Communities of Learning

Divcast Series 3 Episode Communities of Learning Transcript

 

Evelyn Archer-Taminger:

Welcome to Divcast, the podcast that gives you an inside look into the Duke Divinity School community. I'm Evelyn Archer-Taminger. I'm a current student here at Duke Divinity School, and I will yet again be taking over this episode of Divcast. Today I'll be talking to two of my fellow students, Maggie Liston, and Bailey Brislin, about how being a part of a Community of Learning during their field education helps support their life and ministry. Okay, Bailey Brislin, we're so excited to hear about your field ed experience and especially being a part of the Community of Learning through the Office of Field Ed and through the Duke Endowment.

 

Bailey Brislin:

Yeah, thank you. So my name is Bailey, as you said, and I am a United Methodist third-year student at Duke. And I am originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, and currently my second placement was after my first year, that first summer, and I was placed at Boone UMC and I was part of the Boone Community of Learning. And that was actually the first... That was the pilot summer for Communities of Learning. So we were one of the first groups to participate in the Community of Learning experience that summer. Yeah, and then my second year, academic year, I was placed at Saxapahaw UMC, which is in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, which is a village about 40 minutes west of Durham. And that academic year, that was called the Saxapahaw Community of Learning. And then this past summer, I continued my placement there, stayed on at the church. And then that summer was still part of the same Community of Learning geographical region, but it was renamed as the Alamance Community of Learning.

 

EAT:

Yeah. And did you have some of the same people in that Community of Learning even after it was renamed or were they different because of the different semesters?

 

BB:

Actually I was the only person that returned and was part of that Community of Learning.

 

EAT:

Got you. And so it sounds like you have a really varied experience particularly in Community of Learning. Now that you are a third year at Duke Divinity School and you've had great opportunities to build community, before we really talk about some of the particular Community of Learning experiences, will you tell me what to you does it mean to have community, especially in ministry?

 

BB:

Yeah, that's a great question. That's one that I've definitely thought a lot about in forming and exploring your call to ministry. I think that I realized maybe in my second placement, it was the first time I named and saw how lonely ministry could be. I remember articulating to my supervisor this kind of fear, like I don't want... How can I prevent myself? Or what are some ways that I can make sure that ministry is not a lonely experience? And I was grateful for some advice that she shared.

But ultimately, I think that in ministry particularly, there has to be a level of intentionality of creating that sense of community, especially because, you kind of just named some of this Evelyn, that there does have to be that boundary between professional and personal and it's important to be in community with the people in a congregation or a ministry setting, but also having those support systems where you can show up as yourself and be supported. And for me, I think I'm grateful because I think some of the community I've formed in divinity school, I really believe that some of that community will continue to be my community as we go forward.

 

EAT:

Well, that's amazing to hear that you've formed friendships and real relationships that are going to last a lot longer than your time at Duke Div. That's really exciting to hear in general, like even outside of field education. And personally, Bailey, I agree with you that like community is so important for life in ministry and in service. And I think a big reason of that is because a lot of us we in our faith believe that the Holy Spirit flourishes in community. When two or more gathered, yeah. And so what does having community, having that support system, and I love your use of the word support system because that's even more concrete than the word community. It's intentional. How does having an intentional support system of peers and students who are going through a similar experience, how did that affect your spiritual life and your spiritual health and even your self-care?

 

BB:

I think for me, it's been meaningful. And I've experienced this both in Community of Learning and just in the community of support I have from friends or from family members, but like people who know you so well that they can see and can name for you maybe when you can't name for yourself, "Hey, you are not caring for yourself well right now," or, "You need to slow down," or, "Bailey, you are not resting well right now." It's people who can like help you lean into rhythms of rest and find meaningful ways to practice spiritual care when maybe you can't even name for yourself that you need that.

And I think for me, I'm certainly someone who experiences the presence of God in community. And for me, so many of my like deepest spiritual disciplines happen in community. And so while it's so important for me to practice my spirituality on a personal level, for me, there's so much that happens when I'm with other people. And so having that consistent source of community where I can turn to, I think, for me, I've named that that has to be part of my spiritual care and having a space where I can do that beyond a church or ministry setting where I'm serving.

 

 

EAT:

Yeah, and having a space to do that that's built into the field, that experience.

 

BB:

Yes, yeah.

 

EAT:

Yeah. And so, will you tell us a little bit about some standout aspects of your experience in Community of Learning? What aspects of your Community of Learning were really, really fundamental to you?

 

BB:

Okay, there's a lot of different things I could name here, but I think that there was a moment... I think one of the moments when I realized how powerful and formative the Community of Learning format of engaging in the field happened in my first experience in the Boone Community of Learning. And that was a summer placement. So we were working 40 hours a week. We were really immersed. All of the students had picked up and moved to Boone for the summer. And I think the nature of some of that led itself to bonding and really leaning on that sense of community among the students, but there was a moment that summer when some of our supervisors articulated to us as students, how formative the experience had been for them to be alongside us in the Community of Learning experience.

And I think for me, it was in that moment when I realized this is not just a powerful model. It's not just something that's formative for us as students. Like, this is a statement about what it means to be in relationship with other clergy across denomination and what it looks like to have these ecumenical bonds as you're serving in ministry. And I think that was the moment where I realized I want something like this when I'm a pastor somewhere. I'm going to want to have regular time where I am learning about the place where I am planted and grounded and in ministry from other people who are in ministry here, but in a different space or setting. And just having that... Like seeing how our supervisors bonded, I think that for me was a really pivotal moment for me just in my understanding of the importance of community and relationship in ministry.

 

EAT:

I remember reading you have a quote about Community of Learning on the Field Education website. If you go under the tab of Community of Learning, you'll see a quote from Bailey Brislin herself.

 

EAT:

And you mentioned how important it was for you to be in an ecumenical space.

BB:

For me, one thing I was looking for when I was applying to seminaries is I'm a United Methodist student, but I wanted to be in school with people from other traditions and faith backgrounds and denominations. That was really important to me. And I think that while I've learned about other traditions and have close friends pursuing ordination in different traditions in seminary, I think it was really meaningful to me to walk alongside of people who were in ministry and congregations that were not Methodist Churches and to begin to see how my particular experience and understanding of what it means to be in ministry, how some of those things are a very Methodist way of understanding things.

And I think it just gives us a fuller picture of any particular community and just of the community of God to see where in the community across different churches or denominations, how people are planted differently in the community. Yeah, so I think for me, it was meaningful to be able to form those relationships that were not just representative of my own upbringing and faith tradition.

 

EAT:

It can be so incredibly important for seminary students to have ecumenical peers for both their education and for spiritual, just spiritual wellbeing.

 

BB:

Yeah.

 

EAT:

And had you grown up United Methodist as well?

 

BB:

I have, yes. So I was raised in the United Methodist Church and then in college was in a Wesley Campus Ministry. And so for me, I think it's just important to remind myself like there's so much more than just my experience in Methodist settings.

 

EAT:

Amen to that. As someone else who was well steeped in Wesley and wasn't in tradition, it's always important.

 

BB:

Yeah.

 

EAT:

Yeah, to look at the bigger picture and the larger family of God, that's completely relevant and of the Holy Spirit as well. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about the later Community of Learning that you were in. You mentioned that you had a Community of Learning in a particular placement where you continued your time there from... Was it from a summer placement to an academic year?

 

BB:

I was placed there for... Started in an academic year, my second year of seminary and then through the following summer. So about one calendar year at that placement in Saxapahaw, North Carolina.

 

EAT:

Saxapahaw. Yeah. Well, first off, what did it mean to you to have the time of an entire calendar year to get to know the local community of Saxapahaw even outside of the Community of Learning?

 

BB:

That to me was an incredible gift to be in one setting for such an extended period of time. I've heard so many people articulate that it feels like in field ed, the moment you feel like you have a rhythm and you're getting to know people, it's like you have a week left. And it's hard, but that is so true. That was my experience in both of my prior summer placements. They were both so wonderful, but it was like, as soon I felt like, oh my goodness, I feel like I'm really understanding... Understanding is probably not the correct word, but just really feeling like I'm starting to see what's happening here and understanding the rhythms of things, then it was time to head back to school for the year.

And so to have this extended amount of time more than anything I think was gift in building relationships with people. And I think because of the Community of Learning, it also made me feel a lot more connection to the community of Saxapahaw because I was learning about so much in that community beyond the church where I was serving. And then just to be honest, my experience staying there for a year included a pastoral transition and entering into ministry in the midst of a pandemic.

And so I think being able to... I was in a really unique position where for my summer field ed placement, during the start of the pandemic, I was like bridging that transition with a community I had already been with rather than stepping into a new community in that time. And I recognized that for me, there was a huge gift in that in deepening relationships and finding new ways to get to know people and continue relationships through the midst of quite a summer of transition.

I think at a time when all routine was lost, to have just a source of consistent interaction with other people in the form of Community of Learning was meaningful. I think that was one of the biggest things that summer was just realizing how important it was to know that on Mondays I will be reflecting with these people. Yeah, and just there was so much just like the collective grief and trauma of life in the midst of a pandemic, and on top of that, just the ways that systemic injustice was just laid bare in the midst of a pandemic and civil unrest and racial injustice. I think there was just so much grief is maybe the best way I can think of it, but yeah, having space to lament and to process and just to be with other people was really important for someone.

 

EAT:

So many things to process.

 

BB:

Yeah.

 

EAT:

One on top of the other, on top of the other.

 

BB:

Yeah.

 

EAT:

Yeah. Well, Bailey, thank you so much for talking to me about that and for sharing that with us. Before we conclude, I'd love to hear a big aspect of why Community of Learning exists. And why I think the Office of Field Ed finds it to be very important for students and for ministerial interns to do is to learn and get into a rhythm of forming intentional community and covenant with other clergy people or peers in ministry. And I'm just wondering now that you're sitting in your third year of seminary, you have one semester left?

 

BB:

Yeah.

 

 

EAT:

Yeah. So do you have any ideas of things that you've learned about forming intentional communities or ways that you might apply forming community after your time at Duke Divinity School? How do you see yourself doing that in the future?

 

BB:

Yes, I think that is a big question. And really, I think for me, the thing that I hope to take away is I think that I have better questions to ask when I'm entering into a new community. I think that being in these three very distinct experiences of Community of Learning have taught me that when you step into a community, I am showing up and I need to learn from that community. And so I think just the experiences of meeting with different community leaders and non-profits and social services and just these different sectors of community life and naming that as an important part of what we can learn in ministry somewhere, I think it's just helped me to learn like when I come into a community, asking those questions like who are the people that I need to know and be connected to, and what are the stories about this place that I need to hear and where do people gather here?

And just, yeah, I hope that this, and I believe the Community of Learning model has gifted me with a deeper curiosity for places and people and communities and just an intentionality to seek out community and other people. I think that this model has given me if I show up in a community and something like this isn't there, it's something that I would want to be a part of bringing to life in new spaces.

 

EAT:

Bailey, I can't thank you enough for joining us today. Your voice has been so important and we're just so grateful to have you.

 

Maggie Liston:

My name is Maggie, I'm a third year student at Duke and I am in the Masters of Divinity Program and also the Masters of Social Work Program. And I think I try to keep an open mind when it comes to call and kind of the future. I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to kind of, yeah, I think sort of change my mind and grow as time goes on. And the more that I learn, the more that I just have a different sense of call and what that means and looks like. But as of right now, I think full-time pastoral work is kind of the road that I'm hopefully headed down and also hoping to do social work alongside that, both in the church and outside of the church. I'm particularly interested in doing social work with the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ youth maybe specifically. So yeah, that's kind of a little bit about me and what I'm interested in.

 

 

 

EAT:

It sounds absolutely incredible. And you can think of so many ways that the concept of pastoral care and social work can be interceding in many ways. And I think that your open-mindedness in your approach to what you feel called to do in the world is really a virtue. And so with that kind of informing like where you have been led up to here, I'm wondering what has been your experience in field education so far? Would you mind just walking us through the placements that you had and yeah, just letting us know especially which ones you were involved with Community of Learning in?

 

ML:

Yeah, definitely. So I have, I guess, kind of a unique experience in that I've never had a field education experience that hasn't been a Community of Learning. So I've had two field education experiences. The first I was placed at Faithbridge United Methodist Church out in Boone, North Carolina. Well, Blowing Rock technically, but Boone is so close. And then for my second placement, I was placed at Common Life Church & Farm, and that's out in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. And so I was in both the Boone Community of Learning and also the Saxapahaw Community of Learning, and yeah, both were incredible experiences.

 

EAT:

Yeah, and you had a different group of people for the two different Communities of Learning?

 

ML:

Yes. Yes, I did.

 

EAT:

So I'd love to hear a little bit about your first Community of Learning. What were some of your challenges that you had to meet at your first placement? And could you tell me a little bit about how in any way the Community of Learning serve as a support system in that?

 

ML:

Yeah, definitely. So my first experience in a Community of Learning, I guess I can talk about the first time that I received an email about a Community of Learning, I was like, "What is this? I'm so confused." I was like, "I have no idea what this is, but it looks great. I know community's a very important thing." And so, yeah, I was excited, but also just kind of like didn't exactly know what it meant. And then once I was at my field placement, I found out just how incredibly, incredibly lucky I was to have been placed in a Community of Learning.

My first placement was incredible in so many ways, but I think that just like anyone would experience a type of like loneliness in a space that's unfamiliar to them, I definitely had those moments where I was like, "First of all, this place, this location is unfamiliar to me. Some of these people are unfamiliar to me." And so I think that that was maybe my biggest just... It's kind of a general challenge, but I think that that was one of the biggest challenges I faced was that loneliness and the Community of Learning definitely, definitely helped with that. I think that in a lot of ways I wouldn't have been as successful at my placement if I hadn't had those people around me supporting me, encouraging me any time that something would happen or I would feel... Even just the act of writing and giving a sermon is I think best done in community. And the people in my Community of Learning were so good about getting together and throwing ideas around. So that part of it was amazing.

And then I think second, one of the biggest challenges I faced, and I kind of touched on it already, but you're in this unfamiliar location and it almost feels like you're in a way like separated from that land and that space and those people. And so the Community of Learning gave us the opportunity to actually get to know the community, like get to know the people in the community, get to know the fire department and what they did and how they were connected to the church. And yeah, just, I guess, made me realize how important it is for the church to be building relationships with the community around it because the church doesn't exist in isolation.

 

EAT:

No, it doesn't.

 

ML:

Yeah. So, yeah, those are a couple of things that come to mind.

 

EAT:

Yeah, I think it's a really important thing to talk about like loneliness in ministry because I think it's so hard for even full-time clergy or seminary students to talk about like feeling lonely because usually you're in a position where you are communicating with a lot of people and you're building community and you're trying to build really healthy community within the church and yet it can be lonely at times and the Community of Learning I feel can sometimes be in response to that. What did it mean to you to have peers who were in similar positions to you in the same Community of Learning, learning about that community at the same time?

 

ML:

Yeah. And I say this and I'm not exaggerating, it meant everything to me. I think that like you were saying and like I brought up earlier, this loneliness it's definitely something that I think you experience in ministry all the time. And so just to have people who were experiencing the same things that I was experiencing who were willing to and able to meet up, hang out, talk about those things and really talk about them, like go into depth about them because the truth is that ministry is hard. It's hard work. And I think that to try to face it alone, it would have just made it so much more difficult.

So I would encourage anyone obviously who's in a ministry position, even if you don't have a Community of Learning around you to be reaching out to people who mean a lot to you, but to have that Community of Learning sort of handed to you and just to be able to sit down across the table from someone and say, "I had a really hard week. Here's what happened." And for them to look back at you and say, "I see you. I've experienced similar things to you and I'm willing to engage in conversation about that," it means everything. It means the absolute world.

 

EAT:

That's so important. So important. You mentioned before that like the Community of Learning helped you with sermon writing and sermon preparation. Will you give us a little bit more insight on that?

 

ML:

Yeah, definitely. So as I was going into that first placement, I was pretty nervous just about... It was my first time really preaching in front of a church community like that. I had done it maybe a couple of times before then to like my home church, but that's a different experience, right? Like you know people in a more intimate way. And so going into that first Community of Learning, I felt pretty terrified. Just the responsibility, the weight of what it meant to be standing in front of a congregation of people who I didn't know as well, who I didn't know as intimately. And so I think that feeling of just being overwhelmed and not knowing exactly what I would say or how I would say it, it definitely hit me really hard in that first field placement that I had.

And I just remember talking to the people in my Community of Learning about it and all of them not just saying... Like not just hearing what I was saying, which is so important, but also being able to understand and to say, "Actually, I experienced that too. What if we get together and we talk about our sermon ideas, we talk about the things that we're worried about, we talk about the ways that we are hoping to engage with this congregation, the struggles that we know about that are present in the congregation and how to approach the preaching moment from a place of humility and knowing that I don't have all of the answers?"

And so, yeah, like on a really practical level, we would just get together and we would throw out sermon ideas and we would talk through them and we would listen to each other sermons and if there was a part of someone's sermon they weren't sure about, we would discuss that. So, yeah, I definitely think if you're able to have that Community of Learning experience, I would encourage people to just be honest and vulnerable about the fact that like you might be struggling with those things because the people in that community are also coming up against such similar questions.

 

 

EAT:

Yeah. And I think that the seminary and the loneliness that an intern can feel is compounded by anxiety over not knowing the community that they're in, like the large scale community, even outside of the church, like the town, even the state that they're in terribly well and they're here trying to serve this community fully and really in embody Christ in that community. And we talk theologically so much about how the Holy Spirit flourishes through human connection and through narrative. And so will you tell me a little bit, and this could be from Boone or Saxapahaw, how did your Community of Learning help you understand like the community on a wide scale that you were in?

 

ML:

Yeah, definitely. So in both of my Communities of Learning, one of the major parts, one of the major aspects was meeting with different people in the community, different organizations in the community, individuals in the community who were just doing really good work and particularly work that was sort of intersecting with the work of the church, which honestly like the breadth of that was so much wider than I think I would've ever even imagined. The kinds of entities and people that we met with were just... There was such a wide scope of people doing really awesome work in the community and work that's incredibly vital to the work that the church is doing. So, yeah, so that was a really amazing experience.

I think I can speak about the Saxapahaw Community of Learning. We got the opportunity to meet with all kinds of folks who were doing, especially in Saxapahaw like really incredible work around what it means to grow our own food, what it means to be connected to the environment. So we like would go to farms in the area. We got to connect with people who were kind of bridging this gap between taking care of the earth and the work of the church, which was really, really incredible. We got to meet with folks who owned the local mill restaurant and what it meant to them to have people coming to Saxapahaw, people from all over North Carolina as like a touristy type of destination.

And we got to talk to so many people. There's even like a small museum in Saxapahaw we got to go to and learn more about the history of that place and yeah, just talking to folks about what it meant for them to live in that community, the good and the bad and the ways that they were invested in seeing that community grow and flourish which is what our churches were also invested in. So yeah, definitely an incredible experience to be able to... And such a vulnerable experience. We were so thankful to them for putting that out there because it's not easy to talk about the place that you live with such great depth and with so much introspection. And so it was, yeah, really, really incredible.

 

EAT:

I'm so glad to hear that. And hearing your passion for pastoral care that you have that I'm sure grew or was at least informed throughout your work in different placements throughout seminary, like getting to know the local communities in this very tactile, pragmatic way, visiting the museums, going to the firehouse, like going through different farms, getting to really know like the heartbeat of the communities, how did that affect your ability to provide pastoral care?

 

ML:

Yeah, definitely very much like big time. Yes, it was so helpful. I think that something that I've always been passionate about, it's the reason why I'm getting my masters of social work is this idea that the church needs to speak to people's lived experiences. It needs to. Like if we are going to say that we are a place that cares about people, that we are a people who care about people, then we need to care about their every day on the ground lived experience. And I think that that was something that I saw reflected in the Community of Learning, which is why I loved it so much because it recognized that people aren't just people on a Sunday morning, right? Like they're are people throughout the rest of the week. They're doing things, they are... They hold multiple identities.

And I think that Community of Learning was sort of a way that we got to respect those communities and those people in a more holistic way. I feel like the things that I learned in the Community of Learning helped me to be able to serve those churches in a more informed way. All of a sudden I had this deep, deep respect for the people in my church who are farming the land, who are doing that every day, and I felt like a little bit more connected to it, right? And the same thing with my Community of Learning in Boone. So, yeah, I definitely think it informed the way that I, not only that I, I guess, approached the congregation, but just the amount of respect and just gratitude that I had for the community after I was able to talk to those people, it grew immensely.

 

EAT:

Well, Maggie, it sounds like your knowledge about the community and your experience through the community helped you engage with the lived experience of those who you were talking to and ministering to daily. And I love to hear that you're so passionate about engaging spiritually and theologically with real raw lived experience. I'm so interested to hear while you were at these field education placement working, living, breathing these communities, how did you practice self-care? And on top of that, how did you practice spiritual care?

 

ML:

Yeah, definitely. I think that almost sort of different for both of my field education experiences. One of them I had was over the summer. And so that's just a different... It's sort of a different ball game when it comes to hours and how much you're working, how much you're a part of. So yeah, I think that that summer was, as far as self-care goes, really focused on working the hours that I was told to work and was... Yeah, so like working those hours and then making sure that I was setting that boundary because I think it can get... It's easy to be like, "Well, stay and keep doing." And as great as I think that it is to be generous with our time, I also think that we need to be generous to ourselves and that generosity to ourselves will really manifest in the way that we do ministry during the hours that we're working. So I think that that was a big thing was setting boundaries as far as like how I spent my time. That's a huge, huge self-care thing.

I also think just staying connected to people I love back in Durham and Raleigh in this area was really important to me because, yeah, again, ministry can be lonely and I think it's really important that we stay connected to people who we consider family or friends. So that was a big thing. I think during the year, that looked a little bit different just because, again, hours are vastly different and you've got school. So again, like boundaries are really important. I think setting those.

And then as far as spiritual, like how I stayed spiritually connected, I think something that has always been really huge for me is taking time to meditate and look back on maybe my day or just taking five minutes of quiet time to feel connected to what was going on during the day, the people that I talked to, the experiences that I had, and connecting that to God who lives in me, right? Who exists in my body. And so, yeah, I think that I would always encourage people to take a beat. And that's something that's been huge in my spiritual life.

 

EAT:

You mentioned having strong connections with people you love and the importance of a support system. How important do you think it is to have a support system while working in ministry?

 

ML:

Oh my gosh, so important. So, so important. I think that people are... That it’s revealing of God, our relationships with people. And so for me, staying connected to the people that I love and care about and people who really show up for me is so, so important. Yeah, I think that ministry is... There's so much joy in it and there's so much life in it, but with anything you can get burnt out. You can start to feel like where is the joy? Where is the life? And I think that the people in our lives can help to remind us of where it is and reflect it back to us. And yeah, so that's what I would say.

 

EAT:

Was there any way, Maggie, in which during your field ed experiences that your Community of Learning in particular served as a sort of support system? Obviously it doesn't replace family and such, but was there any way that they supported you personally throughout your field ed placements?

 

ML:

Oh my gosh. Yes, so many times. Yeah, I think that was a really great thing about both of my Communities of Learning. I was able to walk into our meetings together, our time together, and just be fully who I am. If I showed up that day and I had 40% to give, people were like just incredibly excited about the opportunity to be able to speak life into me. And I think that, yeah, I went to those groups with so many things on my mind and heart both that were a part of what was happening at the churches that I was serving and also what was happening in my personal life, right? Because we can't separate the two. We're whole human beings. And I think that that was something that the Community of Learning really, really respected was the fact that none of us were going into this and just doing work and then leaving. We're not robots. We are human beings, whole human beings. And I think that that was so respected in those spaces.

 

ML:

I felt held by them so many times. I could give you probably a million examples of times that I came to them, but I think one of the biggest things I will always remember from my experience in my first Community of Learning was just this feeling of a little bit like being an imposter, right? Walking into this space and not exactly knowing what I was doing and sort of fumbling around and my Community of Learning reminding me time and time again, you are called. This is work that you are called to. This is beautiful work and you're doing beautiful work. Just over and over again, speaking that life over me. So, yeah, definitely, I really, really, really feel so incredibly grateful for that experience.

 

EAT:

Coming into ministry, nobody's a blank canvas. We're all scarred and tattooed from different experiences and from hurt and pain and anxiety. And you really talk a lot about how that community building can really... It's a bunch of other scarred and tattooed people coming up and holding each other.

 

ML:

Yeah.

 

EAT:

Well, Maggie, you are so passionate about pastoral care, about social work, about serving the LGBTQ community. And I'm just wondering as you look to the future to your career, is there anything that you learned from your Communities of Learning that you will take with you into the coming years?

 

ML:

Oh yeah, definitely. I think that, again, I came into my experience at Duke really wanting to get that master's of social work and feeling like it's very important to be speaking to people in their lived experience, but I honestly think that the Community of Learning reminded me, or maybe not even reminded me, but taught me the importance of doing that on a community level. I think that I tend to have sort of a micro focus, and so I'm very interested in people's lives, people's stories, and that's so important. But like I was saying earlier, the church doesn't exist in isolation. The church exists in a community. And if the church is going to speak on a more macro level to the community that it lives in and lives within and serves, then it needs to know that community and it needs to know that community intimately.

I think that something that I've learned in social work is just the importance of like a therapeutic relationship. So my relationship with any given client, that trust needs to be there. Otherwise we're not going to be able to do any of the work, that important work that we need to do. And I think that building that out and saying that exists in communities too, right? Like if a community doesn't trust the church that is within it, then important work is not being done. So I think that just looking ahead to future ministry that I'm hoping to do, I think that Communities of Learning taught me that importance. It reminded me of that, it called me back to that, this idea that we have to be doing this work on a community level as well.

 

EAT:

Amazing. And that actually brings us into my final big question that I'd really love to ask you is now in your third year as a student and being a part of these Community of Learning and going through what you've been through, what do you think your definition... What does it mean to you to be in community?

 

ML:

I love a good metaphor. So I'll just throw one at you. I think that community to me is a lot like my experience of dancing, like partner dancing. I think that there is this beautiful... I haven't partner danced that much in my life. And the few moments that I have, there's this incredible importance to trusting the person that you're dancing with to sort of moving together. And I think that when I think about community and communities that I want to surround myself with and the communities that I witnessed in these Communities of Learning, I think of this beautiful movement together.

I think that, again, dance can be done alone, right? Just like I suppose that the church could stand on its own and give the world its best shot, but I think that at the end of the day, there's so much more beauty to be had when we come together and when we start to ask ourselves like can we move in stuff? And I think that I saw that in the Communities of Learning that I was a part of. I saw this beautiful willingness from both the community and from the church to ask how might the work that we're doing individually be magnified and made new by coming together? So yeah, I guess when I think of community, like that sort of the image in my mind and I just feel really lucky to have borne witness to that these past couple of years.

 

EAT:

I love that metaphor. I've never thought about it that way and I think you've just transformed my thinking of community. So thank you so much, Maggie. And thank you, again, so, so much for joining us today and talking about how being part of a Community of Learning impacted you.

Thanks for listening to Divcast. Be sure to subscribe to our feed available anywhere you find podcasts. You can send us questions or comments by emailing divcast@div.duke.edu. Our executive producer is Morgan Hendrix. Sound design by Brandon Holmes. Editing help provided by Kinsley Whitworth. Research and media support for this episode was by Brooklynne Reardon, M.Div. 2022. Special thanks to regular host, Todd Maberry, for having me host this episode.

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