Spiritual Formation: I'm very encouraged by the focus on cultivating our spiritual vitality. It would be very easy for these 3 years to become a stressful, competitive, and overly academic time. And although we will make mistakes and experience those things, they care deeply about developing our hearts and souls. The orientation and the Bridddge program started with worship each day, and it's been a different and special experience worshiping with people who are embarking on a similar journey of preparing for ministry. One service that was particularly powerful was one where we remembered our baptism, which I have never done before. We went one by one to the front of the room and dipped our hand in water as we were told "Remember your baptism..." This conjured memory after memory of when I was baptized - standing in the lake with Pastor Dave, being put under the water and coming back up, seeing my mom and giving her a hug afterwards. I surveyed the last 10 years since I was baptized in my mind. As I thought of the journey I've been on, I don't know if I've ever connected with God's faithfulness in such an intimate way. When I sat down I wept and wept until the service was over. I've had many challenges, questions, and fears since I've been baptized, but God has been good. God is good.
I'm also looking forward to the spiritual formation groups we meet with weekly, morning prayer every morning and worship Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. These three years will not just be studying theology, it will be experiencing theology.
Community: One of the primary emphases is that we learn best in community. During orientation we have constantly heard the message that we are in this together. One of the speakers told us to look to our left and our right at the people sitting next to us - our job is to make sure that in 3 years, they are still there. The worship and prayer that I mentioned before is for our spiritual growth, but it's also for us to be worshiping together. This does not replace finding a local church, it is rather an opportunity to worship with our fellow students.
I started to get the sense that this could become a constant retreat. This means it's important for me to be involved in my neighborhood and other parts of Durham and Duke so that I understand and connect with the world at large, not just in the Duke Divinity bubble.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
A New Home in Durham and Duke Divinity School
In just three days I begin my first semester in the M.Div. program at Duke Divinity School. When I first arrived about a week ago I participated in the "Bridddge" program, which is designed to connect Duke Divinity students to the Durham community. We visited historical sites, heard speakers, worshiped together, and were prompted to think theologically about everything we saw. It was a great time to meet some of my new fellows students too. Here are a few highlights:
The second day of Bridddge, we visited Paul Cameron's slave plantation from the early 19th century. He treated his slaves better than most slave owners, but there is ample evidence that it was out of economic rather than compassionate motives. This makes me think of other powerful people during our time who oppress the weak under the pretense of good will.
An incident that occured later that day related to this. One of the directors of community affairs at Duke University (the entire schoo, not just the Divinity school) led a bus tour through Durham. As we visited different areas he pointed out what good things Duke University has done in one way or another - they gave money here, built this there, etc. The constant laud of Duke was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable, especially when we drove through Walltown, the low-income, predominately African-American community, where I'm living. At the end of Walltown closest to the university, Duke bought out a whole row of houses and established a policy in which only Duke staff and faculty can purchase them. They're renovating the houses to make them over $400,000 each. He said something to the effect of "many will call this gentrification, which people think is detrimental, but the way we see it is that we're revitalizing the area." I shifted in my seat and whispered to a 2nd year who lives in Walltown, "What do the people in Walltown think?" He said "They think that Duke is trying to push them out of their homes and buy out the neighborhood - they're not happy about it."
That was the depressing part. The encouraging part was what happened when the tour guide got off the bus. As soon as the door closed, Rev. Brady, one of the Bridddge leaders from the Divinity School, erupted from his seat and launched into a sermon about the dangerous subtleties of how the world sees things, and how we are to see things by the Spirit and with a Kingdom vision. The sincere, spontaneous passion in Rev. Brady was encouraging and inspiring. Some other Bridddge leaders and students spoke up and the whole bus was filled with "Amens." This was a beautiful picture of how the good news of Jesus' Kingdom enters reality - speaking into oppressive systems and caring for the disenfranchised, giving them a home when their worldly homes are taken away.
Another highlight to the Bridddge program was the privilege of visiting Ann Atwater, a civil rights leader in Durham during the 1960's. There was a book written about the friendship between Ann and former KKK Exalted Cyclops C.P. Ellis called The Best of Enemies. We went to Ann's place and she joyfully welcomed us with open arms. We all piled in the back room and sang a hymn together. I could hear Ann from the other side of the room singing boldly with her weathered voice. She told us stories about prayer meetings, sit-ins, vigils, and marches she led. Someone asked her, "What inspires you to be so vocal and so active?" She said, "When I was a young girl, someone told me that I must stand on the truth, and if anything goes against it, I must speak up about it." In light of this conviction, she had us read the first chapter of James together, emphasizing the part that urges, "prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves."
We serendipitously saw Ann's "doing" in action. She had organized a clean-up day in her neighborhood (she's still going strong in her later years), and there were some other Duke students going door-to-door asking homeowners if they'd like help cleaning up their trash. As they were walking around, a firetruck picked them up and brought them back to Ann's place, saying it was "dangerous" to be out walking in that neighborhood. When they told this to Ann, her jolly smile became a scowl and she said "Hand me the phone!" She dialed 911 and said "I have some students who took some time out of their day to help clean up trash, and they were told they couldn't be doing what they were doing...this is Ann Atwater...give me the chief of police...he's not there?...well I need to find out why these students can't be walking through this neighborhood." And we listened as she shared her frustration. She said "OK, thank you" and hung up, then proceeded to call the mayor. He wasn't in either, but about a minute later a police officer showed up at the house. When he came in, she said, "Come on over here and set next to me." He politely and awkwardly came in and took a seat in a room full of 20 wide-eyed entering Divinity students, some undergrads, and Ann Atwater. She explained the situation, he apologized and said it was fine for them to be in the neighborhood, and Ann invited him to join us if he could. So we proceeded with our questions and Ann's stories - except now we had a Durham police officer joining the party. He was very happy to stay, so we took advantage of it and asked him questions about the relationships between the police, some of the distressed neighborhoods in Durham, and Duke students. I think our time in Ann's living room brought those three worlds together in a wonderful way.
The second day of Bridddge, we visited Paul Cameron's slave plantation from the early 19th century. He treated his slaves better than most slave owners, but there is ample evidence that it was out of economic rather than compassionate motives. This makes me think of other powerful people during our time who oppress the weak under the pretense of good will.
An incident that occured later that day related to this. One of the directors of community affairs at Duke University (the entire schoo, not just the Divinity school) led a bus tour through Durham. As we visited different areas he pointed out what good things Duke University has done in one way or another - they gave money here, built this there, etc. The constant laud of Duke was beginning to make me feel uncomfortable, especially when we drove through Walltown, the low-income, predominately African-American community, where I'm living. At the end of Walltown closest to the university, Duke bought out a whole row of houses and established a policy in which only Duke staff and faculty can purchase them. They're renovating the houses to make them over $400,000 each. He said something to the effect of "many will call this gentrification, which people think is detrimental, but the way we see it is that we're revitalizing the area." I shifted in my seat and whispered to a 2nd year who lives in Walltown, "What do the people in Walltown think?" He said "They think that Duke is trying to push them out of their homes and buy out the neighborhood - they're not happy about it."
That was the depressing part. The encouraging part was what happened when the tour guide got off the bus. As soon as the door closed, Rev. Brady, one of the Bridddge leaders from the Divinity School, erupted from his seat and launched into a sermon about the dangerous subtleties of how the world sees things, and how we are to see things by the Spirit and with a Kingdom vision. The sincere, spontaneous passion in Rev. Brady was encouraging and inspiring. Some other Bridddge leaders and students spoke up and the whole bus was filled with "Amens." This was a beautiful picture of how the good news of Jesus' Kingdom enters reality - speaking into oppressive systems and caring for the disenfranchised, giving them a home when their worldly homes are taken away.
Another highlight to the Bridddge program was the privilege of visiting Ann Atwater, a civil rights leader in Durham during the 1960's. There was a book written about the friendship between Ann and former KKK Exalted Cyclops C.P. Ellis called The Best of Enemies. We went to Ann's place and she joyfully welcomed us with open arms. We all piled in the back room and sang a hymn together. I could hear Ann from the other side of the room singing boldly with her weathered voice. She told us stories about prayer meetings, sit-ins, vigils, and marches she led. Someone asked her, "What inspires you to be so vocal and so active?" She said, "When I was a young girl, someone told me that I must stand on the truth, and if anything goes against it, I must speak up about it." In light of this conviction, she had us read the first chapter of James together, emphasizing the part that urges, "prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves."
We serendipitously saw Ann's "doing" in action. She had organized a clean-up day in her neighborhood (she's still going strong in her later years), and there were some other Duke students going door-to-door asking homeowners if they'd like help cleaning up their trash. As they were walking around, a firetruck picked them up and brought them back to Ann's place, saying it was "dangerous" to be out walking in that neighborhood. When they told this to Ann, her jolly smile became a scowl and she said "Hand me the phone!" She dialed 911 and said "I have some students who took some time out of their day to help clean up trash, and they were told they couldn't be doing what they were doing...this is Ann Atwater...give me the chief of police...he's not there?...well I need to find out why these students can't be walking through this neighborhood." And we listened as she shared her frustration. She said "OK, thank you" and hung up, then proceeded to call the mayor. He wasn't in either, but about a minute later a police officer showed up at the house. When he came in, she said, "Come on over here and set next to me." He politely and awkwardly came in and took a seat in a room full of 20 wide-eyed entering Divinity students, some undergrads, and Ann Atwater. She explained the situation, he apologized and said it was fine for them to be in the neighborhood, and Ann invited him to join us if he could. So we proceeded with our questions and Ann's stories - except now we had a Durham police officer joining the party. He was very happy to stay, so we took advantage of it and asked him questions about the relationships between the police, some of the distressed neighborhoods in Durham, and Duke students. I think our time in Ann's living room brought those three worlds together in a wonderful way.
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