Under the Baobab Tree

September 21, 2006

When people ask, “How was the summer?” I rarely respond by saying, “quiet.” How can a summer be quiet when I travel to wonderful places and meet remarkable people on behalf of The Divinity School ? How can it be quiet when the school is filled during July with a mixture of second-career United Methodist local pastors on the one hand, and high school juniors and seniors on the other?

This summer I found myself preaching and teaching in a variety of settings, attending a conference related to our coordination of the Lilly Endowment's Sustaining Pastoral Excellence grants program, developing plans for the next year, and traveling to serve as a delegate at the World Methodist Conference in Seoul, Korea. The summer was filled with powerful experiences, opportunities to learn and see God at work. But it was hardly quiet.

Duke Divinity School was even less quiet. We sponsored, under Tiffney Marley's leadership, two international “pilgrimages of pain and hope” — one at the start of the summer to Brazil, and one at the end of the summer to South Africa. These are extraordinary learning opportunities for students, alumni and friends to experience the griefs and joys of brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we share particular relationships.

More than 200 students were involved in Divinity School-sponsored field education. Many of those students were in rural United Methodist communities in North Carolina, experiencing ministry in settings supported by The Duke Endowment. More than a dozen students served in Teaching Congregations around the country, and another five served in “Teaching Communities” as a part of the work of the Center for Reconciliation. In addition, seven students served in South Africa, four in Guatemala and El Salvador, two in Uganda, two in Sri Lanka, and one in Peru.

During the month of July The Divinity School is filled to the brim with two very different groups: The Summer Course of Study School and the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation. The Course of Study is a program of The United Methodist Church, where people who are serving as licensed local pastors receive theological education in a non-degree program each summer for a period of five summers. Approximately 200 local pastors from across the country gather at Duke for four weeks of intensive study, worship and community. The courses are taught by Duke Divinity School faculty and staff, graduate students, as well as pastors from the surrounding area.

Most of the students in our Course of Study School are second-vocation people who experienced a call to ministry later in life. They are licensed to serve in congregations, and they come to Duke to strengthen their understanding and their skills for the practice of ministry. Many of them are separated from spouses and family for these four weeks, and their willingness to take risks and make sacrifices in service to their call is humbling and inspiring.

During two of their four weeks, the Course of Study students share our space with the 50-60 youth (and 35 adult leaders and counselors) attending the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation. The youth who attend come from more than two dozen states and represent a variety of Christian denominations. Susan's and my son Nathan had a life-transforming experience at the academy three summers ago, as have countless others over the past six years.

The focus of the academy each year is on living into your baptism. The academy features lectures by Divinity School faculty (including some of our most distinguished senior faculty), opportunities to cultivate gifts in the arts and to serve in community-ministry settings, and daily worship and covenant discipleship groups. Oh, and there is time for Sabbath rest and fun as well. But it is an intense, formative experience in patterns and practices of Christian discipleship.

Each summer Susan and I have the privilege of presiding at communion and preaching at the opening service on the first Sunday evening. It is after a community dinner, and is the final time when the youth and their families will be together for the next two weeks. This summer I visited with some parents at dinner who were dropping off their second child to participate in the program. They told me that the Duke Youth Academy had made a tremendous difference in their first child's life.

They then told me that they still remembered something I had said in my sermon on that Sunday night several years earlier. I had told the story of a friend who, when his parents dropped him off at college, had been given a hug and instruction to remember two things: that his parents loved him, and that he was baptized. I had noted that the reminder that he was baptized covered far more than any injunctions or warnings about misbehavior could have. The parents told me that they now shared those two things with all of their children, and how important the idea of “living into your baptism” had become for them. I hastily rearranged my sermon to be sure I told that story again.

On the next to the last day of the academy, one of the students was overheard to say, “Do we have to leave tomorrow?” Our reunion gatherings in February for academy participants has had a tremendous response — a reminder that when people discover the power of the Gospel for shaping how we think and feel and live, they look for more opportunities of discovery. For them, and for us at Duke Divinity School, it's a process of year-round schooling.

As always, if you have stories about Duke Divinity School to share, please be in touch by emailing Chris Brady, special assistant to the dean.

See you soon, Under the Baobab Tree.

The baobab tree serves as a meeting place for many villages to discuss community matters, relate the news of the day, or tell stories. Baobabs are a protected tree in South Africa, and they are said to be “World Trees” or “Trees of Life” by many of the cultures on the African continent.