Right now, the UMC, bound by institutional clutter, is unfree, rigid, divisive and has regulated creativity out of the system.
I’m a sucker for the “25 things you need to get rid of” article. Clutter drives me crazy.
I used to watch those hoarding TV shows. In so doing, I became aware of the ease of slipping into patterns like that. It takes constant effort to stay on top of it.
I’ve developed a habit of daily “tidying” to maintain control over the pervasiveness of clutter. And yes, I’m entranced by Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Her basic philosophy: toss any item that does not give joy when touching it.
No question about it: the decluttered life is freer, flexible, more creative and unquestionably more joyful.
It continues to fascinate me that a church, based on the intentional, ecclesiastically awful, rule-breaking methods of John Wesley, now has elevated rule-keeping to the status of holiness.
Rules always beget more rules. They are worse than wire closet hangers. We have an overstuffed closet of rules. It is time for a ream-out.
Seven pieces of institutional clutter to discard
So, camping on these ideas plus my quirks, here are seven pieces of institutional clutter the UMC needs to leave behind.