Presbyterian Church in America
A Pastoral Letter to the PCUSA: For some time, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA) has been working to reflect in the life of our church the place of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people (LGBTQ) in God’s heart. This is all good. It is also a process.
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The past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster as tragic news comes in from every corner of our world. We have watched in horror as the European Union has been divided, as bombs have killed hundreds in holy sites, as a man with a gun slaughtered our kinfolk at a gay bar, as…
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As I sit at my computer writing this, I am still overwhelmed by shock and grief. Like most, I woke up Sunday morning to the news of Saturday night’s horrific shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Over the course of the day, I followed the updates with growing dread, as the death toll rose and…
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I am pretty certain that many American LGBTQ Christians envy the position of their Presbyterian cousins. Over the past several years the papers covered our progress: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) opening ordination to LGBTQ people in 2011 and adopting a definition of marriage to include same-sex couples in 2015. I expect many Catholic, Methodist and…
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From the outside, and our need to simplify, especially in the media, key figures seem to be responsible for movements. Sometimes they are suffering scapegoats and sacrificial lambs, sometimes charismatic leaders and compassionate saints. But from my vantage perspective of more than four decades devoted to the LGBT movement, I repeatedly realized that our movement…
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Loving God of all, I confess I hardly know what to pray today. But I’ll take a deep breath, trust in Your guidance, and find out. Last week my church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), adopted by a majority vote (87) among our 172 regions, this statement on marriage: “Marriage involves a unique commitment between two…
Read MoreHere we go: I am one of those women who has been planning her wedding since before she started dating. My Pinterest board can attest to this. I wanted a long, lace,appropriately modest dress and calla lillies. Since I am a product of the church, I have also dreamed about having the pastor that I…
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This past week, I have sat at the Table. Not just any table, but the Table of Christ, around which I have gathered since I was a child. This week, however, the Table looked different than I have ever imagined. It didn’t look like the well-worn wooden piece—over laden with bread and chalice and liturgy—that…
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Detroit, MI – Today, the 221st General Assembly of the nearly two million member Presbyterian Church (USA) made history as it affirmed the marriages of same-sex couples. The Assembly voted 429 to 175 to update the language about marriage from a “man and a woman” to “two persons” in the PC(USA) constitution. It will only become…
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Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20) I know you know this feeling—the feeling of banging fists on a door when no one will open it. In the Presbyterian Church (USA)…
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