Faith, Work, and ‘Saving the Subject’ in Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Faith & Work Forum on October 14, 2024, brought together a community eager to explore deeper questions about life, faith, and identity. With themes drawn from Saving the Subject, we explored what it means to find our true identity beyond external accomplishments. Sharing my personal journey of rediscovery after a traumatic brain injury allowed for deep discussions and meaningful exchanges. The photos and highlights below capture the evening’s energy and thoughtful engagement from each attendee:

The event kicked off with the “Man Running” / “Running Man” poem, a story that reached beyond words to capture the tension we all feel when we’re driven by achievements yet find ourselves drifting from who we truly are. The man kept running, crossing finish lines that seemed so important—until he realized he’d left himself behind long ago. That image set the stage for a conversation not just about what we do, but about who we are becoming.

As the night unfolded, we wrestled with the difference between our objective desires—those external markers of success—and our subjective desires, the deeper longing to be someone of substance, not just someone with accomplishments. I shared my own story of being struck by a car in 2015 and waking up to a life I no longer recognized. It wasn’t just about learning to walk and talk again. It was about piecing together an identity that wasn’t anchored in my abilities but in a truer sense of self—my personhood beneath it all. There was a shared recognition in the room that night: that our value doesn’t lie in what we can do, but in who we are when everything else is stripped away.

Faith wasn’t a side note; it was at the heart of the discussion. We dug into the idea that our identity is grounded in our relationship with God—the eternal subject who calls us to see beyond mere accomplishments. The moment of reflection came full circle with a look at the crucifixion in Matthew 27, where the crowd saw Jesus as an object to be discarded. It wasn’t until after his death that they realized they’d lost not just a man, but the very subject they could no longer ignore: “Truly, this was the Son of God!” (Mt. 27:54). It’s a reminder that we often miss each other until it’s too late, treating people as replaceable until we realize they aren’t.

The evening wasn’t just another event. It was a moment to pause, to challenge the assumptions we carry, and to step away with a renewed sense of what it means to be fully human. The conversations didn’t end when the event did—they lingered, inviting each of us to look again at our lives, our goals, and the people around us, and to start seeing not just what’s there, but who’s there.