September 2025 “Special”

The word “moral” is not the word that comes to mind to describe the U.S. “economy.” Immorality in the current economy makes it our job to imagine an economy that generates moral relationships with Earth and all her inhabitants.

Saturday, October 4, 9 am PDT
FREE

The initiative by Cynthia Moe-Lobeda and her team for “Building a Moral Economy” fits with what we do in Jubilee Economics Ministries. So we’re joining in this mission.

What you can do before the October 4 Forum:

• Buy Cynthia’s book, Building a Moral Economy: Pathways for People of Courage. You can avoid fueling Amazon by buying from Better World Books and other alternatives.
• Visit the website for Building a Moral Economy where there is also a short book trailer.
• Read the blogs I post to OneEarth Connections Substack,. I post only 2 or 3 times a month. Subscriptions are free. The latest one is “Beyond GDP—A Moral Economy.”
• Register by sending me an email, lee@jubilee-economics.org, and we’ll get the Zoom link sent to you.

What People Say about Our Newsletters

Friends-
Another knock out newsletter! My spirit was lifted and yet overwhelmed by the scope of the issues being tackled by our Jubilee friends. Thank you and bless you all. Love, peace, justice. —Richard Lawrence, San Diego

As always, your newsletters are among the most inspiring things that pass through my inbox. The story of gender solidarity at great cost is astounding.  …  A new world is not only possible, it’s being lived right now. Thanks be to God that you are part of that unfolding process of re-creation. In the Uprising, —Wes Howard-Brook, Seattle, Washington

 

Why Do JEM Delegations Go to Mexico?
They Cost; Flying Harms Environment; So Many Reasons Not to Go

And yet for eight days, October 19-26, a Delegation will be traveling to San Cristobal in southernmost Mexico and then to San Mateo in the middle of the country. Two stories of many answer the question “Why?”

Story 1—On our 2023 trip we sat around the table in Angelica’s home in San Mateo and talked about all the work she and others had done to host us. “You showed us so much in this short visit. You must be really tired,” we said. Smiling, she replied, “I feel inspired.” We went on to talk with one another how our ministries are tiring. Sometimes discouraging. But because we made the effort and spent the money to be with them, they were encouraged. And so were we as we had witnessed so many ways people on the margins of dominant society had come into new skills, new thinking, and a regenerating faith.

Story 2—Earlier on in the trip a woman shared her story. When she talked about a savings group she and other women were in, her face brightened as she sat up to her full stature and said, “It’s transforming!” And what was it that she experienced as having such great impact on her life? It was being in a community of women in a society where women get pushed down so much. But, together, they experienced rising up. Without money or community, they had no power. They were victims. But then the group decided to save a couple pesos each week. One of them would be the banker to hold these receipts and make small loans when those in the group requested them. To date there had been no defaults on loans; all the people in the group were pulling for one another. No longer victims, the women saw themselves differently. Their relationships at home and in society changed. It’s nothing less than transforming. Our Delegation was learning how women whose finances were too small for commercial banks had financial power. Though they were unbankables, their savings group made the banks irrelevant. So in groups that made a covenant together for a certain number of months of savings, lending, repaying, and then redistributing equally to all, they developed something superior to banking. Transforming.

By the end of the trip, a participant became an evangelist for future Delegations.

I would encourage each of you to join a delegation traveling to San Cristobal and beyond, if you are able. The experience will be enlightening, if not life changing. —Sue Shamblin, Lincoln, NE, 2023 trip

 

Volunteering to Resist ICE and Support Humans

 If you missed it —At the September 6 Jubilee Forum Jeanne Peterson told us about her experiences going to the Courthouse in San Diego where undocumented people come full of fear for Court appointments. ICE is also there, ready to detain them as soon as they complete their time in Court. Jeanne volunteers 2-3 times a week with the Detention Resistance organization. They collaborate with other organizations, notably with FAITH, an acronym for inter-religious faith leaders who come to the Courthouse to support those coming for appointments.

Question: What is accomplished since ICE continues? Jeanne gave a three-part answer.

1. Migrants are treated as humans while ICE aims to fully dehumanize them.
2. Disappearing them by ICE is made much more difficult because volunteers video and record what happens. Volunteers learn as much as possible about each migrant so that it is more difficult to Disappear them.
3. ICE behaviors are watched, recorded, and then made public, frustrating the effort to do their work out of the public eye.

There may be as many as 10-15 ICE agents in a crowded hallway outside the courtroom. Volunteers use extreme caution not to accidentally touch an agent, as that may result in being charged with assault. Volunteers also use code names and wear masks.

Some volunteers visit detained persons in detention centers. Others write letters to migrants held in detention centers letting them know they are not forgotten. If you would like a recording of this Forum, please contact john@jubilee-economics.org.

Simple Living Works! Joins JEM

Yes! Since SLW! blogs and podcasts have been paused in 2025, JEM has invited me to have a regular article in the Jubilee newsletter. I have invited all of my readers to subscribe to Jubilee and some have. I plan to communicate with my readers on an occasional basis. Legally I cannot give my email list to JEM.

I hope that JEM readers will acquaint themselves with the many free resources for themselves, their church or organization and then share the ones that fit. Visit simplelivingworks.org and acquaint yourself with the links on the homepage. Yes, it’s retro and extensive. (SLW! is 52 years old!) I will point to some pertinent resources – text and art – in my articles in these newsletters. —Peace, Gerald Iversen, director of SLW!

 

Some Alternatives We Experience on a Jubilee Delegation to Mexico

1.  Indigenous and non-Indigenous people find common ground in a worldview that focuses on Earth and life more than on profits and power.
2.  Spirituality—ecumenical faiths and Indigenous spiritualities experience respectfully that we are part of a very large One.
3. Development—Jubilee Circes say “No!” to gentrification that’s focused on money and control, displacement of people and small businesses. Imagine rather development focused on people and their capacities to work together to meet one another’s needs and improve neighborhoods by generating local economy.

 

Participants in the October 2025 Delegation

Lauren Van Ham, (Richmond, CA) Earth Restoration Coordinator with United Religions Initiative; eco-minister and eco-spirituality instructor; interfaith spiritual director

Stan Rodriguez (Santa Ysabel, CA), Santa Ysabel Band of Iipay Nation; dedicated educator of Kumeyaay history, culture, and language revitalization at Kumeyaay Community College; on California Native American Heritage Commission

David Funkhouser, (Philadelphia, PA), Jubilee board president, premier translator, Breema practitioner and teacher; formerly worked in Fair Trade

Barry Shelley, (Broxton, MA), economics professor and theologian; people-focused development practitioner in El Salvador and Benin, Africa; formerly with Oxfam USA.

Lee Van Ham, (Spring Valley, CA), director of Jubilee Economics Ministries; author of three books; 32 years a Presbyterian pastor (retired) in three Midwest congregations.

Karina Velez, (San Mateo, Puebla, MX), journalist, teacher, on coordinating body for the Dan Swanson Centro Cultural. Karina will join the Delegation for the days in San Cristobal, Chiapas.

Pedro Robledo Ramirez, (San Cristobal, Chiapas, MX), theologian, author, director of the itinerant Yobel School for training congregational leadership in underserved communities. Pedro will join the Delegation for the days in San Mateo, Puebla.

Wishing you were in this list too!