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GA06009
More Light wants more inclusion by Mike Ferguson
BIRMINGHAM, June 15 * Michael Adee, field director for More Light Presbyterians, tells the story of a boy in a Bible study he was leading who decided he didn't care what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. The boy wanted to know only one thing: "Does God love me the way I am?"
After a few moments of silence, Adee answered, "Oh Randy, of course God loves you just as you are. If you have been with us and you don't know that, it's not your fault. It's our responsibility."
More Light Presbyterians works for the full participation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Adee was keynoter at the group’s national celebration dinner Thursday at General Assembly.
Adee grew up in a rural church in Louisiana, "where people told me I was created in the image of God and loved for who I was." But once he was grown, he "bumped up against the religious culture of the day," which told him he could not be gay and Christian. He returned to the church as an adult, but remembered Alice Walker's warning in her book The Color Purple that, "It is fatal to love a God who does not love you."
Adee said he is "terribly concerned" when he hears people say, "We are all sinners. The inference is, Michael, you are a sinner in who you are categorically as a gay man."
"The sinful part of me is not being gay or falling in love with another man," he said. “The sinful parts of me * and I'm the first to admit them * are probably how I spend money and how I withhold mercy and kindness. We Presbyterians take sin seriously, but we need to pay close attention to the messages we send about sin.
"How long will the Presbyterian church continue to be a church for heterosexuals only? People tell me they don’t like it when I say that. When it's no longer true, I’ll stop saying it."
More Light Presbyterians handed out awards to these individuals and groups:
- The Rev. Erin Swenson of Atlanta received the David Sindt Award. “Being a transgender can be a lonely way to live your life,” she said. “There's no richer honor than to be honored by your friends.”
- The University Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa, AL, was named More Light Church of the Year. The award paid tribute to the church's "lifesavin g witness" to students at the University of Alabama.
- The Middle Tennessee chapter was named More Light Presbyterians' chapter of the year. The chapter was credited with "creating safe places for all God's children. Our church and our world are more loving and faithful places because of your hospitality and commitment to justice."
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