The Sustainist

GracEconomics in Action

After discovering it, blogging about it, and sharing about it in my lectures and workshops for 8 months, I finally got to experience Soul Kitchen. Last week, I was in New York City and decided to visit Soul Kitchen with my friend Dan, who had heard about Soul Kitchen through me in the class. 

We drove to Red Bank, NJ and found the restaurant on a quiet street. The building used to be an auto body shop.  There were vegetables and herbs growing in a raised bed garden in front, ready to be harvested by the chef.  Looking through large glass windows, we could see the restaurant was full.  About five or six people were waiting outside.  Two women greeted us with smiles and inquired whether we knew anything about the restaurant.  We explained we heard about it and wanted to find out more.  The woman who volunteered as the hostess informed me that her husband and daughter were also volunteering today as a waiter and kitchen helper.  She said her whole family came here once a week to support this wonderful establishment.  She then explained to me that there are only 4 paid workers in the restaurant: Ryan the manager, the chef and his 2 assistants.  The rest of the workers, I counted at least 8 people, many in their 20s, were all volunteers.  I was now even more intrigued.

As a table opened up, we were escorted into the restaurant with 3 other patrons and we sat together in one round table. The room was bright, clean and beautifully decorated.  Painted on the far wall of the restaurant was the manifesto of Soul Kitchen which concluded “At Soul Kitchen the main ingredient is Love, with a large helping of you.”

Just like what was written on the wall, the waiters were happy and friendly and the menu had no prices.  We introduced ourselves to each other at the table and began a wonderful conversation finding out more about each person’s stories.  When the food came, Dan proposed that we prayed together and we held hands and gave thanks for this time and place, for fellowship and food.  The food was delicious and the conversation continued. 

At the end of the meal, a folder with instructions was handed to each one of us.  Inside it said, “Customers pay the minimum donation or volunteer in some way to earn a voucher for a meal.  Some customers do both!  Please speak with your hostess to discuss volunteer opportunities. The suggested donation of $10.00 covers the cost of an adult meal, anything more helps defray the cost of someone else’s meal.”

Dan and I both paid $20 each.  The man sitting next to us filled out the form to volunteer.  I went to talk to Ryan the manager, another friendly and happy man.  He seemed like a person who was looking forward to and excited about coming to work each day. He reiterated that the restaurant had only been opened for eight months and people with money and people without were both finding this place.  He told me that the restaurant was almost self-sustaining just from patrons’ donations.   He also said that he was writing down how this whole operation worked once it was up and running and sustainable. 

I told him about Holy Currencies, the book I just finished writing, and GracEconomics, the word I invented to describe just the kind of social business that Soul Kitchen is.  Ryan immediately got the concept and how the different currencies – relationship, truth, wellness, money, gracious leadership, time and place - flow through the operation of Soul Kitchen.  During our conversations, we were interrupted 3 times by patrons who wanted to pay and volunteer.  At the end of the conversation, I promised to send him a copy of the book Holy Currencies when it is in print and he promised to stay in touch to explore possibilities of future collaborations with the Kaleidoscope Institute in spreading GracEconomics.

Reflection Questions for Proper 13 (Year B) 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a    What did you learn from this passage about challenging powerful people to be ethnical? Psalm 51:1-12   What does it mean for you to be renewed with the right spirit? Ephesians 4:1-16   How do you speak the truth in love? John 6:24-34   What is the bread of life?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Upcoming Opportunities to Study with The Sustainist: August 13-17 Holy Currencies: Creating Sustainable Missional Ministries Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center, North Bend (near Seattle), WA Register at:  www.kscopeinstitute.org

Red Hair and Tattoos

A young man named James Holmes allegedly shot and killed 12 and injured 58 people in a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, Friday morning, July 20, 2012.  He also set explosive booby traps in his apartment that was designed to kill any first responders. At his hearing in court on Monday, this young man with bright red and orange hair appeared dazed, detached, staring down most of the time, his eyes sometimes bugging out wide, sometimes nearly closed.  The district attorney said investigators were still poring over an enormous amount of evidence.  But one of the most important evidences that they will not find or report was right in front of them—James was alone and without connections to any group of friends or supportive community.  How else could he have planned all this without anyone noticing?

Two days before the shooting, Wednesday, I took my Summer Training Institute class to Homeboy Industries for a tour.  At 9 am, the lobby and the stairway to the second floor offices were full of young men and women, most of whom had tattoos on their shaved heads, necks, and arms.  Even though my group stood out with our middle-class clean-cut attires, everyone welcomed us with smiles and warm greetings.  I realized I had no fear even though I was standing in a room full of ex-gang members and most of them were ex-convicts.  Who knew how many firearms were held in their hands and how many senseless deaths their eyes had witnessed.  Someone announced the activities of the day, which included anger management, computer lab, addiction support group, parenting skills, etc.  It was someone’s birthday; so we sang “happy birthday.”  Someone yelled from the stairway, “I got a job!”  Someone else asked, “In what?”  “Security,” he replied with pride.  Everybody applauded.  Someone gave a talk that sounded a lot like a sermon about the “underdog.”  Someone prayed and off they went to do the work of the day. 

Our tour guide, Richard, told us that he just got out of federal prison 16 months ago.  He knew Fr. Greg Boyles, the founder of Homeboy Industries, some 14 years before when he was a teenager.  He told us that he was in and out of prisons for those 14 years and finally decided to set foot in Homeboy Industries to get his tattoos removed.  That began his connection to this warm, loving, supportive and disciplined community.  Through his recovery program, Fr. Greg noticed that Richard was very articulate when he talked with visitors.  He invited him to learn to do public speaking to become a motivational speaker.  I was amazed at the transformation that Richard must have gone through in such a short time all because he is now connected with a community with persistent people like Fr. Greg who will not let him go over a period of 14 years.

It is ironic that James Holmes selected to carry out this horrifying act at a Batman movie, which is about a lone technologically enhanced hero who fights equally isolated villains who commit horrible crimes. Obviously this individualistic approach to stopping crime is not working. There are talks that James actually identifies with the villains who kept getting away for most of the movie until the very end.

So what will stop this kind of senseless killing?  Education is not the answer because James is a very well educated man.  Beefing up security is not the answer; we can’t run our theaters like our airports.  “See something, say something” does not work either.  Holding up lonely fictional crime fighters like Batman certainly is not the answer.  James’ red hair and Richard’s tattoos are self-inflicted marks of isolation and separation.  The difference between James and Richard is that Richard finally found a community of people who want to know him and be his friends.  So, the answer to stopping these senseless killings is to provide loving, challenging, steady, disciplined communities that position themselves on the margin of society to catch and hang on to those on the way to dropping out.

Invite members of your community to gather and explore the importance of supportive communities: Invite participants to spend a moment in naming the friendship network, groups, communities of which they are apart. Invite participants to write down how some of these communities had supported them in the past, keeping them out of trouble.  (Be sure to remind participants that it is okay not to be able to name such a community in their life.  Invite them to continue their participation by listening. Form small groups and invite participants to share as much as they would like from this recollection. As a large group, close the dialogue time by inviting participants to reflect and share: How can we expand our supportive network/community to include those on the margin?

Reflection Questions for Proper 12 (Year B) 2 Kings 4:42-44    What did you learn from this passage about sharing blessings? Psalm 145:10-19   How is the faithfulness of God expressed? Ephesians 3:14-21   How does it mean for you to be filled with the fullness of God? John 6:1-21   What did you learn from this story about living the spirituality of abundance?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Upcoming Opportunities to Study with The Sustainist: August 13-17 Holy Currencies: Creating Sustainable Missional Ministries Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center, North Bend (near Seattle), WA Register at:  www.kscopeinstitute.org

Boundless Compassion

“They are not just about 9 to 5 here,” our tour guide said, “They really want to be your friends.”  He was a short ex-gang member with a tattoo of the Chinese word for “brave” on his shaved head right behind one of his ears.  I had been reading Tattoos on the Heart by Fr. Gregory Boyle and decided to visit the Homeboy Industries headquarters in Los Angeles near Chinatown to see for myself the context of the amazing ministries founded on boundless compassion. 

I tagged along with a tour in progress and listened to the story of our tour guide – he was in jail for most of his teen years, where he met Fr. Greg.  After he got out of jail, he got into more trouble by joining a gang.  He, somehow, stayed in touch with Fr. Greg who consistently offered to help him.  Two years ago, he finally took up his offer and went to Homeboy Industries.  He got counseling; he went to anger management class; he even went to Yoga meditation class; all of these classes were part of his job at Homeboy Industries.  He had to show up at 9 and be there to work and go to classes until 5.  During that time, he had his big tattoo on his neck removed with 17 painful treatments.  He refused to tell me what the tattoo said – that was his past life he said.  I am glad he kept his “brave” tattoo behind his ear.  He now has a steady job, he is happy and he looks forward to going home to his daughter everyday. 

Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest, routinely visits 25 detention institutions in Los Angeles County – juvenile halls, probation camps, jails, and state youth authority facilities.  He hands out his card after celebrating Mass and says, “Call me when you get out.  I’ll hook you up with a job—take off your tattoos – line ya up with a counselor.  I won’t know where you are, but with this card, you’ll know where I am.  Don’t slow drag.  Cuz if you do, you’ll get popped again and end up right back here.  So call me.”

The currency of relationship that Fr. Greg has with these homeboys and girls pays off when they step foot into the place called Homeboy Industries which now includes Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, Homeboy Diner, Homeboy Farmers Markets and Homegirl Café.  Through these social businesses, these young men and women received not just jobs but friendships and leadership development, and they begin to put their lives back together moving toward social and economic wellness.  But most important of all, they discovered the truth about themselves—that they are people who have gifts to offer, and that they are loved. 

Challenging society’s perception of gang members, Fr. Greg said, “What if we were to invest in gang members, rather than just seek to incarcerate our way out of this problem?”

Fr. Greg is a sustainist leader who takes what society throws away and reinvests them back in as valuable resources. He talks about the concept of a community of kinship, where he invites us to imagine, with God, a circle of compassion.  “Then we imagine no one standing outside of that circle, moving ourselves closer to the margins so that the margins themselves will be erased.  We stand there with those whose dignity has been denied.  We locate ourselves with the poor and powerless and the voiceless.  At the edges, we join the easily despised and the readily left out.  We stand with the demonized so that the demonizing will stop. We situate ourselves right next to the disposable so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.” 

If your community is near Los Angeles, I would recommend calling Homeboy Industries and arranging a group tour for your community.  If your community is far away from Los Angeles, invite members of your community to read Tattoos on the Heart. Gather your community to reflect on what they have learned.  Challenge them to look around their neighborhood and recognize those who are poor, powerless and voiceless.  Invite them to explore how they can build compassionate relationships with these groups following Fr. Greg’s example.

Reflection Questions for Proper 11 (Year B) 2 Samuel 7:1-14a    What did learn about your relationship with God from this text? Psalm 89:20-37   What does it mean to image God a Father? Ephesians 2:11-22   What would your community be like if Christ is truly the cornerstone? Mark 6:30-34, 53-56   What is the role of compassion in creating wellness for your community?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Upcoming Opportunities to Study with The Sustainist: August 13-17 Holy Currencies: Creating Sustainable Missional Ministries Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center, North Bend (near Seattle), WA Register at:  www.kscopeinstitute.org

Plumb Line

The Ultimatum Game is a famous experimental economics game first tried in 1982 by Werner Guth, Rolf Schmittberger, and Bernd Schwarze at the University of Cologne.  It has been repeated countless times around the world in many different cultures.  The game goes like this:  you have two players, a proposer and a responder.  The proposer is given 10 dollars and instructed to decide how he/she would like to split the money between the two players.  Once the proposer offers the amount to be split, it cannot be changed.  The responder has the option to accept or reject the offer.  If the responder accepts, both players get to keep the proposed division of the 10 dollars.  If the responder refused, both players get nothing.

Neoclassical economists would predict the “rational” outcome of this game as follows:  the proposer will keep 9 dollars and offer 1 dollar to the responder; the responder will accept the offer because he/she will be a dollar better off than if he/she refuses. However, in reality, time and again in many different cultures, the proposer typically offers between 4 and 5 dollars (about 50:50 split), which the responder generally accepts.  When the proposer offers lower amounts (especially below 20%), the responder typically refuses, costing both the participants any monetary gain.  The lower the amount offered, the greater the likelihood of refusal.  Since the introduction of this experiment in 1982, it has become one of the most popular of the standard experiment in economics often as a prime show-piece of human “irrational” behavior.

How blind are we to how humanity really works if we think this behavior is irrational?  What theory and assumption do we have about human motivation that causes us to think this is irrational?  Who is defining the term “rational” anyway?  Perhaps it is actually rational for people to be fair.  It is rational for people to treat strangers as neighbors as if these relationships really matter, because only through relationships which form community can we survive together and build sustainable communities.

The repeated results of the Ultimatum Game around the world demonstrate that human beings are by nature social and relational. We have the capacity to put ourselves in the other’s experience, and through that common connection, we innately want to be just and fair.  Furthermore, we also want to punish those who are selfish and unfair even at the cost of our own gain, in doing so, upholding the value of fairness in relationship. 

Our capacity and motivation to be just and compassionate is written in our hearts. It is coded in our social DNA. Like a plumb line – with its metal weight tied at the end -- always pointing directly to the earth's center of gravity, we are created to relate to each other with respect as equals. Furthermore, like a plumb line used to measure the uprightness of a building, we act collectively to uphold this standard sometimes by giving up our own potential gain. 

Justice and compassion are the center of gravity of human community.  When we stray from it, our community becomes unsustainable.  When we stop treating our neighbors as neighbors, when we block ourselves from letting compassion be our guide in our encounters with others, we break this basic commandment written in our hearts and cause our community to eventually become unstable – like a building constructed without referencing a plumb line. 

We need to bring out the plumb line to help us re-align our community so that it can be rebuilt with the uprightness of justice and compassion.  When we do that, we will notice the injustice caused by greed and selfishness in our communities. We will notice why our community is not bearing fruit.  We will discover where the re-circulation of money and resources are blocked.  We will find ways to unblock and restore the dynamic sustainist flow of power and resource sharing.  We will find ways to redistribute our resources fairly and justly especially amongst the needy, the weak, the poor, and the powerless in our community. 

Gather your community for a time to reflect on the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States as the “plumb line” of the community: (This process is designed for communities residing in the United States.  If your community is not part of the U.S., replace the text with a key portion of the constitution or mission statement of your own country or community.) Invite someone to read the Preamble out loud: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Divide the people into 6 groups.  Give each group one of the six phrases of the Preamble (i.e. group 1 will have the phrase  “form a more perfect Union,” group 2 will have the phrase “establish Justice,” etc.) Invite each group to discuss and arrive at the following: List at least 3 ways in how our community has lived up to the ideal captured in this phrase of the U.S. constitution. List at least 3 ways in how we can do better in living up to this ideal. Invite each group to report. As a large group, reflect on the following question:  As a result of this conversation, what are we called to do or change as a community residing in the U.S.?

Reflection Questions for Proper 10 (Year B 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19    What did you learn from this text about ritual and thanksgiving? Psalm 24   What does it mean for you to open your doors and invite God to come in? Amos 7:7-15   How do you discern God’s plumb line for your life? Psalm 85:8-13   What does it mean for God to speak peace to you? Ephesians 1:3-14   How are you being adopted by God? Mark 6:14-29   What did you learn from this text about power and authority?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Upcoming Opportunities to Study with The Sustainist: July 16-20 Kaleidoscope Summer Institute:  Missional Ministry in the Grace Margin, Holy Currencies and Community Transformation St. Paul’s Cathedral Center, Los Angeles, CA August 13-17 Holy Currencies: Creating Sustainable Missional Ministries Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center, North Bend (near Seattle), WA Register at:  www.kscopeinstitute.org

Truth, Change, and Honor

It was a joy to have almost 2 weeks to focus on writing my new book titled Holy Currencies.  While I was systematically writing and rewriting paragraphs and chapters, it occurred to me that this book might be perceived by my readers as a major departure from my previous books which had been branded as books on diversity and intercultural ministry.   Others may think that I am infringing on an area that I am not supposed to know anything about.  How can a diversity guy know anything about stewardship and sustainability?   

This is an old feeling.  I was the youngest of 6 children.  Everybody around me knew everything I had done or said ever since I was born.  I grew up feeling that people around me had already made up their minds about who I was and who I was going to be based on; things that I didn't even remember saying or doing.  I remembered how hard it was for me to tell my family that I had changed and grown.

However, I was blessed with my immigrant experience, which became an opportunity for me to reinvent myself.  At the age of 14, I decided that I wasn’t going to be a sickly child anymore; so I started living an athletic and healthy life.   I decided that I wasn’t going to be in the shadow of my very talented siblings.  So I started writing songs about my experience and performed them all over New York City.   After all, these changes weren’t so much of a shock when everything had changed anyway.

The truth is, we all change.  If we stop changing, we are dead.  So, change is a part of life.  There are times when we receive a revelation so strong that it gives us courage to go against all assumptions and just do what we are called to do.  For example, at the age of 21, I came back from a life-transforming retreat and decided that I wasn’t going to be an engineer or go to medical school, but I was going to devote my life to serve others through the Church. 

Perhaps Chief Justice John Roberts had such a revelation last week when he was accused of siding with the liberals on the healthcare law.  “His people” – the conservatives -- called him a coward and a traitor.  There was even a call for his impeachment, all because he did not vote the party line on this one issue.  Does being appointed by a conservative president mean he has to side with the conservative every time?   If we put ourselves in Judge Roberts’ position, wouldn't we want and cherish the freedom to choose, to change and to decide on issues according to the law of the land and not according to what a certain party wants? 

People around me change and sometimes, I don’t like it. What? You are not the person I knew yesterday!  Yes.  That’s the truth.  I need to honor that. 

I hope my readers will honor the change in me as I respond to the revelations that I received about community vitality, stewardship and sustainable communities.  I hope my readers welcome my audacity to have the courage to write a book on the subject as well.

Invite members of your community to gather and explore the subject of change in their lives: Invite participants to spend a moment in silence to recall and name at least one internal change that had occurred for them in the recent past. Invite participants to write down some of their reflections:  Where was I?  Who was there?  What precipitated the internal church? Did you tell anyone about this change?  Who?  What are the reactions from others to this?   If you did not tell anyone, what stopped you? Form small groups and invite participants to share as much as they would like from this reflection. As a large group, close the dialogue time by inviting participants to reflect and share: As result of this dialogue, how would I deal with change for me and for others in the future?

Reflection Questions for Proper 9 (Year B) 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10    What did King David need to make a covenant with the elders of Israel before God? Psalm 48   What does it mean to live in the city of God? 2 Corinthians 12:2-10   How can one be weak and yet strong? Mark 6:1-13   What did you learn from this text about power and authority?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Upcoming Opportunities to Study with The Sustainist: July 16-20 Kaleidoscope Summer Institute:  Missional Ministry in the Grace Margin, Holy Currencies and Community Transformation St. Paul’s Cathedral Center, Los Angeles, CA August 13-17 Holy Currencies: Creating Sustainable Missional Ministries Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center, North Bend (near Seattle), WA Register at:  www.kscopeinstitute.org