A bit of news on our travels… 3/10/2014

Friends, I am happy to share a bit of news from our recent outreach. By now, we hope you have heard about the installation of Rev. Dr. Beth Buckingham-Brown, an open lesbian woman, as the pastor of Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL. It was a wonderful celebration of the gifts and call of both this congregation and its new pastor, and with both Janie Spahr and Lisa Larges there to be part of the installation — well, it added to a circle that continues to grow wider. For pictures of the day, take a look at our gallery at www.starflyrpro.smugmug.com/TAMFS.

While in Chicago, we also attended the Chicago Presbytery’s L.E.A.D. Conference, called Peacemakers All: Generosity of Spirit in a TIme of Fear. We were blessed by stirring worship with folks from across the presbytery and lifted by the powerful sermon delivered by Rick Ufford-Chase.

Our time in Chicago came to a close with a reunion of many friends from That All May Freely Serve Chicago at the home of Gail Russell and Gerri Mead. A wonderful gathering with such great friends! Photo is missing Bill and Lorena Lucy, who needed to leave early.

From L to R: Top Row: Deb Stracco, Pennie Ebsen, Greg Boyer, Barry Smith, Jane Baker, Gerri Mead, Gail Russell; Second Row: Beth Buckingham-Brown, John Hobbs, Janie Spahr, Nanette Sawyer, Andrea Kirksey; and Front Row: J. E. Buckingham. This photo and others are on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/tamfs.

I left Chicago last week and continued my drive to Spokane, Washington. On Wednesday, I will be attending the third and final gathering of Unity with Difference, a series of conferences convened by Moderator Rev. Dr. Neal Presa, shortly after he was elected as Moderator of the PC(USA) at the 220th General Assembly. These talks bring together conservative and progressive leadership in our church, working together to deepen our discussions and understanding of one another. More on these talks can be found at www.pcusa.org/moderator. This third conversation, by the way, will focus around “Race, Gender, Religious Identities.” That All May Freely Serve has participated in all three conferences and hopes that the newly-elected moderator at the next General Assembly will continue to the dialogue that has already begun additional conversations between the leaders of these groups.

We welcome and are sustained by your prayers and continued work in congregations throughout the church. Every conversation makes a difference!

Please continue to visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TAMFS and for information on our travels, media, budgets and more, please visit our Kitchen Table News page. And, we love to hear from you! Contact us any what you like: by commenting here, calling us at 1-877-TAMFS-64; Text us at 914-217-3173; Twitter @tamfs; on our Facebook Page; email us at ray@nulltamfs.org or sonnie@nulltamfs.org.

Godde bless you and thanks for visiting That All May Freely Serve!

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