The More Light Presbyterians National Board of Directors met in Tampa, FL from February 15th. to 18th. and issued the following statement.
Meeting in Tampa, FL, the Board of More Light Presbyterians is grateful to God for the movement of the Holy Spirit clear to us in these times.
We are grateful for all the new lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Presbyterians who have been ordained and installed to the office of Deacon, Ruling and Teaching Elder. As we live into the reformed standard of the church for ordination, we rejoice in their gifts for service and leadership.
We give thanks for the expansion of civil marriage to same-gender loving couples, supporting our nation’s values of liberty and justice for all. We know many Presbyterians witnessed and worked for marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, Washington, and Minnesota.
We are grateful for the opportunity, as charged by the 220th General Assembly, to study the nature of marriage in light of Scripture and the Constitution. We encourage all churches and councils to participate. We look to signers of Stand for Love to add their voices to these conversations.
We pray that the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be open to the moving of the Holy Spirit and see where God is doing a new thing.
MLP board members Beth Van Sickle of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Eric Thomas of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary are in the photograph accompanying this board statement. View the full photo set from the Tampa board meeting.