knowing God's intimate, tender, sensational, and justice-making love. We discovered and learned and practiced on our own the dance of sexuality and spirituality, their integral and necessary and wonder-full relationship. Our sexual expression, even our sexual oppression, gave shape to our spirituality. Because I feared condemnation by both minister and psychiatrist when I first realized I was "queer," I began as a child to talk to God to find love and acceptance, thus beginning my prayer life. When someone was unjustly driven from the church of my youth just for *being* homosexual, my spirituality embraced a justice dimension. When I accepted my gay love as a gift from God, I had to theologize anew and interpret scripture afresh. I also embraced the sensual pleasure God offered me, from the sweet taste of God's own body and blood to the sweet pleasure of lovemaking. Integration of my faith and sexuality called me to a passionate ministry of reconciliation between my church and my sexual community. Now the church's long delay in acceptance and my community's experience of AIDS adds eschatological dimensions to my spirituality, gaining both an *eternal* perspective, a vision of God's eventual vindication as well as of God's everlasting embrace in death and in life; and an *expansive* perspective, a vision of spirituality unconfined to closets of particular dogmas and creeds and communities. Prayer, justice, theology, scripture, pleasure, passion, ministry, and vision characterize the spirituality that God's Spirit graciously created with me by means of my sexuality. I believe this is true for many of us, especially those who have been scapegoated for our sexuality as women, as gay, as lesbian, as bisexual, as transgender, as survivors of sexual abuse or misconduct, (the church doesn't want to hear from them either!), as recovering sexual compulsives, and so on. But the truth, I believe, is that scapegoats might become dance instructors, that together we may teach the broader church what it means for sexuality and spirituality to dance together, mutually inspired and equally holy, bringing bodies and the Body of Christ together in a delightfully loving communion. Being "excommunicated" does give us a vantage point, a unique perspective, an outside view of the church, a wound with a view. During an annual gathering of lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians at Kirkridge Retreat Center in Pennsylvania, a lesbian stood to voice her concern that those of us marginalized by the church and the society not lose our prophetic edge as we are allowed to enter or are welcomed into the church. Prophets were those who lived on the edge of the religious and political community, better able to critique it as outsiders. Jesus certainly was one of these, as "the stone that the builders rejected [that became] the very head of the corner" (1 Peter 2:7 re-interpreting Ps. 188:22, also quoted by Peter in Acts 4:11). As such, Jesus also became "a stone that makes [religious leaders] stumble, and a rock that makes them fall" (1 Pet. 2:8 re-interpreting Isa. 8:14-15). Yet it was precisely because of that that he was able to offer a better way of loving God and worshiping in the temple and ministering in the world. 1 Peter 2:4-5 encourages us: "Come to [God], a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Excuse the sharpness of the metaphor, but Jesus kept his edge because he became the cornerstone of a new temple. As we come to him as living stones, some of us are also called to be cornerstones, to keep our prophetic edge, to offer perspectives sharpened by our marginalization as women, as "queer," as justice activists, as peace-makers, as people with disabilities, as people of color. For reflection/discussion: Draw a spiritual map, placing the present somewhere in the middle, with plenty of room for where you've been in the past and where you think you're headed. Be creative: include dragons you had to fight, rivers you had to cross, mountains you had to climb, walls you had overcome or break through, and so on. (Thanks to Matthew Fox for the idea!) Consider ways that your spirituality has been shaped by who you are as a sexual being. Then consider how your spirituality has affected your sexuality. What are our spiritual sacrifices/offerings? How has our prophetic edge helped others in the church? IV. What difference do we make? We've already got the whole church either talking or purposely avoiding dialogue simply by our unique sacrament of coming out of the closet. Like any sacrifice, coming out is an act of vulnerability, a willingness to suffer to make truth known, a truth pleasing to God. And, just as the divine presence was believed by the ancients to hover between the severed parts of an animal sacrificed on an altar, and just as God comes close to us in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, so God's presence may be experienced today among us as God offers a healing touch for our wounds and the wounds of all who suffer injustice. As I wrote the words of the last paragraph, I realized that our opponents or, worse, those indifferent to us, doubt that we suffer. How dare we compare our experience to those who suffered slavery in the last century or those who suffer hunger in this century? To me, there's some irony to their comparisons. Allowing people to suffer physically has traditionally been tolerated in the church's rush to save souls. Indeed, many spiritual disciplines have *required* physical suffering, or at least the denial of bodily needs. Yet *our* largely *spiritual* suffering is paradoxically dismissed as less injurious, less hurtful, less wounding. Awareness of sexual abuse is widespread, yet there are more of us who have suffered spiritual abuse. Not to underrate the devastating effect of sexual abuse, but we must acknowledge the widespread spiritual abuse that goes unchecked. Both sexuality and spirituality are powers that may be used to destroy or to build up. When we are sexually or spiritually abused or exploited or subjugated, our sacred worth is violated. Of course, current trends in theology would remind us that sexual and physical abuse *is* spiritual abuse, and that spiritual abuse is also an attack on the body. We are overcoming the duality of body and spirit by a reclamation of the concept of soul and of the resurrection of the body. (Economic abuse and other forms of injustice are also forms of physical abuse, which means that they are also forms of spiritual abuse.) In the Bible, there is a prominent tradition of a God who cares for "the least of these," those who suffer. But equally strong is the notion that God uses the least of these to make the divine will and purpose known. Given our impact, it was almost unbelievable to me that *less than a thousand* are members and/or contributors to PLGC. True, the *More Light Update*'s circulation is 6,000, but that's still a drop in the 2.5- million-member bucket that is the PC(U.S.A.). How have we made the impact we have made? Gideon was told by God to lose some of his troops before going up against the Midianites (Judges 7), whittling down the Israelite army from 30,000 to 300. With one per cent, they defeated the Midianites. Think of the recent scientifically-flawed studies setting the Queer percentage of the population at one to two per cent! No matter our number, if God is with us. Jesus warned his disciples to avoid "the leaven of the Pharisees" (Matt. 16:06), in other words, the self-righteous who are in power, but compared the commonwealth of God to leaven that a woman blended into flour "until all of it was leavened" (Matt. 13:33). A woman, one of "the least of these" in Jesus' time, one of the least powerful, mixed "the least of these" -- yeast -- into a loaf to make it stretch beyond itself, push out its boundaries, overflow the walls of the pottery in which was baked. What an appropriate vision for our own leavening of the Presbyterian loaf! With others who are "the least of these," we help the church expand beyond its walls, beyond itself, to feed the world. This year marks our twentieth year. In 1974, the Reverend David Bailey Sindt sent out letters to a small group of us he knew who might be interested in forming what eventually became known as PLGC. Twenty years is only half of forty, the time the Hebrews wandered in the wilderness questing for the Promised Land. We have come a very long way in our twenty years. And we may have another twenty to go. In the wilderness time, we do well to listen to those revolutionaries among us, who proclaim, as Joshua and Caleb told the Israelites, "If the [Sovereign] is pleased with us, [God] will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. . . . and do not fear the people of the land, for . . . their protection is removed from them, and the [Sovereign] is with us . . ." (Numb. 14:8-9). Unlike our Hebrew ancestors or our own American ancestors, we will not displace the people of the land, but share in God's commonwealth. The "protection . . . removed" from other Presbyterians is the closets that isolated us within that land. The difference we make is not just in the big picture. The commonwealth is among us as one more gay child is able to talk about it with an accepting mother, as one more lesbian minister is able to find support from her session. To our biological families and to our family of faith we bring not a sword, but peace, to reconcile rather than divide. And that's a traditional family value. For reflection/discussion: What has it been like for you in your own coming out process? (Coming out as supporter, friend, or family may be as difficult as coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.) What fears did you face? What blessings occurred? Are you a survivor of spiritual abuse? If so, what was the nature of the abuse? What has proven healing? How do you think we have been so successful proclaiming our gospel of God's commonwealth when we are so few? How can we reach out to include more in PLGC? What tools for evangelism do we have? When did you first get involved in our movement? Given your length of time in the movement, no matter how brief or how long, what perspectives do you bring? V. Who Is Our Family? Jesus would have horrified "traditional family values" proponents when he was told his family had come to see him and he responded, "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother" (Mark 3:35). If PLGC had a mother in the Presbyterian Church, it would be the Witherspoon Society, founded in 1973, just a year before PLGC. We nested in her lap when we had no authority to stand on our own, sharing that organization's exhibit space and resources and connections. The Witherspoon Society is a social justice lobbying network named for John Witherspoon, the only clergy (proudly, a Presbyterian) to sign the Declaration of Independence. Before we could declare our "independence" as first a chapter XXVIII organization and later a chapter IX organization (references to chapters of the denomination's Book of Order under which we could officially "register" at a General Assembly), Witherspooners graciously and enthusiastically offered us hospitality. Their decision was not without controversy. As we all know, negative reactions and positive responses to homosexuality may be found along every point of the spectrum of political viewpoints. (Though it seems to me, like the Kinsey curve regarding sexuality, the curve is bell-shaped, with the larger part of favorable responses coming from the left side!) I witnessed a gut-wrenching discussion on our issue at a Witherspoon Society meeting when G.A. met in Philadelphia in 1977. Since progressive Presbyterians were not of one mind when it came to matters of sexuality, deep fears were expressed by Witherspoon leaders that the issue could prove seriously divisive. Others feared the derailment of other social justice issues if the Society got caught in the sexuality quagmire. What Witherspoon faced was a microcosm of what the denomination faces today. Their experience and their decision could serve as a paradigm for the PC(U.S.A.). Because -- and this is my faith speaking -- they chose God's side. They could not imagine abandoning us. They stuck it out with us, and our relationship has been, I believe, mutually beneficial. We are often side-by-side in the exhibit area, certainly side-by- side on a variety of justice issues. We enjoy their annual parties at G.A., we appreciate their counsel on strategy. We love them. And we honor them, as we are bound to honor parents. If some of us in PLGC do not agree with a Witherspoon position, I believe God is better pleased when we seek to understand their reasoning, and let their viewpoint at the least inform the position we as individuals take. That is what honoring parents is all about. If PLGC had a favorite aunt and uncle with a large family of cousins, that family would be the Presbyterian Health, Education, and Welfare Association, organized in 1955. Its membership is concerned for social justice and welfare ministries, and serves as an official resource of our denomination for individuals, congregations, committees, presbyteries, and Presbyterian-related organizations and agencies. Many of us have found our niche of ministry in such ministries as PHEWA supports and promotes. In a time of crisis, the PHEWA Board came to PLGC's rescue when it looked as if we were going to lose our semi-official status within the church. They voted unanimously to offer us sanctuary, to adopt us as members of their family of associations should we need a home. PHEWA's exciting biennial conferences have long been sanctuaries that welcomed our participation, our workshops, our input. During the 1995 biennial, PHEWA plans to emphasize gay, lesbian, and bisexual studies. PHEWA's family includes associations focused on community organizations, AIDS, reproductive rights, chaplaincy and counseling, child advocacy, disabilities, health care, substance abuse, mental illness, and inner city ministry. Our closest cousin within the PHEWA family is the Presbyterian AIDS Network, organized in 1989 during the PHEWA biennial in Tampa, Florida. PAN assists our denomination in developing ministries by and with people living with AIDS and their loved ones, as well as promoting AIDS awareness and advocacy. It is a member of the AIDS National Interfaith Network. PAN brought panels from the Names Project AIDS Quilt to the Baltimore G.A. in 1991, and has produced written resources and a video (*Acts of Kindness: HIV/AIDS Stories of Mutual Ministry* is available through the Presbyterian Church's Health Ministries Unit). *The Congregation of Care and Healing: HIV/AIDS Awareness Resource* is an outstanding curriculum to help study groups understand the full dimensions of the AIDS pandemic, and it is also available through the Health Ministries Unit. If PLGC has a family member that is at once child, sibling, and parent, it is the More Light Churches Network, organized in 1992, but with origins that extend back a decade to the first "official" More Light church, West Park Presbyterian Church in New York City, and two decades to Chicago's Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, the first congregation in our denomination to extend a call to an openly gay pastor: the Rev. David Bailey Sindt in 1972, to develop a specialized ministry with the gay community. The Presbytery of Chicago rejected the call, but Lincoln Park Church reaffirmed their call to David as a layperson. Sound familiar? A More Light congregation is a Presbyterian church that welcomes lesbian and gay Christians as full members and seeks more light from our experience on the relationship of spirituality and sexuality. Such congregations seek to be inclusive of others as well. The term "more light" is taken from Pastor John Robinson's counsel to the Pilgrims, "God hath yet more light to break forth from [God's] Word." It had been quoted by the 1976 UPCUSA G.A. when it decided to study the issue of homosexuality, particularly as it related to ordination. "More Light" became the name of PLGC's newsletter. When the 1978 and 1979 G.A. statements on homosexuality were approved by the PC(U.S.A.)'s parent denominations (the United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church, U.S. respectively), the advisory ban on ordination came to be viewed as legally binding. Local congregations resisted this, and passed resolutions re-affirming their right, *sans* constitutional amendment, to ordain whom they wish, and became known as "More Light" churches. The first More Light Churches' gathering occurred in response to one such congregation's position being adjudicated in church courts. It was hosted in 1985 by the West Hollywood Presbyterian Church, which had earlier founded its own ministry within the gay and lesbian community, the Lazarus Project, in 1977. Presently, there are 58 More Light Churches throughout the nation, though half of them are found in the states of New York and California. Most recently, the Downtown United Presbyterian Church of Rochester, N.Y., called the Rev. Janie Spahr as a "lesbian evangelist" when it was denied the right to call her as a pastor by our denomination's highest church court. The More Light Church movement encouraged congregations of other denominations to form parallel movements welcoming lesbian and gay members: the United Methodist Church has Reconciling Congregations; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has Reconciled in Christ Congregations; the United Church of Christ and the Disciples both have Open and Affirming Congregations; the Unitarian Universalist Church and the American Baptist Church have Welcoming Congregations. Presbyterian minister Eileen Lindner is associate general secretary of the National Council of churches and holds a doctorate in American church history. During an interview she observed to me that if all these congregations got together, they'd form a bigger denomination than the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches! The newest member of our family is the delightfully prodigal Presbyterian ACT UP, the bold and raucous next generation of our movement, ironically the vision of one of our oldest PLGC members, the Rev. Howard Warren of Indianapolis. Intent on proclaiming the "Wildly Inclusive God" in reaction to then-G.A. moderator Price Gwynn's attack against the Presbyterian sexuality report, Howard and a woman volunteer (whom God provided at the last minute!) held up signs during the 1991 Baltimore G.A.'s opening worship that read, "SHAME -- HOW LONG O GOD, HOW LONG?" Now Howard and the Rev. Lisa Bove co-coordinate these more radical expressions of our cause, which included the angry protest at the most recent Orlando G.A. These are the members of PLGC's family. They deserve our support. They deserve our participation. They deserve our gratitude. And they deserve *us!* For reflection/discussion: Name those individuals you consider part of your spiritual family. On the political spectrum, '1' being conservative and '10' being progressive, how would you rate yourself? (If you are in a group, put conservative on one end of the room and progressive on the other, and line yourselves up according to political perspective.) How would rate your congregation? (Again, if in a group, you could stand where your congregation would stand along the imaginary spectrum.) How does your relationship with the issue of homosexuality affect or influence your approach to other forms of injustice? How did your understanding of other forms of injustice affect or influence your approach to homosexuality? How does the feminist or women's rights movement interface with your position on homosexuality? In other words, what is the nature of the relationship between the two movements for you? Differences on slavery contributed to the split of our church in the last century. What similarities are there in the church's response today to racism and heterosexism? what differences? How can we (PLGC) reach out to racial and ethnic caucuses in the church so often divided over the issue of homosexuality? Consider joining: The Witherspoon Society Ms. Karen Hessel, Administrative Coordinator 205 Ross Stevenson Circle Princeton, NJ 08540 $30 individual; $50 couple; $10 limited income; $75 institutional (10 copies of the Network News to same address) Presbyterian Health, Education, and Welfare Association 100 Witherspoon Street Louisville, KY 40202-1396 $35 individual; $10 limited income; $100 family/group/ congregation Presbyterian AIDS Network (Join PHEWA above and designate PAN as your network). More Light Churches Network 3375 Descanso Drive #1 Los Angeles, CA 90026 Presbyterian ACT UP c/o Rev. Howard Warren The Damien Center 1350 N. Pennsylvania Indianapolis, IN 46202 VI. Our Church, Too! On one of my trips, I met a PLGCer for the first time over a meal in a diner. We had been in communication by phone and by mail over the years, particularly when he lost his church job after revealing he was gay to a pastor with whom he worked. Understandably, he was very negative about the Presbyterian Church. He was threatening to leave, since he felt that little good had ever come from his relationship with the church. I pointed out to him that, were it not for the PC(U.S.A), he and I would never have known one another. "Sure we would," he corrected, "through PLGC." I smiled, amused that he was missing the broader picture, and reminded him, "There would be no PLGC without the Presbyterian Church!" When I worked at the West Hollywood Presbyterian Church, a member stopped attending. When I sought her out to discover why, fearful that I or we had done something wrong, she said that it had nothing to do with our local parish, which she dearly loved. She explained, however, that every time she came to church, she became enraged at the denominational policy on homosexuality. She sat there Sunday after Sunday, churning inside. For her own spiritual health, she bailed out. A close friend of mine, once active in his More Light church and a big supporter of PLGC, has dropped out of both because of his bitterness over the PC(U.S.A.)'s resistance to budge on our issue and his conclusion that "PLGC is wasting its time." His hope and perspective from which I, too, once gained strength, have been transformed to despair and alienation. A gay couple was upset that our local church had not done more for a former male prostitute whom they had taken in, taken care of, and enabled to attend school. While understanding their criticism, I reminded them that they, too, were the church, and what they had done, the church had done. From different vantage points, these examples serve to illustrate that our familiar paradigm of "us" and "them" does not fit a spiritual community. Like it or not, we are one with a denomination that has a homophobic, heterosexist policy. Like it or not, our denomination is one with a movement that lives as though that policy is nonapplicable and will be overturned. Like it or not, PLGC owes its existence to an institution that oppresses us. Like it or not, the PC(USA) has been and will be reformed by a movement that will not let it go. Like it or not, we are one Body in Christ, who is breaking down dividing walls of hostility (Eph. 2:14). Like it or not, we are one Body in Christ, and we rejoice and suffer together (1 Cor. 12:26). Like it or not, we are one Body in Christ, with a variety of gifts (1 Cor. 12:4). Ironically, because my local Presbyterian church asked me to participate in a sexuality workshop, I had to deal with my own sexuality. Because a presbytery demanded a condemnation of homosexuality in 1975 in the Presbyterian Church U.S., the "southern stream" of our present denomination evolved an amazingly gracious study paper that identified three positions held by Presbyterians: some believed homosexuality was a sin, others did not, and still others were undecided. Because Bill Silver believed himself called to the ministry as an openly gay man in New York City Presbytery in 1976, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the "northern stream," had to deal with homosexuality and ordination, and produced an excellent background paper, *The Church and Homosexuality*. The UPCUSA took a position in 1978 advising governing bodies that self-acknowledging, loving homosexual persons may not be ordained as elders, deacons, or ministers. (They used the terms "self- affirming" and "practicing.") The PCUS followed suit in 1979, no doubt spurred by the impending reunion of the two denominations in 1983. Shortly after the 1978 G.A., Stated Clerk William P. Thompson interpreted the G.A.'s advice as legally binding, an unprecedented de facto change in the Book of Order without approval by presbyteries. (Thompson has since recanted his antigay position but not his decision to render this unprovidential judgment.) Every year since, the issue has come before the Assembly in one form or another. The issue has caused the church to look at its own homophobia in study guides: *Breaking the Silence* for the '80's and *Reconciling the Broken Silence* for the '90's. It caused the church to embark on a broader study of human sexuality, *Keeping Body and Soul Together*, which offered a biblical standard for all sexual expression: justice-love. The More Light Church movement evolved among congregations ready to perform acts of ecclesiastical disobedience, ordaining lesbian and gay members, resisting what they discerned as an unjust law that contradicted God's higher law. The church courts have, in several ways, fought this movement, just as the federal government struggled with the Sanctuary movement in the church regarding Central American refugees. Our denomination would do well to heed Gamaliel's counsel to the Sanhedrin regarding the early Christians, "If this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them -- in that case you may even be found fighting against God!" (Acts 5:38-39). Our movement would do well to remember the early Christian defense that prompted Gamaliel's counsel. The apostles told the Sanhedrin, as we must tell the General Assembly, "We must obey God rather than any human authority" (Acts 5:29). Our obedience to God promises God's victory, when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ordains elders, deacons, and ministers regardless of sexual orientation and celebrates gay and lesbian covenants. We know we do not do this for ourselves alone. We do this for those who oppose us, who need to be delivered from fear and from hate and from prejudice. We do this for those who are indifferent or uncertain, who need to be stirred to compassion and to a passionate certainty for justice. We do this for those like us who are unable or unwilling to be prophetic reformers. We do this for those who will follow, our children who must come into sexual awareness within either the confines, the confusion, or the confirmation of our church. We do this for those who have gone before, "so great a cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12:1), lesbian and gay saints of church history who were not born in our kairos moment of opportunity to vindicate their sacred worth. Our task is awesome, because it is no less than God's work. Our task is sacrificial, because it is no less than Christ's passion. Our task is blessed, because it is no less than the Spirit's inspiration. This morning I received Communion in a Presbyterian church in my new hometown of Atlanta, a church that today began a seminar on homosexuality. As the pastors blessed the bread, I heard in my heart, "This is my body, given for you." As I looked at my lover as he passed me the bread, I heard in my heart, "This is my body, given for you." As I looked at my own hands receiving the bread, I heard in my heart, "This is my body, given for you." As my eyes wandered over the congregation, I heard in my heart, "This is my body, given for you." As I remembered the sweet face of the baby baptized just prior to Communion, I heard in my heart, "This is my body, given for you." Gratitude overwhelmed all doubt. For reflection/discussion: What is the church to you? What does the Presbyterian Church mean to you? What do you mean to the Presbyterian Church? in their view? in God's view? Do you consider yourself a reformer or a revolutionary within the church? If neither term seems applicable, how would you describe yourself in relation to the church? Why do you continue as a member of the Presbyterian Church? or of the denomination to which you belong? Describe your ideal church experience (either something you have experienced or something you imagine). When and how do you think our church will permit the ordination of lesbians and gay men? When and how will it celebrate their covenant relationships? How should the church handle bisexuality? What should the church's policy be in relation to transgenders (pre-and post-operative transexuals, cross- dressers, androgynous folk)? How would you change your local congregation to make it friendlier to people like us? Why is your congregation a More Light church (or why isn't it)? Will you be ready to forgive our church when it finally changes its policies regarding homosexuality? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * More Light Churches (May 1994) MORE LIGHT SYNOD Synod of the Northeast, 3049 E. Genesee St, Syracuse NY 13224 315-446-5990 MORE LIGHT CHURCHES MA Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury St, Boston 02116 617-266-7480 VT Christ Church Presbyterian, Red Stone Campus, Burlington 05401 802-862-1898 NJ 1st Presbyterian & Trinity, 111 Irvington Ave, S Orange 07079 201-762-7879 NY Central Presbyterian, 593 Park Avenue, New York 10021 212-838-0808 Jan Hus Presbyterian, 351 E. 74th St, New York 10021 212-288-6743 Good Shepherd-Faith Church, 152 W. 66th St, New York 10023 212-877-0685 Rutgers Presbyterian Church, 236 W. 73rd St, New York 10023 212-877-8227 West Park Presbyterian, 165 W 86th St, New York 10024 212-362-4890 South Presbyterian Church, 343 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry 10522 914-693-0473 First Presbyterian Church, 2880 Crompond Rd,Yorktown Hts 10598 914-245-2186 Palisades Presbyterian, PO Box 687, Palisades 10964 914-359-3147 Church of Gethsemane, 1012 8th Ave, Brooklyn 11215 718-499-3419 Lafayette Avenue Church, 85 S. Oxford St, Brooklyn 11217 718-625-7515 Old S Haven Church, S Country Rd, POBox 203, Brookhaven 11719 516-286-0542 1st Presbyterian Church, PO Box 147, Marcellus 13108 315-673-2201 Westminster Presbyterian, 724 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo 14209 716-884-9437 John Calvin Church, 50 Ward Hill Rd, Henrietta 14467 716-334-2130 Third Presbyterian Church, 4 Meigs St, Rochester 14607 716-271-6513 Downtown United Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St, Rochester 14614 716-325-4000 Westminster Presbyterian, 330 Wellington Ave, Rochester 14619 716-436-6200 Calvary St Andrews Church, 68 Ashland St, Rochester 14620 716-325-4950 PA Tabernacle United Church, 3700 Chestnut St, Philadelphia 19104 215-386-4100 DC Westminster Presbyterian, 400 I (Eye) St SW, Washington 20024 202-484-7700 MD Rockville Presbyterian, 215 W. Montgomery Ave, Rockville 20850 301-762-3363 Takoma Park Presbyterian, 310 Tulip Ave, Takoma Park 20912 301-270-5550 1st & Franklin St Church, 210 W. Madison St, Baltimore 21201 301-728-5545 NC Church of Reconciliation, 110 N Elliott, Chapel Hill 27514 919-929-2127 GA Clifton Presbyterian, 369 Connecticut Ave NE, Atlanta 30307 404-373-3253 FL John Calvin Presbyterian, 6501 N. Nebraska Avenue, Tampa 33604 813-236-0941 Good Samaritan Church, 6085 Park Blvd N, Pinellas Park 34665 813-544-8558 KY Central Presbyterian, 318 West Kentucky St, Louisville 40203 502-587-6935 OH Noble Road Presbyterian, 2780 Noble Road, Cleveland Hts 44121 216-382-0660 Mt Auburn Presbyterian, 103 Wm Howard Taft Rd,Cincinnati 45219 513-281-5945 MI Northside Presbyterian, 1679 Broadway, Ann Arbor 48105 313-663-5503 MN St Luke Presbyterian, 3121 Groveland School Rd, Wayzata 55391 612-473-7378 IL Lincoln Park Presbyterian, 600 W Fullerton Pkwy, Chicago 60614 312-248-8288 McKinley Memorial Church, 809 S. 5th St, Champaign 61820 217-344-0297 MO Gibson Hts United Church, 1075 S Taylor Street, St Louis 63110 314-382-8431 Van Brunt Blvd Presbyterian, 5205 E 23rd St, Kansas City 64127 816-241-2474 KS ecumenikos, 4326 Lloyd Street, Kansas City 66103-3228 913-677-5211 TX Bethany Presbyterian Church, 4523 Cedar Springs, Dallas 75219 214-528-4084 Comm of Reconciling Servant, 2602 Palo Pinto, Houston 77080 713-462-7154 CO Capitol Heights Church, 1100 Fillmore St, Denver 80206 303-333-9366 CA United University Church, 817 W. 34th St, Los Angeles 90007 213-748-0209 West Hollywood Presbyterian,7350 Sunset Blvd,Los Angeles 90046 213-874-6646 First Presbyterian, 4428 N Stewart Avenue, Baldwin Park 91706 818-338-1660 Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez St, San Francisco 94114 415-282-2317 7th Avenue Presbyterian, 1329 7th Avenue, San Francisco 94122 415-664-2543 1st Presbyterian Church, 1140 Cowper St, Palo Alto 94301 415-325-5659 Covenant Presbyterian, 670 East Meadow Drive, Palo Alto 94306 415-494-1760 Montclair Presbyterian, 5701 Thornhill Drive, Oakland 94611 415-339-1131 St John's Presbyterian, 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley 94705 415-845-6830 Christ in Terra Linda, 620 Del Ganado Rd, San Rafael 94903 415-479-2712 Westminster Presbyterian, 240 Tiburon Blvd,Blvdr-Tiburon 94920 415-383-5272 Redwoods Presbyterian, 110 Magnolia, Larkspur 94939 415-924-4832 St Andrew United Church, 1 Drake Avenue, Marin City 94965 415-332-1011 1st Presbyterian, PO Box 236, 112 Bulkley, Sausalito 94966 415-332-6530 WA Terrace View Presbyterian,4700 228th St SW,Mountlake Ter 98043 206-778-7227 SOURCE Ralph Carter, Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY More Light Churches Network Resources Coordinator Ralph_Carter.parti@pcusa.org