[8-16-04]
More Light Presbyterians is pleased this month to launch a
Vigil for Justice, in which we ask all of our friends working together for a
just and welcoming church to join us in acts of prayer and witness from now
until the 2006 General Assembly in Birmingham.
Attached you will find a letter of invitation from Martha
Juillerat, Barbara Battin, and Kim Smith King, who are organizing this
effort on behalf of MLP. We are grateful for their wonderful gift to the
movement.
We hope each of you will join us in this endeavor by
spreading the word and encouraging participation within your own membership.
Our website
http://www.mlp.org/vigilforjustice will be the central repository for
resources and information related to this project.
We give thanks for the work that each organization does in
this movement for justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people
of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church. We
look forward to working with you on this and other projects.
Sincerely,
Erin Swenson and Donna Riley
MLP Co-Moderators
A Witness of
Welcome
Vigil for Justice, c/o More Light
Presbyterians
PMB 246, 4737 County Road 101,
Minnetonka, MN 55345-2634
vigilforjustice@mlp.org
Do not remember the former things, or
consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do
you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the
wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43: 18-19
August 2004
Dear Friends,
God is creating a new thing……
A new church
And a new world!
Do you not perceive it?
For those of us who have labored many years to build a
church that welcomes people of all sexual orientations and gender
identities, these words from Isaiah may sound like faint hope. This year's
General Assembly left some of us feeling once again like a people in exile,
with our spiritual wells running dry.
But even in these desert places we know that God is at
work doing a new thing, quenching our thirst, refreshing our spirits and
forging a new path for this church that we love. We are a resurrection
people who believe that even now God is filling us with new life, this very
day God is declaring justice and reconciliation for all people.
We invite you to stand with us in this faith, and to be a
witness for God's boundless love and justice.
From now until the next General Assembly in 2006, More
Light Presbyterians is calling on all of our friends to join together in a
"Vigil for Justice" as we pray for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and
witness for justice in our congregations and presbyteries. In the coming
weeks we will be preparing resources that can be used for prayer, silent
witness, spiritual renewal and solidarity. We will distribute these
resources through a variety of means, including the More Light Presbyterians
website (
http://www.mlp.org/vigilforjustice), our electronic newsletter MLP News
(subscribe at
www.mlp.org), and the
More Light Update.
Live into hope, people of God, for the God of love and
justice is doing a wondrous new thing……
Blessings and peace,
Martha Juillerat
Rev. Kim Smith King
Rev. Barbara Battin
On behalf of More Light Presbyterians
