“God bless America” (Started in May 2012, completed Nov 2014)

Since I've been in America I've been learning many things, some in classrooms and some just by walking around with my eyes and ears open. Some of the things I’ve learned have been simple facts, like knowing where to find the Negev on a map of Biblical Israel, but one of the more intangible concepts I’ve been trying to get a handle on is what it means to be an American. Anyone in England who has ever been to a cinema or watched a television must have heard someone talk about ‘the American dream’, but what on earth is the American dream? I suppose there is no one, simple and correct answer to that; the American dream means many things to many people, but I have come to realise that it can be thought of as the hopes and aspirations of modern America. These hopes and aspirations are unified in some ways, but at their heart they are often about the rights of the individual, and it is fascinating as an Englishman to consider where some of these dreams may have been born.

Being a good Methodist, it is in my nature to presume that all things lead back to John Wesley (and/or Jesus); and whilst that is not strictly true of the American dream, it is truer than you might expect. When John Wesley brought his brand of Methodism to America in the 18th Century he was helping to fuel a movement of people who were seeking religious freedom in the 'New World’. Europe was filled with conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and many new denominations that were beginning to spring up were battling for respect and recognition. The established Churches, with their close relationship to the state or government of their respective countries, tried to fight such fractures with laws like England's 'Act of Toleration' - which, by the way, wasn't particularly tolerant. Under the Act of Toleration people could 'dissent' from the Church of England (as long as they weren't Catholic or Quaker), but would then be disqualified from holding public office or teaching in a University. Nice.

This is one of the reasons that in 1791 the first amendment was added to the American Constitution; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Skip ahead 221 years and we find an interesting situation; America is still living in the light of that amendment, it shapes the arguments that are had about religion in the public arena.

The curious thing is the number of conversations I have had in America about what it is like in England having a state religion, or having such a close relationship between church and state. I have to explain that, apart from the occasional grumpy news paper report about the Archbishop saying something that they think is outside of his remit as a stuffy old religious relic, the issue of the relationship between religion and state is almost invisible in England. It is of some concern to Anglican priests as to whom their boss is (i.e. God or the Queen), but this has little effect on the person in the street from day to day. By contrast, American politics is so filled with religious rhetoric as to often make it quite shocking to the average British ear.

One of the many paradoxes of modern America is that the freedom of religion that was sought has left this nation being far more culturally religious than England is today, and the religion in America is often more dogmatic, traditional and more closely related to power than back in the United Kingdom. By contrast, religious freedom in Britain has moved so far from the days of Wesley, that the thought of being persecuted for dissenting from the Church of England seems ridiculous. No political speech in the United Kingdom has ever, to my knowledge, concluded with the words ‘God Bless Great Britain’.

There are many complex issues that I could not begin to address with proper detail here. We need to improve attitudes towards Muslims on both shores and both nations have seen occasions where Christianity seems to have been unnecessarily side-lined by people in positions of power. However, for me the most significant issue is that the identity of God can become bound up with our sense of what is normal within our culture. 59% of the British people claimed to be Christian on the last statistical census but few of them are to be seen in Church from one week to the next. The phrase 'Christian values' is often used in both nations to suggest good morals, but only in America is there a sense that being a good Christian can be synonymous with being a good American.

Sometimes being a good Christian requires you to say no to the politicians and the leaders of your nation or just to say no to the prevalent culture of where you live. Jesus was well known for causing trouble with the establishment. Let's be honest, it's pretty much what got him killed. The first amendment was put there to give the freedom that was lacking in 18th century Europe, but 21st century America has a much more complex need for freedom; freedom from its own fears about the wider world, freedom from the politics of such a large rich nation that leaves so many people in poverty, freedom from the presumption that Britain and other countries are still living with the arguments of the 18th Century, freedom from the idea that affirming the culture of 'African Americans' will bring equality faster than simply saying that it's not ok to label people as different and freedom from the idea that the poor wouldn't be poor if they just worked a little harder.

And so this is my take on the American Dream, or what I hope that dream might become - With the right to freedom that America claims, should come the responsibility of freeing others without prejudice, because 'nobody's is free, until everybody's free'.

 

You know you're in Washington D.C. when...

You can't mix politics and religion, but this guy gets his own 'temple'

 

How old is America? (Started May 2012, completed Nov 2014)

How do you define the age of a nation? This is a question that never really entered my mind until I arrived in the US of A. If we were to be strictly accurate about the age of the country called Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Act of Union that gave us that title was signed in 1921. The Act of Union that brought England (inc. Wales) together with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain was signed in 1707. America on the other hand had its War of Independence (Revolutionary War, as Americans call it) from 1775-83 and the Civil War 1861-65. But this bought us only 36 of the 49 states that now constitute the USA, the last two of which were officially ratified in 1959.

All these facts say little about the true age of a nation; the overall cultural identity as well as the many subcultures that coexist within, the mixtures of language and accent, the dress codes and traditions, go far deeper than a name or an act of parliament. Perhaps there is some way of calculating the age of a nation based on a system of points. You could count the percentage of the population whose ancestors lived in that county in each century; you could measure the continuity of governance, the age of local and national traditions, continuity of language, of laws and the average age of the buildings that still remain standing. It would be a highly convoluted process and probably impossible for even most obsessive statisticians. One thing that seems instinctively true in spite of all these complications is that Britain, as a country, is far older than America. Even if we go right back to the ancient indigenous settlements of America, they are much younger than the stone circles, the brochs, and the occasional prehistoric cave dwellings the island that was once called 'Albion'.

It strikes me that in some way our two nations could be considered to be a bit like two people, one young and one old. The older is perhaps wiser, more humble, a little less inclined to see the world in terms of black and white extremes. They are full of rich stories of the good old days and they have learned which rules are important and which are there for the breaking. However they can also be grumpy, cantankerous, unnecessarily negative, forgetful and disinclined to listen to the young. There are occasions when they wallow in self pity over past mistakes and become convinced that it’s too late to change the things that they don’t like about themselves.

The younger one is full of life and joy, full of hopes and aspirations, ready to go out into the world and impress everyone. The young one is often more optimistic and still believes that there are truths worth fighting for. But like any young person they are prone to mood swings, over simplification of issues and the inability to see things from another person's perspective; that can lead to unnecessary conflict. They become convinced of their own superiority in spite of their lack of experience and believe that the world revolves around them. And the confidence they have is just as quickly turned to paranoia because they have not lived through the ups and downs that their elders have seen.
 

As much as these caricatures are true, they are also false. We have seen evidence in America that supports both the negative and positives of this generalisation. But we have also seen things that go against the grain, like mature and wise Christians who are as distressed by fundamentalism as I am and people whose sense of hospitality feels like it is rooted in generations of people who were brought up to say welcome and to mean it. We have also seen things like the buildings of Duke University, which in their pretending to be old, display a kind of sentimentality that is entirely out of character with any teenager I know.

As I began writing these words I was sitting in a courtyard in New Orleans; a place that feels like an old man who has just remembered what it’s like to dance with a beautiful woman. It is both weary and joyous, both wise and foolish; a place that drinks without caring about the morning after, but understands the subtle complex rhythms of Jazz that cannot be known without a memory of many nights before. It has suffered devastation but is still filled with an abundance of hope.

America gave us the blues and film noir, Britain gave us ‘Carry on’ movies and Pantomimes. The British are not always the grownups so let’s just hope we learn the best of each other’s habits and not the worst.

You know you're in New Orleans When...


...the baby Jesus has the best hat

Food - Debs B

Those of you who know me well will be surprised how long it’s taken me to start talking about food. Food is hugely important to me. Good food can turn a dismal day into something really special. “What I ate” has been the standard way for me to remember all great events in my life. The day I met Pete, I ate at a BBQ; the day we got married, I had an enormous cheeseburger and our first Tuesday night meal at Cranmer Hall was braised steak.

Our first real meal in America involved a lunchtime visit to Subway. We often frequent Subway in the UK and it seemed the least daunting of the available options. We coped with the ordering process pretty well until it got to the salad and the lady behind the counter was mystified by our pronunciation of tomatoes. But after several attempts and with the assistance of some vigorous pointing, we emerged victorious.

So far, our culinary experience in North Carolina has been really great. Most of the food is familiar with one or two notable exceptions. BBQ is not the same thing at all. No burgers or sausages but instead slow cooked shredded pork with spicy sauce and hush puppies, which are oblongs of deep fried corn batter. Not at all bad but very different to what we were expecting. As the weeks have gone on, we have become bolder and have tried some of the local delicacies including salmon cakes with poached eggs, cheesy grits with shrimp and at the State fair, deep fried pecan pie on a stick.

Nachos - from Chubby's Tacos on 9th Street

Duke has two campuses and over 34,000 people studying or working here so as you can imagine, there are many places to eat. The system is somewhat different to our experience at Durham, UK. There is no one place for Divinity students to eat; you are free to choose from one of 30 different places on campus and numerous places just off campus or to bring food from home. You pay for each meal as you go, although it is possible to load up money or food points on your Duke card and use that to pay, so eliminating the need to carry cash. With this scheme you can also get food delivered, from the local Dominos for example, without needing to have cash available. Bonus.

One of the campus eateries is located at the Divinity school and has been voted the best on campus each year for the last 5 years. Called ‘The Refectory’, it serves breakfast and lunch from 8am-3pm every day. We had a talk from the manager during orientation week and she impressed us both with her ethical work policies and her enthusiasm for her restaurant.

The Refectory uses locally grown, organic produce and where possible fairly traded produce. Industry standards for restaurant workers are notoriously bad in the States with low wages and unsocial hours but at the Refectory, the manager makes sure all the workers are paid a living wage so that they are able to just have one job and enjoy some free time. You can read an article on how the cafe was created with a large input from Divinity school students here;

http://divinity.duke.edu/publications/2006.05/features/refectory/refectory_print.htm


Whilst we are enjoying the food and the freedom to choose what and where we eat, I do miss the experience of coming out of a lecture and sitting with fellow students to eat and talk. Those times when an interesting point from a lecture, chimes in with what someone else has read and new ideas and opinions are formed. And of course friendships are often made and developed over meals together. We have found other places though, to meet that need and I will talk more about it in another blog as now it’s time for lunch :)

You know you're in America when...

(No. 5) Tea comes cold wet and in a bottle.

Work - Pete B

Oh my goodness, what happened there? We blinked and two months flew by with hardly a moment to look up from the books. So the work has really kicked in now here at Duke Divinity School and it’s tough but exciting. I seem to be hanging in there, like a squirrel on a rollercoaster. Sorry - strange analogy - there are many squirrels around here but I’ve not encountered any rollercoasters yet. OK, what was I saying? Oh yes, the first difference here is that here we do less classes or subjects but each subject is done far more intensively. It’s homework, tests and quizzes from day one. In order to cram the Duke experience in to my relatively short time here I’m attempting to do five subjects (the norm is four per semester). Five doesn’t seem much from our English viewpoint but I’m really beginning to feel the pain now.

There is a more subtle difference in the ethos of the work. It may be because of the cultural difference, or it may be because the people training for ministry here are mostly younger than in Durham back home. Either way, there is a greater emphasis here on the need to know and be able to recall information in an exam situation. Both here and at home there is a balance between knowledge and understanding, but here I think the unwritten philosophy is that you need to know it before you can understand it. The philosophy is unwritten but the tests are not. What difference it makes in the long run is yet to be seen. The retention of information has always been one of my weak areas and so this has been a particular challenge for me, but strangely enough I’m enjoying it. It’s exciting to feel that tangible shift in knowledge when you can measurably say that you know something you didn’t know before.

The third difference (insert Methodist three part sermon joke here) is the way they are less concerned with levels based on years. Instead courses seem to relate to each other like a tree with what are called ‘core classes’ which form the trunk and ‘electives’ that branch off from the trunk as the three years progress. Each of the core classes have two lessons a week plus and additional group tutorial for discussion. For the most part people training for ministry here have three years on the Master of Divinity program on top of four years in a more generalized undergraduate degree so they have time to grow this educational tree in a way that would be difficult to do in the two years that most of us have in the Durham UK.

With all the differences I think it important to stress the similarities. In both universities there are great lecturers who inspire and challenge us; who sensitively move us towards a wider understanding of the diversity and historical contexts of the Christian faith, who try to prepare us for both the predictable and the unknowable challenges of ministry. Both places have quirks, flaws, geniuses and crazy people; both are goldmines of great wisdom. However, the greatest similarity I feel at the moment is that this training is hard work on both sides of the water - and now I need to take a short break before I start my next three assignments...

You know you're in America when...

(No. 4) There is no off switch.

Dreams of Home

As we prepare for our first week of proper classes at Duke Divinity School, though filled with excitement and anticipation, Debs & I are all too aware this weekend of what we are missing at home. Ten years ago we were married on the main stage of Greenbelt Festival, a place we like to think of as our spiritual home. In the ever shifting sands of life it's a static point that has never ceased to move us, and move us forward in our journey of trying to follow that still small voice of God. I first went to Greenbelt in 92, (Debs in 96) and this is the first year since those dates that either of us has not been there. Could they possibly have known when they titled this year’s festival ‘Dreams of Home’ what it would mean to us at this time? Perhaps, perhaps not, but as usual somebody did. God knew how these words would resonate with us, not just in the physical distance between there and here, not just in the sentimental feelings of longing for the familiar, but also in that deeper question that goes the very heart of our identities; what is it that we call home? Who or what do we need around us before we can feel like we are in a safe place?

Home is about point zero, our starting point at the beginning of life or the beginning of this day. It is our sense of where the centre is and our relation to that centre in the here and now, both in a physical way and in every other way. Moving home physically can be tough enough but moving our hearts to a new understanding can be a tectonic experience. Today we heard about Duke Divinity School’s passion for diversity.  The challenge was that we need not just to listen to others but be able to enter into a dialogue with them; to come to the table with the openness to listen and even be changed by what we hear.

Dreams of home are not just memories, they are also aspirations. They are the dreams we have of what Heaven could be; they are what we mean when we utter those words ‘your kingdom come, your will be done.’ As I move towards a life of itinerant ministry, this journey to the far side of the Atlantic Ocean has brought into perspective, perhaps more than any other journey, my need for us to carry heaven with us where ever we go, not just for the benefit of others but for the survival of our innermost beings. I do not need to be at Greenbelt to bring the spirit of Greenbelt to this place. I do not need to be in the familiar surroundings of the British Methodist Church to bring all that is good about British Methodism to this place.  I do not need the BBC, though that is one area I am still struggling with. Most of all I do not need to be anywhere in particular in order to be Christ to a stranger, or to allow a stranger to be Christ to me.

Pete B

You know you're in America when...

(No 3) You can get chicken... in a biscuit!

Finding our way around

Our first couple of days here were spent mostly noticing things that were different from home.  The way the traffic doesn’t actually all stop when the green man says it’s your turn to cross the road, the enormous butterflies, the fact that tax is added on afterwards to food and drink so it’s no good trying to get the right money ready, amongst others.  I find it amazing that after a week or so these things have become quite normal.  We’re not locals yet but we’re settling in fast.

During the last week we have been part of International student orientation; meeting students from all over the world who are beginning their courses at Duke this year.  Some of them have come on from other Universities in the States but for many it is their first taste of America.  My favourite moment came when we were all gathered together in the big science auditorium and the head of International house called out the names of countries represented by new students.  When your country was called, you had to stand up and wave and everybody clapped.  When our turn came to stand up, we could only see one other person standing, Henri from South London, who we had met the day before at the Visa office. It sounds corny but there was a real atmosphere of excitement and welcome.  After this part of the orientation we were immediately accosted by a young man from Italy who was desperate to know if we’d brought any Marmite with us, as it was his favourite and it can’t be obtained over here.  Alas not.

Many of the students we met were from China and when we said we were from England their first comment was, “ah yes, Harry Potter”.  When we told them that we lived moments from the cathedral where some of Harry Potter was filmed, their excitement grew.  So you can imagine the delight on their faces, when Pete showed them pictures on his phone taken from the top of the cathedral which show the cloisters.  We then had to spend the next few minutes making sure they understood that it was Durham cathedral, not Hogwarts.

Debs B

You know you're in America when...

(No. 2) You can buy cut price cassocks in the mall.

Miracles

The miraculous needs be neither instantaneous nor impossible. It can instead be both long awaited and beautiful. It seems like the right time to start writing about this journey that Debs and I have embarked upon as I sit in our garage apartment in Durham NC reflecting, during a rare moment where nothing needs to be done for now, on the distance we have already come and the distance we have still to travel. We started out from Durham UK at 8 in the morning yesterday and arrived the city with the very same name some twenty hours and over 4,000 miles later, having seen the Eiffel Tower, The Empire State building and ice flows on the southern tip of Greenland. North Carolina in August feels, to us English folk, like a hot bath. But every building is fitted with air conditioning so going indoors feels like going outdoors would back home. The preparation to get to this point has been complex and somewhat stressful but for this moment at least it feels like we’re on holiday. Next comes the journey of learning in many ways and about many things. It certainly feels like a miracle that we have made it this far.

Pete B

You know you’re in America when...

(No.1) your Sunday roast fits in the door of your fridge