www.mlp.org

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More Ligh

A Quarterly Publication of

MORE LIGHTPRESBYTERIANS

Seeking the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexualand transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Volume 30, Number 1June 2010

For up-to-the-minutenews visit us at

Don’t be caught unaware

Could This Be Your Last

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mailing label. Otherwise,please send in your renewal now.Thanks for your tax-deductibledonation of $50, or whatever youcan afford (which may be more aswell as less!).

A Call for Justice and Grace: Being a Church for All

Inside This Issue

Nearing the Tipping Point ................2Knitting and Praying our Way to GA..................................................3Rev. Jean Southard Receives SindtLeadership Award.............................4St. Luke Presbyterian Church, Way-zata, MN to ReceiveNational Award .................................5It’s No Longer about G-6.0106b .....6Thoughts for the 219th GA ..............6Open Doors MLP Chapter wins Nation-al Award ............................................7Celebrating 8 New More LightPresbyterian Churches since 2008GA! .....................................................7219th GA MLP EventsSchedule ..........................Insert FrontTop Ten Ways in 2010 to Makea Difference in Your Church &Presbytery ........................Insert Back

The National Board of Direc- tors of More Light Presbyteriansstands with our sisters andbrothers who are lesbian, gay,bisexual, transgender and with their families, friends and allies

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-mation of all baptized Christiansas equal church members of ourPresbyterian Church (USA).We open our hands in witnessand justice work to this call, joining with That All May FreelyServe, Covenant Network, Pres-byterian Welcome, PresbyterianPromise, Presbyterian Voicesfor Justice and all others whoare convinced that the promisesof God in Jesus Christ are forall people, with no exceptions.Jesus said, “When I am lifted up,I will draw all people to myself. “(John 12:32)Anticipating the work of the219th General Assembly, we

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Presbyterian Church (USA) toremove the obstacles in theBook of Order to the ordinationof deacons, elders, and Min-isters of the Word and Sacra-ment without regard to sexualorientation or gender identity; to make the changes necessaryin our Directory of Worship to

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for all committed couples; and to correct the language falselyinserted in the Heidelberg Cat-echism translation in our Book of Confessions.We make this call trusting in theunmerited grace and mercy of God who welcomes all of us, everdrawing us closer to God through the redemption and presence of Jesus in all our lives. We believeGod is doing a new thing now inreforming us and our church tofollow Scripture by embracing

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Love of God.The National Board of Direc- tors of More Light Presbyterianspledges by God’s grace, to openour hearts so that the living water of the Holy Spirit may enterinto all that we do, now and at the 219th General Assembly inMinneapolis, MN, July 3 - 10. Wecommit to this spirit of love andgrace in worship, in testimonyand dialogue, at meals and inconversation. As we have knownGod’s extravagant love in ourown lives, we will joyfully share itwith all of those we meet.

“Out of the believer’s heart shall ﬂow rivers of living water.” John 7:38

Imagine Being a Church of the Heart?

Dr. Michael Adee

is ExecutiveDirector and Field Organizer for More Light Presbyterians.

The Scriptures people quote orpreach about are of interest tome. They seem like windows intoa person’s disposition, theologyor life journey at the moment. Iam drawn to Psalm 139 with thereminder that we are “fearfullyand wonderfully made” by God.I am inspired by Micah 6:8 asa ethical pattern for my life, “todo justice, to love kindness and

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guidance and challenge in thegreat commandment text “to loveGod, neighbor and self” as Jesus taught with everyone as neigh-bor. Everyone, no exceptions.General Assemblies have a Scrip- ture text as a theme or inspira- tion for our Church gathered to do its work. In 2008, when the General Assembly met inSan Jose, the Scripture text wasMicah 6:8. For 2010, as wemeet together in Minneapolis, the text is John 7:38, “Out of the

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of living water.”Considering the fact that wewill be in the Land of 10,000Lakes with the MississippiRiver running through down- town Minneapolis, the Scriptureselected makes contextual sense-- metaphorically. Living water islife-giving...John’s image points to Jesus as the fount of living water. As believers we are to

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