Today, there was a crash. Location: Duke Divinity School, Pastoral Care in Cross-Cultural Perspective Topic: Cultural Diversity and why it's important. White person who doesn't get it, slams on breaks when they realize that there is a world out there that they don't get. And then a group of black people are cruising a little faster than what the average driver is going in knowing/asserting that their world is different from the white world, that oppression saturates even the most assimilated/acculturated person.
And then cRAsH!!! bAnG!!!! bOoM!!!
It was ugly. This isn't the biggest crash I've seen. Some people aim to crash into each other, but a crash that causes friction in the Divinity School? Ouch!
Even though I have a very faint heart (and tear duct) when it comes to race issues, particularly racial reconciliation issues, I deeply understand the importance of being real and not covering up true frustration. It's ok to be angry, ok to feel confused.
However, I think we have a particular calling as Christians to "speak the truth in love." We cannot hide from the truth. And in our anger, hurt, frustration, etc., we are called to not sin. I would also say that as people who find their live in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ, that we deeply understand what it means to step down off of our thrones of truth and humbly sit beside those who are struggling to understand truth. If Jesus sits with us and graciously helps us to understand the holiness and truth about God, when he could justly bless us out for not getting God's many acts of self-revelation and mercy; then we are called to sit with people graciously as Jesus did when they don't understand the truth of another world (ie. black/white worlds).
As the reconciler, Jesus acts almost as a translator who because he's both human and man, he can reconcile us to God. He can tell us the things of God that we cannot understand, and as explained in 1 John, he is also our Advocate who goes before us to plead our case to God. When we are trying to understand both the black and white world (and that isn't to say that there are many different worlds), we need both the reconciliation of Jesus, but as ambassadors of reconciliation, we also need a translator. We need someone, or a few people, who can adequately explain what another culture is trying to convey.
My dear white friend today didn't get it, she wanted to get it. She really could have been helped simply by having it explained to her as historical fact. It wasn't her fault that no one taught her black history (and please don't assume that taking a black history course makes you a reconciler, but that it can lay foundational groundwork to understanding a certain culture). But the job of those of us who consider ourselves the culturally assimilated, who can operate in both black and white worlds, can be a bridge or translator so that information can be conveyed in a way it can be understood.
If a legitamately angry black person tries to "educate" an ignorant white person, it can easily be misunderstood, even with the best of intentions. The black person still may be percieved as angry. If a white person tries to talk to a black person about what it means to be white, then they too may be subject to being labeled as "ignorant" and/or "racist." This isn't to say that love and truth aren't enough, but sometimes it helps to have someone who can adequately translate (therefore racist or angry is not what is communicated, but that the language of the different worlds are translated most accurately--not always word for word, but idea for idea).
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Social Justice, Food and the Land(s) of Plenty
Today at the Divinity School I attended a seminar called "Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty" (based on a book of the same name by Mark Winne). It was co-lead by Dr. Ellen Davis (Old Testament Scholar at Duke) and Dr. Norman Wirzba (Ecology and the Land Scholar at Duke).
Living with Katie Potter pointed me to what it means to see Jesus and the Land--granted the two professors noted above make their living in this area and who I can learn from in my time here at Duke, but it is Katie who showed me much of the truth that could be found in the lecture. Katie was able to show me that God called her to care about the land because it was not only part of creation that we are bound in relationship with, but that our sin shows up in how we treat the land. Issues of social injustice and poverty can be found in food and water distribution.
As citizens of two lands of plenty (the United States and the Kingdom of God), we are olbigated to play a part in the just distribution of food. Gupy taught me that God has provided more than enough for all his creation (populations explosions aside--remember God was also the one who said be fruitful and multiply--and that doesn't mean go have a quiver without praying).
Some notes/and thoughts from the discussion are found below:
Eating reminds us that our first identity is that of creature. It is therefore a reminder that we depend on others for our eating which results from the sacrifice of others. We are creatures of dependence in our natural state, and in our rebirth we are now dependent of the Bread of Life (Jesus). --Norman Wirzba
The poor are deprived of the nourishment in food that God gave for them. Due to the injustice of healthy and inexpensive options of grocery stores not opening in areas where the poor live. And also, on a more global scale regarding the poor, we deny people the privilege and humanity to feed themselves--rather than rely on food kitchens, banks and other non-profits organizations.
11% of Americans go hungry, while 65% of Americans suffer from obesity and diabetes (most of this percentage falling heavily on the poor.
A food desert is a rural or urban area that one has to travel more than 10 miles to buy healthy food. Keep in mind that most of the people in those areas probably do no have access to a car. Bus systems are great, but it you have humbled yourself to use them (I say that because in my privilege it was a shock to my system) you quickly find out that you are a slave to the bus' schedule and not your own. I remember during Gupy that it took an entire afternoon to go to the grocery store across town using the bus. And just think, we still had to have a staffperson with a car pick us up because we couldn't carry all that we needed just for one week!
"Poverty is the cause of Hunger."--Mark Winne
"We cannot turn our food into energy."--Norman Wirzba on turning to our food into gas because our entire consumption of food (I can't remember the time period) results in 2 gallons of gas.
Living with Katie Potter pointed me to what it means to see Jesus and the Land--granted the two professors noted above make their living in this area and who I can learn from in my time here at Duke, but it is Katie who showed me much of the truth that could be found in the lecture. Katie was able to show me that God called her to care about the land because it was not only part of creation that we are bound in relationship with, but that our sin shows up in how we treat the land. Issues of social injustice and poverty can be found in food and water distribution.
As citizens of two lands of plenty (the United States and the Kingdom of God), we are olbigated to play a part in the just distribution of food. Gupy taught me that God has provided more than enough for all his creation (populations explosions aside--remember God was also the one who said be fruitful and multiply--and that doesn't mean go have a quiver without praying).
Some notes/and thoughts from the discussion are found below:
Eating reminds us that our first identity is that of creature. It is therefore a reminder that we depend on others for our eating which results from the sacrifice of others. We are creatures of dependence in our natural state, and in our rebirth we are now dependent of the Bread of Life (Jesus). --Norman Wirzba
The poor are deprived of the nourishment in food that God gave for them. Due to the injustice of healthy and inexpensive options of grocery stores not opening in areas where the poor live. And also, on a more global scale regarding the poor, we deny people the privilege and humanity to feed themselves--rather than rely on food kitchens, banks and other non-profits organizations.
11% of Americans go hungry, while 65% of Americans suffer from obesity and diabetes (most of this percentage falling heavily on the poor.
A food desert is a rural or urban area that one has to travel more than 10 miles to buy healthy food. Keep in mind that most of the people in those areas probably do no have access to a car. Bus systems are great, but it you have humbled yourself to use them (I say that because in my privilege it was a shock to my system) you quickly find out that you are a slave to the bus' schedule and not your own. I remember during Gupy that it took an entire afternoon to go to the grocery store across town using the bus. And just think, we still had to have a staffperson with a car pick us up because we couldn't carry all that we needed just for one week!
"Poverty is the cause of Hunger."--Mark Winne
"We cannot turn our food into energy."--Norman Wirzba on turning to our food into gas because our entire consumption of food (I can't remember the time period) results in 2 gallons of gas.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Race, Culture and Evangelicalism
Now before I begin this post I was say that I one consider myself an Evangelical and so I consider myself a member of this group that I will discuss. However, a good chunk of my beliefs about race and culture were cultivated before I really knew what evangelicalism was--though I shared many of the beliefs of an evangelical at that time. The Professor that highlighted the theological and cultural characteristics of evangelicals (specifically during the 19th Century) also considers himself as leaning mainly toward evangelicalism.
I am not going to highlight all of the characteristics of Evangelicalism, but I will focus mainly on the ones that I think affect our view of race and culture.
1) Because Scripture is seen as authoritative and that God's Word can speak to people of all generations, Evangelicals have a tendency to see "history as transparent." At least in the time of the Great Awakening and 19th Century, Evangelical Christians have seen their identity through the lens of 1st Century Israel. They project the world of 1st Century Israel on the rest of the world across time.
2)Evangelicals often find themselves in an adversarial relationship with their surrounding culture. And often this adversarial relationship is often provoked by Christians. They always feel besieged. It is almost a sense of percieved victimization (real or not). Which is so interesting in light of the Cross--that part of our identiy is that of the victim. St. Wacker says that this point is particularly interesting if you image how the U.S. South is today: What happens when Evangelicals or just Southern Baptists in a community IS the majority?
In light of these two ideas, St. Wacker says that evangelicals have "no understanding of the power of culture," particularly in response to the first point. If history is transparent, it is often made obsolete and not important. If Evangelicals always seem to find themselves at odds with the world, then it will impact their modes of crossing cultures and evangelism.
After hearing this lecture, I feel that I completely understand why I faced so much opposition on entering evangelicalism when I spoke about the importance of culture, especially black culture. It makes sense now that others thought that my assertions of agreeing that for many people Christianity felt like "White Man's Religion" and that Christians needed to understand the implications of racism and history before evangelizing and crossing cultures even in the U.S. made me a liberal, a communist, or even some may have thought--an apostate.
What are the implications of this?
1) Evangelicals need to understand God's mandate of culture.
2) Once there is understanding that God loves culture, we need to move toward understanding where we've messed up in the past and confessing our sins to our brothers and sisters and lean on Jesus for our forgiveness. We may not be forgiven by those we have hurt, we can understand their pain at staying in unforgiveness while recieved forgiveness from Jesus and letting him free us from the pain when others want to make us pay for the sin that we cannot pay for.
3) We must continue to learn about History, Culture, Race and about the things that God loves that we try to push out of our theology for various reasons.
4) Embodying these practices of Reconciliation will make our Gospel more credible, especially to those who have been hurt by us.
I am not going to highlight all of the characteristics of Evangelicalism, but I will focus mainly on the ones that I think affect our view of race and culture.
1) Because Scripture is seen as authoritative and that God's Word can speak to people of all generations, Evangelicals have a tendency to see "history as transparent." At least in the time of the Great Awakening and 19th Century, Evangelical Christians have seen their identity through the lens of 1st Century Israel. They project the world of 1st Century Israel on the rest of the world across time.
2)Evangelicals often find themselves in an adversarial relationship with their surrounding culture. And often this adversarial relationship is often provoked by Christians. They always feel besieged. It is almost a sense of percieved victimization (real or not). Which is so interesting in light of the Cross--that part of our identiy is that of the victim. St. Wacker says that this point is particularly interesting if you image how the U.S. South is today: What happens when Evangelicals or just Southern Baptists in a community IS the majority?
In light of these two ideas, St. Wacker says that evangelicals have "no understanding of the power of culture," particularly in response to the first point. If history is transparent, it is often made obsolete and not important. If Evangelicals always seem to find themselves at odds with the world, then it will impact their modes of crossing cultures and evangelism.
After hearing this lecture, I feel that I completely understand why I faced so much opposition on entering evangelicalism when I spoke about the importance of culture, especially black culture. It makes sense now that others thought that my assertions of agreeing that for many people Christianity felt like "White Man's Religion" and that Christians needed to understand the implications of racism and history before evangelizing and crossing cultures even in the U.S. made me a liberal, a communist, or even some may have thought--an apostate.
What are the implications of this?
1) Evangelicals need to understand God's mandate of culture.
2) Once there is understanding that God loves culture, we need to move toward understanding where we've messed up in the past and confessing our sins to our brothers and sisters and lean on Jesus for our forgiveness. We may not be forgiven by those we have hurt, we can understand their pain at staying in unforgiveness while recieved forgiveness from Jesus and letting him free us from the pain when others want to make us pay for the sin that we cannot pay for.
3) We must continue to learn about History, Culture, Race and about the things that God loves that we try to push out of our theology for various reasons.
4) Embodying these practices of Reconciliation will make our Gospel more credible, especially to those who have been hurt by us.
Monday, September 22, 2008
What I Love About Fall
Slowly, but surely Fall is becoming my favorite season. Or at least I think. Here is what I LOVE about Fall in no particular order:
1) Pumpkin spice lattes and frappachinos from Starbucks
2) Listening to Nickel Creek
3) October Birthdays: My Bday is the first day of the month and I share the month with my Dad, Uncle Bryan, Cousin Anna, Uncle Guy, Bama (who is no longer with us) and our new edition is my sister's dog Ava
4) I love the Autumnal Leaves
5) Louisburg UMC's Fall Festival complete with homemade Brunswick stew that you can freeze to use throughout the Fall and Winter
6) The Lexington Barbecue Festival--Small town festival, state's largest one day festival. Celebrate with top Country music, arts and crafts, and oh yeah...barbecue!
7) Football season begins to require a sweatshirt and basketball season (which I consider its own season) begins
8) Nick, our black cat, gets to be Mom's favorite decoration for Halloween
9) I LOVE to pig out for Thanksgiving dinner
10) Gotta love the Macy's Day Christmas Parade!
11) The cool breeze on a warm day and crisp Carolina sky
12) I finally get to start wearing my favorite clothes: jeans and sweaters!
13) Leaf piles: A photo shoot with Bama or a pile to jump in provided by Dad
14) Buying produce at the Farmer's Market
1) Pumpkin spice lattes and frappachinos from Starbucks
2) Listening to Nickel Creek
3) October Birthdays: My Bday is the first day of the month and I share the month with my Dad, Uncle Bryan, Cousin Anna, Uncle Guy, Bama (who is no longer with us) and our new edition is my sister's dog Ava
4) I love the Autumnal Leaves
5) Louisburg UMC's Fall Festival complete with homemade Brunswick stew that you can freeze to use throughout the Fall and Winter
6) The Lexington Barbecue Festival--Small town festival, state's largest one day festival. Celebrate with top Country music, arts and crafts, and oh yeah...barbecue!
7) Football season begins to require a sweatshirt and basketball season (which I consider its own season) begins
8) Nick, our black cat, gets to be Mom's favorite decoration for Halloween
9) I LOVE to pig out for Thanksgiving dinner
10) Gotta love the Macy's Day Christmas Parade!
11) The cool breeze on a warm day and crisp Carolina sky
12) I finally get to start wearing my favorite clothes: jeans and sweaters!
13) Leaf piles: A photo shoot with Bama or a pile to jump in provided by Dad
14) Buying produce at the Farmer's Market
Team Victory
11 Divinity School students in a tent built for 8-10. Back to back 3 am sirens for checks. Dinner for almost 2,000. Campout 2008 was insane! But it all paid off since Team Victory went 6 for 12 in accumulating seasons tickets which we will divide up among us. Saturday evening we had a check and we all went running to the registration tent. We were asked to sit down and lo and behold Coach K and the entire Duke Basketball team showed up (minus Greg Paulus who was stuck in traffic). How amazing it was to see Coach less than 25 feet away from me!!! And I was sooo close to asking him a question! The only sad element of this was that because there was no introduction that they were coming, I didn't have a camera on me!
Coach spoke about Legacy and how he saw the establishment of this to begin with the grad students who realize that college and certain aspects of life do not last forever. He wants all of us to keep the eye on prize this year for a national champtionship. And I must say, the thought of keeping the eye on the prize really reminded me of this blog. During Campout you could easily forget the prize (being entered in the lottery for a chance of tickets in Cameron), yet the 10th siren that required you get up and run to the registration tent almost made you choose sleep (a distraction or competition to the prize). When I made this connection, I realize how often I give in to that distraction/competition rather than keep my eye on the ball. I give up often. How wonderful it was that for the last 10 hours or so of campout that they ran footage of the classic Duke victories! I could remember where I was, what I was thinking, and even the names of most of the players who have made up a part of my life. How quickly time flies. The current team were between the ages of (11 and 15) when Duke won the last National Championship in 2001! Babies! So life is worth keeping your eye on the prize. And as much as I'd like my prize to be a Duke National Championship--I forget that mine is the Championship party in heaven.
Coach spoke about Legacy and how he saw the establishment of this to begin with the grad students who realize that college and certain aspects of life do not last forever. He wants all of us to keep the eye on prize this year for a national champtionship. And I must say, the thought of keeping the eye on the prize really reminded me of this blog. During Campout you could easily forget the prize (being entered in the lottery for a chance of tickets in Cameron), yet the 10th siren that required you get up and run to the registration tent almost made you choose sleep (a distraction or competition to the prize). When I made this connection, I realize how often I give in to that distraction/competition rather than keep my eye on the ball. I give up often. How wonderful it was that for the last 10 hours or so of campout that they ran footage of the classic Duke victories! I could remember where I was, what I was thinking, and even the names of most of the players who have made up a part of my life. How quickly time flies. The current team were between the ages of (11 and 15) when Duke won the last National Championship in 2001! Babies! So life is worth keeping your eye on the prize. And as much as I'd like my prize to be a Duke National Championship--I forget that mine is the Championship party in heaven.
Grad Student TentVille
The Nylon Mobile Home makes its college debut as Taj-Ma-Tent
Team Victory!!!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Camping Out for Basketball Tickets
This weekend I have signed up to experience the ultimate in Duke Student Life: Camping out for basketball tickets. As much as I want those tickets, I also love my sleep and my 700 square feet apartment to myself and my sweet kitty, Mercy. It will be interesting to see if I'm able to live to God through living in community with sleep deprivation and the scarcity of tickets! For those of the praying type, tickets would be lovely, but please pray for my wellbeing and the eleven other people on my "team" who are living in close proximity with one another.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Poverty and the Problem of the "Boot straps": An American Fallicy
So today in my Pastoral Care in Cross Cultural Perspective class, I found myself wanting to weep at the cross. We were having a discussion about Eastern culture (which experiences more communal identity) and Western culture (which has an individualistic perception of identity). Dr. Acolatse, our professor, grew up in Ghana. And she mentioned that the issue of homelessness would NEVER occur in African culture. In Africa, a person would never have to feel the shame of feeling that they failed at making a living for themselves. In our culture it leads to homelessness or suicide--feeling that you can't provide for yourself. Rather, an African would be taken in my a family member, no matter the hardship it proved to add another mouth the feed. As Americans, we look at people as if it is their own fault for not "making it," sending that person in despair. In Eastern culture, you make a living together--not on your own.
What a humbling thought to think that in some places around the world that homelessness and suicide would not exist just because of a way of thinking or a value system.
What a humbling thought to think that in some places around the world that homelessness and suicide would not exist just because of a way of thinking or a value system.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Me: A Reconciliation Person
While going through my resume and contemplating my history, I find it amazing that I am a reconciliation person. Why me? It's a question that I've often posed for a number of reasons.
1) It's hard.
2) It is a complete oxymoron given my history...a reality that I would like to unpack here on my blog because I have found it to be extremely significant.
The blood in my veins can be traced back to the English throne through the daughter of a Plantagenet King. The family remained in the good graces of the English Court until the Elizabethan Era. For unknown reasons, the Woodlief family lost credibility and respect at Court due to the suspicion that they were involved in the murder of Shakespeare's rival Christopher Marlowe. One of the sons, I think it was the youngest, John Woodlief joined a joint stock company and served as Captain to settlers who would make their home at what is now Berkely Plantation in Virginia. It was there that the official first Thanksgiving took place in 1619. Due to some sort of squabble, John crossed over the James River away from the rest of the settlers. This decision saved his life as an Indian attack destroyed the settlement. John eventually made his way from the James River to the Tar River area in North Carolina and my line of the family never moved until my my Dad married my Mom.
The Tar River family did well for themselves and were prominent members of the community. Yet that particular section of NC experienced some of the worst cases of racism and violence definatley in the state, if not also ranked in the South. I can only imagine that my family members were not involved in some of this activity. The area was a KKK hotbed in both the 19th and 20th Century editions of the group. They also created the first Confederate flag.
In the 20th Century, my Grandfather was the Superintendent in charge of integration. Just as my family has perhaps had for years, I never knew a day at my Grandparents house without hired help for the cooking, chores, and gardening. I also grew up with a black nanny. And until the past year, I have always had a cleaning lady to take care of the house.
As part of the "elite" of my small hometown, we were invited to take part in etiquette, cotillion, and debutante balls. We were afforded opportunities to socialize with the "right" people. We traveled around the world for pleasure. Granted, this cannot define my entire history because as you will soon see in later posts, that I also was able to experience quite the opposite--though never feeling that I truly belonged to either extreme.
But as far as racial or class reconciliation goes, I am the most likely/unlikely choice to be a reconciliation person.
How ironic that I would be chosen! I have extreme power in my priveledged life. And to find myself called to advocate for those who do not have those priviledges and to truly reconcile and live life with those people only points to the work of Reconciliation that God has already done for us in Christ. To mirror this truth is why I believe I was chosen.
"Jesus did not regard equality with God something to be grasped (or held on to), but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave in human flesh...He humbled himself obediently to the point of death, even death on a cross" to reconcile us back to God.
I have power that is not to be held tightly or taken lightly, but to be emptied for the sake of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5 tells us that we pursue our neighbor and the things of heaven because Jesus has reconciled us to heaven through his cross and resurrection. He was the first to cross the ultimate cross-cultural divide (from immortality to mortality and then back) so that we would be restored to God, ourselves, creation and our neighbor.
To be a person of reconciliation must take this into account. If not, we abuse each other and are tempted to grasp tightly to our stuff.
So truly, my journey in reconciliation is not about me, but it is about what Christ has already done. I am just baffled and excited and humbled to see that this passage rings so true for me that I have been chosen for this purpose.
1) It's hard.
2) It is a complete oxymoron given my history...a reality that I would like to unpack here on my blog because I have found it to be extremely significant.
The blood in my veins can be traced back to the English throne through the daughter of a Plantagenet King. The family remained in the good graces of the English Court until the Elizabethan Era. For unknown reasons, the Woodlief family lost credibility and respect at Court due to the suspicion that they were involved in the murder of Shakespeare's rival Christopher Marlowe. One of the sons, I think it was the youngest, John Woodlief joined a joint stock company and served as Captain to settlers who would make their home at what is now Berkely Plantation in Virginia. It was there that the official first Thanksgiving took place in 1619. Due to some sort of squabble, John crossed over the James River away from the rest of the settlers. This decision saved his life as an Indian attack destroyed the settlement. John eventually made his way from the James River to the Tar River area in North Carolina and my line of the family never moved until my my Dad married my Mom.
The Tar River family did well for themselves and were prominent members of the community. Yet that particular section of NC experienced some of the worst cases of racism and violence definatley in the state, if not also ranked in the South. I can only imagine that my family members were not involved in some of this activity. The area was a KKK hotbed in both the 19th and 20th Century editions of the group. They also created the first Confederate flag.
In the 20th Century, my Grandfather was the Superintendent in charge of integration. Just as my family has perhaps had for years, I never knew a day at my Grandparents house without hired help for the cooking, chores, and gardening. I also grew up with a black nanny. And until the past year, I have always had a cleaning lady to take care of the house.
As part of the "elite" of my small hometown, we were invited to take part in etiquette, cotillion, and debutante balls. We were afforded opportunities to socialize with the "right" people. We traveled around the world for pleasure. Granted, this cannot define my entire history because as you will soon see in later posts, that I also was able to experience quite the opposite--though never feeling that I truly belonged to either extreme.
But as far as racial or class reconciliation goes, I am the most likely/unlikely choice to be a reconciliation person.
How ironic that I would be chosen! I have extreme power in my priveledged life. And to find myself called to advocate for those who do not have those priviledges and to truly reconcile and live life with those people only points to the work of Reconciliation that God has already done for us in Christ. To mirror this truth is why I believe I was chosen.
"Jesus did not regard equality with God something to be grasped (or held on to), but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave in human flesh...He humbled himself obediently to the point of death, even death on a cross" to reconcile us back to God.
I have power that is not to be held tightly or taken lightly, but to be emptied for the sake of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5 tells us that we pursue our neighbor and the things of heaven because Jesus has reconciled us to heaven through his cross and resurrection. He was the first to cross the ultimate cross-cultural divide (from immortality to mortality and then back) so that we would be restored to God, ourselves, creation and our neighbor.
To be a person of reconciliation must take this into account. If not, we abuse each other and are tempted to grasp tightly to our stuff.
So truly, my journey in reconciliation is not about me, but it is about what Christ has already done. I am just baffled and excited and humbled to see that this passage rings so true for me that I have been chosen for this purpose.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Social Location
So in honor of St. Wacker of Duke, I must give you my social location. To understand my natural biases and assumptions, one must understand social location: where you're coming from. As a history major this was key to everything I learned in Undergrad.
So who am I?
I grew up in smalltown NC. In the home I lived a relative middle class existence, though going to right church and having the right friends or connections would morph you into a locus of power that controlled both social and political life in town. I had some of those connections--although I both hated and longed for it growing up.
Grew up Methodist. In my absolutist stage I liked the Baptists (although I still do to a degree). My theology box could probably be identified through my involvement with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Yet I have found that I have hung out with a lot of Presbyterians. And now I attend a predominately Wesleyian (though definately not all) Seminary. Some may say that I've come full circle.
So that should explain that I am theologically conservative and socially liberal. But of couse, that is not all of the reasons.
For college I moved to Asheville, a liberal and academic University. So yes, I like to recycle, to wear Crocs, and do a number of other things that would be identified as tree-hugger.
Now I live in Durham. I've been both a public and private school teacher before Seminary.
So hopefully this identifies much of where I am coming from, but do realize that my social location does not always define me as I struggle against it at times.
So who am I?
I grew up in smalltown NC. In the home I lived a relative middle class existence, though going to right church and having the right friends or connections would morph you into a locus of power that controlled both social and political life in town. I had some of those connections--although I both hated and longed for it growing up.
Grew up Methodist. In my absolutist stage I liked the Baptists (although I still do to a degree). My theology box could probably be identified through my involvement with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Yet I have found that I have hung out with a lot of Presbyterians. And now I attend a predominately Wesleyian (though definately not all) Seminary. Some may say that I've come full circle.
So that should explain that I am theologically conservative and socially liberal. But of couse, that is not all of the reasons.
For college I moved to Asheville, a liberal and academic University. So yes, I like to recycle, to wear Crocs, and do a number of other things that would be identified as tree-hugger.
Now I live in Durham. I've been both a public and private school teacher before Seminary.
So hopefully this identifies much of where I am coming from, but do realize that my social location does not always define me as I struggle against it at times.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Entering a New World
Finally! I have a blog! I think this is the first form of technology that I can safely say that I like...hopefully I won't change my mind about that in the the next few months. I will begin by answering a few questions.
Why am I creating a blog?
Being a writer at heart, I can create entries for the public without having to worry about grammar and a grade. I would have loved to create a blog when I was teaching in public school, but there are way too many laws involved with that. However, now that I am Divinity School at Duke I have found that I want to comment on what we are learning and how I am processing all of it. As a random person, I find myself contemplating extremely random yet interesting ideas. A blog would create a great place for comments and thoughts. So yes, please comment to keep the ideas flowing! And I must say that my life typically ends up being very interesting...so some things I just can't keep to myself.
What might you find on my blog?
If you read about the name of my blog, you will find that most of my posts will probably pertain to some aspect of the Christian life. And although it sounds very narcissistic, it will probably pertain to me and my life much of the time. So last week I began to think about what state I am in on the race. I am exhausted from a few sprints that I wasn't really ready for after bad injuries in a fall, but I am jogging along none the less. But this time as I'm jogging, I've noticed that I've begun to see faces in the crowd--the cloud of witnesses--who are cheering me on in faith. Since I'm in Div school getting to know some of these people who have come before me, I expect to make a number of posts on the cloud of witnesses. As an M.T.S. student, there may be a few theology or bible posts. Although my blog will take a Christian point of view, I invite those of all points of view to share in my experiences and to make comments.
Why am I creating a blog?
Being a writer at heart, I can create entries for the public without having to worry about grammar and a grade. I would have loved to create a blog when I was teaching in public school, but there are way too many laws involved with that. However, now that I am Divinity School at Duke I have found that I want to comment on what we are learning and how I am processing all of it. As a random person, I find myself contemplating extremely random yet interesting ideas. A blog would create a great place for comments and thoughts. So yes, please comment to keep the ideas flowing! And I must say that my life typically ends up being very interesting...so some things I just can't keep to myself.
What might you find on my blog?
If you read about the name of my blog, you will find that most of my posts will probably pertain to some aspect of the Christian life. And although it sounds very narcissistic, it will probably pertain to me and my life much of the time. So last week I began to think about what state I am in on the race. I am exhausted from a few sprints that I wasn't really ready for after bad injuries in a fall, but I am jogging along none the less. But this time as I'm jogging, I've noticed that I've begun to see faces in the crowd--the cloud of witnesses--who are cheering me on in faith. Since I'm in Div school getting to know some of these people who have come before me, I expect to make a number of posts on the cloud of witnesses. As an M.T.S. student, there may be a few theology or bible posts. Although my blog will take a Christian point of view, I invite those of all points of view to share in my experiences and to make comments.
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