Update on Presbyterian GA

[kara speltz]

Hope everyone has checked out our home page for our upcoming Direct Action at the Presbyterian General Assembly in Minneapolis, July 3-10, 2010.

There's lots of ways to take part so make sure you click on and see how you can help.

Kara

[BruceChris]

be sure to come to the west bank of the Mississippi river, which is on the south end of the third Ave. bridge, on the north side of downtown. (Look at a map, it will all make sense)

Bring a blanket to lounge on, plenty of bug spray, and a friend. Get there by 8:30, so you can make sure you have a place, and when it gets dark, watch the fireworks.

And if you get here before the 26th, you can take in our gay pride celebration, which is only about 5 blocks from the convention center.

And at 7:00 P.M. on the 26th, we will have our annual Dyke March


Sorry, no spare bedroom, BruceChris

[kara speltz]

Hope all of you who live anywhere near Minneapolis/St. Paul will join Soulforce as we invite the Presbyterian General Assembly to make room at the table for their LGBT members. Please spread the word:

July 7, 2010 - 6:30-9:00pm Nonviolent Resistance Training - Westminster Presbyterian Church Chapel, 1200 Marquette Ave., Minneapolis

July 8 & 9, 2010 - 8am - 5pm - PRAY IN Minneapolis Convention Center Plaza. Please bring your favorite prayer, scripture or reflection to share.

July 10, 2010 - 8am - Commisioning Ceremony - Location to be announced later.

Kara

[Gennee]

Kara, I pray that many people will be blessed by this event.

Gennee

:pray:

[kara speltz]

Just got this note from one of our Presbyterian co-chairs who is already in Minneapolis for the Presbyterian General Assembly, and wanted to share the good news! Check out the blogs on our website throughout the week to keep up to date on what Soulforce is doing in Minneapolis. Kara

We're off to a great start! Happy Fourth of July!
The GA news of the day:
"Cynthia Bolbach, an elder from National Capital Presbytery, was elected Saturday night as Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) on the fourth ballot. She was the only elder in a field of six candidates. Bolbach employed brief answers and a winsome sense of humor to win over the 712 commissioners and steadily gained ground, rising from 149 votes (30 percent) on the first ballot to 325 votes (53 percent) on the decisive fourth ballot. None of the other five candidates exceeded 23 percent of the vote on any ballot...
Only one question from the floor touched upon any of the several controversial issues that this Assembly will tackle in the coming week: whether to change the constitutional definition of marriage from “between a man and a woman” to “between two people.”
Four candidates – Leeth, Nielsen, Kim and Belle – endorsed support for the traditional definition. Though same-sex marriage is not legal in her native North Carolina, Lauterer said “in states where it’s legal, the church should have a part in that union … Covenant makes the community stronger.”
Only Bolbach expressed unqualified support for same-sex marriage. “Who poses the greatest threat – Larry King, who’s been married seven times, or a gay couple [friends of hers] in Washington, D.C., who have been together for 62 years and who got married two weeks ago?” Same-sex marriage is legal in the District of Columbia and five states."
God is good...

[kara speltz]

This link is a bit faulty, but it is good coverage of the arrests that took place on Friday, July 9th at the Presbyterian General Assembly. Kara

http://www.ga219.org/2010/07/justice-delayed-11-soulforce-protesters.html