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serving as pilgrim Life History Rev. Eric Posa | |||||
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Track 7: Song: "The Ghost of Tom Joad" Artist: Bruce Springsteen ...when I got back into political activism in a big way, along with a particular area of lay ministry. By the time I completed my M.A., I had gotten a job as an academic advisor at the university. It was a decent, if limited, way to offer guidance and support, in this case to students lacking focus in their vocational goals. I filled my other hours with a great deal of church lay activity, and justice work in the community. I joined forces with a group of politically radical friends, who were organizing a pro-labor activist group in Denton. (By this group's standards, I was the voice of moderation.) We intended to function more as an advocacy group for disenfranchised workers, running candidates for local office to raise awareness of labor issues in Denton and throughout Texas, but we quickly jumped in to local government watchdog activities. Speaking en masse at City Council meetings, protesting illegal elections, organizing opposition to an environmentally racist development deal, all consumed my energy. None of the goals we supported were achieved, and the group fell apart after two or three years, but that time was important in my development. I was taking the theories I had learned as a philosophy and environmental ethics student, and working with them in social and political realms. I learned vauable lessons regarding community organizing and local government activism (including what not to do). Also, my involvement in Unitarian Universalism spread beyond my local congregation during this time. I became very involved in young adult (YA) ministry, especially on a district level. Attending district YA retreats led to organizing the retreats, which led to organizing a district YA ministry committee, as well as consulting with YA leaders at General Assembly, starting a YA group at my church, and serving as faculty advisor for a UU campus group at UNT. My young adult ministry work deepened my committment to UUism in general, and fostered my work in other areas of congregational and denominational life, including service as president of my home church and a tenure on the Southwest District's Board of Directors. backward to "Pastures of Plenty" forward to "Wings of a Dove" | |||||
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