Is Christian Slavery an Oxymoron?

At the beginning of Term 2, my church history professor asked us what our fears for the course were. I said that I was scared to learn something that would challenge my assumptions, and shake my faith.

Every term God has used church history to teach me something that keeps me up at night. In Term 2, I learned that Luther was not a Marxist. This challenged me to re-think Protestantism as a biblically sanctioned way to create a new social order. I've concluded that being a Protestant does not make me a theological badass; God desires unity more than he does "right" denominations.

In Term 3, the issue that's keeping me up at night is slavery, particularly Christian slavery. As a white, Northern, middle class woman, I could not wrap my brain around Christian slavery. Until I read "The Divine Sanction of Social Order: Religious Foundations of the Southern Slaveholders' World View" by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene D. Genovese. This article taught me how slavery fits into a Southern Christian worldview, as well as the holes in the Northern abolitionist intellectial tradition I've inherited.

What follows are the tenants of a Southern Christian worldview as told by Fox-Genovese and Genovese. Hopefully you will see that Christian slavery is more complicated than Northerners were right, and Southerners were idiots.

1. Slavery was part of a social order that allowed morally frail human beings to live together safely in a manor pleasing to God. (Genovese 218). Southern Christian slaveowners really believed that being a slaveowner was a way for them to live out their faith, because they really believed that their slaves were morally frail. They did not see slavery as a way of denying their slaves personhood, but as an act of Christian charity- a way for the strong to lead the meek for the good of society.

2. The Southern social order took on three forms: the family, the household, and the polity (community). All of these social orders were governed by relationships of superordination and subordination (Genovese 219-220). In other words, the white male served as the head of household (superordination) over his family, his estate, and in the community. This created a social hierarchy with white men at the top, followed by their subordinates: wives, children, white hired help, and slaves. As the head of the social hierarchy, white men had a responsibility to discipline, impose order and provide for the physical needs of everyone under him (Genovese 221). Genovese argues that white male heads of household did this effectively only when they did so in accordance with the entire body of laws and commandments in the Old and New Testaments (Genovese 221). And many slaveowners believed that they treated their slaves better than capitalists did free workers (Genovese 224).

3. All human institutions lay open to abuses and injustices (Genovese 222). Southern Christian Slaveowners believed that slavery is not inherently sinful, but human beings are; just because those who run the system are sinful, this does not make the entire system sinful.

4. The Bible sanctions slavery. (Genovese 223). Southerners were a people who read their Bibles, even if many of them read little else (Genovese 225), and the Bible clearly sanctions slavery. The question becomes what type of slavery does the Bible sanction? Abolitionists pointed out that the Bible says little about slavery in relation to race, so isn't the enslavement of Africans more a question of social stratificaiton and class power? (Genovese 224).

5. The South did not undergo the "feminization" of religion that the North did. (Genovese 226). This is a facinating arguement. I think Genovese means that women often spearhead social movements, a. la the abolitionist movement, prohibition, civil rights, and women's lib. But with Southern men participating in Christianity in equal measure to Southern women (Genovese 225), Christianity empasized less sentimentality (i.e treat others the way you want to be treated), and more a way to keep social order intact (Genovese 227).

While I don't agree with most of the Southerners justifications for slavery, I am fascinated by the way life and religion interact in producing worldviews. Part of the reason I cannot write slavery off as a problem for previous generations is because the ministry I inherit will always struggle with questions of how does our faith in Jesus Christ compell us to respond to the pressing social issues of the day? Slavery in America has taught me to appreciate the historical tension that shape the world I live in.

So, How's Seminary?: A Lenten Reflection

Having been on spring break for the past two weeks, I spent a lot of time catching up with my friends and family. It felt good to sleep, and have a social life again. Inevitably, once the small talk died down, they all asked the same question: So, how's seminary going? The best answer I can come up with is that seminary has given me a whole new appreciation for Lent.

Let me explain. In Matthew 4: 1-11, we get the story of Jesus' temptation before he begins his ministry. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, 'if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.' But he answered, 'It is written, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." 

It is significant that Jesus began his ministry with a time of prayer and fasting, just as it is significant when a person responds to their call to ministry by attending seminary. People pray and fast not just to become closer to God, but to remove all the distractions that they use to to disguise everything they hate about ourselves.

When Jesus says that man does not live by bread alone, what I think he means is that bread becomes an idol not when it satisfyies our hunger, but when it makes us forget what it's like to be hungry. That is why this Lent I decided to give up Netflix. Now I don't think watching TV is a bad thing, but this fast is teaching me that I was using Netflix to numb the lonliness that creeps in an hour before bedtime. Lonliness sucks, but I can think of no better way to learn how to completely depend on God.

Like Jesus' wilderness wanderings, seminary is a time of prayer, fasting, discernment, and temptation. Unlike other graduate programs that are physically and mentally exhausting, seminary is physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausting. Everyday you're forced to confront painful questions such as how can I continue to believe God is just if he allowed millions of Catholics and Protestants to die during the French Revolution? Or, if I translate this Greek preposition "eis" as "in" instead of "before" how does that change my understanding of justification by faith? These questions keep us all us at night, and explain why every seminarian I respect has a caffeine addiction.

Seminary is also a time of temptation. I had a professor once tell me that the kind of seminarian I choose to be will determine the type of pastor I will become. It's not as if the temptations to lie, cheat, flirt, or take the easy way out, doesn't exist everywhere, but it didn't feel like they held the same eternal consequences. Just as the season of Lent is uncomfortable because it forces you to see the real you, the greatest temptation in seminary is to try to fix the real you instead of letting God use the real you to bring about his kingdom.

But as I celebrate Lent, and prepare to head back to campus tomorrow, I was struck by a new reading of this timeless passage, i.e what a privilege it is to take this time to prepare myself for ministry. In a small way, seminary gives me the opportunity to participate in Jesus' wilderness wanderings for three whole years. I get to spend my days reading theology, translating Scripture, and trying to figure out how to make sense of the messy church history I will inherit. Yes I'm tempted, and yes it's uncomfortable to be poor and a little bit lonely, but I am confident that I will come out on the other end with a better sense of how the gifts and talents God gave me will serve his kingdom.

9th Annual Homestead Community Fair

[This is a re-posting of a blog post I wrote for KEYS Service Corps] 

When I learned about my service project requirement as a KEYS member, I initially set my expectations pretty low. As a part-time member serving at the Carnegie Library of Homestead, I figured I’d do a few youth lead story-times and call it a day. All this changed at the end of May when my site supervisor put in her two week’s notice. For the previous eight summers, she had organized a Community Fair in August to celebrate youth achievements during the library’s summer reading program. With her gone, there would be no celebration unless I stepped up and planned it.

As I sifted through my site supervisor’s old notes, an idea hit me. Why not provide an opportunity for the youth at my site to get involved with the planning of the fair? I decided to create a Teen Summer Reading Program for local teens interested in community service called Teen Advisory Board (TAB). During TAB meetings, I spoke with the teens about different aspects of community organizing: from identifying community assets and partnerships, to learning about budgeting, soliciting donations, and PR coverage, to brainstorming and creating the games, crafts, and table signs we used during the fair. On the day of the fair, several of the teens served with the adult volunteers to run game and craft tables.

Teen Advisory Board Meeting

Teens serving alongside Adults during Fair

While the teens were incredibly helpful, most of fair organizing fell to me. Even though organizing the fair was a lot of work, I learned so much. Where else, but as an AmeriCorps member, can a 24 year old gain such valuable professional development? Because of my service project, I now know how to write budgets, solicit donations, secure entertainment and community organizations, attract media attention, and coordinate volunteers. I’m more confident in myself both as a person, and as a leader.

The Fair itself ran smoothly. The weather was perfect. I had an amazing group of adult and youth volunteers, who surpassed my expectations. One of my volunteers had the food station set-up and ready to go before I even thought to pull the meat out of the freezer. We only had one kid accidentally swallow some bubbles. We gave the kid an extra bag of chips, and that bubbles were soon forgotten.

Bubble Snakes!

Community Organizations

Gabby Barrett, local teen musician, who performed for us for FREE!

Of everything I've done during my time with KEYS, I’m most proud of my service project. I don’t know if the Teen Advisory Board, or even the Fair, made a difference in the life of the youth I serve. But I do know that the Fair made a big difference for me personally and professionally. I’m grateful to KEYS, and to my site for trusting me with the responsibility of organizing and implementing this fair. I don’t know what the future hold, but I feel empowered to…

            Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau 

Dealing with Disappointment: Young Adulthood for the Millennial Generation

A few weeks ago, the leadership team for the Young Adult and Graduate Student Ministry at Shadyside Presbyterian Church met to discuss what talks we wanted to give in the Fall 2013 semester. Our leadership team is a pretty typical representation of the Millennial Generation, even though most millenials hate being called typical. Millenials, or Generation Y, is the sociological term for men and women born between approximately 1982 and the early 2000s.

What are millenials? Let me describe our leadership team. We're a group of men and women ranging in age from 23-35ish. We all have undergraduate degrees in something that didn't lead to full-time employment. We're making it work with a combination of part-time jobs, graduate school courses, parents if we're lucky, and massive debt if we're not. Most of us are single. If we're married we're too broke to even think about having kids. Most of us have moved in the last year. Everyone's moved in the last three years.

Despite our issues, we're an incredibly educated and articulate bunch. Ours is the generation that spent middle school teaching ourselves how to use the internet while our parents rallied around the TV waiting for another bomb to drop. Speaking of our parents, we think they're pretty rad. We knew from infancy that we mattered, because our parents spent our entire childhoods catering to our every need. When our softball team came in sixth place in a tournament, they displayed our "thank you for participating" ribbons on the mantle with pride. 

Every moment of our childhood and adolescence was supposed to lead us to the new American Dream: a college education.We learned to internalize the lie that character no longer matters, so long as you earn a degree from a "good" school. Parents, teachers, and coaches looked the other way as AP students, and later undergraduates, exhausted from three extra-curricular activities, a part-time job, and a happening social life, slept through class, so long as they maintained their 4.5 QPA.

These cultural forces lead us back to our YA/Grad leadership team discussion of the other night. What do we believe young adults need the church to remind them of? This lead to a fascinating discussion of how to deal with the disappointment of being a 20-something in the church today.

Why are the 20s becoming such a time of disappointment in the lives of young adults? For many of us, we're experiencing the "real world" for the first time. Our employers don't care that we were president of our university's campus ministry; as the newest hire, we're going to be the ones photocopying fliers, and doing community outreach on Saturdays. We're working harder in our early 20s than we ever did in college, and we no longer have grades to quarterly reinforce the grunt work. 

We're also disappointed relationally. It's harder to make friends when you're not living withing walking distance of thousands of people like you. It's also difficult to invest in romantic relationships when you don't know where you, or your partner, will be living next year. Maintaining good relationships is an important part of identity formation, and the lack thereof is a gaping hole in the lives of most young adults. 

So how do we, as a church, support people in this new and strange state of life? Here are the three things we came up with:

1. Admit that young adulthood is a challenging state of life.
2. Work to build community as a group, and integrate that group into the life of the church.
3. Remind young adults that Jesus, and the church, loves them, even if they've screwed up.

If you're a millenial reading this, I'd be curious to hear if any of this resonates with you. What issues of our generation do you find the most compelling, or frustrating? What would you like the church to remind you of? 

-R

Plans for Next Year

As the dark chocolate coffee cupcakes bake for tomorrow's UCO Prayer Meeting, I thought I'd write the blog post I've been putting off for the last month. Next year, I will not be working for UCO. Instead, I will begin my studies at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in their master's of divinity program. Read on if you'd like a sense of what it's like to discern the call to seminary.

First of all, I think God has an incredible sense of humor. Never in a million years did I think the Lord would call this broken, sinful person to professional ministry. The discernment process really began last September. I had recently moved to Shadyside, and started attended Shadyside Presbyterian Church. Dr. Barnes, our senior pastor at the time, was preaching a series of sermons on the subject "Who am I?" It was a very timely sermon series because I was pondering the exact question myself. I remember sitting there listening to his sermon going I am a Christian. I want to dedicate the rest of my life to proclaiming the good news, but I don't know how to merge my Christian identity and my professional identities? I remember reading the back of the bulletin and seeing that Dr. Barnes also taught at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Huh. I thought. Maybe this is worth looking into?

I put off this inkling of seminary as long as I could. October, November, and December flew by in a haze of UCO Retreats, staff training days in Michigan, and AmeriCorps training and orientation at the Carnegie Library of Homestead. But by Christmas Break I could put off the inkling no longer. I was running on empty, pouring out more of myself than I had to give to my "big" kids and my "little" kids. Despite my weariness, I became convicted that the Lord created me for ministry but that I lacked the education to serve him to the best of my abilities. Begrudgingly, I scheduled a visit to the seminary.

My seminary visit in early January was fairly typical. Sorry to disappoint, but the heaven's didn't open up with a myriad of angels beckoning me to seminary. I sat in on a class, met some current students, and learned that I needed to file my taxes immediately to receive the most financial aide possible. I left the campus not even sure if I would apply. But I decided I might as well, since they seminary was willing to wave my application fee.

Applying to graduate school while working full time is not for the faint at heart. It's almost like a part-time job in and of itself. But submitting the paperwork is the easy part of the seminary discernment process. My acceptance letter came in the mail in mid-February. Then the fun part of the seminary discernment process begins: do I go or not?

I agonized over this decision for months. I prayed for direction. I consulted with Christian men and women whom I admire, and who know me well. At a certain point it became clear that the Lord was inviting me to seminary, but the decision was mine to make. When I thought about it practically, it makes more sense for me to go know when I'm young, poor, and single than it does later in life. I love school, and can't wait to be back in a classroom. I accepted PTS's offer of enrollment, and am very excited to begin classes in the fall.

So there you have it. I hope my testimony inspires you if you're in the process of making a big life decision. I'm grateful to those of you who've been praying for me during this challenging time. I want to especially thank my church, Shadyside Presbyterian Church, and my housemates for anchoring and encouraging me during this process.

If you have any questions, want to know more, or want to send me an encouraging word, shoot me an email at rebecca.l.depoe@gmail.com.

God Bless You!

Life Lessons from the Library Lady

The last two months have been a wonderfully busy time in the life of yours truly. For this blog post, I'd like to focus on updating yinz on my service with Keys Service Corps.

I am a little more than halfway done with my term of service at the Carnegie Library of Homestead (CLoH). I'd say my focus at CLoH over the last two months has shifted from assimilation to programming and disciplining. In January we overhauled our youth services programming. We now run programs for youth every evening. I run the Teen Reading Circle on Monday evenings, Kid's Corner every other Thursday evening, and Family Story time on Saturday afternoons. Since I serve in a library, and my academic background is in the humanities, I wanted all of my programs to promote literacy. Lately, the kids have taken to calling me "Library Lady" because I'm always reading to them, or encouraging them to read.

Kid's Corner: St. Paddy's Day Scavenger Hunt 2013

The library also does a far bit of community outreach programs. The first weekend in March, the CLoH hosted the 40th Annual Chess Tournament. We had about thirty K-8th graders from all around the city participate. Due to circumstances outside of my control, I ended up in charge of the event. I'd never played chess before, let alone learned how to keep score. Needless to say, I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that I am capable of supervising, delegating, and multi-tasking. I also learned that I will not crack under pressure, something I struggled with before the tournament. 

Kindergarten Chess Players

I'd say that my biggest challenge at the library is enforcing the library's discipline policy. I've learned that the teens and children I serve and I are not on the same page as far as what is and is not acceptable library behavior. When I correct teens for shouting, and little kids for running, they look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language. Also, many of the youth I serve see fighting as an acceptable way to resolve any conflict. The library does not tolerate any kind of fighting, and it's my job to enforce this policy. Even though the kids don't see it as a big deal, I want to teach the kids better ways to resolve conflict. 

Inevitably, situations arise where the library staff and I cannot handle a particular situation, and we must get the local police involved. I do not enjoy calling the police because the kids lose respect for me, but I have to value the safety of the library over being liked by the kids. Theft, vandalism,  and certain fighting situations threaten everyone's safety. And my job is to provide a safe, educational environment for youth after school.

To wrap up this post, I'll share a little bit with you about AmeriCorps Week. AmeriCorps Week was March 10-March 16. As an AmeriCorps member (Keys Service Corps is a branch of AmeriCorps), I was participated in a service project during the week. My group's service project was to clean the Carnegie Library of Braddock in preparation for its Historical Landmark inauguration.

The Carnegie Library of Braddock was built in 1889. It was the first library Andrew Carnegie built in the world. During it's glory, the library hosted a library, a gym, a music hall, a bowling alley, a pool, and a public bathhouse.  Unfortunately, due to de-industrialization, suburbinization, and white flight, the once booming steel town of Braddock, PA exists as a shell of it's former self. There are really cool things happening as the town re-builds, but lasting change takes time. I think the library is a great example of resilience in the face of adversity. 

I spent my service project cleaning windows. Now these were not just ordinary windows. They were six feet tall windows situated four feet off the ground. My tall height does not preclude me from a fear of heights. Yet I spent the day balancing on a rickety ladder attacking grimy windows with ammonia. That's what I love about serving with Keys. Everyday I'm thrust into uncomfortable situations that show me what I'm made of. I'm making a difference not just in the lives of the youth that I serve, but also in my own. 

 

January is the Cruelest Month

English Literature + History = What Career Exactly?!

January is the Cruelest Month

No offense T.S. Elliot, but January, not April is the Cruelest Month. It's cruel in spite of the freezing temperatures, short days, and New Year's Resolutions. It's cruel because for most young adults, January is Discernment month. 

Discernment comes from the Latin roots "dis" meaning apart, and "cernere" meaning "to sift." Taken together, discernment means to "sift apart." From a Christian perspective discernment means to make an important life decision after much prayer and counsel. 

Young adults (youth aged 18ish-24ish) make many important life decisions every year. Every year, they must renegotiate which career, relationships, and living situations to pursue. A lot of these decisions come from trial and error, especially during a person's late teen years. As a person matures, making the "right decisions" becomes more and more important, as these decisions start to shape who the individual will be long term.

I personally find the process of discernment very stressful. I keep having this recurring dream that I am walking up to a buffet filled with all of my favorite food, but the buffet only carries dessert plates. I wake up still trying to figure out if I should have gone for the sweet potatoes, or the mashed ones. Discernment would be easy if we were deciding between two equal options, one clearly "good" and one clearly "bad." But the real world rarely works in neat dualism. Oftentimes you are trying to choose the best good from two great options. 

Since this is my seventh time on the Discernment merry-go-round, I thought I'd offer some tips on how to go about the discernment process in a slightly less stressful manner. Hope it helps!

Discernment Tips, Tricks, and Encouragements

1. Pray. Pray often. Ask other people to pray for you. How will you know what the Lord wants you to do next year if you don't ask him? 

 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  

Plans to give you hope and a future" Jeremiah 29:11 

2. Seek counsel. I recommend picking three same-sexed mentors who are at least five years older than you. Women or men who you respect, and who you know will speak truth into your life. Discuss your questions, fears, and anxieties with them. Listen to their feedback. Let all of the other advice you receive (and trust me you will receive A LOT) go in one ear, and out the other. 

3. Vent responsibly. There's no reason to freak people out unnecessarily over decisions you haven't completely made.  In fact, it's selfish of you to do so. For example if you are discerning whether to transfer to a different university, there's no need to share this with your friends at your current university until you have made a decision. Talk to an adviser  your parents, or a friend not involved in the situation. Discern up, never sideways. 

4. Set (realistic) deadlines. You do not want the discernment process to drag out forever. I'd say 2-3 months is plenty of time to discern major life decisions. Be patient with yourself, but also refuse to wallow in a black hole of possibilities. 

5.  When people ask you what you're doing next year, it is perfectly alright to say "I am discerning my plans for next year. I will tell you when I've made some decisions, but until then I'd appreciate you not asking me about my future plans." Now, obviously this line will not work with parents, supervisors, and best friends. But I've found it incredibly useful for that relative you only see once a year, or that co-worker who you wouldn't talk to unless you worked together. 

I'd like to leave you with a pearl of wisdom I received last year as I was discerning if I should move back to Pittsburgh and work for UCO. I hope it encourages you as you embark on your discernment process!

"When you're discerning between two equally good options, sometimes you need to just make a decision. After you've made your decision, act like you've made it. Feelings follow actions."