Can you imagine a life without second chances? I think we would cease to live. Everything we ever have succeeded at in our lives, from walking to riding a bike to making and delivering products and services, has been the result of failing and trying again. So why is it so hard for us to give others a do-over? In this week’s episode of By Your Life, we explore the benefits of offering someone a second chance.
Mass Readings Audio
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/2020/20_01_26.mp3
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – February 2, 2020
Welcome to the ninety-seventh episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This week, the Wall Street Journal published an article about Nehemiah Manufacturing Company, a consumer products manufacturer headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. While Cincinnati is also home to one of the largest consumer goods manufacturers in the world, this little company founded in 2009 is making headlines because of their mission to build brands, create jobs, and change lives.
After reading and reflecting on this Sunday’s scripture, the article’s headline, The Company of Second Chances, caught my eye. In a very practical and meaningful way, Nehemiah Manufacturing is living Christ’s mission by giving a second chance to people who have a particularly hard time finding jobs: those with criminal backgrounds.
Working with a local non-profit, Nehemiah started hiring workers with a criminal record shortly after they were founded, but the experiment got off to a rocky start. The owners thought that just providing a job would fix things, but when their employees showed up one day and disappeared the next, or would take a break and never come back, they knew it wasn’t enough. Many of their workers continued to struggle with substance abuse or mental illness and some were homeless, so they realized that if they truly wanted to change lives, they needed to enlist the support of a social-service worker.
There is a video on the company’s website, where Nehemiah’s Community Outreach Associate said, “We have a treasure chest of gems out there and they are just waiting to be polished off so that they can shine.” I couldn’t help but make the comparison to the words of the Prophet Malachi from our first reading. He wrote of the one who “will sit refining and purifying silver, … refining them like gold or silver,” (Mal 3:3).
All our lives are a process of refinement. Nehemiah Manufacturing is helping refine their employees and their community through their commitment to their mission and the process isn’t easy. But Nehemiah didn’t give up on their mission just because it was a challenge, instead, the company has become more deliberate about identifying candidates who are likely to be good, reliable employees and has developed a more formal system for providing them with support. They now have a three-person team that helps their employees find housing, clean up their credit record, set a budget, and stay clean. They offer one-on-one coaching and hold them accountable for making needed changes.
In our second reading, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote that the Lord freed “those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life. Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham; therefore, he had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” (Heb 2:15-18)
Nehemiah Manufacturing is an example of living this today. Their mission to change lives recognizes that people with criminal records can become “subject to slavery all their life.” (Heb 2:15) The company knows they are not helping angels, but are merciful as the “faithful high priest” (Heb 2:17) is merciful. They learned that they needed to provide support to “help those who are being tested.” (Heb 2:18)
But, the company doesn’t just hire anyone. They have a structured screening process to make sure the candidate is job-ready and while they have systems for support in place and give second, third, and maybe even fifth chances, they still hold people accountable. If the employee doesn’t demonstrate a commitment to changing old habits and starting on a new path, they will lose their job.
Nehemiah’s approach to hiring only works if the entire company is committed to it, from the chief executive down and that is what makes it so difficult. If a team lead is hesitant, then it won’t work because it takes all of Nehemiah’s employees to support each other. The company’s operations manager who has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and was jailed for burglary said, “We tell our stories; we show our scars…I will tell my story a million times if it helps one person.”
Nehemiah’s story reminded me of a client who had a job candidate who sorrowfully admitted in the first interview that she had committed a crime. In this case, it was shoplifting. My client immediately eliminated the candidate from consideration. It was probably the right decision because hiring her wouldn’t have worked given the fear and prejudice that drove the decision not to. I didn’t judge my client. I understood the decision, but I felt sorry for the candidate. Would I have made a different decision?
Years ago, I received a large brown envelope with an inmate’s number and correctional facility in the return address. The sender, I’ll call him Dwayne (not his real name), was the friend of someone who had attended one of my recent workshops and Dwayne was writing me to see how much it would cost to hire me to help him with his business plan. A hundred thoughts went through my mind. Should I just toss the envelope and its contents? Should I return it to sender? Should I reply and if so, how? If the sender were any other person except an inmate, I would have known exactly what to do. Because he was, I was at a loss.
My faith taught me to respond one way and my fear led me in the opposite direction. So, I wrote him back and politely told him I wasn’t the right person to work with him. I hoped that would be the end of it. But Dwayne was persistent. We wrote me back and told me that I failed to answer his question. How much would it cost him to hire me? Once again, I responded politely with an explanation that I was not able to quote him a price. A third time he wrote back. I knew in my heart that if this person were not in prison, I would have tried to work around the obstacles to help him with his plan. But the obstacles were substantial. What would Jesus do?
I solicited the advice of a friend who worked for the sheriff’s department and shares our faith. He told me that there are very few resources available to someone like Dwayne, but he also did a little research and advised me, for my safety, not to get involved. So, I wrote Dwayne a final letter giving him my best advice related to his business plan and suggested alternative, free resources that might be able to help him if he wanted to pursue them, and I wished him well.
I don’t know if I did the right thing or not. But having been in that situation makes me respect organizations like Nehemiah even more. Heaven would be an empty place if God rejected repentant sinners. Thanks to Jesus, we’re all beneficiaries of second and third and … limitless chances if we repent. Like working at Nehemiah, we must truly want to change. God has offered salvation to us, just like Nehemiah offers a job, but God can’t make the decision to repent for us any more than Nehemiah can make a commitment decision for their employees. We are given second, third and a multitude of chances to change our ways, but ultimately the decision is ours. Like Nehemiah, the Lord has provided support services for us. He has given us the sacraments to strengthen us on our journey and we have the Church to guide us and hold us accountable when we fail.
Each trial, each challenge, each failure is part of our refining fire. We have never been promised that this life will be easy. To the contrary, we have been promised the opposite, just as it was for our Blessed Mother. As Simeon told Mary, “and you yourself a sword will pierce,” (Lk 2:35), we know that suffering is part of our path to salvation. However, we are promised that the rewards are worth it.
For Nehemiah, the rewards are tangible. Even among companies who embrace “second-chance” hiring, Nehemiah is unusual. Their workforce is one where a criminal past is the norm rather than the exception, and today, nearly 80% of Nehemiah’s 180 employees are workers with criminal records. Not only that, they discovered that the population they were hiring with criminal backgrounds were unusually loyal employees. The result is that Nehemiah’s annual employee turnover is only about 15%, well below the 38.5% average for consumer-products companies.
But the real value is intangible. How do you measure the value of changing lives? How do you measure the ripple effect of the impact on families and neighborhoods and entire communities? Mother Teresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across waters to create many ripples.” If you’re curious, check out Nehemiah Manufacturing’s website to see how many ripples they are creating by living the gospel. They are truly glorifying the Lord, by their lives.
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across waters to create many ripples. ~ St. Mother TeresaOne final thought: this week was the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Mary and Joseph offered their newborn Child in the temple. Even though Jesus, the Son of God is already consecrated to the Lord, they gave back to God what was already his. So, on this feast, we too should offer our lives to the Lord, giving back to him everything that is his, our entire life. The founders of Nehemiah Manufacturing’s Christian beliefs compelled them to give back to the Lord by giving others a second chance. This week let’s focus on who we need to offer a second chance. Who we are tempted to judge and reject? Let’s remember to offer them the same second chance we want and have been given ourselves. Let’s pray for God to help us.
Thank you, Father, for your gracious gift of a second chance. Each time we fail and return to you, you raise us up. Help us to show the same love for others. Give us the gift of compassion so we can, in turn, can raise each other up. We ask these things through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave everything for our second chance.
May God bless you abundantly this week and as you glorify the Lord by your life.
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