Find YOUR way to Grace.
Welcome to PlainSpeech
I hadn’t been a Quaker very long before hearing the phrase “plain speech.” Confused about its meaning, I asked a more seasoned Friend what it meant.
She said, “It means saying what you mean, and meaning what you say,”
That seemed consistent with the little I knew about Quakers, that they valued integrity, and spoke simply and directly. But later I would learn that plain speech meant more than integrity and brevity, it also meant avoiding language that elevated some and brought down others. Our language reflected the worth and value of all people, not just the high and mighty, so Quakers avoided titles of honor or deference, for ourselves and others. That too, was plain speech.
This custom of plain speech has become increasingly important to me, especially in our culture of income disparity, privilege, and the exaltation of the rich and powerful. You’ll find in these messages a high regard for the common folk, a contempt for hubris, and a passion for truth and reason, clearly spoken. I am becoming, as I age, less enamored with dogma and doctrine, more devoted to the observably true, and not at all inclined to believe something because I am told I must.
I hope these messages give you an appreciation for plain speech, for words and ideas clearly spoken, whose authority is rooted not in some ancient tradition or institution, but in truth, fact, and reason.
This website is free-of-charge, in accordance with my conviction that one’s wealth, or lack of it, should not affect their access to our cultural conversation. Sign-up to receive our weekly messages, and share them with your friends. If you wish to reproduce them for a newsletter, a discussion group, or a Facebook page, feel free to do so. I am enriched when you are.
Our Latest PlainSpeech Messages
Things We Got Just Right (Universality Over Nationality)
When I was in the fourth grade, one of my best friends was a boy named Joe Bryant, whose family rented a farmhouse southwest of Danville on Mackey Road. He moved to our town at the start of the school year, and we became friends the first week of school. His family...
Things We Got Just Right (Innovation over Tradition)
My phone rang not long ago. It was a Quaker calling from out-of-state, whom I had met several years ago at a conference. He called because their Quaker meeting was in decline, and he wanted to know if I had any suggestions that might revive their meeting. He said,...
“In our ever-changing world, Gulley’s book is much needed. An important book for any person of faith.”
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“Every serious Christian ought to read this book, ponder it, wrestle with it, but above all, be grateful for its’ presence in today’s urgent conversation about what we are becoming as a people of God.”
– Phyllis Tickle, author of THE GREAT EMERGENCE
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– John Shelby Spong, author of Eternal Life: A New Vision
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– Father Richard Rohr
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– Parker J. Palmer, author of HEALING THE HEART OF DEMOCRACY
