The other night I retweeted the following tweet by @KaitlinCurtice,

“Pastors: In 2019, do you think you could quote 52 non-white-dudes in your sermons, especially if you’re a white dude?”

I love this request. Out of 365 days of the year, what if we lifted up all those other theologians on 52 of those days?! As a white woman with a voice, I need to join in this fabulous parade. Just because I identify as a lesbian doesn’t let me off the hook from this sort of work. In fact, it pushes me harder to so this sort of thing because I know what it feels like to be treated as though I don’t deserve a place in God’s choir because of who I was created as. I don’t preach 52 days out of the year, but I get at the very least 12 of those days, and that’s atleast 12 opportunities to expand my own horizon and that of my church a little bit more.

Then, this morning as I was attempting to eat my tiny New Year’s resolution packet of oatmeal for breakfast, I came across this blog post from The Global Church Project: 18 Asian Female Theologians You Should Know About (Plus Others for You to Explore). I’m taking it as a sign.

My goal in 2019 is to only quote theologians who fit the above bill in my sermons. Sure, I love a good Karl Barth quote as much as the next person, but we all know what he says. I want to start hearing more from what the theologians in today’s global world have to say since that’s the world I’m living in.

It’s not about tossing the white dudes aside, but rather an intentional embracing of those who aren’t white dudes because we already embrace them way more than everyone else. As a pastor, a person of faith, a person of the LGBTQIA+ community, and just as a decent human being, that’s my goal task for 2019. May it be so.