The phrase “we lift as we climb” has a powerful pull on me.  It assumes that the goal of climbing is not to reach the summit alone, but to ensure that everyone else ascends to the top of the mountain as well.

I have been fortunate to experience this type of community effort at multiple stages of my life, mostly while working as a community organizer in numerous places across New England and in the Midwest.  I have also found it, in a more quiet and peaceful version, with the Quaker community here in Milwaukee.

At the Milwaukee Friends Meeting (Quakers), where I’m a member, we have no clergy to lead us or to manage the day to day activities of the congregation.  Everything we do can only get done if someone from the congregation steps forward to make it happen.  For example, Adult Religious Education is led by a committee of volunteers.  Care for those who are sick or those who are in crisis, or those who are in need of food or financial assistance is managed by committees.  Upkeep of the building and the 3.5 acres of nature preserve under our care is managed by volunteers. We donate generously to the broader community and work to feed the hungry and homeless in our midst.  We have a vibrant Meeting as evidenced by the fact that we are roughly 130 members (including children and teens), but yet we have more than 30 active committees.  But the most evident way we lift as we climb is in how we nurture the spiritual growth of each other.

We Quakers have a wonderful tradition of helping people who are struggling with questions about life or spirituality.  It is called a “clearness committee,”  and it is the most empowering activity that I have ever encountered.  The wisdom of the clearness committee is the fact that wisdom is not imparted from one person to another, but rather, wisdom is discovered within oneself.  The only thing a seeker may need is a small group of friends to sit with them – asking open ended questions - to help them come to clarity.  During the clearness committee process, there is no attempt to fix, or advise, or counsel the person seeking guidance.  Rather, it is a deeply spiritual encounter where everyone present strives to hear their inward voice whispering from the depths of their soul, having faith that clarity will come  from that voice.

The other kind of lift as you climb community building I have seen up close was through my years of experience as a community organizer.

I loved being a community organizer.  I was taught that an organizer’s job was NOT to win on issues – although that was a critical component.  But that the primary job was to build up new community leaders and to create a neighborhood powerbase that city hall and drug dealers and absentee landlords were forced to deal with.  I wasn’t allowed to talk at public meetings, as that was a job reserved for community leaders.  If a decision was to be made, it was my job to bring it to the neighborhood leaders and help them work through the various scenarios to arrive at a solution that would be supported by the broader community.  But the decision was theirs, and the leaders were required to bring the decision to the community to garner support.  

We were all climbing forward – trying to build a new power dynamic in the community – each helping the other while each holding the other accountable for the commitments they made.  No one got a free ride.  If you were a community leader, you got the most doors to knock on and the most phone calls to make.  If you were a community leader, you were expected to bring your recommendations to the broader community so that everyone would be involved in the decisions shaping their lives.  

I will never forget one of my most proud moments as an organizer.  I had been working in South Providence, Rhode Island with this tiny block club that was fighting with the city to clean up the 15 or so vacant lots on the block.  These lots had become a midnight dumping ground and a breeding ground for rats.   The city wasn’t responding, so our leaders convinced their neighbors to march to city hall where they stormed into the office of the Commissioner of Public Works.  We had 20 or so residents ignoring the pleas of DPW office staff who tried to stop us as we walked straight into the Commissioner’s office.  When all were in the office, our block captain loudly shut the office door and locked it.  She then turned to the Commissioner and said, “My name is Connie Carter and I’m not leaving here until you agree to clean up our block.”  She locked the door!  She announced her presence.  Everyone in the room felt the power shift immediately from the Commissioner to the people in general, and to Connie in particular.  In that moment, Connie lifted her entire block as we all climbed together, one step closer to a better neighborhood.
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Often in life it may feel as if we are climbing a mountain in darkness.  If we are fortunate, we will hear the voice of a friend saying “don’t worry, I’ve got you,” as a firm hand reaches down to guide us safely forward.  What is clear to me is that we only get to the mountain top together, and to do so, we must each lift as we climb.

 I feel like I’ve spent my entire life straddling the line between the “inside group” and the outsiders.  In high school, I was friendly with the “cool kids” but felt more at home with the mountain boys and the greasers.  As a public policy advocate, I got to the point where mayors and governors and many elected officials knew me by sight and by name, and were friendly (for the most part) but I never had any delusions that I was ever really at the table with them (except for my stint as chief of staff to the mayor of Milwaukee.  But that’s a story for another day.)

It has been my experience that every group has an insider clique. My smart aleck quip is that there were only 12 Apostles – while the crowds following Jesus sometimes numbered into the hundreds.  

Did you ever wonder about the 13th Apostle; that liminal soul who was close enough to the “insider group” to have a sense of what was going on, but who remained an outsider - acknowledged but not fully accepted into the heart of the band of believers.

In fact, we do know who was the 13th Apostle (Acts 1:21-23).  His name was Matthias and he was chosen (by casting lots) to replace Judas.  In order to qualify for the position a candidate needed to be among the group from the beginning when Jesus was baptized and up and through the time he was taken away.  And only two men made the list: Matthias and Joseph. One has to wonder whether any women met the criteria but who were excluded because of gender bias.

Inner circles, outer circles, who is in and who is not.  These are issues plaguing groups since our early ancestors fought over who slept close to the fire and who was relegated to the cold and frightful dark of night.  What does this dynamic tell us about the human condition?  And what does it say about each of us as individuals who crave to be included?

The mystics tell us that our need to be acknowledged and accepted is nothing more than our little ego crying out for attention.  And, that if we were spiritually grounded, we would realize that we are magnificent transcendent beings playing hide and seek in a human body.

I must admit, I’m often not that enlightened.  I try, and sometimes catch a glimmer of the warm light of the Divine.  But for the most part I fail to live a life rooted in the knowledge that I am one with the Spirit.  I find myself craving love and attention.  I often measure my worth against others who seem to have it more together.

I realize that this self-doubt is directly related to the amount of time I spend in contemplative prayer.  Little time in prayer results in a lot of time in doubt.

What I learn in prayer – and must relearn time and again – is that I am God’s beloved.  And nothing I do or say can change that.  God’s love can’t be earned and it can’t be lost.  It just is.  

Whether there were 12 apostles or 14 is immaterial.  Creating an inner circle and an outer circle is a human construct that reinforces a false sense of self.  The secret is that we are all apostles.  We are all part of the inner circle.  It was Voltaire who said “God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.”

​For all of us who have spent most of our lives on the outside, yearning to be on the inside – like Joseph and Matthias - I’d like to say that being an apostle is a big deal.  But, it’s a group to which we all already belong.