This week the Lutherans will be meeting in Chicago and there will be an attempt to lift the discriminatory ban on gay and lesbian individuals serving as ordained clergy. Many people are going to be standing up and outing themselves in a public way this week to try to create change and this will put their positions in the church at risk in a variety of ways.
The More Light Presbyterians are asking for prayers to support these individuals and that hearts and minds in this denomination be moved. I know that many Episcopalians stand with them as well as Methodists, Brethren, etc...
It is both a painful and exciting time to be creating change in the life of the Church. I stand it solidarity with those who put themselves on the line everyday to fulfill their call to ministry. Peace be with you!
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More Light Presbyterians & friends --
More Light Presbyterians call for prayer & support for friends and allies in Lutherans Concerned/North America, and our sister denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
This is a call for prayer and support for our Lutheran sisters and brothers, their families and allies in the coming days as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America meets in Chicago for its biennial Churchwide Assembly August 6 - 11.
Nearly a third of all synods, similar to our presbyteries, have called for the lifting of the ban on same-sex clergy in committed relationships from serving the Church. Of this ban and the history of discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity in the Church, Chicago's presiding Bishop Paul Landahl says: "For me, those who are in committed relationships, if they are doing good ministry, I say 'God bless them.' We are not here to fight. Christ was a welcoming presence in the world in his time. It's a Gospel issue. I think the church is dead wrong on it."
Our Presbyterian Church (USA) can well be informed and inspired by the moral and spiritual courage -- and witness of this call for change and the end to discrimination against LGBT pastors in the ELCA, a denomination in which we share communion.
Lutherans Concerned/North America, a network similar to More Light Presbyterians, is working in coalition with other advocacy and ministry groups within the Goodsoil coalition. For more on this coalition and its work in Chicago -
We ask you to pray for all those working for justice and full participation of LGBT persons and their families in the ELCA.
http://www.lcna.org/lcna_news/2007-08-02.shtm
More Light Presbyterians stand in prayer, solidarity and witness with our sisters and brothers of Lutherans Concerned/North America and the Goodsoil advocacy coalition. We encourage you to pray for our Lutheran sisters and brothers in Christ to be open to the call of God's Spirit. We ask you to pray for all those working for justice and full participation of LGBT persons and their families in the ELCA.
In addition to praying and living into hope with our Lutheran sisters and brothers, we ask you to send a note of support and encouragement to Emily Eastwood, Executive Director, LCNA and the Goodsoil advocacy coalition in care of Jerry Vagts, RIC Grassroots Organizer, RIC Grassroots Coordinator at grassroots@lcna.org
What happens this next week and beyond it for Lutherans has impact upon the rest of the body of Christ and the face of Christianity to the world. It is the hope and prayer of More Light Presbyterians that the wildly-inclusive love of God in Jesus Christ and a no-boundaries Gospel be at the center of these conversations and decisions at this upcoming ECLA Churchwide Assembly.
Every step forward makes a profound difference. Twenty, even ten years ago, it is likely that few Lutherans could have imagined this moment, and yet here we are. The same could be said of Presbyterians, Methodists or Episcopalians.
The tide has turned. A second-class status in God's realm is not acceptable for any of God's own children. Discrimination inside the church, or beyond it is not acceptable for any of God's own children, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ that calls all of us to a higher way.
As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "...the arc of history is long and it bends toward justice." May grace, justice and love prevail this week in Chicago.
with hope and grace,
Michael
PS - please do pray and send a note to Emily & Jerry at grassroots@lcna.org
Michael J. Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., National Field Organizer
More Light Presbyterians, 369 Montezuma Avenue # 447, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 USA (505) 820-7082, michaeladee@aol.com, http://www.mlp.org/
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