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What is one big, burning leadership question you are wrestling with these days?
While in seminary, I received answers to so many questions I did not have, and had so many questions for which I did not have answers. Who is God? Where did they put my Jesus? What do I believe? Who am I? Where am I going? What is my calling?
I revisit these for clarity and direction, and recently added one that has consumed a lot of my time: What IS most important to me to do NOW with the time and energy I have?
It is central to my current and desired anchoring, priority setting and efforts to seek answers because of the many changes happening all around us. Thankfully, these questions led and continue to lead to discussing options and developing strategies for action in these challenging times.
The world is large and expansive, yet small and accessible because of the 24-hour news cycle and immediate access to various media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook and other electronic forms of communication).
At the national level, we are now in the second year of a new President. New and different priorities at the national level. Less caring and more uncaring in various communities. Less civility and more incivility in our discourse. Pro-immigration and anti-immigration. Political discord and differences. Allegations of dishonesty and assertions of honesty. Disrespectful speech. Point and counterpoint. It is enough to make a person dizzy and, perhaps, despondent!
At the state and local levels, we have uncertainties, with the November elections and changes in our political landscapes ahead. Different opinions and directions economically, and budget problems that make funding services to support people in need so much more difficult. Nonprofit and community based organizations are struggling to remain solvent and meet the increasing human need because of deep economic and personal challenges.
How I attempt to answer these and other questions and how we as a community do so, are yet evolving and desperately needed. It would be easy to become depressed, stressed and angry about these realities. However, none of them offers solace or a path forward.
So here is another question, in the title of the book written by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? It is as prophetic and powerful today as it was back in 1967, calling for a present answer.
One of his answers was that “the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice;” this was also stated by Albert Einstein and Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker. Another answer was in his commencement address at Oberlin College in 1965, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” He said, “We must learn to live together as brothers (and sisters) or perish together as fools.”
What inspires you, gives you hope these days?
On any given day, I witness Christian Community Action’s dedicated staff members working hard and succeeding in their efforts, offering solutions to people in need. They turn impossibilities into possibilities and opportunities into definite realities. With great frequency, I hear stories about people who have triumphed over adversity by finding a home or a job after a long search. In the collective, these stories are wonderful evidence of individual accomplishment.
Every now and then, one of the stories embodies the vision of living hope. These are gifts that keep giving; centering reminders that the work we do is personal and person-centered. It is exactly what I saw, quite unexpectedly, a few months ago as two parents and their two children happened to pass by my office on their way to meet with CCA’s family coach.
I asked both of the children their names. One of them replied, “Hope.” I was pleased to see the personification of our mission statement of offering help, housing and hope, most concretely HOPE, right before my eyes.
There was something special about her. She had a toy in her hand and was happily holding onto it. The look on her face showed that she was loved, cared for and comfortable.
I asked her if she would allow me to take her picture – something I hardly ever do – because, that day, I needed a tangible reminder of what we do, whom we serve and how to value them as we assist them in achieving their goals. She agreed and, every now and then since that time, looking at her picture, Hope is the personification of the word for me. Hope springs eternal. Visibly. Surprisingly. Poignantly.
In addition, because of the kindness of 50 clergy representing different religious, geographic and personal backgrounds, CCA released a book, Living Hope: Expressions of faith and courage in May of this year, in connection with our 50th anniversary. It paints a picture of what hope is, how does one live with it, when do we see it and where do we find it – theologically, universally and experientially.
Both the person and the book offer encouragement and inspiration, a welcome alternative to the despairing, turbulent and unsettling times in which we currently live. Through them and the spiritual lift they offer, it is possible, as a clergy colleague said, for me to see hope in deed and, up close, on a regular basis. Those, and so many other experiences, keep me going.
This work of transformational change is hard. Stepping in, stepping up, over time, can be draining – physically, intellectually, emotionally, psychically, spiritually. How do you recharge, restore, take care of yourself, rekindle your fire?
The work at CCA is challenging. Yet, even after almost 30 years, my commitment to the work of offering help, housing and hope is constant and buttressed by the dedicated staff members who believe deeply in helping people in need and distress. That is because it is not a job at all. It is my vocation.
In my office are a few plaques on the wall, none more important than the one right above my computer. It contains the words from Isaiah 6:8, offering direct and special inspiration: “I heard the Lord saying WHOM SHALL I SEND WHO WILL GO FOR ME? And I answered HERE AM I SEND ME!”
It is a reminder that I responded to both a question and conviction; that being at CCA has been my calling, a gift each and every day. It grounds me.
Behind me is a plaque that contains a definition of hope as a verb, a noun, an adjective and an adverb. It is up high on that wall, a reminder of the various ways in which to experience it – as a feeling, an action, a state of mind, a description or an expectation.
Beyond that, every morning, I read from three devotional books. Most recently, I have started reading a chapter or two from the Bible. This helps to get my bearings and center me spiritually.
When things go awry, I lower my head and pray or look up for guidance. When I am tired, I need to rest. As an introvert, I need time and space to recharge my battery. Quiet spaces and solitude helps. So does being a Connecticut Sun season ticket holder – obviously in a louder way – because it is an active release and moves me from active participation to active observation. Not only that, it is simply fun and a change of pace and scenery!
Finally, I run quickly away from situations and people who bring more drama than I can handle when I am not working. I also attempt to spend time with friends, go to a movie, play or out to eat, and read and be at home.
Introduce us to someone you are/were close with personally (e.g., family, teacher, friend, mentor), who shaped (or shapes) you and how you view leadership and possibility for a better community/world?
Many people influenced me. Among them were two women – a serious and strong music teacher who introduced me to classical music and a guidance counselor who pushed me past my limits – and one man who taught at Yale’s School of Public Health, who told me that I had found my niche at Christian Community Action.
However, the most influential spiritual figure in my life was, and continues to be, my pastor who came to Connecticut from Massachusetts. I met him when he became pastor of the church of my youth; the same church I attended as an adult in Hartford until I moved to New Haven in 1989.
His approach to ministry was multifaceted and honorable. He did the usual things: preaching, teaching, visiting people who were sick and in distress, and presiding over funerals. Yet he also challenged the status quo at the church. He used to say “it takes the church too long to move to fulfill its mission” and “we shall not overcome” as a way to raise the bar of witness, service and justice in and out of the church. That style of leadership led to him being ousted. Rather than fighting it to retain his position, he left. Many people, including me, followed him.
In being faithful to his calling and desire to make a positive difference, his approach to ministry was forthright, direct and serious. He engaged in street ministry to people who were homeless, had psychiatric issues, and were addicted to alcohol and drugs. In the face of conflict, he held his ground. In times of sorrow and sadness, he acted with compassion.
He was born in 1920, and was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the desegregation of schools in Boston. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a friend, who even suggested he apply for the pastor’s position at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
I would not be who I am today without his influence and witness. He gave me answers to faith questions I did not even know I had. His presence as a role model helped me understand I felt called to apply to Yale’s School of Public Health, and a year later to its Divinity School.
Like all of us, he was not perfect, and had blind spots. It became clear to me that he was not enthused with my imperative to become ordained. I think, in retrospect, he did not know what to do with the ordination of women to ministry – not a surprise for someone who was born early in the twentieth century. But he did not stand in the way, and I did not let it stop me.
One year after I was ordained, I moved to New Haven to assume the position of Executive Director of Christian Community Action. He gave me a plaque to celebrate the turning point. It hangs on my office wall today, reminding me of his example, persistence, faith and courage in the face of conflict and honest and earnest dedication to service in and out of the church as a servant of God. It reads, in part, his reminder about: “serving the community… reaching out… never let the light grow dim.”
What do you recommend to us, in each of these categories:
- Reading – Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath
- Listening – any good, soothing music that stirs the soul
- Eating – good food anywhere… I experiment
- Watching – as little television as possible… seeing a baby take a first step or children playing
- Laughing – loudly, when funny things happen, but never at other people
- Wildcard – doing what you enjoy at least once a week
To get in touch with Rev. Grubbs directly: bgrubbs@ccahelping.org