A Book Pulled the Trigger for Me

Juanita and I were married in 1996. Two years later, at age 58, I took early retirement, having pastored in three Presbyterian congregations in Nebraska and Illinois over the previous 32 years. I was eager to leave ecclesiastical structures that for me had become too corporatized. The previous year, Juanita had chosen early retirement from Amoco Corporation, unable to continue in what she considered a toxic environment. We moved from the suburbs into Chicago and continued in relationships and meetings that nurtured our evolving commitment to live more justly in the world.

Gloria Kinsler, who had been the leader of Juanita’s delegation to Latin America, re-entered our lives a few years later through a book she co-authored with her husband, Ross. Their book responded to the grim economic struggles they witnessed during their many years of living and teaching in Guatemala and Costa Rica. In 1998, two members of the group that Juanita and I were part of, came with a draft copy of that book, explaining that their friends, Ross and Gloria Kinsler, were asking for feedback prior to sending it to the publisher. We willingly accepted the challenge.

Their book, The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life, had an immediate impact on us. After discussing it, some of us decided to form an organization we called Jubilee Economics. But when we tried to incorporate, the Secretary of State office in Illinois said we needed to add a word like “ministries” in order to make it sound more like the kind of nonprofit we described. So we did. Jubilee Economics Ministries (JEM) formed in 1999. Ever since, I’ve joined in with others seeking through JEM to answer the question, “What does an economy look like that requires only the resources of one planet and how do we practice it?”

How would you answer that question?