Dear members of the Candler community,
As this historic week comes to a conclusion, I want to thank you all for your powerful engagement in the ordinary work of the school as well as the extraordinary work of vibrant discussions and strong witness to the ties that bind us in faithful commitment to the gospel. We do not always agree on how to embody such a witness, but I have heard many of you say that this is an excellent place from which to discern our individual callings as well as our calling as a community in these challenging times.
Meanwhile, this week The United Methodist Church (UMC) General Conference, convened in Charlotte, NC, eliminated all exclusionary language related to LGBTQIA+ persons. At the age of 19, I was an observer at the 1972 General Conference in Atlanta that began the process of inserting “incompatible” and exclusionary language. I witnessed a participant who was alarmed and heartbroken by this initial action be escorted off the stage and away from the microphone where he begged the delegates to reconsider. Many of us gathered in 1972 were alarmed and heartbroken, as we were at almost every other General Conference across the next 47 years when a number of additional exclusionary provisions were adopted, the last of which passed in 2019.
I rejoice that this week, 52 years after the incompatibility provision was first placed in the Social Principles of The Book of Discipline, the UMC officially removed all the exclusionary language. We at Candler held a service of Word and Table on Wednesday, May 1, as the legislative process for removing the exclusionary language began to unfold. Together we rejoiced over the news we were receiving from Charlotte, cried over all the pain, loss, and damage done for five decades, and gave thanks to God for this historic moment of profound change.
Candler has welcomed LGBTQIA+ faculty, staff, and students into our community for some decades, sheltering those forced for one reason or another to remain closeted. Many have provided key leadership to the community and with their allies challenged us all to strenuously uphold the school’s determination “to honor the voice of every member of the Candler community across lines of confessional difference, disability, race and ethnicity, gender and generation, social and sexual identity, cultural heritage and national origin,” as declared by Candler’s commitment statements.
Much work lies ahead in many arenas, but the UMC, our official ecclesial partner, has through the grace of God taken a giant step toward accepting all people unconditionally. Hallelujah!
Grace and peace,
Jan Love
Mary Lee Hardin Willard Dean
Professor of Christianity and World Politics
Candler School of Theology, Emory University