This past Sunday, I talked about an element of what the French consider to be bare-minimum manners: making eye contact and saying "Hello," when entering a home or business. So different from American culture where treating others as if they are invisible is considered perfectly acceptable!
"Unseen labor" is a big topic right now, especially in terms of the invisible labor in the home: things like knowing the sizes of children's shoes, planning holidays, maintaining household groceries and supplies, etc. But it's also an issue in the workplace and organizations - including churches. From my experience, I might say especially churches. Much of it goes back to devaluing the work of women. Women have historically been the unpaid labor that kept congregations (of all types) going. Even within Unitarian Universalism, it was simply a given expectation that the (male) minister's wife would be an unpaid employee, often serving as the religious education director gratis.
Nowadays, especially in progressive churches like Live Oak, while the gendered expectations might change, the habit of not seeing the work that is done to help the church survive and thrive continues.
So let's reject that "invisibilizing," shall we?
I love (really!) reading the meeting minutes from different teams in the church, especially that of the Building and Grounds team, which is one of our largest and most productive teams in the church -- and perhaps the area where so much invisible labor happens. Here's a great example: the pictures in this post are from a recent repair job. Per our B&G chair, "The facia wood behind the rain gutter was rotting. If allowed to continue, it could have done major damage to the building. The crew removed the gutter, replaced the rotted wood with primed and painted boards to prevent future rotting. Then reinstalled the rain gutter. I estimate they saved the church at least a $800.00 than if we had employed a roofing company."
"If you see something, say something" is a national government campaign of suspicion intended to identify potential terrorism. I kinda like the idea of co-opting it for a more positive purpose. If you see work at the church being done, say something! Specifically, "Hey, thank you!" In the same way that "Bonjour" is shorthand in France for "I see you. You are a human being, and worthy of respectful treatment," a simple thank you acknowledges that you see the labor, you see the laborer, and both are worthy of appreciation.
