Our new Moderator, Dr. Gwendolyn Magby, was installed and ably moderated the meeting with the help of the members of Presbytery and a wireless communication connected to the Stated Clerk. Welcome, Gwen, to this important ministry!

The Presbytery voted on adding the proposed Belhar Confession to the Book of Confessions by secret ballot. The amendment was rejected by our Presbytery by a vote of 31 yes, 67 no, and 2 abstaining. (NOTE: As of this writing, the amendment has failed having received 61 no votes – more than the 58 required to defeat the amendment. A 2/3 majority (116 out of 173 Presbyteries) is required to pass an amendment to the Book of Confession.)

The Presbytery voted by consent agenda to approve a one year consulting contract with the “Growing Healthy Churches Network”; to allocate funds for 2 years for a new church plant in Port Pierce (sponsored by the Indian River Church); to redefine the guidelines for the 2nd Presbyterian Church Administrative Commission to “explore future missional options for the members” of that church; to commit funding for the next three years to the Korean Central New Church Development; to commit funds for the next 3 years for the Wounded Healer church plant.

The Presbytery approved the call of and welcomed into membership the Rev. Jose Manuel Capella­Pratts, the new pastor at First Spanish, Miami; and approved the call and voted to ordain Heidi Arencibia on her success­ful completion of all ordination requirements. After a lengthy discussion and numerous amendments, substitutions, and other parliamentary procedures, the Presbytery voted to receive an overture from the Memorial Church Session (West Palm) regarding “gracious separation;” to refer both it and the revised draft of the Presbytery’s gracious separation policy back to the Peace, Unity, and Purity Administrative Commission; reconstitute the PUP A/C with the following serving: Lucky Arnold, Laurie Kraus, David Kwon, Kennedy McGowan, Michelle Ready, Dick Anderson (Palm City), Ray Anglin, Maxine Long, Skip Bush, and John Little; and instruct the PUP A/C to bring to the Stated Presbytery Meeting on September 27, 2011, a final report and recommendation for action.

In the midst of all this, and other business, we enjoyed the hospitality of First Presbyterian Church, Pompano Beach, along with worship and fellowship as a Presbytery.

When words fall silent and there is nothing more to say.
It is just you and God.
God is there, in the darkness and silence waiting.
Then, the soul speaks, and God listens, and holds the soul in great care.

– A. Anderson 2011 ­

Ten years ago, begrudgingly, I walked through the doors of Riviera Presbyterian Church and was transformed by the graceful and powerful witness of Riviera’s people and Pastor, Laurie Kraus. Shortly after, I became a faithful member in the

Presbyterian church USA; A miracle within itself. God opened my eyes to people who cared, not because I was gay, but cared genuinely for who I was as a person of faith. Patiently, you all waited for my wall to fall, and when it did, you embraced me with open arms and treated me like family. To me, this is what reflecting the path of Christ is all about. Accepting each other, despite our differ­ences, our faults and our views on faith.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself. A golden rule to live by and one that I feel we as a small church in south Miami try to practice daily and, so far, have succeeded. Something so simple yet frightening for many.

This week, PC USA presbyteries passed amendment 10­A that will change the ordination standards for candidates of the offices of Minister, Elder and Deacon. No more are the words “fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman and chastity in singleness” going to cause faithful LGBT persons a denial of their calling to preach the word and sacrament. Instead, each candidate will be faithfully considered regardless of orientation, or marriage status. While it brings me joy to have witnessed God’s grace in the hearts of my fellow Presbyterian brothers and sisters, I cannot deny the hurt those must feel who genuinely regard this vote as the wrong choice.

My heart breaks at the thought of the possibility of churches and peo­ple leaving our denomination over this. So now is the time I call upon you, my Riviera family, to help heal those wounds, and prayerfully and gracefully, find a way to rebuild bridges that were burned. We must now heal the hearts of those who were hurt by the old standards and help heal the hearts of those who do not agree. This, I believe is our calling; our time to show we are truly a church that accepts ALL of Gods children. We must reach out to those who are strangers to us, and welcome them as family, our family under one God.

We must open our hearts to those who distance themselves out of faith and fear and together find the peace in the chaos, find the hope in the heartache and walk our paths hand in hand as one church and as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thanks be to God and to all God’s children. Respectfully and with love,

Allison Anderson

Ten years ago, begrudgingly, I walked trough the doors of Riviera Presbyterian Church and was transformed by the graceful and powerful witness of Riviera’s people and Pastor, Laurie Kraus. Shortly after, I became a faithful member In the Presbyterian Church USA; A miracle within itself.

God opened my eyes to people who cared, not because I was gay, but cared genuinely for who I was as a person of faith. Patiently, you all waited for my wall to fall, and when it did, you embraced me with open arms and treated me like family. To me, this is what reflecting the path of Christ is all about. Accepting each other, despite our differences, our faults and our views on faith. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. A golden rule to live by and one that I feel we as a small church in south Miami try to practice daily and, so far, have succeeded. Something so simple yet frightening for many.

Tonight, PC USA presbyteries passed amendment 10-A that will change the ordination standards for candidates of the offices of Minister, Elder and Deacon. No more are the words “fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman and chastity in singleness” going to cause faithful LGBT persons a denial of their calling to preach the word and sacrament. Instead, each candidate, will be faithfully considered regardless of orientation, or marriage status.

While it brings me joy to have witnessed God’s grace in the hearts of my fellow Presbyterian brothers and sisters, I cannot deny the hurt those must feel who genuinely regard this vote as the wrong choice. My heart breaks at the thought of the possibility of churches and people leaving our denomination over this.

So now is the time I call upon you, my Riviera family, to help heal those wounds, and prayerfully and gracefully, find a way to rebuild bridges that were burned. We must now heal the hearts of those who were hurt by the old standards and help heal the hearts of those who do not agree. This, I believe is our calling; our time to show we are truly a church that accepts ALL of Gods children. We must reach out to those who are strangers to us, and welcome them as family, our family under one God. We must open our hearts to those who distance themselves out of faith and fear and together find the peace in the chaos, find the hope in the heartache and walk our paths hand in hand as one church and as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thanks be to God and to all God’s children.

Respectfully and with love, Allison Anderson

If I’m not mistaken,there are 33 churches remaining that will vote by the
end of this month. with the vote count ( at last I heard) 37 yes to 30 no
( and 6 FLIPS YAY!) it’s looking positive. Keep the prayers going, the
emails going, the calls going.
Wouldn’t this be a nice b-day present for me if we push it over the 87 by
March 14th? I’ve seen smaller miracles!

Feel free to share this link with anyone

http://www.amendment10a.org/

2 medium sized onions, sliced into thin rings
3 cloves of garlic, minced finely
1 medium eggplant cut into cubes
2 zucchini Cubed into bite sized cubes
2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 Yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 Roma tomatoes chopped
½ cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
4 sprigs of fresh Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste.
Parmigiano-Reggiano grated as a garnish.
Fresh basil leaves as a garnish

Directions

Heat 1½ Tablespoons of the oil in large pot over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent.
In large skillet, heat 1½ tablespoons of the oil and sauté the zucchini until slightly brown on all sides. Place sautéed zucchini in the pot with the onions and garlic
Sauté the entire remaining vegetables one batch at a time, adding 1½ tablespoons of oil each time. Transfer each sautéed vegetable to the large pot.
Season with salt and pepper. Add the bay leaf and thyme. Cover pot and cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
Add chopped tomatoes and parsley to the pot and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
Remove the bay leaf before eating
Put contents into large serving platter and grate cheese over top (as much as desired)
Add a few basil leaves as a garnish and serve.
Serve with a nice warm Baguette and a glass/bottle of Riesling. (Jacob’s Creek makes a pretty darn good Riesling)

Makes 8 Servings.

Submitted by: Allison Anderson

It’s only ten in the morning and my stomach is rumbling. Loudly. It’s hoping I will stop what I am doing and give in. Just a few more hours I say to myself and I go back to my silence. Praying when you are hungry, or rather, trying to pray when you are hungry is not as easy as I hoped or thought it would be. Trying to get back into my praying, my silence is interrupted by thoughts. Why am I fasting this year? Why couldn’t I just give up caffeine like last year? I think I still have a yogurt cup in the fridge, and so on. The thoughts almost make me want to give in. Almost. Just when I feel like standing up and walking to the fridge for that yogurt cup, something interesting happens. My mind goes blank. It is cleared of those pesky thoughts and I am left feeling peaceful and focused.

I never really put much thought into the sacrifices of Lent, or why people observe those sacrifices. I actually never really knew Lent at all. Oh Sure! I grew up with a few friends who observed this seemingly odd tradition every year. My mother, who converted from Southern Baptist to Catholic, would always give up chocolate. However, through my observance, I could never really understand the why. I knew there was a connection between Lent and Jesus’ journey in the desert and I knew it always happened forty days before Easter.

Those years between the Sunday Schools of my youth to my reconnection with the church in my adulthood never thought beyond the giving-up-the-chocolate-because-Jesus-wandered-the-desert-for-forty-days moments. I now, thankfully, have a better understanding of what encompasses the season of Lent. Lent, as I understand it, is a season of reflection. A season of preparation of the self for Good Friday and Easter Sunday through various means such as prayer, penitence, self-denial and charity. My combined thoughts lead me to believe these actions are meant to bring us closer to God. So, out of all these means, how did I choose fasting? Each year for the past nine years, I always felt I was missing the mark; not really paying as close attention as I thought I should.

Through initial research, I discovered that fasting is interweaved in this seasonal tradition in various ways and degrees. Further research through consulting family, a few close friends and even a web page or two, helped me come up with a way safe enough for me to observe my sacrifice and private enough for me to not explain to others why I wasn’t eating lunch, or that candy bar. Through my observance came prayer.

Through my prayer came a discipline to really be attentive to my inner feelings and thoughts. Each time I felt a pang of hunger, I would close my eyes and remind myself why I was doing this. I was preparing myself hoping to inch myself closer to God as the days passed, leading up to one of the darkest times in Christianity. Each passing day got a little bit easier, a little clearer. Each day that I reflected and thought and prayed helped me to be strong enough and open enough to understand the ultimate sacrifice Jesus gave. In doing so, I think I even managed to move a couple of inches closer to God.

I do not expect others, this Lenten season, to read my story and follow in my footsteps. I do hope that by reading, they will find their own inner-self and peace in a way that fits them and only them. And when God whispers their name to draw them a few inches closer this season, they will do so with clarity and purpose, with an open mind, an open heart and a better understanding of what Lent means to them.

Peace, Allison

Below is a prayer that I use to start off my time alone with God. You may or may not find it useful during this Lent.

Grant me, o lord my God, a mind to know you
A heart to seek you
Wisdom to find you
Conduct pleasing to you
Faithful perseverance in waiting for you
And hope of finally embracing you.

– Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

If you have any photos of your family or yourself participating in church events such as , weddings, baptisms, oridinations,concerts etc, please submit them to me at this email address or at RNBOWGRL34@YAHOO.COM

Send us Praise! Do you have a statement of faith? a quote on what it’s like being a LGBT person in church? Why do you worship at Riviera? Do you have a short story about your wedding, baptism, life as a LGBT Christian?

Do you remember your first time coming to Riviera? If you do, we want to know!

Please send your stories/photos to myself at this email or the email listed above. We welcome submissions from ALL our LGBT members , including families and single members.

Please note, that by submitting photos and stories , you are granting us permission to post these photographs and stories on the web-site.

Thank you for your help! We look forward to hearing from you!

Peace,
Allison Anderson

The article is here:

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2007/05/south_floridas_.html