First Sunday Program, March 1

The First Sunday program for March only looks like a repeat. Due to a snowstorm the February program was cancelled and rescheduled for March. Our speaker will be Jerry Peterson, Executive Director of the Ruth Ellis Center. He will show us a video of the Center and discuss it's wonderful work with homeless LGBT youth. Please join us at 7:00 PM for coffee and conversation. The program begins at 7:30 PM. Come and bring a friend!

We'll be at our usual place, the meeting room on the west side of Nardin Park United Methodist Church, 29887 W. Eleven Mile Rd., Farmington Hills. The church is just west of Middlebelt.

Shower of Stoles

There will be a Shower of Stoles Exhibit at the Affirmations LGBT Community Center, 290 W. Nine Mile Rd. Ferndale. This a display of liturgical stoles and other sacred items from LGBT people of faith. The stoles bear witness to the huge loss of leadership from religious institutions because of unjust policies. The collections is from over 30 denominations and faith traditions, from six countries and three continents.

The stoles will be on exhibit Sunday, March 1st to Saturday, March 14. There is a wine and cheese reception on March 1st at 3:00. The display is open Monday to Saturday, 10:00 am. to 7:00 pm. Hours on March 8 are through advance arrangments. More information at the Affirmations website or by contacting Judy Lewis at jlewis@goaffirmations.org.

Holy Terror

I read the book Holy Terror, Lies the Christian Right Tells Us to Deny Gay Equality by Mel White and wrote an 8-part series on my personal blog to summarize it. Yes, the whole thing is long – if printed my summary would be over 20 pages. I recommend reading my summary (better yet, the whole book) because it documents the people who have been working to deny our rights over the last 30 years, why they have been doing so, and what we must do to stop it. The 8 parts are:

1. Fear – why people believe in a fundamentalist religion.

2. Cast of Characters – the fundamentalist leaders out in front on their attack on sexual minorities.

3. Battle plan – how those leaders developed and have been executing their attack.

4. Idols – the bible warns us against worshiping idols. These are the idols the fundamentalists worship.

5. Fascism – the ways in which fundamentalism compares to fascism (done in spite of Godwin's Law).

6. Constitutional values – The national values we should be promoting to counter fundamentalism.

7. Love – the sacred and religious values we should be promoting to counter fundamentalism.

8. Soulforce – the basics of a non-violent response.


I have two copies of this book to share. I didn't know it had been published under the title Religion Gone Bad, which I bought but hadn't yet read.

Truth and Reconciliation Process

I received this from Ed Rowe and Bill Dobbs through email.

Truth and Reconciliation Process
Michigan Area of The United Methodist Church
February 4, 2015

Dear Friends,

We are writing you as one who we believe supports marriage equality and the full inclusion of all in the life and ministry of The United Methodist Church. These efforts were witnessed within the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences this past summer and fall. As you probably know, following two disciplinary supervisory response processes involving Rev. Edwin Rowe and Rev. Michael Tupper, Just Resolution Agreements were reached which provided that Rev. Rowe and Rev. Tupper would

“work with the Michigan Area Episcopal Office to form a design team with clergy and lay persons form across the Michigan Area, including LGBTQ persons. The team is charged with planning, implementation and resourcing an area-wide series of events using a “Truth and Reconciliation” model at which LGBTQ and other interested United Methodists can have a safe place to tell their stories. These events will have the stated goal of reducing our church’s harmful rhetoric and actions toward LGBTQ persons. These events will be planned to occur over the next 18 months.” and that,

Bishop Kiesey will extend an invitation to all lay and clergy from across the Michigan Area (including conference and district leaders) to participate in stated events, and to encourage participation by persons of all theological perspectives.”

This Truth and Reconciliation concept has been acknowledged across the church as “a creative way to bring healing, hope and potential for justice to the painful complaint process for ministers who have officiated at same-sex weddings.” Revs. Rowe and Tupper, and Rev. Bill Dobbs, Clergy Assistant to the Bishop, on behalf of the Episcopal Office, have begun the process of forming a Design Team to plan, implement and resource a Truth and Reconciliation process across the Michigan Area. The Design Team members will be lay and clergy representing the diversity of the Michigan Area. The work of this Design Team will include establishing the criteria for membership on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission plus selecting and training those members, drafting the document outlining the Commission’s work, determining the level of staffing and other resources for the Commission and securing necessary funding for the Commission’s work.

As the Design Team begins this important work we ask for your prayers and support. If you or someone you know has a story to share with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, please keep abreast of how to provide that information. As this process unfolds there will be publicity about the Truth and Reconciliation process and how people might be part of that. Right now you can also offer your support in a tangible way.

The annual conferences are not in a position to provide the funds required to fulfill the objectives of establishing the Truth and Reconciliation process. The work of the Trust and Reconciliation itself is expected to come from grants and other similar sources. The Design Team, however, requires funding now to carry out its responsibility of establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We know there are many across the Michigan Area who would be willing to contribute funds toward for Design Team’s work. If you would like to do that, please send your contribution to Peggy Garrigues, Design Team Treasurer at: Clawson United Methodist Church, 205 N. Main Street, Clawson, MI 48017.
If you have questions you may feel free to contact:
Rev. Ed Rowe, Design Team Chair

Rev. Bill Dobbs, Design Team Episcopal Office Liaison

In the coming weeks more information about this vital Truth and Reconciliation process will be shared across the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences. Watch for that at MIConnect, both Conference websites and elsewhere.

Thank you for your support for marriage equality and for the work and outcomes of this Truth and Reconciliation process in the Michigan Area.
Blessings,
Design Team
Michigan Area Truth and Reconciliation Process