No. I haven't been. Not yet, anyway. :-)
But I've been thinking a great deal about the current American and world situation as well as my own unemployed situation.
I've done a great deal of reading (from increasingly reputable sources), a certain amount of serious thinking but have taken nowhere near enough serious action. That, however, is about to change.
As I see it, the battlegrounds on which I will fight over the next several years of my life are mostly going to take place within various institutions: businesses, churches and other voluntary organizations.
As the late Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams emphasized throughout much of his writing, voluntary associations in America are the access points into which ordinary folks can amplify their voice and negotiate with the state, megabusiness and the other Powers That Be. (See James Luther Adams at http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/jameslutheradams.html )
THE CHURCH
The first institution, the one that – to me – ties my involvement in all the others together, is the church.
As a Christian who is theologically indebted to the late lawyer and Episcopal lay theologian William Stringfellow, I see those Powers That Be as fallen (not evil – there is a difference) and see their ethics as seeking to either enthrall or terrify human beings, ultimately preying upon them to ensure their own survival the concern for which they are consumed. (See "William Stringfellow at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stringfellow )
The Powers That Be, in essence, demand worship.
3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. 4 Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. (Revelation 13:3-7 (New International Version))
It is the specific ministry of Christians (as well as the more general service of interfaith and secular allies) to discern and challenge ownership claims of "the beast" over people and our natural environment in whatever guise or disguise they may appear, recalling them to their true vocation of glorifying God (for those so-convinced) and serving others (on which we all can agree).
The chief tool I, personally, can bring to that ministry is my gift of encouragement. Christians truly believe in providence and the sovereignty of God over the Powers That Be and therefore Christians are, if I dare say so, uniquely empowered to encourage others no matter how dark or even hopeless the situation as the foundation justifying the encouragement is not ourselves nor any human capacity but the trustworthiness of God.
And therefore, while God can be discerned anywhere in the world, I believe the God Christians believe was most clearly incarnate in a crucified human being in ancient times is also most clearly encountered in contemporary times in the poor, the sick and dying, the criminal, the insane, sexual minorities and, more generally, in exactly those people and sub-cultures that the dominant culture has consigned to societal death and would, if it had its way, "bury" out of sight.
As a Christian, one performs this ministry as part of a community and when one is in a community of at least relatively like-minded Christians, we call that community a church. Many of them look like the ordinary churches we're all familiar with. Some look a bit more exotic, occuring in para-church institutions and interfaith and/or secular institutions.
My particular calling, at this time anyway, seems to be to perform this service of discerning the Powers and encouraging and allying with the humans who contend with them in the interfaith and secular setting known as Unitarian Universalism.
Churches (as well as synagogues, mosques, temples, etc.) operate in two modes.
On the community worship day (generally Sunday), the community gathers and explicitly affirms and celebrates its faith. In a Christian church, that would be done in explicitly Christian terms. In Unitarian Universalism, that is done using a variety of religious and secular languages, rituals and cultural forms (including, on occasion, Christian ones).
The second mode is what occurs the other six days of the week, namely, the dispersal of churches (that is, the community) throughout the world in families, neighborhoods, occupations and volunteer organizations.
As I believe the evangelical theologian Elton Trueblood expressed these two modes, the church gathered and the church scattered.
So my first and primary institutional focus will be the church.
And my specific projects within the church will be to help lead adult religious education programs (including the church's Christian fellowship), to provide staffing to youth religious education programs when needed and to escort at the Allentown Women's Center to mitigate the effect of anti-choice bullying.
POLITICS AND THE COFFEE PARTY MOVEMENT
If religion is a primary concern of mine a closely related concern would be politics, particularly a politics focusing on civil, informed discussion on America's challenges and holding government officials accountable for delivering humane, pragmatic and non-ideological efforts to address those challenges.
Therefore, a second institutional venue in which I plan to contribute is the Coffee Party Movement in Bethlehem. At the present time, the Coffee Party Movement in Bethlehem is more of an idea and a mailing list than an actuality, but I believe the Coffee Party Movement's analysis of our political dilemma is correct and that its ideas to move towards solutions will stand the test of time and I will continue to commit to helping it do so.
There are many activist organizations out there mounting politically significant movements to address specific social problems, but the Coffee Party Movement represents, in my opinion, the best opportunity to draw non-activists (such as I've been) across the line into becoming activists and showing them the various like-minded groups out there.
THE TRANSITION INITIATIVE AND THE ADVENT OF ENERGY SCARCITY
As my increasing political interest has brought me into contact with the legion of serious problems with which America and the world are faced, I am becoming convinced that the key issue of our day (if not way, way before our day) is sustainability, both environmental and economic.
Our use of the planet's resources, particularly energy, is simply unsustainable in both environmental and economic realms. The concentration of those resources in the hands of fewer and fewer people and corporations, a concentration causing the enormous and growing gap between rich and poor, both in America and worldwide, is simply unsustainable. The use of that wealth to buy governments and prevent remedial action, is simply unsustainable.
This is leading me down paths that I've never been particularly drawn to before: energy conservation and the development of renewable sources of energy.
The institutional model I'm being drawn to in an attempt to educate myself on these issues is the emerging idea of so-called transition towns. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns )
This is a movement that recognizes that the era of cheap, easy to extract and safe oil is coming to an end and that rising energy costs will profoundly change society. Rather than wait for government to respond (though certainly supportive of efforts to make it more responsive), it seeks to empower small groups to initiate grass-roots efforts to become resilient in the face of changes to come.
And it recognizes that before energy consumption can change, people and cultures must change.
Like the militia movement, it seeks to prepare citizens for a coming social upheaval.
Unlike the militia movement, it uses gardens and flourescent lights instead of guns. :-)
PAYING THE RENT, FEEDING THE DOG
Oh, yeah. Guess I need a job, too. :-)
Jobs are important, not just because we need the money but because they are sources of meaning and friendship and personal growth and opportunities to contribute to the common good and – when you think on it – are probably where we spend almost half of our waking time.
(There are 168 hours in a week: if we spend 56 hours sleeping and 50 hours at work (including commuting) that leaves 62 "conscious" hours. With that type of weekly commitment, week after week, you certainly don't want to spend 50 hours a week at some place you loathe. :-)
After my 6.5 month Sabbatical since becoming unemployed, I made a number of decisions regarding myself and what I have to offer to an employer.
Reviewing my past jobs, I find that I work best in small businesses requiring a combination of my sales, training, servicing, writing (procedures and sales proposals) and database skills.
I also need to work in environments that either support the values listed above (e.g., my most recent employer who helps companies keep their pharmaceuticals safe and their facilities energy efficient) or are at least somewhat neutral regarding them (e.g., my work at EDS in support of Bethlehem Steel which manufactured steel – steel being useful for making weapons but also for building hospitals and infrastructure).
My biorhythms and other vocational interests (as in all of the above) lead me in the direction of daytime employment in a Monday through Friday situation, though I can be flexible regarding overtime and occasional weekend work.
My primary targets, as I believe they will be the first to start hiring, will be small businesses in the medical or energy fields as well as companies that export to emerging markets such as India and China.
SO...
This constitutes my plan to contribute my knowledge, skills and attitude, such as they are, to the institutions where I believe I can get the most bang for the buck (including the business of my future employer that I hope will allow me to continue enjoying luxuries I've grown fond of such as eating and living indoors :-).
There is another plan that I'm working on - personal rather than institutional.
For anyone into the Myers-Briggs thing, my reporting out as an INFP indicates a heavy tendency towards introspection (which is always a surprise to those who know me well) and a hesitancy to bring things to closure. (See "INFP" at http://www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html )
Both of these factors explain my being quick to read and analyze and write but slow to act - action requires reaching out and engaging people and that, for someone heavily introspective, requires major energy.
Which is not to say I don't enjoy face-to-face interactions (I do) nor to say I'm not good at it (I am) - just to recognize that whereas extroverts find such interactions energizing for me it's an energy drain.
And that has caused me to be more theoretical than practical, more idealistic than activist. And I need to begin compensating for that - which I can, now that I see it.
But, regarding my institutional or, I guess you could say, public commitments, that's the plan.
And now that I've posted it on my blog for all the world to see I guess I need to execute the plan or suffer severe public humiliation and disgrace. And poverty. Let's not forget poverty. :-)
Hmmm... getting this done was my goal for the morning and so I have.
Bill Bekkenhuis
Bethlehem, PA
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