Paul Peterson of That All May Freely Serve-Michigan sends the following report.

Dear TAMFS-Michigan friends,

With sadness I share the news that Lisa Larges, the regional partnership coordinator for TAMFS national was turned down in her request to be certified ready for ministry. The only reason was that she was open and frank about her covenantal relationship with her same-sex partner. The vote was 15-5 on the Committee for Preparation of Ministry. Below is the official statement from TAMFS national on the decision. Please hold Lisa in prayer. And pray that our denomination will repent from the pain it inflicts on LGBT persons who are called by Christ to positions of leadership.

Paul

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That All May Freely Serve is deeply grieved and heart sick at the action taken by the Preparation Committee of the San Francisco Presbytery which voted not to send Lisa Larges forward for ordination, but to continue her as a candidate. If there is anyone who exemplifies the best of what a Presbyterian minister can be, it is Lisa.

Lisa's deep faith in God centers her and resources her. We know and have experienced firsthand Lisa's amazing gifts for ministry, her eloquent preaching, her pastoral care and the way she listens and responds with practical compassion. Her work within our 8 regions demonstrates her ability to inspire, empower, and organize. Lisa has helped to forge a network of loving connections.

How disturbing it is that this decision was made during Holy Week! Jesus witnessed against the authorities of the time who were threatened by his radical honesty and his ability to fight the systemic oppressions of his time....rich vs. poor, the labeling of outcasts, and the issues of class and race. San Francisco Presbytery had an opportunity to make the realm of God more imminent, touchable, relevant, and alive today as Jesus did then.

Our Denomination could have given hope to those who are systematically kept out of leadership by rules that exclude even the church's own children. This is the same Presbyterian church in which Lisa was raised by loving parents and in which her faith was nurtured.

Once more Holy Week reminds us of the disastrous effects of oppressive systems. This exclusive policy flies in the face of God's hospitality.

Denying Lisa the opportunity to minister in the grand, loving, beautiful way that she does is unconscionable to us!

We appreciate Lisa's willingness to pursue her call from God in the face of the barriers erected by men and women. We will continue to work for the day when Lisa (and All others) may freely serve.

Once again the poignant question is raised, what shall our LGBT people do about their calls from God and from the communities of faith which lift them up and nurture them for ministry?

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John Shuck, Witherspoon chapter founder in Montana, sends this note:

Lisa, you have been called by God to preach the good news which you have done. You have been and continue to be a blessing to so many including me. I think I can speak for all who are working and praying for an inclusive church in Montana when I say that we are grateful to you and for you and share in your sadness as well in the hurt caused by the rejection by the church of God's children.

John Shuck

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For Ray Bagnuolo, the action of the Committee on Preparation for Ministry of San Francisco Presbytery occasions some Good Friday reflections under the title, "In a Word, No!"

In a Word, “No!”

from Ray Bagnuolo

[4-9-04]

I have been checking the alternative websites focused on undermining our movement.

You know the ones. I figure that as soon as they pick up the news about the spiritual roadblock placed in front of Lisa by the SF Presbytery that they will be sure to use this as some sign of “push back” against the queer community. It’s pretty much the same type of spin they use to suggest that the increasing number of votes against overtures to end exclusion indicate a growing anti-LGBT core in our church. Ironically, many of those increasing number of votes are actually people voting “No” as part of the strategy to postpone any confrontation in the church until 2006 – the “wait for the right time” approach.

I have long said that I am in favor of full, active, and engaged efforts to remove G-6.0106b at every turn, whether the odds are good or not. It’s about a voice always being there and always loving those who are marginalized with clear and unmistakable support.

Once more, there are overtures to remove G-6.0106b from the Book of Order at GA. Will these sacred documents out of the hearts and souls of their authors suffer the same demise as last year’s orchestrated response? If so, who accepts the consequences? Who pays the price of such delay in human and spiritual terms? Why, we do.

For me, the exercises of debate on scripture, theology, and polity are fine for the classroom, but at then end of most lectures there is generally no blood on the floor. One has only had to look down at the floor of GA to see the difference between the classroom and our past and present reality. Praxis needs to reach the table and the floor.

Our Christian church and movement, in general, simply refuses to take responsibility for the violence we accept, deny, promote, and foster by continuing to exclude people who are LGBT from our church. We stand upon brothers and sisters who have fallen and are yet to fall, victims of our higher concerns for unity and order. On Good Friday, this seems especially hard to process.

This week was no exception. The spiritual blood was on the floor of a committee room in San Francisco. Above the pool of blood was another crucifixion of the notion that love and commitment between two people of the same-sex can be as holy or sacred as that between a man and a woman. Once more the belief emerged that people committed to such love of God, self, and one another was criteria for being held back from a call to serve.

The violence done to one of our own and what she represents for us all is enormous and chilling. Yet, it seems that the “Van Kuiken Effect” has taken the place of what should be outrage. Perhaps you remember how Steve was roundly criticized by some for not taking a softer approach to the rights for us queer folk that burned in his heart. I can hear the same echoing about Lisa: “She should have known better.” “If only she would have waited.” “Why did she have to challenge them like this?” “She should have known better.”

Around the websites this morning, only one makes any reference to Lisa’s being denied clearance for ordination. That All May Freely Serve released a statement that can be read in its entirety at www.tamfs.org. Where is everyone else? What, in God’s name, holds us back, I wonder?

To those voices, you know the ones: “Why do you people have to cause so much trouble for yourselves?” “Can’t you just wait and be a little more circumspect and quiet?” “Just give this a couple of more years, will you?”

In a word, “No.”

Ray Bagnuolo, Good Friday, April 9, 2004

[Please feel free to distribute as you wish.]