The Covenant Network of Presbyterians' leadership pledged to be on the front lines to assist individuals, congregations and middle governing bodies in implementing the authoritative interpretation (AI) of the Book of Order that gives ordaining bodies greater leeway in applying ordination standards.

"We pledge our legal, advisory, and educational resources for those in the ordination process," the network said. "As we look toward the next General Assembly, we will continue to monitor both local ordination/installation practices and judicial decisions to determine which additional measures we should pursue at this time to achieve our longstanding goal: a church as generous and just as God's grace."

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The highest court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has affirmed that the standards for ordaining non-celibate gays and lesbians extend to those seeking to become candidates for the ministry. [more]

Many ideas but no clear solutions for responding to task force report [more]

I long for the day when all who desire to make a lifelong commitment to one another are able, as I am, to do so within the bonds of the covenant of marriage. Someday, it could happen. After all, the biblical story is full of examples of God's people being surprised by what God had in mind for them.

We Presbyterians believe that God is constantly being revealed to us in ways that challenge, trouble and occasionally delight us. For that reason, I will continue to be in dialogue with my sisters and brothers with whom I disagree about this matter. As people of faith, all of whom are struggling to be faithful to their understanding of God, we must find respectful ways to wrestle with this and many other issues that divide us.

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By a vote of 298-221 (57% to 43%), the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today approved an "authoritative interpretation" of the church's Constitution that maintains current ordination standards for church officers but gives ordaining bodies greater leeway in applying those standards to individual candidates for ordination. [more]

Michael Adee, field director for More Light Presbyterians, tells the story of a boy in a Bible study he was leading who decided he didn't care what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. The boy wanted to know only one thing: "Does God love me the way I am?"

After a few moments of silence, Adee answered, "Oh Randy, of course God loves you just as you are. If you have been with us and you don't know that, it's not your fault. It's our responsibility."

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The Covenant Network of Presbyterians has announced its support of the Peace, Unity and Purity Report, and its appreciation of the report as presenting the church with "a remarkable moment of hope that will not come again soon." [more]

Jack Rogers, Professor of Theology Emeritus at San Francisco Theological Seminary and a former moderator of the PCUSA, has written a new book titled Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church.

In this sure-to-be controversial book, former seminary professor and church official Jack Rogers argues unequivocally for the ordination of gays and lesbians and for the extension of full and equal rights in society to all people who are homosexual. Christianity, he observes, has moved through history in the direction of ever-greater openness and inclusiveness. Today's church is led by many of those who were once cast out: people of color, women, and divorced and remarried people. It is inevitable, he believes, that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people will one day walk in the same steps as other Christian leaders.

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It is clearly becoming one of the most highly acclaimed and talked about films in history. "Brokeback Mountain" is based upon the award-winning short story by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Annie Proulx. Her story appeared first in the New Yorker in 1997, telling of Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands who meet in 1963 herding sheep on a mountain in Wyoming, fall in love and have a twenty year relationship against all odds. One film critic said that it is "a film in which love feels almost as if it were being invented."

What are some lessons from "Brokeback Mountain" for us as people of faith in the Presbyterian Church (USA)? I would like to suggest ten lessons... [more]

The Rev. Jane Adams Spahr was found not guilty of misconduct Friday (March 3) after a trial on charges that she violated the denominations constitutional ban on same-sex marriage by performing weddings for two lesbian couples. [more]

The Rev. Jane Adams Spahr, a Presbyterian lesbian activist, will go on trial in California on March 2 for allegedly performing two same-sex marriage services.

If found guilty by the Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) of Redwoods Presbytery, Spahr could be removed from the ministry. The constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) specifically states that marriage is a covenant only between a man and a woman.

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[Witherspoon Society] This year's conference, with 500 in attendance, was held in the Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis. The location in the South was significant by itself. But there is also some "background." In the repressive style that is all too familiar in the region, 27 of the 80 ministers in the Presbytery of the Mid-South urged the Idlewild session to cancel their sponsorship of the event, and there was a vague threat of legal action. Well, the session rethought it, decided to continue, and were joined by nine other churches in the presbytery and two outside it as co-sponsors. [Link] [more]

[PC(USA)] Christian discipleship is a mystery to be embraced, no matter how much or how little we understand it, Presbyterian essayist and poet Kathleen Norris said Friday in a speech to the Covenant Network of Presbyterians during its national conference in Memphis. [Link] [more]

[PC(USA)] Genuine spiritual practices are not primarily exercises in personal piety, but rather communal responses to God, doctrinal theologian Amy Pauw told the Covenant Network of Presbyterians during its opening plenary session on Wednesday.

Covenant Network, which advocates the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Presbyterians in the full life of the church, including its ordained ministry, is holding its annual conference at Idlewild Presbyterian Church here through Saturday. The conference theme is "Disciples in Community." [Link] [more]

[More Light Presbyterians] The National Board of Directors of More Light Presbyterians recognizes and celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Shower of Stoles Project this month. We offer this recognition with mixed emotions because this marks the 10th Anniversary of the birth of the project wherein its founder, Martha Juillerat set aside her ordination as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). [Link] [more]

[PC(USA)] A California-based group of churches has announced plans to begin withdrawing from American Baptist Churches USA (ABC-USA), pushing the denomination closer to a split over homosexuality. [Link] [more]

[PC(USA)] The nation's largest Lutheran church on Aug. 12 rejected a move to allow actively gay clergy and upheld a 1993 policy that frowns on blessing same-sex unions.

A proposal to allow clergy in "life-long, committed and faithful same-sex relationships" to serve in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was rejected 503-490 by voting delegates at the church's national assembly.

But while the Lutherans largely voted to uphold the status quo, they also opened the door for pastors to provide "faithful pastoral care" to all parishioners as they see fit, which many interpreted to include gay couples. [Link] [more]

[Michael Adee - More Light Presbyterians] "Sadly in 2005, as I travel our church and country I still encounter younger or older women and men who have been pushed into so-called change ministries by fundamentalist-oriented pastors, their parents and even some Presbyterian clergy or churches. In their search to accept, affirm and embrace themselves as children of God being created good in the image of God just like heterosexuals, our sisters and brothers who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning are simply seeking to integrate their sexuality or gender identity with their faith." [Link] [more]

[Editor & Publisher] The congregation of Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church in Elkins, W.Va., has voted to fire its minister after he wrote a column for the local daily, the Inter-Mountain, supporting gay rights.

"Gay and lesbian Christians are no different than the rest of us," the Rev. Jeff Falter wrote in a Feb. 26 article. "They deserve full equality in the church and in society, for they are my brothers and sisters, people for whom Christ died."

That message led members to vote 100-72 on Sunday to request that the Presbytery of West Virginia dismiss Falter effective next Wednesday. [Link] [more]

[UMC.org] Irene Elizabeth "Beth" Stroud, who was found guilty of violating United Methodist church law for being a practicing lesbian and lost her clergy credentials last December, won her appeal in a decision announced April 29. Beth Stroud's story was part of the PBS Documentary "The Congregation". [Link] [more]

[Washington Post]

Church of the Pilgrims , a Washington DC PC(USA) congregation throws a party to watch the banned episode of "Postcards From Buster"

[WARNING! The following dialogue may contain sophisticated themes for mature audiences. ]
Buster: So Gillian's your mom, too?
Emma: She's my stepmom.
Buster: Boy, that's a lot of moms!
Emma: Yup. [Showing framed family photo.] This is mom and Gillian right here.
Buster: That's a nice picture.
Emma: This is one of my favorite pictures.
Buster: How come?
Emma: Because it has my mom and Gillian, people I love a lot, and they read a lot to me.

[Link] [more]

[Witherspoon Society] Eily Marlow, a chaplain in the Lilly Project at Macalester College, St. Paul MN, was affirmed for ordination today by a vote of the Presbytery of Milwaukee. The vote was 104 affirmative, 20 negative and 1 blank. Ms. Marlow, when she became a candidate for ministry under the care of the Presbytery of Milwaukee in September 2003, shared with the body, that she was a lesbian. Currently, the Presbyterian Church (USA) prohibits self-avowed, practicing homosexuals to be ordained to the offices of elder, deacon or minister of Word and Sacrament. Ms. Marlow is a graduate of Macalester College in St Paul, Minn., and earned her master of divinity degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago in 2002. Ms. Marlow passed the five required ordination examinations in the areas of biblical comprehension, worship, theology, polity and biblical exegesis. She prepared and preached a sermon before the presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry. [Link] [more]

[Columbia Missourian] Twenty-four liturgical stoles in every color of the rainbow draped the walls of a hallway at Unity Center of Columbia on Sunday. The stoles told the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who are active in the leadership of their faith communities. The stoles are part of the Shower of Stoles Project, which is traveling through mid-Missouri this week. [Link] [more]

[PC(USA)] Conservative Christian groups are criticizing a multicultural children's video featuring SpongeBob SquarePants and other TV characters, claiming it promotes acceptance of gay and lesbian families. [Link] [more]

[Covenant Network]

- Gene Bay, Pastor of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania - at the 2004 Covenant Conference

"If there is to be a church that is "as just and generous as God's grace," we must "not grow weary in doing what is right." If there is to be a church that takes the Scriptures seriously, yet understands that not every word of Scripture reflects the wisdom and will of God, we must "not grow weary in doing what is right." If there is to be a church with the courage to live with moral ambiguity a church that has the humility occasionally to confess, "we don't know," we must not grow weary in doing what is right." If there is to be a church that will remind this nation that among the "moral values" of the Scriptures are the matters of justice and peace and compassion for the least and the left out, then we had better not grow weary in doing what is right. If there is to be a church that one day not only permits, but blesses same sex covenantal relationships, "we must not grow weary in doing what is right." If there is to be a church that not only respects diversity but delights in it, a church that speaks truth to power, a church whose face is turned toward the world and whose ministry is in the world, if there is to be a community of Christian conviction that is neither so arrogant or so ignorant as to think God has nothing to do with people of other faiths, then we had better not "grow weary in doing what is right." We had better believe that "we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up." " [Link] [more]

[Covenant Network]

"If you should wake from ... a heavy sleep to find yourself looking at a creature in whose eyes you recognize the family resemblance to dust - someone whose voice speaks so gently as to drown out the clamor of the rest of creation, whose company offers a depth that is both terrifying and exquisite - if you should find yourself looking at someone in whose stature you recognize the strength to join the work that needs to be done as your equal and to make it your own, together - someone in whose bearing you recognize a common understanding of the stakes of what lies ahead - one in whose presence you feel the essential loneliness of your existence transfigured... If you should wake from such a sleep to find yourself in such a presence, then perhaps the living breath God breathed into you before ever you knew who you were might rise to your lips, there to be formed into words by which you might again utter relationship into being. But this time the speaking of the name will be an exercise of cosmology - not mere taxonomy. This time all of you will speak: your eyes, your stature, the bearing of your spirit, every atom of your body. And the words you speak will change the shape of creation: This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh."

A sermon delivered to the 2004 Covenant Network Conference by the Rev. Richard E. Spalding - Chaplain of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts

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Frederick Buechner put it this way: "No matter who you are and what you've done, God wants you on his side. There is nothing you have to do or be. It's on the house. It goes with the territory." There must be some minimum standard. How could salvation be available to absolutely everyone? That is the claim of scripture and the claim of the Christian tradition but we never seem to believe it. Surely there must be a catch, some book I need to read, some technique of prayer you need to master. There must be some minimum standard. How could salvation be available to absolutely everyone?

A sermon delivered to the 2004 Covenant Network Conference by Amy Miracle, Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa

[ more]

[The Shower of Stoles Project]

- Martha Juillerat, National Program Director - Shower of Stoles Project

Dear Friends,

I am writing this letter from Salt Lake City, Utah, where I am attending the national conference of PFLAG: Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

This was "one of those mornings." After setting up a booth in the exhibit area with a small display of stoles, miscommunication between the hotel and conference staff led to my having to move the entire exhibit - twice. I had difficulty trying to track down a party that I was supposed to meet, discovered I had forgotten to bring a computer disc that I needed, had trouble getting a new e-mail program to work on my laptop, and punched the "Diet Coke" button on a vending machine only to have lemonade roll out instead.

Despite the morning's troubles, though, one of the stoles I hung and re-hung turned out to be particularly significant. It was created from a complete set of Temple undergarments given to me by a gay Mormon college student the day he was removed from the Latter Day Saints church. One of our volunteers carefully sewed these garments onto a 3x5' piece of navy blue fabric - the color that the young man had told me was his favorite - and added his story to it. I hung it on the front edge of the exhibit where it would be seen by anyone entering the room.

Late this morning two young men in their early 20's walked into the booth. Both were tall and stocky; the larger of the two looked like he could have been a linebacker for the local football team. They didn't speak to me right away, but went over to read the Mormon piece. As he read it, the bigger fellow dropped to his knees and wept openly. And those of us who were nearby cried with him.

This morning I was reminded, once again, why we do this work.

The stakes have been high this year for those of us who are working to build welcoming churches. Some of our country's largest denominations have voted once again to bar gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender from following their God-given calls. Churches and faith-based organizations have participated at unprecedented levels in efforts to write discrimination against LGBT persons into our constitution; these efforts have already proven successful in several states. This faith-based bigotry must end; the fear and hate generated by our own churches must stop. Now more than ever we must put every ounce of effort we have into making our churches as loving and welcoming as God is.

And all of our efforts must begin and end with reminding every one of God's children of this simple truth from Romans 8: Nothing - no church, legislature, political party or campaign - nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God.

Now more than ever, we need your help to stand up for this simple truth. We ask for your generous support as we continue to share the stories of over a thousand LGBT people of faith from 24 denominations in six countries with tens of thousands of people across North America.

Peace,
Martha

[Link] [more]

The Covenant Network has released a statement of its intentions looking toward the 2006 General Assembly. It reaffirms the group's support both for full inclusion of all people in the PC(USA) and for the unity of the church. It expresses the group's anticipation of the final report of the Theological Task Force. [more]