This page lists our postings from earlier in May, 2011

For an index to all our reports and analyses
on the 219th General Assembly

Missouri Union Presbytery today voted 43 to 38 to approve Amendment 10-A -- the 22nd presbytery to FLIP from no to yes.

Also, Western New York continued its support of equality and justice, approving amendment A by 77 to 44.

Scotland's largest protestant church lifts temporary ban imposed after appointment of gay minister in 2009

The Guardian reports:

Scotland's largest protestant church has voted to allow gay men and lesbians to become ministers.

The Church of Scotland imposed a temporary ban after the appointment of Scott Rennie, a gay minister, to a church in Aberdeen in 2009.

The general assembly, the church's law-making body, voted on Monday morning [May 23] to lift that moratorium, officially allowing gay ministers to take on parishes for the first time since it was founded in 1560-1 by John Knox, a leading figure in the Scottish reformation.

The vote follows warnings that allowing gay and lesbian clergy could split the church. A special commission set up in 2009 to investigate the implications of Rennie's appointment predicted that up to a fifth of the church's ministers, deacons and elders, as well as 100,000 worshippers, could leave in protest.

More on the ratification of Amendment 10-A by the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area – what people said in the floor discussion   

We reported almost two weeks ago on the action of the Twin Cities Area presbytery in approving Amendment 10–A to the Book of Order of the PC(USA). The discussion before the vote had been planned by the presbytery leaders to allow for the expression of varying views, but in a format that would minimize back-and-forth “debate” that might sharpen differences of opinion.

Each side, for and against approval of LGBT ordination, was presented first by a member of the Bills and Overtures committee, and each of them was followed by ten minutes for statements by members of the presbytery. Presentations in favor of approval were varied, but seemed to articulate many of the most important reasons for support the change. A number of the speakers have shared the written version of their remarks, which we’re happy to share with you here. Just click on the name of any presenter that looks like a link, and you’ll see that full statement.

We are co-sponsoring two seminars at Ghost Ranch this summer, both of them promising to be challenging and enjoyable, and a chance to spend a week in a beautiful high-desert spot with great people.

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Sex, Faith, and Culture:
Understanding the Mix in Our Lives and Society [G11S742]

July 25 - 31, 2011
led by Marvin M. Ellison and Sylvia Thorson-Smith

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Issues: a Faithful Response to Immigration [G11PJ812]

August 1 - 7, 2011
led by Mark Adams, Jane Hanna, Miriam Maldonado Escobar, and Julia Thorne

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Can you help support these great events?

Unfortunately, these experiences are expensive. We are sadly aware of that! But we would like to help people join in on them even if their funds are limited. Can you contribute a little to help someone else attend one of these seminars?

The Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley, by a vote of 80 to 52), joined the other two presbyteries in Alabama to support inclusive ordination.

And one more! Homestead Presbytery, in Nebraska, voted 46-29 in favor of Amendment A.

Not everybody is joining in, though. Los Ranchos voted today also, and again voted no, 51-131. so the tally is 94-69.

Thanks to blogger John Shuck

On Saturday, May 14, the Presbytery of Boise voted 37-27 to approve the amendment for inclusive ordination. Boise was the 20th presbytery to flip from a no to a YES.

And today, Tuesday May 17, the Presbytery of Des Moines strengthened its past support Amendment 10-A, by a vote of 64 yes, 29 no, with 2 abstaining. Three other presbyteries also continued their support of 10-A: Charlotte, Des Moines, and New York.

The current tally is 92-66.

Thanks to John Shuck and Bill Le Mosy

Sylvia Thorson-Smith, a member of the Coordinating Team of PVJ and long active in Voices of Sophia, was asked to participate in a press conference the day after the required number of presbyteries acted to approve Amendment 10-A for inclusive ordination.   She preparing this as her opening comment in that press conference:

I represent a group that’s the recent merger of a passionate feminist organization and the oldest liberal issues organization in the Presbyterian Church. We’re not connected with the official structures of the church – just like the other groups on this call.

Feminists have long made the connection between issues of sex and gender – and all of the other “isms” that plague us. When we strike a blow at any oppression, we undermine the entire structure of oppression.

Twenty years ago, the Presbyterian Church soundly rejected a report I helped write -- that said that patriarchal sex bolsters patriarchal injustice. Compulsory heterosexuality – the social mandate that everyone be heterosexual – also requires that all men dominate all women, and the world. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons undermine the fundamental structures of domination because they proudly refuse to conform to these traditional norms.

I believe that this movement has the power to shake the world. Every country, some more than others, punishes LGBT experience and behavior. And every victory to make institutions less punitive moves us closer to more freedom for all.

This is a profoundly historic moment, not only for the Presbyterian Church, but for the liberating energies at work all over the world. We stand on the shoulders of people who have worked not only for sex and gender justice but racial, environmental, and other justice issues. What we celebrate today is part of the world’s groanings for peace and freedom! Which is why we call for More Light, more love, more justice!

"There was a confidence in the air tonight. It was tangible and good."

Susan Robertson wrote this observation for the MLP website, after attending the Twin Cities presbytery meeting on Tuesday.  Susan has been the bookkeeper for PVJ for the past few years, and does the same invaluable job for MLP.

I was asked to write about my experience tonight as the Twin Cities Presbytery became the 87th presbytery to vote in favor of 10-A. I am not clergy, I am no longer a deacon in a church. In fact, I haven't even walked into a church for many years, with the exception of a Christmas Eve service.

I wanted to attend this presbytery meeting so that I could witness history and be a part of the wave of change in the Presbyterian Church and in society. I was struck by something that the Vice Moderator of the presbytery said during her address to the group. She talked about fear; the fear of not being able to be who you are, the fear of not being treated the way you would like to be treated, and the fear of someone else changing a world that doesn't really need to be changed.

The Vice Moderator went on to talk about how love casts out that fear. She reminded us that we should attempt to displace the fear with acts of love. She challenged us to see what we can do to show our love to those who are fearful.

I would believe that by this time, she had captured all of our attention.

Having never been to a presbytery meeting before, everything was new and different. The people that were in favor of 10-A spoke first. One person mentioned that 10-A is not about a group of people to be ordained, but rather about God's call to a group of people to be ordained. There was much talk about "latitude" in scriptural interpretation. Only one "youth" was represented and spoke about God's radical and inclusive love.

Those against 10-A, who were far fewer in number, rose and voiced their opinions against 10-A.

We received this note yesterday from Pamela Ann Reed, who now lives in Columbus, Ohio.

I finally feel that my role as a deacon has been accepted by the whole church! Oh! I know that there are still those who do not accept me!! But the church itself now does and that feels so uplifting!! As a person who fits 2 of the letters in GLBT (T and L) I feel vindicated in my role in the church!! I have been very lucky to be part of two wonderful communities in the Presbyterian Church! First at First Presbyterian in Palo Alto, California and now at Broad Street Presbyterian in Columbus, Ohio. I was just elected to be a deacon at Broad Street and will soon be active as a deacon.

Now I can hold my head up high and proclaim to the world who I am!! No more worrying that I will be told that I am not worthy and can not follow my calling!! This is a most wondrous time in our church!! Hallelujah!!! 

A statement from Presbyterian Voices for Justice

For over thirty years, Presbyterians have debated the will of God and refused to allow lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons to serve God in all ordained capacities in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Whenever injustice is perpetuated, it feels like a recurrence of the captivity of the Israelites in Egypt. Like them, LGBT persons and their allies have cried to God for justice, and our prayers have been answered. The Holy Spirit has been praying with us in sighs too deep for words, and that Spirit has touched human hearts in a massive movement for change.

Praise be to God that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has taken a giant leap of freedom and removed a major barrier to equality among us. There is yet much to do to make the PC(USA) a fully just and egalitarian community for all of its members. But today, we give thanks that a major form of injustice has been righted in our church.

The Coordinating Team of Presbyterian Voices for Justice
May 11, 2011

Late this afternoon, the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area became the 87^th presbytery to approve of the constitutional amendment that drops from the church’s rule a ban on the possibility of ordination (as minister or elder) for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. The responsibility for discerning persons’ suitability for ordination is now placed where it was in the beginning of the Reformed churches: in the hands of the ordaining body – i.e. the presbytery for ministers, and the local church session for elders.

The vote was strongly supportive of the change: out of 264 ballots cast, 205 were for the amendment, and just 56 against it, with 3 abstentions.

The discussion of the action was set up in a way to minimize conflict and oppositional thinking about the subject. First one member of the Committee on Bills and Overtures (Gordon Dosher, who as a commissioner to the 2010 General Assembly was assigned to the committee that dealt with the ordination question) spoke for about ten minutes; he was followed by ten supporters of the amendment, each being give just one minute to make his or her point. Then a member for the Bills and Overtures Committee spoke for ten minutes explaining his reasons for opposing the change, after which ten others gave their reasons for opposing it.

I’ll try to summarize some of the points that were made, and post some of the speeches in their entirety, after I get a bit of sleep tonight.

In the meantime, here are some reports already posted >>

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I’ll be back tomorrow with more details and commentary on this great step forward for the PC(USA).

Just one more affirmative vote will ratify Amendment 10-A

Earlier today, Saturday, May 7, the Presbytery of Plains and Peaks approved amendment 10-A by a vote of 73-51 moving us to just one vote from ratifying this important change! This is a magnificent shift from their vote two years ago, rejecting Amendment 08-B by 41 to 60.

Dakota Presbytery was also scheduled to meet this weekend, but we don't yet have a report.

The next presbyteries to vote:

Tuesday, May 10: New Harmony, Pacific, Prospect Hill, San Gabriel, Twin Cities Area, Western Kentucky. Of these presbyteries, Pacific and Twin Cities Area have previously approved the inclusive church amendment two years ago.

Saturday, May 14: Boise.

We encourage you to do whatever you can – by your prayers, your phone calls, your own speaking in your own presbytery – to move us one giant step toward greater justice and inclusive love in our church.

For more on Amendment 10-A >>

Of the presbyteries voting this week on Amendment 10-A, to open the possibility of ordination for LGBT Presbyterians, three have again rejected the change, two of them (Foothills and Peaks) by narrower margins than two years ago. St. Andrew maintained the same percentage vote, though with fewer presbyters voting.

But the big news – the good news – is that Middle Tennessee Presbytery voted today by 93 to 86 with 1 abstention, for a more inclusive church. This is the 18th transformed presbytery, having voted 95 to 139 against 08-B.

The national count is now 85 to 62. Two more YES votes will ratify the constitutional change.

With Plains and Peaks voting on Saturday, and possibly shifting to support the change, and Pacific and Twin Cities voting on Tuesday (both of which supported inclusion in two years ago, we are in sight of 87, and the change so many of us have worked and prayed for, for so long!

Thanks to blogger John Shuck, and Tricia Dykers Koenig, Covenant Network National Organizer
 

A press release from the Presbyterian Health, Education & Welfare Association (PHEWA)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — May 2, 2011 – The Rev. Trina Zelle has accepted the newly-formed position of Lead Organizer for the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA), a ministry of Compassion, Peace, and Justice Ministry, General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Rev. Zelle writes, “I am excited at the prospect of collaboration with experienced and committed leadership in strengthening and expanding this incredible organization.”

Ordained in 1980 by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Rev. Trina Zelle has served congregations in Connecticut, Minnesota, Hawaii, Texas, and Arizona. She also worked for ten years as a community organizer in partnership with immigrant women living along the Texas/New Mexico/Mexico border. Together they established a day care business, a community center, and Cristo Rey Outreach, a nonprofit organization that continues to provide technical assistance to grassroots groups along the border.

Since 2006 she has served as founding director of Arizona Interfaith Alliance for Worker Justice, Arizona’s only worker rights center.Serving as a clergy commissioner to the 219^th (2010) General Assembly, Rev. Zelle is familiar with the current hopes and challenges of the denomination. She has also been a long-time friend of PHEWA, having served as the featured preacher for the 2003 PHEWA Biennial Conference, bringing the message “God is About to Do a New Thing.” Rev. Zelle looks forward to being PHEWA’s new Lead Organizer: “I see PHEWA and its networks continuing to transform the lives of individuals and communities through work that is collaborative, respectful, and creative. I see a flexible organization capable of responding to what will surely be an ever-changing landscape of need.”

Rev. Zelle graduated from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio and received her Master of Divinity from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. She lives with her clergy spouse (Rev. Philip Reller, UCC) in Tempe, AZ. They have four grown children.

While PHEWA is a ministry of the Compassion, Peace & Justice Ministry, GAMC, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), it is also a 501(c) 3 membership organization serving the entire church. This new PHEWA Lead Organizer position is entirely funded by PHEWA, with the PHEWA Board of Directors serving as employer. Learn more about PHEWA at http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/phewa/.

NOTE: Presbyterian Voices for Justice is proud to note that Trina Zelle has also served as a member of the Board of the Witherspoon Society – a predecessor of PVJ -- and as a co-moderator of the group. We congratulate PHEWA on finding an excellent new staff person, and we wish her well in that challenging role.

What if we had responded to terrorism with courage and love, instead of fear?

from The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Email Newsletter, May 3, 2011

On this day, reflecting on the death of Osama bin Laden during a U.S. military operation in Pakistan, we turn to Paul’s Letter to the Church in Rome . . .

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)

On this day, we mourn the loss of life experienced by so many on September 11, 2001, and we stand in compassion with our sisters and brothers for whom that loss of life remains a daily reality. We are deeply moved by the service of so many who risked their own lives on that day and in the days that followed.

On this day, aware that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have now gone on for almost a decade, we are keenly aware of the continued sacrifice borne by U.S. families as tens of thousands of our soldiers have been wounded or killed.

On this day, we know of the suffering of countless—truly countless—numbers of families in both of those countries who also have lost loved ones because of the wars, or who have been displaced by the violence, and whose lives will never be the same again. We say, again, it is time to bring the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq swiftly to an end, bring all U.S. soldiers and military contractors home to their families, and commit to the hard work of partnering to rebuild those communities devastated by the wars.

On this day, with many other sisters and brothers across our country and around the world, we dare to ask . . .

We follow the Prince of Peace. We are a people of hope. We will seek common ground with sisters and brothers who share our commitment to peace in all religious traditions.

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, May 2, 2011

Robert Neiman, policy director at Just Foreign Policy, writes on Truthout:

The War Is Over. Start Packing!

"We got our man. Wave the flag, kiss a nurse (or a sailor) and start packing the equipment. It's time to plan to bring all our boys and girls home from Afghanistan. When the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks rolls around, let the world see that we are on a clear path to bringing home our troops from Afghanistan and handing back sovereignty to the Afghan people."    More >>

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After Bin Laden, People of Faith Must Transcend Triumphalism

Charles Kimball, a Baptist minister, and director of the religious studies program at the University of Oklahoma, writes on God’s Politics, a blog by “Jim Wallis and friends”

Excerpts:

This dramatic development highlights many critically important factors that converge at the intersection of religion and politics today. Two connected issues stand out for all of us who seek a more healthy and hopeful future. First, we must recognize that the conditions that helped create and sustain Osama bin Laden’s extremism continue to exist: unrepresentative, autocratic rulers in many predominantly Islamic lands, perceived heavy-handed and predatory U.S. political, military, and economic involvement in many of these same countries, and the deep frustrations with the plight of Palestinians after more than 40 years of military occupation. While the vast majority of Arabs and Muslims have rejected Bin Laden’s violent extremism, the “Arab spring” upheavals throughout the Middle East and the urgent need for real progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict underscore the sources of frustration that must be addressed constructively. ...

President Obama correctly emphasized a crucial, related issue: Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader and the ongoing conflict is not with Islam. Osama bin Laden used religion to recruit, incite, and justify murder. His lethal corruption of religion must be named and rejected without indicting Islam and the 1.5 billion Muslims.

Now, more than ever, it is essential that people of faith and goodwill transcend the temptations of triumphalism and redouble efforts at education, dialogue, and cooperation across religious lines.   More >>

National Capital continued its strong support for equality by approving the change to G-6.0106b by a vote of 204-80-3.

And Missouri River Valley (Omaha and environs) increased its pro-equality margin and approved A, 52-39-4.

In a Sunday meeting the Presbytery of the Foothills voted 64 to 95 against the amendment – still a No, but by a narrower margin than two years ago, when it was 34 to 99.

The tally is now 84-60.

That means only three more YESes to reach 87 and take a big step forward for equality!

Click here for a listing of the presbyteries that have yet to vote >>

The three former Moderators -- Freda Gardner, Rick Ufford-Chase, and Bruce Reyes-Chow -- have sent their letter to the church as a whole.  They begin:  

“...We've been asked what we think about 10-A, so we decided to share our thoughts and hope with you in this way. We also know that some in our Church are anxious about 10-A and its passage. We imagine similar fears were expressed about women's ordination. All of us are aware of the natural kaleidoscope of feelings in the midst of change.

We believe that Amendment 10-A will be profoundly helpful to the mission, future and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA)... “

Read the full letter >>

Presbyterians Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk, and Gradye Parsons and Carlos Malave, Associate for Ecumenical Relationships, join in letter calling for a “Circle of Protection” for programs that aid the poor

Jim Wallis, of Sojourners, reports:

What is the Circle of Protection?

Yesterday, the leaders of more than 50 Christian denominations and organizations drew a line in the sand of the budget debate, and asked our political leaders to do the same. We united around the basic principle that those who are already suffering should not be made to suffer even more in order to reduce the deficit. Evangelical, Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, black, and Hispanic church leaders came together to say that Christians will form a "Circle of Protection" around programs that assist poor and vulnerable people.

Click here for the full text of the letter >>

Location finalized after examination of new Indiana immigration bill

from the Office of the General Assembly

The Big Tent – the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s biennial celebration of ministry and mission – will be pitched in Indianapolis June 30-July 2.

The decision to keep the Big Tent event in Indianapolis this summer was made after church leaders examined the final text of the newly passed Indiana immigration bill (Senate Bill 590) and confirmed that it does not contain elements that would have necessitated a change of venue.

More >>

For an index to all our reports and analyses
on the 219th General Assembly