It is now time to say out loud here what has been talked about in Richmond for some time.
I have ceased serving as Pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Richmond to take on full-time duties leading People of Faith for Equality in Virginia.
There are some things to be worked out with the Board of Directors, and I won’t take up my new responsibilities full-time until June, but things are moving already.
For one thing, I have been working on an action plan for the next year—and I will be sharing that with many of you in the coming weeks. If you’d like to receive a copy, please write me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
I also will be working on a job description, in line with that plan and our longer range goals for POFEV.
I also am working on a plan to raise funds in the short term to provide compensation and office space for me, as well as some supplies and other expenses, for the next 12 months. The long term plan is to have a larger staff, with field reps placed strategically across Virginia. (If this excites you, you can start giving now—see below).
This was not an easy decision. In fact, it feels driven by a call from God.
Appropriately enough, awareness of that call came last year in what for me was an interfaith setting: the first night of Rosh Hashanah services, September 16, at the Jewish Community Center in Richmond. I had gone with my husband, Dr. Jonathan Lebolt, who is active in Congregation Or Ami.
Rabbi Ben Romer, a former POFEV Board member and a dear friend to all who work for justice, was speaking about passion, and how we are called to lead lives of passion. He encouraged us to do a passion inventory (conveniently provided in the worship booklet). As I began to contemplate mine, I had what can only be described as a vision: commit to making Virginia safe and welcoming for all LGBT people. It took hold of me that night, and I could not shake it.
I did not hear a voice, and I did not see a picture, but this vision took hold of me that night and caused me to “leave the room” for a short time, and experience an absolute stillness—in the midst of several hundred worshippers all rustling papers and murmuring and Rabbi Ben talking—unlike almost anything I have ever “heard.” In that stillness, I felt a powerful centeredness and peace, and I knew I would have to come to terms with what felt like a “call.”
I knew it would cause me to shift my focus from MCC Richmond (ministry and people I cherish) to POFEV, to change my congregation of accountability and passion to the entire commonwealth (I don’t mean that in a grandiose sense, but in the realization that my primary field of action would be much, much larger).
For three months, I prayed and thought and talked with Jonathan and other trusted advisors and friends. My spiritual director, Mary Ann Archer, was central to this process. We spent considerable time talking, exploring, praying, connecting with some deep places within me.
In December, I tested it out with the Board of POFEV. They were unanimous in their support and excitement. My daughters gave their blessing at Christmas. Jonathan was already on board (not that he, like me, is not sad at severing ties with our beloved community at MCC Richmond—we hope to be back among them after they go through a lengthy process of an interim pastor and choosing a new “settled” pastor).
So, the past few months have been about setting a timetable, and making the necessary moves.
Just this past week, I cleaned out my office at MCC Richmond, and am now faced with how to integrate all my books and shelves and other things in my already crowded home office and our living room! But it will work out, and before you know it, POFEV will have an office and things will be less crowded at home.
But enough about me.
This is about POFEV, about the cause of equality and justice for all Virginians. This is about freeing our beloved Commonwealth from the shackles of old prejudices and injustice, of leading the way toward becoming truly a common-wealth—a place where all people gathered here can share in the bounty with which God has blessed this beautiful land.
Of course, the greatest beauty, the greatest bounty, is in Virginia’s people, God’s people, and it is our mission to recognize the dignity of all of them, all of us, and to promote the cause of living with each other as God calls us to live—respecting, indeed celebrating, and thanking God for, the diversity of humanity.
Oh yes, about that giving. We really need it, so POFEV can lead the way in creating a new Virginia.
There are two options: use the PayPal option on our web page at www.faith4equalityva.org or send your check to POFEV, PO Box 4919, Richmond, VA 23220. POFEV is a 501 (c) (3) organization and contributions are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
I am on fire with ideas, enthusiasm, and determination. I pray you share at least some of that with me. We have been blessed to be alive at this precise moment in history, when so much is shifting, and we can do our part to help move Virginia forward.
Forward! I say forward!
Forward! I Say Forward!!
by Rev. Dr. Robin Hawley Gorsline, POFEV President
It is now time to say out loud here what has been talked about in Richmond for some time.
I have ceased serving as Pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Richmond to take on full-time duties leading People of Faith for Equality in Virginia.
There are some things to be worked out with the Board of Directors, and I won’t take up my new responsibilities full-time until June, but things are moving already. For one thing, I have been working on an action plan for the next year—and I will be sharing that with many of you in the coming weeks. If you’d like to receive a copy, please
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. I also will be working on a job description, in line with that plan and our longer range goals for POFEV.
I also am working on a plan to raise funds in the short term to provide compensation and office space for me, as well as some supplies and other expenses, for the next 12 months. The long term plan is to have a larger staff, with field reps placed strategically across Virginia. (If this excites you, you can start giving now—see below).
This was not an easy decision. In fact, it feels driven by a call from God.
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According to a new Washington Post poll, support for legal marriage for gay and lesbian couples has risen to 56% of all adults (33% want to them to remain illegal). This is a sea change, especially given that in 2006, 57% of the state’s voters adopted a constitutional amendment prohibiting that very thing.
That means that most regions of the country—except the southwest, and the south/southeast (unless you count Maryland as part of the South, which lots of people do not)—have at least one state that has made same-gender-loving marriage legal.