Utah’s best-known advocate for the poor is passing on her ‘holy nudges’

Not long ago, Pamela Atkinson came across a book she didn’t remember ordering and read it. The novel was titled “In His Steps.” Written over 100 years ago by Charles M. Sheldon, it is the fictional story of a group of people of faith who pledge to tackle every decision they face with the question “What would Jesus do?” and then act accordingly.

After reading it, Atkinson, who is probably Utah’s best-known — and most beloved and respected — advocate for the poor, the disenfranchised and the ill, felt a sense of urgency to apply the concept to life today.

She calls the moments she knows are a spiritual prompting a “holy nudge.” But this one felt like a more urgent “holy shove” because it dominated her thoughts and carried a sense of “hurry up.”

The hurry-up part is because Atkinson is 93 years old and has been quite frail, with bouts of illness recently. She told Deseret News she thinks this may be her final heaven-sent assignment.

She said she tries to always act on spiritual promptings. So Atkinson has gathered a group of policymakers and faith leaders to ponder what Jesus would do in this community and beyond — as well as how resulting goodness could spread to others in more far-reaching ripples. She wants to ensure the work that has filled her heart and busied her hands for decades doesn’t lose momentum or attention, because the challenges that beset folks never really go away.

The result is a roundtable discussion titled “A Conversation with Pamela Atkinson: What Would Jesus Do?” It centers not on the details of any faith, but on a discussion of how faith and its practitioners can make whole communities and individual lives much better. The goal is to get the collaboration and the caring that ensues to spread. The roundtable, which takes place this week, will be disseminated as part of the “Deseret Voices” podcast series, hosted by Jane Clayson Johnson.

Atkinson has selected a small but diverse group of participants. The invitation the panelists received asked them to be part of an “interfaith panel exploring Christian kindness, dignity and the power of faith to lift communities in times of joy and stress.”

The hourlong event, which Atkinson will host, includes Utah first lady Abby Cox; Sophia DiCaro, executive director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget; Michael Edwards, director of youth and young adults for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City; Rev. Corey Hodges, lead pastor of The Point Church; Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and Rev. Jamie White, lead pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City (Atkinson’s longtime church). Sharon Eubank, who oversees global humanitarian efforts for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is co-hosting.

Atkinson’s legacy

A homeless trust fund, health clinics and transitional housing all bear Atkinson’s name and honor her legacy, particularly the part that has eased the suffering and brought opportunities to people who are homeless or very close to it. Atkinson has advised a handful of governors and served on many boards, crafting policy that at its forefront focuses on what will bolster those who struggle. Most of that, she notes, has come from holy nudges and heaven-sent opportunities.

Atkinson told Deseret News she really does believe the ambition to bring a diverse group together based on the “what would Jesus do” premise is probably her final God-given assignment.

If it is her last project, it’s a good one, she said. “I’ve had a lot of ‘holy nudges’ from the Lord in terms of the work that I do, and even when I’ve been sick, he’s still done that because I can always help people by referring them to somebody else. I know the Lord’s using me right up to the end, and I know the end isn’t too far away.”

The roundtable is appropriate to this era of disagreement and dissension, she said. What would Jesus do?

Atkinson would like to see ideas on how to come together to solve community problems, lift up strugglers and be accountable for the tasks to emerge from this small Christian group. She sees the group as a committee of sorts — Christians that could easily over time expand to other faiths, because many faith traditions cherish and practice the common principles like kindness, care for the less fortunate and basic decency that were part of Christ’s ministry.

But this is where she wants to start. She said she has known and worked with each of the six panelists. She has worked with so many people, in fact, that her original proposed list of participants had to be whittled down.

Her wish? “I want people to look at their interactions. The other day I was talking to this person and I said, ‘You know, I don’t think I agree with you on this issue.’ And he clarified and I said, ‘I still disagree, but boy, I like you.’ We’ll remain friends. That’s what I want people to learn. It’ll have some similarities with the governor’s ‘Disagree Better’ initiative.”

As for legacy, Atkinson hopes people believe she “made a difference in the world with the Lord’s help.” She didn’t do it alone. “I want people to see my legacy as something they can build on and continue — that it’s very easy to help one another,” she said.

The key, she said, is to always ask people what they need, rather than telling them what they need. “Don’t discriminate because people are of a different socioeconomic class. And don’t give up on people.”

She yearns to know that others will build on any good that has already been done. She pointed out that anyone can be part of society’s solutions.

Atkinson herself grew up in extreme poverty in England, with a mother who worked very hard to support her children and a father who raced greyhounds, gambled money away and then left. She used education to escape poverty so intense that they lacked the indoor plumbing most of her peers took for granted. She became a nurse and later returned to school for a master’s degree in both sociology and business. By the time she retired, she was a vice president at Intermountain Health, where she oversaw humanitarian services.

But she didn’t really retire, continuing to serve on boards and acting as an adviser to Utah’s recent governors, among other contributions. And she continued, until recently, visiting “my homeless friends” and distributing dog food to those whose only companion was often a canine. She used the money she earned serving on boards to pay someone’s rent here and hospital bill there. It was her help-others fund.

Even now, she makes referrals for folks who need help that she can no longer provide directly.

Stepping up

When Deseret News contacted several of the panelists, it was clear that accepting Atkinson’s invitation was not just belief in the purpose but also joy at being asked by someone everyone seems to consider a friend.

Hodges, the Baptist minister, described Atkinson as a longtime friend with a “wonderful legacy of doing great community work. I wanted to participate and contribute to her legacy as well.”

He’s also interested in the perspective other faith groups will bring to the discussion. They’ve all read the “In His Steps” book to gear up for the conversation.

Hodges referred to Matthew 25, where Jesus describes “the least of these.”

“People who are overlooked, marginalized, disenfranchised,” Hodges said. “It is our responsibility as people of faith to minister to these people, to help make life and life’s burdens a little lighter, to live out the Christian principles that we say we hold deeply. ... Although we may be from different faith traditions, I think we can all agree that looking out for those who are homeless, those who are in prison, those who are hungry, those sorts of things are principles of humanity and most faith communities support coming together to provide some relief in these situations. It’s exciting because Jesus would absolutely do that.

“He was a radical character who thought outside the box, who crossed boundaries — cultural boundaries, religious boundaries, economic boundaries, political boundaries.”

DiCaro, from the governor’s office, said she feels a lot of pressure to be entrusted with helping further Atkinson’s goal for the group. While listening to the book, she said she started thinking that it’s about 50/50 what people can control and what they can’t. She sees “an opportunity to better direct what you can control in a more productive way ... an opportunity to hopefully inspire people to reevaluate what they can do in — this sounds cheesy — making the world a better place.”

She said she hopes people will be inspired to ask themselves in any situation to “do better, rethink, ask: Is there a different approach to what we’re doing here, especially with all the uncertainty going on around us? It’s a great reminder to reevaluate what we can control.”

Edwards, the Catholic, said just being asked to participate was an honor, “knowing the life Pamela’s lived and all the things she’s had her hand in.”

He said he has since been pondering, “Are we really sacrificing anything like Christ would have sacrificed? Are we helping our neighbors out? Are we too involved with ourselves, maybe?”

Atkinson doesn’t have very big feet, Edwards said, “but she has huge shoes to fill.”

That ripple effect will be very important.