The Purpose Gap (Patrick B. Reyes) -- A Review

THE PURPOSE GAP: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive. By Patrick B. Reyes. Foreword by Starsky D. Wilson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2021. Xi + 238 pages.

                 What is my purpose in life? What is the meaning of this life? What does it take to discern one's purpose and meaning in life? Each of us will ask these questions at some point. These questions have proven to be great fodder for self-help books. Just a warning: the book under review is not a self-help book. This isn't a guide to a purpose-driven life. It is, instead a primer on facing real gaps that many communities of color face as they seek a path in life that will enable them to thrive.

              The truth that is present in The Purpose Gap, written by Patrick Reyes, is that some people face greater barriers in their pursuit of answers to these questions. Speaking as a white male, I’ve struggled at times with these questions, but I’ve faced fewer obstacles in pursuing the answer to my questions than is true for others. One of the obstacles is a gap that exists for those who inhabit communities of color between opportunity and purpose. Identifying these barriers and gaps, some of which are internalized, so that one can find a successful pathway to discovering one's purpose in life is the focus of Patrick Reyes’ The Purpose Gap. It is a book written to and for communities of color. So, if you’re like me, you will find yourself reading mail sent to someone else. What you read, if you’re white and male and straight, may make you a bit uncomfortable. But straight talk can do that!

                Patrick Reyes is the Senior Director of Learning Design at the Forum for Theological Exploration. This is an organization that supports persons of color move through Ph.D. programs in theology (and related disciplines). The book is, in part, autobiographical because what Reyes writes about, he has lived. He was born and raised in Salinas, California, where working in the fields was the primary vocation for Latinx persons in the area and the pursuit of graduate education is rarely on the table. Nevertheless, Reyes went on to earn his Ph.D. in theology at Claremont School of Theology. So, it is from experience that Reyes speaks to others who come after him, speaking truth as to the realities of the journey that persons of color will take as they seek to discover meaning so that they might thrive.

           Reyes’ The Purpose Gap is composed of three parts. Part 1 is titled "Why the Purpose Gap?" The four chapters in this opening section address the question of why the purpose gap exists for persons of color living in a white world. The focus here is on the challenges faced by communities of color who seek to discern possible vocational choices that can lead to thriving in this world. These chapters will be difficult to read if you’re white because Reyes pulls no punches. He makes the claim (and backs it up) that the larger, white-dominated world does not encourage persons of color, especially those from economically insecure contexts, to dream. One of the challenges that is addressed concerns the paucity of Latinx folks in academia, both as professors and as students. Thus, if you make it into the educational system, you may be alone. Thus, the need to create communities of support so that one can discern one's purpose.

            If Part 1 speaks to the causes of the purpose gap, the three chapters in Part 2 address the question of how the purpose gap can be closed. Here the focus is on creating community. That word, community, needs to be emphasized because if one is to thrive then he or she will need to do this in community. That is a significant challenge in an American context that emphasizes individualism and the myth of the self-made man who pulls himself up by his bootstraps (I use the word man intentionally because part of the American myth is an emphasis on “manliness”). Reyes addresses the tendency of educational systems to pull out the stars from their communities, which might benefit the few but often does little for the community left behind. It is also not healthy for the one pulled out who often ends up isolated from fellow students. With that in mind, he speaks of the need to build constellations/communities. That is, the need to create networks, like the Forum for Theological Exploration. The "how question" must be addressed in the context of community rather than on individualism. One of the challenges facing this movement to fill the purpose gap is the place we call home, that is, the places that form us. So, the question here is what is home? What happens when we find ourselves displaced and dispossessed? What must be unlearned if one is to succeed?

                Having invited the reader to contemplate how one might go about filling the purpose gap (in community), Reyes takes up his third question in Part Three. That question is: What is My Purpose? The first chapter in the section is a transitional one as it continues to focus on the how of filling the purpose gap. He uses the story of the four men who carry the paralytic to Jesus. Drawing from the story he titles the chapter "Carry Your Corner." According to Reyes, the purpose of the chapter is to explore "the importance of all the gifts of the community coming together to move individuals and the community toward healing, justice, and accomplishing the impossible." (p. 143). Again, he focuses on the importance of community, of working together, to discern one's purpose. This includes the persons who have guided us and helped us along the way. With the how addressed, in the final chapter, he invites the reader to consider what thriving looks like. For Reyes, "thriving is the feeling you have when you see the next generation running, playing, and laughing without care. . .. Thriving, for those on the brink of survival, is celebrating those moments when love overcomes the threat of oppression and freedom of the mind and body take hold for even just a moment" (p. 182).

                Reading books like The Purpose Gap as a white male I’m reminded that I’ve had lots of help along the way. More importantly, perhaps, I’ve had plenty of models to follow. After all, the faculty of most theological seminaries is composed of white males. That was especially true back when I went through the system in the 1980s and 1990s. Things are changing, but the barriers remain. Thus, there is the need for books like this that chart a path for those who are coming along. While Reyes writes from the context of theological education, he isn’t only writing for those who are pursuing this vocational path. Reyes has a vision for his own home community, desiring to see the folks back in Salinas, and places like that, find their purpose and thrive. That is true no matter the chosen vocation. Like many books that speak to communities of color, this can be a bit challenging for persons like me. Part of me wants to push back and tell the author that I’ve had challenges also. While that is true, they are different and they’re not systemic. Besides, Reyes didn’t write this book to or for me. Nevertheless, while he addresses those who face the greatest barriers to the process of discerning meaning and purpose in life, there is wisdom here that applies to all of us. In the end, I am grateful for having the opportunity to sit with this book. And, may it be a blessing to its intended audience, the communities and persons Reyes envisions finding their way across the purpose gap.  

Comments

Popular Posts