Congrats to Donna Riley!

Dr. Donna Riley, who used to be a member of Sixth, has been named GLBTA Educator of the Year by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals. Donna serves as an Associate Professor of Engineering at Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

For more, please click on this link to the story on the More Light Presbyterians website: http://www.mlp.org/article.php?story=DonnaRileyAward2010 .

Address to Covenant Network

In our December Sixth Sense newsletter, Pastor Mary Louise speaks about an amazing speech given by Mark Achtemeier to the Covenant Network of Presbyterians and reprinted in the Presbyterian Outlook magazine. It speaks strongly to our More Light sense at Sixth, and gives hope for positive changes to come. Click here for a link to it, or here to grab a copy in PDF format.

Lisa Larges Ordination

Lisa Larges, who preached so eloquently at Sixth this fall, has been approved for ordination by the San Francisco Presbytery, which also recognized That All May Freely Serve as a validated ministry.

For more, see the More Light Presbyterian website!

Allegheny County Council Approves Non-Bias Ordinance

Sixth's Session wrote to Rich Fitzgerald of the Allegheny County Council to express our support for the establishment of a county ordinance that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity. That bill -- and an accompanying move to establish a Human Relations Commission -- was approved yesterday.

Session's letter noted that, since 1978, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has had a policy of supporting exactly this type of anti-discrimination ordinance; the General Assembly of that year agreed that “vigilance must be exercised…to initiate and support federal, state, and local legislation that prohibits discriminating against persons on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodation.”

Council supporters included John DeFazio, James Burn Jr., Joan Cleary, Rich Fitzgerald, Dr. Charles Martoni, William Robinson, Robert J. Macey and Amanda Green. See http://www.alleghenycounty.us/council/members.asp should you wish to write a note of thanks to your County Council representative regarding the approval of this ordinance.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09183/981333-455.stm#ixzz0K75YkVMw&C .

Tie the Knot

Margaret Miller told us about this great awareness program that is so very timely with all of the news about legislation regarding same-sex marriages and partnerships. The program is called Tie the Knot and is symbolized by white ribbons with a single knot tied in the middle - a simple but meaningful way to say that everyone should have the right to tie the knot. Here's a link to the website with more great information about it:

www.whiteknot.org

We'll be having white ribbons of our own to give out at the Sixth Church booth at PrideFest this year! Thanks Margaret !!!

Fred (always a groomsman, never a groom ...)

Sixth Church: Affirming our Unity – More Light Sunday 2009

Our Sixth Church More Light Sunday is fast approaching and promises to be a great one! All in one jam-packed day of excitement we’ll have our More Light Sunday Worship Service, a team of Sixth Church folks marching in the Pride Parade, and a Sixth Church booth at PrideFest. For you calendars, we have:

Sunday, June 14th --

1. More Light Sunday Worship service at 10:00 AM at Sixth Church (note summer start time!)
2. Pride Awareness parade at Noon from Grant St at 1st Ave to Liberty Ave at 7th St
3. Sixth Church booth at PrideFest from 1:00 until 6:00 PM near the corner of 9th St and Liberty Ave

Our worship service that day will include a celebration with uplifting music, a video/photo slideshow, and a procession of signs proclaiming personal expressions on themes of unity, pride and connectedness.

The parade and booth will feature banners, signs, new Sixth Church More Light t-shirts, refrigerator magnets and ribbons in support of same-sex marriage legislation. We’ll also be showing off one of our two new More Light flags.

The parade starts at from Grant St at 1st Ave, moves onto the Boulevard of the Allies, down to Stanwix St, and turning onto Liberty Avenue finishing at the stage at PrideFest on Liberty Ave at 7th St. BEST PARKING NOTE: First Avenue Parking Garage . Rachel Rothenberg is coordinating the marchers this year. To join us for this part, you can contact Rachel, sign up on the sheet in the Chapel, or shoot Fred an e-mail at fjo@city-net.com .

The booth will be near the corner of 9th St at Liberty avenue and is a chance for us to share with Pittsburgh all of the great things a welcoming More Light Church like Sixth has to offer! The festival runs from 1:00 to 6:00 PM and is free to all. We’ll have t-shirts, a slide show, information about Sixth and the More Light Presbyterians movement, refrigerator magnets, candy, music and more fun than the bumper cars at Kennywood. If you’d like to be part of the booth team for a short shift, please contact Fred. BEST PARKING NOTE: Ninth and Penn Parking garage .

More to come -- stay posted!!

God's Whole Family

The National Welcoming & Affirming Presbyterian Conference
September 4 - 6, 2009 Labor Day Weekend
Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee

From Michael Adee:

"God's Whole Family" is hosted by Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville and produced by More Light Presbyterians for pro-LGBT Presbyterians, families, friends and allies.

Easy online registration now with housing options at: www.mlp.org/mlp2009reg

Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the 218th General Assembly, PCUSA, will be there as keynote speaker and preacher. Bruce is pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, a multi-cultural Presbyterian congregation in San Francisco, CA

Bruce's blog: http://www.mod.reyes-chow.com/

Rev. Debra Peevey, MLP's Campaign Outreach Coordinator for Amendment 08-B, will be present to share heartwarming stories of faith, courage and transformation plus lessons learned from the campaign. Debra is a minister in the Disciples of Christ tradition and lives with her spouse, Candy in Surprise, AZ.

We will gather in community and deepen our faith through affirming worship and by celebrating the gifts of God's creation, love and grace for us and all the world.

Think Road Trip! Get a group from your church, youth group, campus or seminary community, or presbytery to be in “Music City USA” for the LGBT-affirming faith and spiritual experience of the year!

Group registration discount 5 for the price of 4, discounted registration for high school, college and seminary students, and early registration discounts for all.

Email inquiry at mlpinmidtn@yahoo.com. local phone contact: Trice Gibbons 615.292.1555

Register online today at www.mlp.org/mlp2009reg

See you in Nashville and bring your family & friends!
--Michael Adee

PS -- Please forward the good news and this invitation to others within your family, circle of friends, church, youth group, campus or seminary community!

Michael J. Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., Executive Director & Field Organizer
More Light Presbyterians, 369 Montezuma Avenue # 447, Santa Fe, NM 87501 USA
(505) 820-7082, michaeladee@aol.com, www.mlp.org

Some notes about the March 14th Pittsburgh Presbytery meeting and proposed amendment 08B

At the March 14th Pittsburgh Presbytery meeting, a motion was made to extend the time for those who wished to speak on behalf of or against passing amendment 08B beyond the 20 minutes allocated. The motion was voted down, and I did not get the chance to present what I had prepared to say that day. Below is what I would have said:

My name is Fred O’Leary, and I worship and serve at Sixth Presbyterian Church in Squirrel Hill.

I’ve had the good fortune over the past few years to study with folks who have researched much about the history of the Presbyterian Church. I’ve learned about the past 150 years, and our Church’s struggles to move beyond prior literal interpretation of the bible that excluded women and people of color from serving God in a meaningful way. I look around this sanctuary with pride and I see the very clear and wonderful results of having moved beyond those forms of discrimination that tarnished our denomination. One day my hope is that we’ll be able to look back on this issue with that same pride.

It’s been my observation that it’s very rare when someone actually hears the sometimes quiet whisper that is a call to serve God, and often even rarer when one responds to that call. We in this room can probably each remember the first time we recognized that call.

That call sometimes goes out to God’s followers who are excluded from serving by our current Book of Order.

That call sometimes goes out to beloved children of God like our own Reverend Brent Dugan of Ben Avon, who was so loved by his congregation there when his life was tragically cut short in November 2006. In my opinion, this sort of tragedy is precisely the sort of thing we all need to be seeking to eliminate by bringing dialog on these difficult issues forward, and working to end the exclusion of some from a call to serve. Never again should anyone have to feel so torn between their belief in and desire to serve God, and the person that God created them to be, that he or she should desire to end their own life.

I’d like to close by reading two short poems to you.

The first one is some words that may be familiar to many of you: ‘Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation, pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church.’ I share these poetic words with you today, and ask you to think of them on their own, and not with regard to what the words they are intended to
replace.

The second comes from the 40th Psalm. I’ve found it helpful in my contemplations in preparation for today’s meeting: ‘I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods. You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.’

May God’s grace be with all of us today.