Thursday, August 8, 2013

No Bull In Durham

Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.
Karl Barth

When we left D.C. we encountered some gnarly traffic on the interstate. Construction. Accidents. A lot of rain. We had our sights eagerly set on North Carolina, the longest leg (a whole week!) of our 10-week trip. Most of our time was spent in the historic University town of Durham, at the residence of our dear friends: The Ashworths.


We first got to really know Justin (a ThD student at Duke Divinity School) and Tiffany (an English teacher at Jordan High School) during the 2004-05 school year. We were all the adult advisors of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (later changed to IMPACT) student leadership team at Capistrano Valley High School. This was a tremendously fruitful (and fun!) year guiding and mentoring these high school students. In 2006, the four of us participated in our first house church experiment, affectionately called Tangent because of the lengthy discussion sparked by highly academic theological readings.

We joined Justin at Fuller Seminary, sitting at the feet of legends like Peter Hintzglou, Nate Feldmeth and Marrianne Mai Thompson. We still have great memories of picking Justin up at the Tustin train station at 5:45am to carpool up to Pasadena. Lindsay and Tiffany fermented into besties over coffee and Subway dates all over Southern California. They are not afraid to partake in 3-4 hour phone conversations as they've transitioned into a long-distance relationship since the Ashworth move to North Carolina in 2010.

Married in January 2007, the Ashworths have dedicated themselves to serious education and service-oriented church life. Justin is currently in his final year working with Willie Jennings, Edgardo Colon-Emeric and Stanley Hauerwas on a ThD dissertation focusing on American immigration policy, a subject that is desperately pertinent and rarely narrated in theological terms. Meanwhile, Tiffany has honed her pedagogical skills in three different schools in and around Durham. Let's just say she's been in the trenches. She's tremendously excited that this school year will be more manageable and less sleep-deprived.

Our relationship with the Ashworths is special, perhaps one-of-a-kind. Their sincerity and commitment to a life of Christian discipleship is without equal. We have a natural affinity with them seasoned with a brand of vulnerability and authenticity that is about as rare as a losing season for the Duke basketball team. We often find ourselves in deep conversations about God, faith, church, political action and just about everything else that matters in Life. These are honest, disagreements offered freely. But in the midst of differences, the respect we have for each other is paramount. We always seem to learn from each other as Love and Laughter break through the levees of ideology and preconceived notions.



When we arrived late Sunday afternoon, they had dinner prepared and we joined them at a Durham CAN (Congregations Associations & Neighborhoods) meeting. They are currently organizing around two key issues: national immigration reform and the driver's license requirement for parking passes at the local community college (many undocumented immigrants attend English classes and they have had their cars towed). These organizers clearly have their shit together. The two-hour meeting was substantive, practical and bi-lingual.



The next day we got to join the weekly Moral Monday protest, rally and march in Raleigh (the capital). MM has been rolling through the Spring & Summer (14 weeks and counting) in response to the draconian measures enacted by the North Carolina Legislature and Governor this year (the first time in more than a century that the Republicans have controlled the state house). This assault on labor, teachers, sexual minorities, women, immigrants and Mother Earth has sparked massive pushback, especially from faith leaders and religious communities all over the state. Many of these faithful activists have participated in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience and been arrested.

On the Monday we attended, all educators were encouraged to wear red. After all, the North Carolina GOP has stripped teachers of tenure, eliminated the financial reward for earning a Master's degree and so much more:

*Severely reducing targeted education funding – the budget will cut textbook funding by $77.4 million, classroom supply funding by $45.7 million and limited English proficiency funding by $6 million.

*While gutting public schools, $50 million dollars will go to unaccountable private school vouchers.

*Over 9,000 education positions will be eliminated.

*There will be no pay increases for educators. In five short years, North Carolina has gone from 25th in the nation for teacher salaries to 46th.

*The cap on class sizes will be gone.

*10,000 pre-k slots will be removed.

Tiffany and thousands of other educators in North Carolina might very well be partcipating in a strike in a few weeks.



We also got to meet Isaac Villegas, the pastor at Chapel Hill Mennonite Church. I've always respected Isaac from afar, introduced to his writing on the Menno Weekly blog. Heavily influenced by the former Westmont professor Jonathan Wilson (whose little book Living Faithfully In A Fragmented World has deeply influenced our own understanding of Christian community), Isaac was a founding member of the Rutba House, an intentional community of Christians who are committed to the poor, historically African-American Walltown neighborhood in Durham, a town with a rich history of racial segregation. Isaac was eventually called to pastor the church he had been attending during his time at Duke Divinity School. We stayed so long chatting with Isaac this particular afternoon that we also had the honor of meeting his lovely partner Katie as she arrived home from work.


On the hottest day of the week, Tiffany led us on a one mile hike through the woods just outside Durham...


And the Path led to an old rock quarry...


We joined in on the Durham Church small group Bible study on Wednesday night (Acts 10) and, a couple of days later, we connected with Tomi, a friend of the Ashworths and also a ThD student at Duke Divinity. She shared with us her Story of faith and her unique call to work for racial reconciliation at Durham Church. Our prayers extend to Tomi and the entire Durham Church community as they experiment with one of the toughest challenges of the Gospel.


On our last night together, Lindsay presented the pain and peace cycles, which are at the heart of the Restoration Therapy model designed and refined by Sharon and Terry Hargrave, Lindsay's mentors from Fuller Seminary's MFT program:



On Sunday morning, we attended Durham Church before we hit the road for Columbus, Ohio. This was a wonderful service, centered around the table of bread and wine, symbolizing the abundance and inclusivity of God's grace and love. It was an appropriate culmination of a week of celebrating old friends and making new ones (like Erin! who we got to meet at the Moral Monday festivities; see above photo).


We will deeply miss these two, but are so grateful for all the down time we got to spend participating in their world and catching up on life. I'm sure we will see them again soon...after all, Justin promised a ticket to the UNC/Duke basketball game if he gets graduate student tickets this year (I'll keep my fingers crossed):

5 comments:

  1. Ahhh! My heart is bubbling over and I am left with no words other than WE LOVE YOU GUYS... SO. FRIGGIN. MUCH.

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  2. So sweet, so glad you got to see each other!! :)

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  3. So confused...I was like, "Who is Mrs. Ashworth?' Is Debra commenting in this? Haha! Then I realized that must be your blogger account name for your students. Funny. :) Feelings are so mutual!! xo

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  4. Just love reading about this incredible journey and can't wait to sit with a map open before and hear the post reflection on the entire trip. Love you both!

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