Community Learning

Freshman Kaki Bennett discovers the importance of community while on the Interfaith Fall Break Trip.

So often we get caught up in the craze of daily life that we forget to take moments for interpersonal learning and reflection.  Spending Fall Break exploring different faith traditions, the intersection of faith and politics, and doing community service in Washington, D.C. enabled me to learn through experience and through reflection.

We were an eclectic group, representing all four classes, a variety of majors, and differing extracurricular interests.  What we all had in common, though, was a desire to ask faith-based questions and learn from each other our strengths, our uncertainties, and a respect for different worldviews and opinions.  We shared a dorm, made our meals together, and played a few heated games of Bananagrams.  We chopped vegetables, walked through monuments, and experienced several different worship services.  When I look back on the weekend in DC, I realize that the community in which I was living had the greatest impact on my learning.  Our conversations about moments that we loved, moments that made us uncomfortable, moments that made us smile, and moments that made us pause for reflection challenged me and made me analyze my faith journey more critically. Learning in the classroom is certainly important, but equally important, in my opinion, is taking time to learn life lessons.  Only then can we take what we learn in the classroom and use it to make an impact.

 

Essential Interfaith

Sophomore Gracie Dover reflects on the Interfaith Fall Break Trip to Washington, D.C.

During Fall Break, twelve students from different grades and with varied interests went to Washington D.C. on the Interfaith Fall Break trip to explore the intersection of faith, religion, politics and service. Karen Soos, the adjunct Catholic Chaplain and Jared Smith, the Center for Civic Engagement fellow, led and planned the trip along with this year’s three scholars: Jessica Annonio, Alexis Grant, and me, Gracie Dover.

The main activities of this trip were visiting different houses of worship, exploring Washington D.C., and doing service.  We visited an Orthodox Christian Church, a Hindu Temple, an Islamic Center, and attended a Yom Kippur service.  In addition, we walked through the National Mall monuments, visited the Holocaust museum, the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, and ate Ethiopian food.  Lastly, we prepared meals for the homeless at a local church are the D.C. Central Kitchen (the biggest homeless shelter in the U.S.) and worked at an elderly home. As senior Kaitlyn Curran explains, “DC Central Kitchen…doesn’t just try to ‘fix’ the problem of homelessness and hunger but empowers individuals” by providing culinary training and other social services for homeless people.

The best part of the trip for me was not our flurry of activities, but the deep conversations I had with my group members and the great new friendships I made.  After two months of demanding schoolwork and the cloistered Davidson life, I was ready for a break.  Now, I have come back feeling refreshed and inspired.   I see a greater purpose in my work at Davidson, since it will help me achieve my goals for the future, such as engaging in interfaith dialogue in a philanthropic setting.  I especially enjoyed our visit to a non-profit called Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA).   CIFA works with leaders of different faiths in Africa, training them to teach their congregations about malaria, HIV/AIDS, and promote education for females.  Junior Hannah Jordan said the visit to CIFA “opened my eyes to the beautiful way that faith, service and politics can come together to change lives.”

Kaitlyn Curran, a religion major, said, “Honestly, I loved every part of the trip. If I had to pick just one thing, it would be the Hindu temple.  I loved being able to see what I’ve been studying firsthand and everyone was so hospitable.”  Interfaith action has been gaining momentum on campus with the student group, Better Together, the Interfaith Scholars, and different events Chaplain’s
Office has held.  To me, interfaith is essential in today’s day in age.  Curran said that her experience of “the Holocaust museum [was] particularly meaningful because it shows what can happen when interfaith relations in the socio-political realm are not explored. The horrible events of the Holocaust show that respectful interreligious dialogue and tolerance/acceptance are necessary in one’s society (especially with today’s globalized world).  Sophomore Alexis Grant said, “It is important to look out for the similarities in strangers with diverse backgrounds.  Instead of being paralyzed by fear, it is better to look for the beauty in differences.” Overall, it was a great trip, possibly life changing, and I would recommend to anyone who is curious about other cultures and how they can work together to promote peace.

Words of Wisdom

Davidson senior, Jonathan Koch, shares the wisdom of Dr. Sam Wells, dean of Duke University Chapel and research professor of Christian ethics at Duke Divinity School. Dr. Wells gave the annual Staley Lecture on “Places of Encounter: Hanging Out Where God Shows Up,” exploring how we can live in a college setting in ways that are at once faithful and critically engaged.

It was 7:20 PM and the 900 room was already abuzz. White-haired residents of the Pines, local clergymen and campus ministers, and surprisingly some Davidson students—you know that we rarely arrive at lectures and events on time, much less early. By 7:30 PM all the chairs were filled, and students swarmed the second-level floor, poking their heads and legs out from between the railings. Then a man with a bald spot, dressed in an unassuming, brown corduroy suit took the podium.

Dr. Wells was at Davidson for just over twenty-four hours, but by the time of his 2011 Staley Lecture, word had spread about him. Throughout his day full of lectures, forums, and meals with students, he had been unafraid to challenge Davidson about how we think of service, leadership, and relationships.

A few moments from his day exemplify the man and his message:

• At lunch with students, he challenged Davidson’s concept of service. Service, he said, is not about working for some cause, it is about working with somebody. We can learn about ourselves, form lasting relationships, and most importantly encounter God by spending time with the so-called “poor of the world.” Dr. Wells loved Davidson’s idyllic campus, but questioned our commitment to welcoming the marginalized—socially, economically, racially, religiously—people of the world. It is with these people that Jesus spent his time, and it is in these people that we most vividly see God.

• In his lecture, Dr. Wells outlined how a typical pastoral visit works. While only a sliver of Davidson students will become pastors, the depth of listening, understanding, and loving that characterizes the pastoral visit can be translated into all professions and every interaction. As the title of the lecture (Places of Encounter: Hanging out Where God Shows up) suggests, it is in such encounters that God shows up.

• Perhaps the most applicable message for Davidson was one that Dr. Wells repeated throughout the day: the need to turn experiences into wisdom. For our whole lives we’ve been taught to quantify experiences: how many service trips you take, how many clubs you are in, how many books you read, how many leadership roles you are in, the list goes on. It’s the resume packing with which we are so familiar at Davidson. Dr. Wells challenged us to process these experiences: to stop and grapple with what the experience has taught us, to write the 15-20 page reflection on our service trip to Haiti, to meditate on the reading you did for class or the conversation you had with a professor, to allow all the things we do to percolate in our minds and turn into wisdom. Are we paying Davidson $40,000 a year for a really great list of experiences? Or are we seeking after wisdom in all that we do?