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“What we need right now is worship.”
These words, spoken by MLP Board member Lydia Tembo, were offered as the Board discussed ways to respond to the compounding crises currently happening in our country. Resounding heads nodded in agreement across the muted gallery of Zoom windows occupied by More Light Board members and staff.
What we need is worship. Worship that invokes a belief in our collective ability to help make the world what it should be: a world where Black Lives are nurtured and thrive, a world where white supremacy is a topic for our history books and the truth is told about the insidious ways it has permeated through centuries. We need worship that can only come when we are honest with ourselves and one another.
As we’ve been planning the upcoming More Light Sunday Worship service, similar sentiments have been shared. Our intent throughout the planning process has been to create a space where people know they are seen and affirmed, especially those who’ve been told they are unworthy of being seen or loved.
We at More Light are committed to the work of dismantling white supremacy, and to partnering with those who are actively working to create a world where all of God’s children are truly safe to live into the people they’ve been created to be.
Thankfully there are many resources available to equip individuals and congregations for the work of educating themselves and committing to taking action for racial justice. The following are resources MLP has created to further our practices of anti-racism.
- Our Racial Justice Teach-In Series addresses how systemic racism and white supremacy function, how to address internalized dominance and white fragility, and how to take action in our congregations and communities to decenter whiteness and integrate racial justice tactics in our ministries.
- MLP staff member Rev. Jess Cook recently wrote an article for the Presbyterian Outlook on the need for white people to be honest about the history of injustice that has been upheld by white supremacy.
- We are always working to expand the racial justice resources on our website. If you have additional suggestions for this or other resources we can offer, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We cannot wait to see you on Sunday!
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We are so excited to share that Rev. Ashley DeTar Birt will be serving as the new Co-Moderator of More Light's Board of Directors!
Ashley is the Pastoral Fellow for Youth and Families at Rutgers Presbyterian Church in New York City. More Light Board Co-Moderator Rev. Scott Clark states: “We are all so excited that Ashley DeTar Birt has agreed to serve as Co-Moderator of the More Light Presbyterians Board. Ashley ministers and serves so powerfully in the intersections of racial justice, children and youth, and LGBTQIA+ inclusion – and teaches liberation there. I’m grateful for all that I’ve learned from Ashley, and I look forward with such hope and joy to the leadership that she’ll continue to bring to More Light."
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We are also delighted to welcome our newest members of our National Board of Directors!
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Rev. Larissa Kwong Abezia
Rev. Larissa Kwong Abazia is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She earned her undergraduate degree at Rutgers University and M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary. Larissa's ministry started with a pastoral residency program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. It was there that she learned and practiced the importance of active listening and reflection during moments of trauma and transition. She then moved to Chicago to serve as an associate pastor overseeing a Friday evening program for at risk LGBTQ youth as well as the young adult ministries of the church. Larissa has since served congregations throughout New Jersey as well as in Queens, NY and Greenwich, CT. She has also served as the Director of Church Relations at Princeton Theological Seminary and is a consultant with the Vandersall Collective.
Throughout her life and career, Larissa has been dedicated to social justice. She is interested in the ways that the church can faithfully live out its call to be a body that celebrates all of its members. This work brought her to denominational leadership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), including serving as the Vice-Moderator to the 221st General Assembly, where she is able to challenge the current structures and assumptions of life together. She believes that the church is a laboratory to explore one’s individual faith, our communal witness, and the call to bring a taste of the kingdom of God here on earth.
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Rev. Ann Deibert
Ann grew up in the Pacific Northwest and lived in California, New Jersey, and Maryland before she joined the pastoral staff of Central Presbyterian Church in Louisville, KY in 1996. Central Church became a More Light congregation in 1983 and continues to be a community of remarkable people Celebrating God's Wildly Inclusive Love. Ann is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University (BS in biology), Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv), Louisville Theological Seminary (homiletic supervision), and San Francisco Theological Seminary (DASD, DMin). She loves learning and going to school. Ann's DMin work focused on how congregations can encourage and support families (kids and parents) as incubators for spiritual life. Ann is also a member of Empower West Louisville, a collective of Black and White pastors and congregations in Louisville who work together to increase economic and educational opportunities in West Louisville.
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Rev. Ashley McFaul Erwin
Ashley is a lifelong Presbyterian: beginning her journey in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland before moving to the US in 2011. Her move across the ocean has a deep connection to More Light. When it became clear to Ashley that she was unable to serve as an openly queer person in her home denomination, she found the website of More Light and it prompted a journey to Nashville.
Ashley pursued theological education studied at Vanderbilt Divinity School and in 2018 was the first openly queer person ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament by the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee. In 2019 Ashley and her wife, Erica, moved to Long Island where Ashley serves as the Community Outreach Pastor at Setauket Presbyterian Church. Ashley is a passionate Irish rugby fan, has a mixed up Larne/Nashville accent, and in the words of her wife "has a laugh that can be heard from miles away."
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Rev. Jessica Vazquez Torres
Jessica is the National Program Coordinator for Crossroads Anti-Racism Organizing and Training.A native of Puerto Rico, Jessica identifies as a “1.5 generation Queer ESL Latina of Puerto Rican descent.” From 1999 until the Spring of 2006 Jessica worked in the Office of [Racial] Reconciliation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis, IN. From 2006 to 2008 she worked as National Religious Outreach Coordinator with Interfaith Worker Justice, and from 2008 to 2010 as Director of Master Level Recruitment and Admissions at McCormick Theological Seminary (both in Chicago, IL). Currently, Jessica is working on a Masters of Theological Studies at the Chandler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. When not studying she works as a consultant and core/organizer trainer for Crossroads. Rev. Vazquez Torres holds a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL and a Masters of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, IN.
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Coming soon! Stay tuned for further details and a sign up form, but we wanted to give you a heads up that for Sunday June 28, Alex will offer a pre-recorded sermon for congregations to use during worship. He’ll be preaching on lectionary texts but you are welcome to use the sermon on a different Sunday if that works better with your schedules. Our hope is to give pastors a Sunday off of preaching as we continue to practice social distancing and remote-worship!
In deep solidarity,
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Rev. Alex Patchin McNeill
he/him/his
Executive Director
More Light Presbyterians
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Looking for an easy way to stay in touch with More Light? Or receive regular messages of support and affirmation? Or make donations in a snap? You can now stay in touch with More Light via text messaging! To sign up, simply text 72572 and enter the code 1MLP to connect with the speed and ease of a text message.
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