Reflections on Hope, MILK and God's Love breaking in this Advent & Christmas...

Of Advent and Christmas, Madeline L'Engle in her book, The Winter of the Heart, said: "This is the irrational season when love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason, there'd have been no room for the Child."

The familiarity of the Christmas story may have dulled our senses to its wild nature and irrationality. Familiarity can breed a sense of entitlement.... this story is just for us, or just for people who believe in the right way.

Our childhood experiences of Advent and Christmas often form our expectations of this season. As a child, I was fascinated by the rituals of the lighting of the Advent candles. I grew up in a small Presbyterian church in south Louisiana. I remember watching the families who went forward to light the candles and say the Advent prayers. None of those families in that day, place and time in south Louisiana at Westminster Presbyterian Church would reflect the journey of the life God had in store for me as a gay man. And, in this Advent at the United Church of Santa Fe, in sacred silence a family of three walked forward to light the Advent candle -- a young girl and her two mothers. Love and family are not limited to opposite-sex hearts.. Love will bloom bright and wild when we do not try to limit love by religious dogma or state law.

This Christmas I want to open my ears and heart to hear this story and the hope embedded within it in new and different ways. I cannot ignore the suffering and injustice all around me. In addition to the persistence of poverty and war, the stock market crash and home mortgage crisis result in the sobering reality that millions of people's lives and futures hang in the balance. A couple days ago, I saw the powerful film "MILK" about the life and death of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to a major public office. I wept as I saw the sadly-familiar religious bigotry and bearing false witness against LGBT persons and their families in our fight against Proposition 8 in California in the fight that Milk and his friends fought in 1978.

Milk's courage was matched by his conviction "you gotta give 'em hope!" Sean Penn's enigmatic portrayal of Milk and the whole of Gus Van Sant's powerful film illustrate the life-giving, even life-saving power of hope. How does hope get stirred up inside of our hearts and souls? What inspires hope, what can block hope from finding its way in our lives?

During Advent and Christmas, a most familiar Biblical text will be read and heard throughout our Church from the Gospel of Matthew, 1:23: "Behold, a virgin will conceive a child and she will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Immanuel, which means "God with us." This is, of course, an echo from the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah 7:14. Immanuel, "God with us," the gift of the presence of God incarnate in Christ. And, not with just us, but with all the world, no exceptions. This is an irrational, wild story. As much as we try, we cannot tame or limit the presence and love of God. God finds a way to break in. Reminders of God's presence and love give us hope.

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen," Hebrews 11:1. Of course a primary source of hope is faith. Faith seems to be about things we cannot see and things that reveal themselves in extraordinary and everyday ways. The coming of the Christ-child to Earth reveals the heart and presence of God, Immanuel, God with us. The incarnation defies reason. As L'Engle says, "Had Mary been filled with reason, there'd have been no room for the Child."

What are your hopes this Christmas? My grown-up Christmas wishes, indeed hope is for a Church and world that recognizes that "love blooms bright and wild" in the God who came to us as Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. God's bright and wild love is not limited to Presbyterians any more than it would be for white or straight people only. Nor is this bright and wild love limited to only one kind of heart or family. It never was, nor will it ever be so limited, no matter how hard some try.

As that family of three stepped forward to light the Advent candle and pray, a daughter with two moms, the sacred silence of the congregation and the Love of God embraced all of us, Immanuel. I wish that Harvey Milk had lived to see this day and that moment. So much has changed, and there is more change coming. Love is blooming bright and wild.

May you and those you love be surrounded by good people and a sense of God's love this Christmas.

with hope and grace,

Michael

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

(MILK -- That’s the powerful new film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected to a major public office, not what you leave out with cookies for Santa.)

News release from Vikki Dearing and Bear Ride, Co-Moderators, National Board of Directors, More Light Presbyterians

The National Board of Directors of More Light Presbyterians is pleased to announce that Dr. Michael J. Adee has been named as the Executive Director & Field Organizer for More Light Presbyterians. This decision was made at our recent national board meeting at Ghost Ranch Conference Center, Santa Fe, NM.

Michael has been serving as our National Field Organizer since May of 1999. He served as a volunteer with More Light Presbyterians from 1991 to 1999 before being hired in our first staff position. Michael was ordained as the first openly gay Elder at Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, a More Light Church. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1997.

"We are deeply grateful for the leadership and service Michael has offered for nine years in our first staff position as National Field Organizer. Because of the exponential growth of our educational program, outreach and advocacy work, it is necessary for MLP to update our operational structure. A major grant for organizational development allows us to promote Michael to this new position and to create a second staff position in the near future," said Vikki Dearing, Co-Moderator.

Michael became a human rights activist when he was fired for starting a Gay-Straight Alliance as an openly gay college teacher. He earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Communication at Louisiana State University. He has been involved in the LGBT Equality Movement and HIV/AIDS Movement since 1988.

Having served as a college professor in Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio, Michael has also been a hospital and hospice chaplain, bereavement counselor, campus minister, diversity consultant, tennis coach and a missionary/relief worker in Zimbabwe, Africa.

Michael served on the founding Board of Directors of Friends For Life, the Baton Rouge AIDS Task Force and as their first communications director. He served as a buddy and volunteer trainer for AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati; program developer for Cincinnati PFLAG; and as Executive Director of Stonewall Cincinnati.

Upon moving to Santa Fe, Michael served on the boards of Equality New Mexico and the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance. He is a founding board member of the Institute for Welcoming Resources of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

In addition to his community leadership and service, he has received numerous awards and recognitions. These include: Outstanding Young Men of America; Outstanding Instructor and Who's Who Among Colleges and Universities at Louisiana State University; Norse Leadership Society Award for Teacher of the Year, Northern Kentucky University; National Community Service Award, Vitas Hospice, for his work as a hospice chaplain and bereavement counselor.

While Michael is an educator and human rights activist serving now as Executive Director & Field Organizer for More Light Presbyterians, this is not all of who he is. He is also an out gay athlete competing in tennis in the last four international Gay Games, most recently in Chicago where he was a silver medalist and in the World OutGames in Montreal winning a bronze medal. He captured international attention in 2006 with his "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" Benefit Climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania by raising over $20,000 for LGBT Equality.

Bear Ride, Co-Moderator, adds: "MLP will continue to be a national grassroots organization with our wonderful network of members, churches and local chapters. Ending discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians in our denomination and securing equal rights in civil society requires all hands on deck. Because of the profoundly generous spiritual and financial support from our members, families and church mission gifts, in addition to this grant, we are able to keep Michael serving and working around the country and add a second staff position. Thanks be to God and to you for these wonderful opportunities."

The following message was released by MLP's board of directors on September 26, 2006, to announce their new No Turning Back statement and strategy declaration.

Dear friends of More Light Presbyterians,

The journey to equality continues.

We've just released No Turning Back, our declaration and strategy statement that will guide our journey starting immediately, all the way to General Assembly in San Jose in 2008. You can read this statement right now, below.

Consistent with our efforts at every General Assembly, we will again work with Presbyteries to bring overtures to delete the anti-LGBT G-6.0106b from the Book of Order. General Assembly will again have the opportunity to do the right thing and eliminate discrimination from our constitution.

But this time, we're not stopping there. As part of our commitment to work together, with all of you, for full equality in the PCUSA, we're expanding the scope of our work for justice.

In 2008, the More Light movement will be at General Assembly, and we'll be seeking marriage equality --the right of couples, regardless of gender, to have their relationships of love and commitment recognized for the marriages that they truly are.

In 2008, the More Light movement will be at General Assembly, and we'll be seeking representational equality -- we could see a watershed moment in history, with the first "More Light candidate" for moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA.

And starting immediately, we're taking back language that belongs to us: the language of marriage and family. We are and always have been a pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-equality movement, and it's time for all of us to proclaim it loudly and proudly in those terms.

We invite you to read the No Turning Back statement included below, and then to add your voice in support and tell your family and friends. We'll share your name and your voice with Presbyterian leaders as part of our work for justice from now through 2008. We also invite you to make a financial contribution to our efforts. Your voice, as well as your financial support, are critical to our continued efforts to bring equality to the PCUSA.

The journey to equality continues. And there can be No Turning Back.

Thanks for all that you do,
Bear Ride, co-moderator
Kim Smith King, co-moderator
and the entire board and staff of More Light Presbyterians

GA actions ratified (or not) by  the presbyteries   

A number of the most important actions of the 219^th General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries, confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.

We provided resources to help inform the reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.

Our three areas of primary interest have been:

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Mitch Trigger, PVJ's Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!

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Heather Reichgott, who has created this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:

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