Unpacking Ideas

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”   – The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Nobel Laureate, Peace, 1989

“What matters today is not the difference between those who believe and those who do not believe, but the difference between those who care and those who don’t.”   – Georges Pires, Nobel Laureate, Peace, 1958 ¹

Years ago in the early nineties I served on the staff of Habitat For Humanity, International (http://www.habitat.org) .  I worked out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  We were responsible for the local Habitat affiliates in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.  Teaching local affiliates how to recruit and manage volunteers was a big deal.  Habitat affiliates depend on volunteers to accomplish their mission.  So, I conducted many training events, especially about volunteer recruiting and volunteer managing² .

When We Volunteer, It’s OK To Be Selfish…But…

Many times I said, “When it comes to the reasons we volunteer, it is OK to be selfish.”  What I meant is that it’s OK to volunteer for a community service project because it “makes me feel good.”  Let’s face it.  If we’re honest, it feels good when we do something good for others.  No need to feel guilty about that.  So, let’s come clean about why we volunteer for community service organizations.  One reason we volunteer is that it makes us feel good.  When we volunteer for an effective organization that is accomplishing good, we feel satisfied, fulfilled.  That’s a good thing.

But is it the only thing?  Do we volunteer for other reasons?

I returned yesterday from a week-long mission trip with Appalachia Service Project (www.asphome.org)³ .  Our church group joined two larger church groups in Summers County, West Virginia.  All week we repaired houses for families who are unable to do the repairs on their own.  We dug holes and poured footers, we built porches, installed HVAC duct work, painted, sawed, nailed, laughed, sweat, and … slept very well — even on the floor of a hot gymnasium.

There’s More To Mission Work Than Feeling Good About Myself

Why?  Why did we go?  Sure, we went because it satisfies us.  It feels good.  But there is more.  Feeling satisfied is not enough.  There’s more to mission work than feeling good about myself.  I want to be effective.  I want to make a real difference.  I want my effort to have meaning. 

What a waste to have spent an entire week crawling under a house in that smelly, muddy mess if it did not result in real change for the homeowner, Margie.  Sure I want to feel satisfied that I served her.  But I also need to know that what I accomplished for her will make a difference in her life.  Will my work be effective for her?

I suppose we all have a tendency to be a bit self-absorbed, even when we are serving others.  Too often we settle into a comfortable “service” role that is more self-serving than other-serving.  So, because we are human, perhaps we can accept (and enjoy) that sometimes, when we serve others, we do serve ourselves.  But to serve others must mean more.  Serving others must be effective.  Serving others should also result in real, meaningful change for the other person. 

So, we seek both — to make a meaningful difference in some one’s life, and to feel good about it. ⁴  I think there is enough of God’s grace for both of us, for all of us…for those being served, and those who are serving.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010)

1. Both quotations come from David Pratt, Editor, 2007. The Impossible Takes Longer: The 1,000 Wisest Things Ever Said By Nobel Prize Laureates. New York: Walker & Company
2. Much of my training material on volunteer management — still in use today – I developed during my tenure with Habitat For Humanity, later refined as part of my doctoral dissertation research.  I have since revised the material for application also in local congregations.  See the categories on Transformational Leadership and Church Leadership to the right, and the Workshops/Consultations page above.
3. See my last article, More Than A House .
4. This sounds like a conversation in The Murky Middle!

[For daily ASP news from Summers County this week, please click ASP 2010 Daily Log above.  Thanks!]

Sure, this is a plug…for a good organization.  More, this is a plug for a good idea — the flesh of God’s love.  On Sunday I will join a team of eager workers in West Virginia.  We are working for Appalachia Service Project (www.asphome.org), a faith-based organization that provides structured mission opportunities in the Appalachia region of our country (West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee).  Teams from all over the U.S. volunteer for this important work every summer.  

Hundreds Of Families This Summer!

This year our team consists of 8 adults and 7 youth (representing two United Methodist churches from our community).  We are heading to Summers County, West Virginia to join teams from churches in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania and Pleasantville, New York.  Personally, I’ll be glad to hang around a bunch of yankees for the week!  

This summer, a total of twenty-one teams will be working over eight consecutive weeks in Summers County.  All over Appalachia, in 26 other communities, ASP is hosting similar projects for hundreds of families!

The details of our work in Summers County will vary, but all of us – whether digging, nailing, painting, cutting, measuring, sweeping, or hauling — will be helping 18 families live in safer, warmer homes. 

Appalachia Service Project has served thousands of families for over 40 years, in places where the economy has made it especially tough to pay the bills, and even tougher to pay for house repairs.  The families we serve are not able to purchase the materials or hire the contractors to fix their homes. 

More Than Repairing A House

This is more than repairing houses.  One of our projects this week is to finish a room addition so a young family can be allowed to have their daughter live with them again.  Sure, maybe it’s just one tiny bedroom, but its an entirely new home for this young family.

Our teams include teenagers every year.  Two of my daughters are joining me this year!  Appalachia Service Project is dedicated to providing mission opportunities for youth.  Our small team will include 7 teenagers.  Very cool.  If your organization or congregation is looking for a very practical, hands-on, effective mission opportunity designed for youth, check out Appalachia Service Project (www.asphome.org).  ASP helps our church teach our youth that faith means action, that love is more than words.  ASP is one way we experience — and share — the flesh of God’s love.   

News From Summers County, WV

I hope to send you updates from the site all week long.  Maybe you recall that we were able to send news from Russia just about every day when Chris was in Ivanovo with the orphans.  Check out Ivanovo Daily Log 2010 if you haven’t read about that exciting orphan care mission trip.  If I can find an internet connection, I’ll send you the news as often as possible.

Pray for us — all of us throughout Appalachia.  Pray especially for the families who will receive (we hope) tangible evidence of God’s love.  More, please consider getting involved next summer.  We need your hands, too.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010)

I heard this song during the winter of my first year at Penn State.  It was written and performed by British folk singer/songwriter John Dawson Read.  Check out his website: http://www.johndawsonread.com .  Find the song on his website and listen!  The soft-rock radio station in State College, Pennsylvania played it often.  The song haunted me.  Still does.  

“A friend of mine is going blind, but through the dimness, he sees so much better than me…He can’t read books       and he can’t paint pretty pictures,  but he understands so much clearer than I.  For he knows that all he’s missing with his eyes is more vivid in the mind of the man who’s going blind.  And that’s why he doesn’t mind.”

Who is the song about?  His name is Tommy Davidson, and he was going blind.  Despite John’s lyrics, I figure Tommy minded. 

That 1976 winter must have been a strange time in my life.  Why did this penetrating and sad song from an obscure  British songwriter get so much air time on a small town radio station in Pennsylvania in 1976?

The Song Was Too Sad To Play Again 

Here is the better question.  Why did I want to hear it so often?   I called the station over and over requesting the song.  One night I called so often they told me to stop calling.  The song was too sad to play again, they said.  Hmm.    

The melody is beautiful and clear.  Truth be known, the lyrics are not sad as much as they are wise.  Could it be I was drawn to the elusive wisdom of the song?  The songwriter tells the story of his close friend, Tommy, who is losing his physical sight yet continues to “see” better and more, and more clearly than others.  If you haven’t heard the song yet, listen by going to John’s site (above) to click on the link.

Do I See Or Understand?

There is a difference between seeing and understanding.  The power of this singular piece of wisdom must have overwhelmed me in 1976.  Still does. 

I did not have much of a theological mindset in 1976 but now I am able to wonder about the connection between John’s lyrics and a similar piece of wisdom from Jesus.  In Luke’s Gospel Jesus says to his disciples, ”To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others I speak in parables, so that looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand” (NRSV).  Apparently Jesus wanted more than a superficial reaction to his teaching.  So, he sometimes shared his wisdom in a veiled way, to make us dig a bit, think a bit, wonder a bit…and perhaps then understand.  

There is a difference between seeing and understanding.  Most of us see with our eyes, but few of us understand.

Of course I thought I understood everything in 1976.  I was nineteen.  C’mon, I knew everything, right?  I understood everything, right?  Truth is, that winter in 1976 I saw lots of  things but understood very little.  I can catalogue a long list of poor decisions I made in those days because I “saw” and only thought I understood the world and people around me.  

Looking Back Is A Good Thing

I’ve been thinking about my high school reunion scheduled for this summer.  I suppose it has revived these penetrating questions within me…looking back …wondering…asking tough questions about whether I only saw or truly understood the world around me. 

I’m going to miss the reunion, but I say “thanks” to the reunion organizers for reviving within me the memories – and the questions — about my life in the months following graduation. 

What did I see in 1976?  Not sure.  What did I understand?  A lot less.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010)

You’ve heard the story of the well-equipped, well-trained team of firefighters who skillfully dash into a building and tenaciously, impressively reach the top floor at record speed, only to discover they have entered the wrong building.  The burning building is next door.

The tenacious, skillful effort by well-equipped, well-trained workers means nothing if they are heading in the wrong direction¹ .  In fact, if we don’t know where we are going, or if we are unwilling to commit to where we are going, any plan will work.  Or, no plan works well too!  The Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland reminds us, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” ²

Conversely, knowing where we want to end up truly motivates a team — even for an ill-prepared bunch of novices.  Tonight my family will pack up our stuff, for tomorrow morning’s departure when, before the finches clamor onto the thistle socks, we will stuff our stuff into a minivan, along with two dogs, for our 15 hour drive to our vacation destination.  That’s right, 15 hours, two dogs, one minivan.  Sounds delightful….not!

We Know Where We Are Going.

Why would we endure such a grueling drive?  We know where we are going.  We know where we will end up.  Its worth it.  Perhaps along the way we will run into barriers (not literally!), diversions, delays, fatigue…but we will always have before us the image of our destination at the end of the long day.  We are assured the comfortable, peaceful cabin on the lake in New Hampshire awaits us.  We might need to be reminded along the way.  In the midst of the traffic or fatigue on Interstate 84 we might need to shout out, “We’re heading for the lake!”  The end point makes the long drive worth it.

When we embrace the good end — even from a distance — the best advice might be, “Do not give up!”  I am reminded of the daffy fish friend Dory, in the Disney movie Finding Nemo³.  Dory encouraged Marlin in their long journey to find Marlin’s son, Nemo, who had been snatched by a sport diver and taken to a far away place.  When Marlin thought of giving up his search, Dory swam alongside (parakaleo for you Greek nerds) and sang, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming….”  They knew where they were going, they embraced a clear vision of what awaits them — finding Marlin’s son Nemo!  So…the best leadership advice was “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

We Dare Not Settle For Short-Term Visioners

When something good awaits us, the long  journey to get there is worth it.  And yet, the long journey sometimes becomes very long, and discouraging.  Along the way we might lose sight of why we are going where we’re going. 

We can apply this simple truth to a few social policy ”journeys” .  Our economic recession requires that we boldly make a long, scary journey through troubled waters, but we know (hope?) in the end we will be better, stronger.  In the midst of this long journey toward recovery we dare not settle for short-term visioners (e.g., those who want us to focus on quarterly indicators as if 3 months is the extent of the journey).  Or worse, we dare not settle for short-term visioners who offer up sound bites designed to win in November rather than lead us in the long journey through the troubled waters.

Transformational Leadership Requires Tenacious Long Term Vision

We can apply this simple truth to organizational change.  Do not give up on the long term good just because the short term challenges and sacrifices seem too difficult.  In short, transformational leadership, whether we are talking about national policy or change for my local congregation or nonprofit, requires tenacious long term vision.  Leaders who ask us to scuttle our long term common good in order to relieve our short term discomfort are not leading us anywhere.  And we know what the Cheshire Cat said.

Tomorrow’s Long Drive Will Be Worth It

Tomorrow’s drive will be long, tough, and tiring, but we know where we are going and the drive is worth it.  The journey toward a better day for our nation, our Conference, our local congregation will be long, tough, and tiring.  If we know where we are going — if we embrace the common good that awaits us — the long drive will be worth it.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010)

1. Thanks to Kathy Merry, Marc Brown, and John Briggs for reminding me of this valuable truth during our recent Virginia UMC Annual Conference.  They have written a delightful, accessible book on transformational leadership for the Church, Does Your Church Have A Prayer?  In Mission Toward The Promised Land.  Nashville, TN: Discipleship Resources, 2009.
2. Carroll, Lewis. (1865).  Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.   Plenty of management and leadership experts since then have used the Cat’s wisdom in a variety of ways! 
3. Written by Andrew Stanton, 2003

In recent weeks I have experienced connection synergy.  It means I am experiencing a crashing together of several opportunities to meet with friends, colleagues, and family…folks I don’t get to see very often.  Re-connection and connection. 

Weddings, Conferences, Reunions

A month ago Mom, Dad, and my four siblings converged in Birmingham, Alabama for a wedding.  My sister’s son got married.  The wedding was cool, but the gathering with my family — even for a short weekend — was very cool.  We re-connected through stories, celebration, and lots of food.

A few weeks ago my family and I attended a couple of weddings in the community where we once lived.  We also attended a worship service where we began our Methodist journey.  It was a healthy experience re-connecting with old friends. The same week I attended the annual conference for Virginia United Methodists.  Sounds like a boring annual meeting, but in Methodism we take this very seriously.  It’s in our Wesleyan DNA to gather with members of our conference every year - lay and clergy alike – for a few days of worship, business, and yes, re-connecting our lives.  I talked with old friends and made new friends, and we made some progress ordering the ministries of the Virginia Conference. I was reminded that I’m a part of something larger than me, larger than my local congregation.  I feel better now.  While I never look forward to going to these conferences, I always return home re-energized and hopeful.  Why?

Next month is my 35th-year high school reunion for the Beaver Area Senior High class of 1975.  Go BASH Class of 1975!  We were always the best.  We might be getting old…some of you are lookin’ kind of ragged on FaceBook…but we have not given up.  I’m sorry to say I will miss the event because of another commitment (…c’mon, I have a pretty good excuse…), but I have been privy to the e-mails from the reunion coordinator – thanks, Polly! - who has diligently invited us to register.  She has shared details about the weekend events and sent out special requests for current mailing information for classmates we can’t find….like that guy in Trigonometry, the quiet one with curly red hair who sat in the back.  Does anyone know where he is now?

Why Do I Want To Go?

The reunion e-mail chatter has encouraged me.  I don’t talk often enough with my former classmates, but it doesn’t seem to matter, at least not this summer, because that’s my class.  Those are my people.  And even though the rest of the class of 1975 probably still considers me an annoying dweeb, I belong, I am one of them.  So, I will surely miss the opportunity to re-connect with them.

I wonder, though, why do I want to go?

Good question.  If I’m honest, I’d have to say I’m a loner.  It’s not that I am anti-social (usually), but unless I’m playing Monopoly with my daughters or watching a movie with Linda, I prefer sitting alone reading or writing.  So, I am surprised by my fascination with the ”connection events” I’ve described.  Of all people, I’m the last one to be drawn into connecting with old friends and colleagues.  OK, I understand the wedding in Alabama…most of the food was free, and my siblings have long accepted that I will always be annoying (I’m not a dweeb any more, really).

But the Methodist annual conference and my high school reunion are a stretch for me.  An important stretch.  Why did the conferenc re-energize me?  Why am I interested in seeing old friends from high school?  Maybe this need to connect is a part of my nature.  I wonder if I am wired (created) to be with people, not apart from them.  Duh.  Of course.  In my mind, this point is obvious and needs no further unpacking.  We are created to live in community – whether this is comfortable for us or not.  To put a theological imprint it, I think God’s image in us means we need to connect with other humans because its healthier and safer to live in community.

Blame My Myers-Briggs Classification

How, then, did I come to be such a loner?  I can blame my Myers-Briggs classification.  Every INTJ will understand.  Leave me alone.  

Or, I can blame my North American Protestant culture.  We are raised to thrive on and prefer the frontier where we embrace good ol’ American rugged individualism.  I’ll take care of my bootstraps, you take care of yours.  We are trained to be suspicious of any effort that smacks of “common good” replacing individual rights.  

Or, I can blame my New Hampshire DNA.  “Live free or die” is on their license plates.  Maybe that’s why its so easy to curl up with a book on the porch at the lake in New Hampshire.  It’s the license plate.

I like freedom.  I like my personal rights.  Yay me.  Leave me alone.

Who Gets To Win, And Who Decides?

Consider this as well: If I connect with you, it will be harder to stay alone.  (Another duh.)  Take it a bit further.  If I connect with you, maybe it will become harder for me to hang on to my individual rights.  Or, too bad for you, hanging on to my individual rights could mean you will lose yours….because we are connected.  If we connect, your rights might result in me losing mine.  This tension-filled cycle gets personal.  So, who gets to win, and who decides?

Maybe if I disconnect, I can pretend there is no problem.

The organic tension between my individual rights and our common good has been debated for centuries.  The tension exists within me, and between you and me¹ .  The cycle tuckers me out.  I want to let it go.  I am tempted to disconnect.  I admit, reading a book on the front porch at the lake in New Hampshire sounds very appealing to this loner.

I Won’t Give Up

Take heart.  Encouraged by the BASH ’75 reunion, I might be old and worn out but I won’t give up.  Perhaps this year, for kicks, for the connection-cause, I might dust off an old copy of Amitai Etzioni’s, The Spirit Of Community: The Reinvention Of American Society² .  Etzioni tries to find a balance between the pursuit of common good and the pursuit of personal rights.  He asserts, “strong rights presume strong responsibilities.”  Hmm.  This sounds like middle ground, a very murky, tension-filled, middle way.

Etzioni and others like him (more and more of us, fortunately) have long been convinced there is hearty middle ground where we can obtain a balance between a commitment to community and the pursuit of self-interest.  They believe (me too..) that there is hopeful middle ground where you and I can retain our precious personal rights while also remaining diligent in our pursuit of common good.  We must try.  The alternative extremes will destroy us.  We need the murky middle.

I have hope, if not the energy (for now).  This tired loner has a long way to go to get to that hearty middle ground.  I wonder if a good book in New Hampshire will help.

[Read an article about this topic, Leadership From The Middle.  Find it in the Special Articles category.  This was a lecture I delivered several years ago to a suspicious audience!]

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010).

1. From a systems view it is easy to make the leap from the 1) tension between my individual rights and society’s common good to 2) the tension between my individual rights and the common good of our local congregation, and even to 3) the tension between my individual congregation’s rights and the common good of our Conference.
2. New York: Simon & Schuster (1993).

I’ve been doing this blog thing for a little over a year — 85 articles, and a few of them are good.  Thanks go to you, though.  This site enjoys about 900 unique and remarkable readers every month! 

So, this is an anniversary of sorts – 14 months of self-indulgent writing.  I remain diligent in my confession that this has been a truly self-indulgent exercise, fraught with poor grammar and sometimes poor logic, but filled with rich questions, wonderment and lots of fun. 

I offer a summary of the articles.  I did not plan it this way but during the year the following categories of articles have emerged, roughly.  They are, in alphabetical order, as follows (To read the articles, click the link below or in the categories list to the right.)  

• Carpe Diem Guy — this is about seizing the day in the Church (and my life!)
• Church Leadership — this is about leadership in and for the Church
• Conversation — this is about healthy conversation, which requires a dose of doubt 
• Creation Care — this is my newest category, focusing on the Church’s role in creation stewardship
• Immigration Reform — this is plain and simple talk about doing the right thing for the “strangers” among us
• It’s A Dog’s Life — this is about my dogs and other simple pleasures found in my backyard
• Nobel Laureates — this is about them, those special leaders in our world who have been recognized as extraordinary 
• Organizational Effectiveness — here is my personal niche about what works and how to measure it in organizations
• Orphan Care — this is about a passion of my life, based on my experiences in Russia
• Seventies Nostalgia — this is nostalgic reflection, flash-back to Jack Bogut and those good ol’ days
• The Murky Middle — another niche for me — the political, theological, and behavioral middle — even when murky… gray is good
• Transformational Leadership — loosely defined…this is a sub-part to organizational effectiveness dealing with leadership — from my perspective, and in an organizational context
• Vulnerable Children — this is related to orphan care, of course, but a lot more
• Worm Theology — yes, its true, I have worms, and they teach me good things

In addition to the regular articles, there are a few cool pages, like Cool Books, Tormenting My Congregation, and Special Articles where you can find special topics or items for you to enjoy.  The Cool Books page is especially helpful (in my mind) because it links all the books I have cited to the article(s) in which I mention the book.  Tormenting My Congregation includes a smattering of sermons I have preached over the years.  To my knowledge, no one lost their salvation.  In Special Articles you will find something about leadership in the murky middle, something about a Wesleyan understanding of God’s image, and something about our human drive for community. 

Thanks for reading, whether you agree with me or not.  Thanks especially for your patient reflection in the context of my self-indulgence.  I hope you continue to visit and enjoy.

For several years I commuted every day from my home on the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Richmond, and back.  Lots of driving, lots of books on tape!  In the early morning as the sun rose above the horizon to my left, I drove southbound across the Chesapeake Bay on the Bridge-Tunnel.  In the evening as I returned northbound, the sun would be setting to my left.   

Not-So-Goofy Today

My drives across the bridge every day were a gift from God – to start the day and end the day over the water with its beautiful images…and to enjoy the spectacle of goofy pelicans.  I love these birds, even though they are not the most graceful, elegant birds.  I loved to watch them fly and feed.  Typically three or four would fly together along the edge of the bridge where the fish tended to gather.  Without warning, one of the birds would drop out of the sky and tumble into the water.  

When I first saw this spectacle (there were no pelicans in western Pennsylvania where I was raised!) I was shocked!  It looked as if someone had shot the bird out of the sky or it had suffered a heart attack.  But in a brief moment, the goofy pelican bobbed around on the water’s surface and awkwardly flapped its long wings to rise above the water with a fish in its long beak.  Success!  But very strange.  Very awkward.  No grace.  Goofy, but effective. 

Since then every time I see these silly birds flop to the water for a fish I giggle.  They make me laugh. 

They are not so goofy today.  The picture below is one image among many showing the plight of pelicans in the Gulf because of the oil spill there.  I’m sure you have seen others.  

I am not laughing any more.

An easy search on the web will produce plenty of photos like this one — of pelicans, dolphins, marshland, adult birds, baby birds, turtles, you name it.  And not just the animals.  There are plenty of photos of frustrated workers and boat captains and hotel owners and others who will suffer loss of income to support their families.  It is not news to say that we ache about every dimension of this tragedy.

Not-So-Righteous Indignation

I am curious, though, about my indignation.  Why do I feel bad now?  To be honest, the oil spill will not affect me directly.  The thought crossed my mind that I might have to pay more for shrimp.  Wow.  

Here’s the kicker.  Not only will this not affect me directly, the prospect of such a disaster hardly bothered me before now. 

For how many years — while I was driving back and forth across the bay (enjoying the goofy pelicans), consuming much more than my share of gasoline every day — for how many years did I ignore the possiblity of such a disaster, the odds of which were being fueled by my over-consumption?  My indignation toward BP and other “drill,baby, drill” fanatics today should be tempered by my lack of indignation then — when I did not care, when I did not notice, when I was part of the problem.

I liken this guilt about my oil over-consumption to our concern regarding drug trafficking across the Mexico-US border. We blame our insecure or dangerous border, or those Mexican immigrants hired to carry the stuff when all the while such traffic is fueled by our own (mostly middle class) drug consumption here.  So, when it comes to the oil spill disaster, and my gasoline over-consumption, how righteous is my indignation today?

Let’s face it.  We got what we deserve.  Sure we can point fingers at our relatively unregulated industry, or at our blind pursuit of individual profits over common good — these are old accusations.  But we got what we deserve because all the while we (I) continue to consume energy resources in this country at a pace and proportion far exceeding what we really need in order to care for ourselves and support a growing economy.  Far exceeding.

When I am honest about this oil spill, my indignation no longer feels righteous.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, Ph.D (2010).

 [Check out the Ivanovo Daily Log 2010 for a closing reflection by Chris called "Looking Back".  (31 May 2010)]

“The whole universe in its wholeness more perfectly shares in and represents the divine goodness than any one creature by itself” – Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), in Summa Theologica.  (Thanks to my friend Lee for sharing this quote!) 

A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets, but one man is still trying to find the answers to life’s persistent questions……..Guy Noir, Private Eye¹.

I was Guy Noir that evening, sort of…trying to find the answers to life’s persistent questions.  The seminary cafeteria was dark that night.  The only sound was the hum of the ice cream cooler next to the cash register.  Most of the students were gone…deposited religiously in their dormitory room or apartment earnestly reading Calvin’s Institutes Of The Christian Religion or translating a passage from Nestle Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece text.  I was not one of them.  At least not on this night.  On this night I was on a mission to find the answers to life’s persistent questions.

Such as, what is compassion?  Or, more to the point, is there a compassionate way to relate to creation? 

My instructions were clear.  The mysterious caller — my informant and supplier — said only this:  “Go to the cafeteria when it is dark, when the only sound you hear is the hum of the ice cream cooler next to the cash register.  Wait for me there. ”  

OK.  I’m here.  Waiting.  I hear a slight cough (not the ice cream cooler).  A figure emerges from the shadows.  In a smooth, silent motion he (I think it was a he) glides next to me extending his gloved hand outward.  He is holding the book.  Without a word or glance from under the fedora — for a moment I was sure it was Humphrey Bogart, but wrong decade, wrong movie – the book seems to appear in my hands with the same smooth motion that the fedora dude disappears. 

Really, I wanted to ask Sam to play it again.  Sam wasn’t there.

In only a few pages I was back in my rusty VW bug clutching the book.  I was nervous.  Had I been caught with this paperback bit of contraband surely I would receive a severe glare or two, possibly even a direct question.  “Why are you reading Matthew Fox?”  The shame might have been too much for me to bear.²    

Not Just Any Book, A Book By Matthew Fox

A few of my closest friends had recommended this book because the author said things boldly, regardless of the political correctness of the day (that day, that place)³

So, what’s the big deal?  Its a book written by Matthew Fox. 

Not just any book.  Then or now.  Granted, Matthew Fox has tended over the years to annoy his colleagues and supervisors with his controversial and unconventional view of things.  He wrote of compassion as a spirituality not a religion.  He wrote of basic things, ideas that I had come to believe were the ideas Jesus spoke about.  He wrote as if we should assume that as created beings, we are connected to the rest of creation.  Sound good to me.  So, what’s the big deal?  I wondered.

Well, in those days and these days it is sometimes difficult to convince others of a compelling theological argument for the Church to show compassion toward creation.  We own it, after all.  We dominate it, after all.  Compassion, for creation?  Huh?  Creation is ours to control and use, for our consumption, for our need and enjoyment. 

Compassion, one would think, does not fit into a worldview that says we humans are dominant, owners of the natural world around us.  Creation is ours to use as needed.  And so, compassion is not a word we need when talking about creation.  …Really?

Those were the days.  For me, at least.  I was learning and growing too slowly.  I had not yet begun to integrate my thoughts.  I graduated with a B.S. in environmental resource management, and then I changed careers to pursue a masters in theology.  Only now do I understand the connection.  There was not to be a change, only a reconnection for me between the natural environment and theology.

Cooperation, Rather Than Competition, May Be The More Basic Rule Of The Universe

Matthew Fox began to teach me.  Only later did I understand and learn.  We are connected.  As a Methodist I understand ”connection” as the interdependent relationship between me and all other Christians, between my congregation and all other congregations. 

As a human, Fox explains, we are connected to other humans for sure, but also to creation.  “The awareness in biology,” Fox writes, “is the awareness of interdependence…we are not just made up, as we had always supposed, of successively enriched packets of our own parts.  We are shared, rented, occupied…our interdependence is exactly that — a dependence among one another.”

I am connected to the natural processes and forces of God’s natural, created world.  Light, soil, air, warmth, sunshine, food, nutrients.  I depend upon creation.  Creation also depends upon me.  The recent and ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is sadly becoming more evidence of our dependence upon creation, and creation’s dependence upon humans. 

A recognized interdependence between humanity and creation leads naturally to an awareness that another “dimension to biology and compassion is the movement away from the ruggedness implied in the term ‘rugged individualism.’  The presumption that life is at war and that therefore competition is a necessary and indeed compulsive dimension to living simply does not obtain as we once thought it did under a simplistic interpretation of Darwin’s survival of the fittest formula.  Cooperation, rather than competition, may be the more basic rule of the universe.” (Fox, p.154)

OK.  Thanks to the fedora dude.  Perhaps I am discovering one of the answers to life’s persistent questions: Does compassion matter when we consider creation?  Yes.  Because we are interdependent — with one another, and with creation.  We are intimately bound to the life forces and rhythms of our natural environment.  And so, when we care for creation, creation cares for us.  …When we cooperate.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, Ph.D (2010).

1. This is the opening line of most Guy Noir scripts on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion radio show.  Find it at http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/ 
2. This depiction of events is only partly true.  OK, only a little bit true.  Well, not at all true….but the emotional intensity is close to true, sort of, at least for me.
3. The book is called A Spirituality Named Compassion And The Healing Of The Global Village, Humpty Dumpty And Us by Matthew Fox (1979).  Minneapolis: Winston Press.

[Check out the Ivanovo Daily Log 2010 for fresh news about the orphan care mission team in Ivanovo, Russia!  They are home!  ...or driving toward home.  See the short post...but more to come. (30 May 2010)] 

We love big.  Not just in Texas, everywhere.  Even if it starts small, we want it to grow big.  We tend to super-size everything. ¹   We like  big meals, big houses, big yards, big economies, big churches.  If its small, we wonder, “What’s wrong with it?”

Not so in Guthrie, Oklahoma.  I was delighted to read Joey Butler’s article about the youth group at West Guthrie United Methodist Church.² .  Three members.

Three?  Not to worry.  This youth group is small, but effective.  They don’t seem to realize they are too small to make a huge difference.  Someone forgot to tell them they can’t do what they do.  They are only a small youth group…barely enough of them to call it a group!  But this ambitious team has raised money for several charities, helped elderly members with cleaning and errands, hosted church suppers and children’s ministries, purchased hundreds of malaria nets for Africa, raised over $500 to send care boxes for soldiers, participated in VBS, and helped narrate the children’s Christmas program.  And more.

How does such a small group do so much?  Their adult sponsor believes its their “extraordinary commitment to help others.”  In these days when we are sadly seduced to assume bigger is better, and our attraction to “mega”  overshadows our pursuit of effectiveness, we sometimes miss the little examples of extraordinary goodness happening all around us. 

In fact, we ought to be concerned about our attraction to “mega”.  There is a growing body of data suggesting that as a church increases in membership, the proportion of members actively engaged in ministry decreases.  Have we forgotten about making disciples?  The youth group in Guthrie Oklahoma remembers.   This three member group has a 100 percent participation rate.  They have heart.  They are small…but effective.

Bravo to the West Guthrie, Oklahoma youth group for reminding us that small is beautiful³ and effective!

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, Ph.D (2010).

1. I suppose there is now one exception.  After a generation or longer of experimenting, we’ve decided big cars aren’t so cool.
2. Butler, Joey. Small youth group makes a huge difference. Virginia United Methodist Advocate, May 2010, p.23, courtesy United Methodist Communications
3. I couldn’t resist the link to economist E.F. Schumacher’s 1973 book, Small Is Beautiful (New York: Harper & Row Publishers)

[Check out the Ivanovo Daily Log 2010 for fresh news about the orphan care mission team in Ivanovo, Russia!  Just posted Tuesday morning -- a new update from Chris (25 May 2010)] 

We’ve been thinking about mission a lot around here.  Our friend Chris is in Russia to re-connect with the orphan graduates.  We are in the midst of a Mission Celebration (www.missioncelebration.com) this weekend.  Every United Methodist church in our District will enjoy a special presentation by a mission interpreter — a fancy name for someone – regular folk or clergy folk – who has gone somewhere for mission and is willing to talk about it.  My own congregation is also gearing up for Vacation Bible School for the children in our community in June.  In July, we’ll be sending a team to Summers County, West Virginia to work with Appalachia Service Project (www.asphome.org) to do house repairs for families who can’t afford to do it themselves.  All cool stuff.

Yes, we’ve been thinking about mission a lot around here — locally, regionally, and globally.  But I wonder, why do we go?  Why do we do all this stuff?  Maybe I am asking too many questions.  Just go.  Don’t think about it, just go.  Well, that’s OK if we have unlimited resources…but we don’t.  So we should wonder, we should ask: Why do we go?

Guilt?

Do we go because we would feel guilty if we didn’t go?  I suppose there could be worse motivations for helping someone.  I hope, though, that our mission motivation is a bit more constructive.

Arrogance?

I wonder — now I’m meddling – do we go because we think we are bringing Jesus to the ones we help, and if we don’t go Jesus won’t be there?  Let’s be honest – sometimes, for some of us, we assume that if we don’t go, if we are not there, then those we seek to help will not see Jesus?  As if Jesus needs me to carry him there (…in a box, in my back pocket)?  …I’m not sure we would ever admit such a claim aloud. 

I think this is closer to the truth:  God is huge (too big for my little box), and God does not need to be carried anywhere.

There is a secular version of this motivation.  We might call it altruistic arrogance: If we don’t give the money or supplies or time, then the recipients will surely suffer — as if we are the only ones who have anything to give.  Or, my contribution is the only one that will be effective.  This is arrogance, whether we are talking about faith-based mission or secular  philanthropy.

I Want To Be Wherever God Is Doing Amazing Things     

Consider a different motivation.  When I was a little kid I hated to go to bed early because I was sure I’d miss out on something exciting.  I hated to miss out on the exciting things that might happen when I was asleep.  I gave my mother fits because I never wanted to go to bed! 

I wonder if I could have the same motivation today when I consider a mission opportunity.  I want to be wherever God is doing amazing things.  I don’t want to miss anything! 

Frankly, I need to be reminded that God will do amazing things in this world with or without me.  God’s love is there whether I am or not!  God is present long before I get there with my meager gifts and inflated self-perception.

I like this motivation for mission.  I want to be where the action is!  I want to be wherever God is doing amazing things around the neighborhood, across the state, or across the globe.  I don’t want to miss out.  And if I am lucky, if I am willing to go and be present, God might even use me to accomplish something amazing.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, Ph.D (2010).

This is not much of an article…but an opportunity to share some excitement about what is about to happen this week.  Starting Thursday, May 20, one of our orphan care ministry members, Chris, is travelling with the Centreville United Methodist Church (Centreville, Virginia) mission team to Ivanovo, Russia. 

This is huge for us because Chris will be able to re-connect with our Petrovsky graduates, like an ambassador.  He can carry gifts and money – that’s the easy part — but he can also carry love, and his presence.  Being there is enormous.  The mission is incarnational.  Chris’ physical presence will be evidence of our continued love for the young adult orphans.  His presence will be proof that we have not forgotten them, proof that we want to stay connected with them, that they will not be alone….ever.  He will be evidence of incarnational love.  Chris will be there. 

This is tough for me, though.  Incarnational ministry is a fabulous and biblical idea…but this time, this year, I am trusting in Chris’ incarnational presence for me.  Instead of me.   We have loved them for so long.  And now, I must trust that they will trust the one we send.  Chris is a safe bet.  Chris knows them.  This is Chris’ third visit.  The orphan graduates will recognize him and welcome him. 

Our Journey Together, Regardless Of Who Goes

This is our journey.  It is most important that someone, anyone goes.  Anyone can help show the orphan graduates that we have not forgotten.  While the mission team is small this year, they come from a large faith community.  Chris, and the three members from Centreville UMC, represent an entire faith community the extends from Centreville UMC in northern Virginia to Brosville UMC in southern Virginia, and even to Franktown UMC on the Eastern Shore and the other churches there who have traveled often to see the Petrovsky orphans and the graduates in Ivanovo.

Starting on Thursday (we hope), we will post daily updates on the Ivanovo Daily Log 2010 page.  We will hear from Chris and the other team members about their daily activities, and especially about our young orphan graduate friends.  We ask for your prayers and encouragement, and your continued interest in these precious young adults who are not forgotten.

[To learn more about the ministries of Centreville United Methodist Church see http://www.centreville-umc.org/.  To learn more about the ministries of Franktown United Methodist Church see http://www.franktownumc.org/ .  To learn more about the ministries of Brosville united Methodist Church see http://brosvillemethodistchurch.webs.com/ .  Thanks! ]

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, Ph.D (2010).

I’m a bit miffed that nobody asked (whine, whine, whine). 

In my last article on Creation Care I reported that Costa Rica scored the highest on the New Economics Foundation’s most recent Happy Planet Index.¹  

Nobody asked the obvious next questions.  Is anyone curious which country scored the second highest, or where on the list the United States was ranked?  (Perhaps I am avoiding the more painful point that nobody read the article.  Am I in denial?)

You recall that the Happy Planet Index is a quality of life measure developed by the New Economics Foundation (not at all like the familiar Gross Domestic Product or GDP) that accounts for a nation’s 1) average life expectancy, 2) average life satisfaction, and 3) ecological footprint.  A nation’s ecological footprint is a measure of the amount of resources used per person in the country.  For details about these measures, read the report found at http://www.happyplanetindex.org/ .  It is quite interesting and very well-written.²  

A Measure Of A Nation’s Ecological Efficiency

The Happy Planet Index is a fresh approach to measuring quality of life because it does not overemphasize wealth or production (a weakness, I think, in our over-used GDP measure), plus it includes the extent to which a nation consumes more than its per capita share of the earth’s resources.  In short, the Happy Planet Index is a measure of nation’s ecological efficiency:  Units of well-being delivered for the population per unit of environmental impact by the population.  I like it.

Perhaps you are not surprised to hear that wealthier nations scored fairly high on life expectancy and life satisfaction.³  There are exceptions, of course.  Four of the 35 countries with life expectancies over 77 years also reported a GDP per capita of less than $20,000.  Three of these four nations are in Latin America….hm. 

Costa Rica, for example, with a relatively high life expectancy of 78.5 years and GDP per capita of only $10,180 (one-fourth the US GDP per capita) scored the highest of all nations by a wide margin on the life satisfaction scale.  What’s in their water?  …I think it’s because they take afternoon naps. 

This much is clear.  Wealthier nations (with higher GDPs) tend to score lower on the ecological footprint scale (meaning their environmental impact is greater).  This is no surprise since wealthier nations tend to consume on a per capita basis more than their fair share of the earth’s resources.  With our money we buy and consume more stuff. 

This is a good time to remind ourselves how the Happy Planet index is calculated.  The Happy Planet Index is a measure of efficiency, asking this question:  On average, how many units of well-being are delivered for the population per unit of environmental impact caused by the population?

The highest scores on the overall Happy Planet Index are found among Latin American nations, followed closely by South American and Southeast Asian nations.  The top three highest scoring nations overall are Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.  The United States ranked 114 out of the 143 nations on the Happy Planet Index.

I Think An Afternoon Nap Is A Means Of Grace 

Consider the top three.  What’s up with this tiny country in Central America and the two Caribbean island nations?  What makes them different?  I have a theory.  Naps.  Originating in Spain (we think), the traditional siesta is an early afternoon nap designed to lower one’s exposure the sun’s heat at its most intense time of the day.  The practice of an afternoon siesta is more common, therefore, in hotter climates, like in Latin American and the Caribbean.

I am particularly fond of afternoon naps, so I’m a bit biased as we consider the source of Latin America’s level of life satisfaction.  But life satisfaction is only one part of the Happy Planet equation.  So, experts are still trying to sift through the data to understand why Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica are the three highest scoring nations on the Happy Planet Index, which is based on a formula including three measures: life expectancy, life satisfaction, and ecological footprint.  

A Less Materialistic Culture?

Our top three are not the wealthiest nations as measured by the traditional GDP.  They are not the largest nations.  Is the answer found in their ecological footprint score?  Some experts, including the New Economics  Foundation,  are suggesting that some nations seem to have a culture that is naturally and historically less materialistic. 

If it’s true that our top three nations are less materialistic culturally, it would explain their better scores on the ecological footprint scale.  But it begs the next question. Why does one nation have a less materialistic culture compared to another nation? It’s a complicated issue, of course.

The Not-So-Fancy Way To Be A Happy Planet:  Take More Naps

I think afternoon naps are still the answer.  Think about this.  When I am taking an afternoon I am not eating.  During a nap I am consuming very little…a bit of air, some electricity perhaps….so my ecological footprint is fairly low during a nap.  When I take an afternoon nap I am less stressed, and probably healthier.  Maybe afternoon naps will help me live longer. 

This isn’t very scientific sounding, is it?  This isn’t very technical.  But I like it.  Here’s my theory — afternoon naps will improve our score on the Happy Planet Index.  Of course, I’m biased.  I love my afternoon naps.  For me, naps are like a bit of God’s grace, a surprise gift…but it just might help the planet too!

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, Ph.D (2010).

1. For a summary of the Happy Planet Index research process and to download a full report, go to http://www.happyplanetindex.org/ .
2. Here’s a quickie summary of how the index is calculated: A nation’s scores on life expectancy and life satisfaction are combined into a measure of well-being which is compared in a ratio to the nation’s score on ecological footprint.  A good well-being score is a higher score; a good ecological footprint score is a lower score.  The result is an efficiency measure:  Units of well-being delivered for the population per unit of environmental impact by the population.  A couple of statistical constants are included to prevent any of the three measures from being overly dominant in the final score. 
3. The link between wealth and life satisfaction is less obvious, however.  A thirdof the 35 countries scoring  highest on life satisfaction also reported a GDP per capita of less than $20,000.  I am reminded of what we learned about the United States from David Myer’s book, American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger In An Age Of Plenty…wealth does not satisfy us. See the citation for David’s book in Cool Books.