Always Beginning the World

A few of my recent meetings have hit a little something home to me, that got clearer with each conversation, or reflection afterwards, or perhaps just with each passing week on the beat. This little nugget (of so many- with yet another week chock full of precious insights from this work underway) - this bit- that I am chomping on, seems to coincide with that line from the Innocence Mission song of a similar name, "We are always beginning the world". (Let me commend you to perhaps hear its provocative flow rather than take my word for it, as it looks a bit more dry in print here!) But at any rate, here is the thing: everything we do this summer in our work builds toward the next good rounds of work after us. It is some of the ground for the potential of what can be done for worker justice by those that will come up next after us.

On Monday I met with someone in Chicago who did Seminary Summer a year ago, and who is a classmate of mine at Chicago Theological Seminary (C.T.S.), and becoming a good friend and most trusted colleague-- someone whom I am sure I will be in touch with for decades to come, as we both wind our way in to our work in the United Church of Christ. You all in fact met him as one of the trainers at Orientation (while I was committed to leading a youth mission trip for my internship church placement, so I arrived late; and, for those of you I did not get to connect with- my regrets- and still hope to...) Jason is currently a seminarian and a student pastor in Chicago but also, as you likely learned, a former labor organizer, who rose quickly in the ranks of UNITE to broadly lead organizing efforts there. One of the things we touched base on was the fact that this will be the last year for both of us at the seminary, as Jason finishes his M.Div and I study for a Master of Sacred Theology. We noted that our task for the upcoming year of helping lead "Seminarians for Worker Justice" at C.T.S. will be to interest new folks coming in, who may become future coordinators of opportunities, for yet again additional students in the future to take action on behalf of low wage workers.

What issues might we plan to work on this year that could attract new seminary students such that we can help cultivate the next crew, as we get ready to graduate? I told Jason a little about the presentations that we heard at the IWJ National Conference from the student organizers who had successfully tapped a chord among busy students at their schools (this was from the workshop "From SNCC to Immokalee: Challenges and Opportunities for Student Organizing.") As we spoke, I got excited about the year to come, as I came to be able to frame a part of what our work will be: cultivating next leadership.

This is straight forward and neat in certain terms. But the same message also recently came to me from a very different kind of conversation. This was during some of the more grueling and unromantic parts of organizing (let me just say: a stack of cold outreach calls!) But the take-away insight is similar. A few weeks ago, I was facing down a most daunting list of calls to pastors. This was before I had a strategy session where I was encouraged to start with those whom I had identified a relationship or connection with that might be common ground (which was my inclination, coming out of our training, but during week one, I had still been more of an anthropologist, not asking as many questions- or offering my contributions as readily as I can now.) This was also before receiving the gem of wisdom from my mentor, "with organizing, Lauren, always start with the 'low hanging fruit'." In other words, of course start with the people with whom you have any previous connection- why the heck not with such an uphill climb?

So before being enlightened in such ways, on my initial day of calls, after a sea of vague ones, I "met" a pastor over the phone, where my focus came down sharp when I learned he was already familiar, and in fact a huge fan, of none other than "Interfaith Worker Justice and all the good folks there and all the good work that you do." I updated him as to what the lowest wage workers at Resurrection Hospitals in Chicago are working on, as they struggle to at least get a living wage, out of a hospital system that is becoming more and more corporatized, and less and less of the profit and benefits are trickling down to workers. He was less interested in the specifics, but said, "you are working with a really great operation, and yes I will try to come to your upcoming action if I am back in town by then." So rather than curse the blasted season of August pastor vacations one more time that day, I had a moment of sending out gratitude to all the tireless IWJ people who had worked before me, such that this pastor might be ready to act simply by my association with IWJ.

So I know that we are all "always beginning the world," even as many of the seeds that we drop can not yet be seen for their fruit to come. And so whenever I detect a shred of despair hidden underneath my generally optomistic attitude in this work-- I want to remember that even if my particular call may not turn from a maybe to a yes, I may leave a good impression that will lead next year's intern to an instant yes for her or his stack o' calls for an action that deserves wide support.