Shower of Stoles

Shower of Stoles

The Shower of Stoles Project has recently become a program of the Institute for Welcoming Resources – a national, ecumenical collaboration of the Welcoming Church Movement. Their web page has moved and can now be found at http://www.welcomingresources.org/sosp.htm
[3-24-06]

Ecumenical Welcoming Church Leaders' Summit held in Saint Paul, MN

Martha Juillerat honored on her tenth anniversary as National Program Director of Shower of Stoles Project
[1-9-06]

A report from Michael Adee, National Field Organizer of More Light Presbyterians, to MLP members, supporters, friends, and allies

Hello from Minneapolis this first week of the New Year and Epiphany. I am attending a week-long National Ecumenical Welcoming Church Leaders' Summit. National leaders from ten denominations in the USA and Canada are participating.

Macalester-Plymouth United Church, a More Light and Open and Affirming Congregation on the Macalester College campus, is hosting this summit. This Welcoming Church Program Leaders’ network is composed of national church leaders from their denomination or faith tradition's national welcoming and affirming congregationally-based program. WCPL has a tradition of meeting twice a year for strategic planning, resource development, skills-building and spiritual nurture.

These national welcoming programs work for the full embrace of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons and their families in the following denominations: Presbyterian Church (USA); United Methodist Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; United Church of Christ; American Baptists; Brethren/Mennonites; Reformed Church in America; Disciples of Christ; Community of Christ; and the United Church of Canada.

The Institute for Welcoming Resources and the Shower of Stoles Project are also participating in this summit in the context of supporting the Welcoming Church Movement in the USA and Canada.

It is a privilege to represent you and More Light Presbyterians in this historic national welcoming church leadership summit and in a special tribute honoring the tenth anniversary of the Shower of Stoles Project and Martha Juillerat's tenth anniversary as National Program Director of the project.

Kim Smith King, National MLP Board member, and Susan Robertson, MLP and SOSP staff member, created a special reception to honor Martha and her partner, Tammy Lindahl, for their ten years of faithful leadership and service with the Shower of Stoles Project. This celebration also marked the transition and transfer of the Shower of Stoles Project to the Institute of Welcoming Resources.

Rebecca Voelkel serves as the Executive Officer of the Institute for Welcoming Resource and I serve as the President of its National Board of Directors. The Summit included strategic planning to 2011 that included: the merger of the SOSP into IWR; a national grassroots organizing mobilization plan for the Welcoming Church Movement; educational resources, conferences and trainings: and changing the landscape of Christianity.

Michael J. Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., National Field Organizer

More Light Presbyterians, 369 Montezuma Avenue #447, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 820-7082, michaeladee@aol.com, www.mlp.org

National MLP Board celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Shower of Stoles Project

from Chicago, IL, National MLP Board Meeting, September 23 - 25, 2005
[9-26-05]

The National Board of Directors of More Light Presbyterians recognizes and celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Shower of Stoles Project this month. This recognition is offered with mixed emotions because this marks the 10th Anniversary of the birth of the project wherein its founder, Martha Juillerat set aside her ordination as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Martha and her spouse, Tammy Lindahl, met at a clergywomen's retreat when they were serving churches in rural Missouri. Martha and Tammy faithfully responded to the call from the PCUSA General Assembly to come out and participate in 1993-95 National Dialogue and Study on Human Sexuality. Martha set aside her ordination in 1995 in Heartland Presbytery rather than have it removed. Tammy was one of six out LGBT Commissioners to the General Assembly in 2001. A judicial complaint was filed Tammy and as a result the Twin Cities Presbytery lost a capable and experienced pastor. Tammy's ministry continues as a hospice social worker.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has lost the gifts and ministries of these two remarkably faithful clergywomen because of its anti-gay policies and practices. We honor Martha and Tammy's moral courage and faithfulness in creating and offering the Shower of Stoles Project out of their own experience of prejudice and discrimination. The collection numbering over a 1,000 stoles has indeed become a witness to countless LGBT persons and families in our Church and more than two dozen denominations and faith traditions.

Ironically, at the same time the Shower of Stoles Project marks its 10th Anniversary, our Church is celebrating anniversaries of the Ordination of Women. At at this same time there are those who call for "more study" with a moratorium on justice that hinders the welcome and affirmation of LGBT persons in the Church. However, the extravagant love and welcoming embrace of God continues to call all of us into the Gospel which is good news for all persons, not just some.

The mission of the Shower of Stoles Project is: "To end religious discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people." The National Board of Directors of More Light Presbyterians commends this mission and this historic 10th Anniversary. Moreover, we remain absolutely committed to ending such discrimination against LGBT persons and their families by building a Church for all God's people.

Erin Swenson and Bear Ride, Co-Moderators, and the National Board of Directors, More Light Presbyterians, with Michael J. Adee, National Field Organizer

For a brief history of the Shower of Stoles Project – and much more – see the SOSP website And scroll down this page for more.

It's not about "issues," it's about people

FROM THE SHOWER OF STOLES PROJECT

Martha Juillerat, National Program Director

[Received 2/8/02, posted here 3/8/02]

The Shower of Stoles is a collection of close to 900 liturgical stoles from gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of faith from 18 denominations across North America. Like panels of the AIDS Quilt, each stole contains the story of a GLBT person who has been barred from serving the church openly. The Shower of Stoles Project began in the Presbyterian Church in 1995; Presbyterians continue to represent the largest number of stoles in the collection. Each year the stoles are displayed in dozens of churches, colleges, seminaries and judicatories nationwide.

~~~~~~~~~

Several weeks ago I had a painful conversation with a college student. James had been raised in the church. A talented musician and personable fellow, he had brought many gifts to the youth activities and worship life of his church. He felt well loved by his church family. But as he began to come out as a gay man, all of that changed. His family and many members of the congregation ostracized him. While his pastor took great pains to say that they all still "loved" him, he informed James that he was no longer welcome in his own church until he "repented of his sinful lifestyle." James was not in a relationship at the time; this was not about any behavior. The pastor expected James to repent of the sin of being gay.

Not surprisingly, many young gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth who experience such hostility drift away from the church. The result in James' case was even sadder; he had not only given up on the church, but on any semblance of faith as well. One of his remarks said it all: "Why on earth would I believe in a God that would create me gay, just to turn on me with this kind of hate?" While he was kind enough to let me explain to him that this certainly didn't describe the God of my own faith, it was clear that the spiritual damage had already been done.

One of the great tragedies of our current debate on the role of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons in the Presbyterian Church has been our propensity to "sanitize" it by reducing our lives to issues: the issue of ordination or the issue of holy unions. In doing so, it becomes easy to miss the bigger picture and fail to see the damage that the church has done to people's lives. The mission of the Shower of Stoles Project is to keep the stories of GLBT people of faith before the church, to stand as a constant witness to the people behind the issues. We cannot allow another generation to be driven away by the church's own blindness.

Help us to share these stories with the church. We invite you to have a display of the stoles in your congregation or presbytery, or to share with the church the story of a GLBT person from your congregation by making a stole in their honor. For more information, visit our website at http://www.welcomingresources.org/sosp.htm

NOW ON VIDEO:
THE STORY OF THE SHOWER OF STOLES PROJECT

Available this spring: a video sharing the history and many of the stories from the Shower of Stoles Project. Less than a half hour in length, this video is the perfect accompaniment for a display of the stoles, a terrific educational piece for adult or high school classes.

JOIN US FOR A "PREMIER PARTY!"

Come see our new video in one of these cities:

MINNEAPOLIS - Saturday, April 20

ATLANTA - Saturday, April 27

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR PREMIER PARTIES, OR TO ORDER A COPY OF THE VIDEO!

http://www.welcomingresources.org/sosp.htm