Space for Everyone, no Exceptions.
photo credit: “For Everyone a Place at the Table” by Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, Connecticut, USA.
I support the Simple Plan because, unlike the plans previously put forth, the plan was designed for and by persons for whom (as the world becomes ever more diverse) the 2019 decision most affects, those persons include: people of color; women, LQBTQI+ persons; and as well and more particularly persons who live within the intersection of a multiplicity of socially constructed codifications. My brief endorsement of The Simple Plan does not aim to provide an historical overview of the racialized and genderized systematic exclusion that is embedded in current language of the Book of Discipline. I simply intend to voice that the words and language of “tradition” has led us to today’s institutional question: “who exactly inherits a claim of sacred worth?”
The Simple Plan (in its clarion call to remove the current language of exclusion, harm, and lovelessness) is a simple call to bring the full and authentic United Methodist Church into a space where sacred worth is measured by our love for God and for each other, full stop. No other plan currently presented takes into account the value, worth, or sacredness of voices for whom the outcome of the 2019 session most affects. The Simple Plan leads us to a future UMC that specifically provides space for everyone, no exceptions.
Rev. Kai Greer, MDiv.