I Met Mr. C Essay

One of Lewis’ earliest turning points in his life was when his uncle gave him his first bible. Lewis recalls, “Growing up, what I really wanted to be was a preacher. An uncle gave me a bible for Christmas when I was four. (Lewis 26) Even before he received the bible, Lewis had strong religious views and the bible gave him that extra encouragement. Lewis said, “So I preached to my chickens about every night.” (Lewis 27) This showed Lewis’ dedication to his bible and even though the chickens couldn’t quite understand, it was a beginning for him. He stated, “I imagined they (chickens) were my congregation, and me—I was a preacher.” (Lewis 28) Even as a child, Lewis imagined him preaching to a larger crowd beyond the rural chicken farm of Alabama. The bible directed him toward his religious path, and eventually the teachings on nonviolence.

Born to parents who had a strong dedication to their faith, Granville Oral Roberts was born near Ada, Oklahoma. His father preached the gospel and established Pentecostal Holiness Churches, and his mother prayed for the sick and led people to Christ. The family was poor, and his father was a farmer while he pastored a church. While Roberts was in his mother’s womb, she dedicated him to the Lord. He was born with a severe stutter, but she continually told him that he would be healed and speak to multitudes.

Every Sunday my mother would force me into my church dress with the itchy lace, and white ankle-socks with the big, puff bow. We would walk into St. John A.M.E. Church and sit in age-old pews, singing Negro Spirituals that I had not yet learned to appreciate. Growing up, church consisted of sermons, praise, and family. For years I would automatically participate in the church activities and youth-group service projects, taking the many lectures about education a grain of salt. However, I never understood the true meaning of service and the importance of education until I learned about the history of Huntsville, Alabama. The founder of St. John African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, and the founder of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU), William Hooper Councill, truly exemplified what it meant to serve his community.

Junior shows persistence and resilience by getting to school by going to school even when his dad has no gas money. Junior lives in a poor environment and because of this, Junior is not able to go back home comfortably. “But he wasn’t sure if he’d have gas money… Somebody was usually heading

11. What effect does this advice have on the author when Mommy is not at the bus stop one day?

I sat down at my kitchen table with Michael Bruxvoort, a friend and fellow Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on October 25th, 2015. We laughed and talked about his journey through life and all the memories, obstacles and pleasures along the way. Among the many topics we spoke about, the ones that seemed most relevant to him and myself were: the family dynamics of religion within his household, his process of religion through secular spaces and lastly, his transition to Chapel Hill, NC and making it his home. Our conversation through Michael 's life shows how his faith has shaped him to be the man he is today. Through this paper, I will explain and analyze these topics in hopes of better understanding geographies of religion.

During the early 1900s, the south was full of religious fervor. Most small communities were based around two or three church families. Cold Sassy Tree, which is a recounting of Will’s memories, contains

On the other hand, McIntosh commented in her interview that the neighboring master “have lots of land…and fixed up his slaves their own cabin” where missionaries came and preached. In another account, Nellie Jones of Savannah describes how “a gray-headed planter catechized us negro children …But I heard of the missionary instructing a large number of colored boys and girls at the big-planters farm”

Born on March 29, 1962, in Linden, Alabama, just 90 miles outside of Montgomery, Ralph David Abernathy Sr. was the tenth of twelfth offspring born to William and Louivery Abernathy. His family was more fortunate than most due to the fact they owned a 500 acre farm, which provided a certain measure of independence. Abernathy exhibited evidence of inheriting his father’s spiritual and leadership skills by joining the church at the age of 7 and serving in the army during World War II at the age of 18, where he quickly earned the rank of sergeant. After serving in the war, Abernathy attended Alabama state college, where his political awareness began to flourish. He was elected as president of his student council and led protests to secure suitable student living conditions and quality food in the dormitories. He then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1950 and also achieved religious training by obtaining a masters degree in sociology from Atlanta University. Remaining committed to church and education, Abernathy became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he met his wife Juanita Odessa Jones and he became Dean of Men at Alabama State University at the young age of 26.

Bragg’s mother is a devout Christian that always tunes in to preachings on their television. Bragg writes that, “She needed to believe that somebody bigger and stronger than her was looking out for all of us” (80) Religion was a source of hope for many people in the South, especially for those that were not well off. It comforted them and allowed them to believe that things would be better. It gave people strength. It gave people joy. It gave people peace. In his own experiences going to church, the community was welcoming and friendly, but above all, it was powerful. Bragg describes a baptismal he saw as “the most beautiful thing [he] had ever seen” (87). He writes of how “completely, utterly alive they looked… as if something was racing

When Rachel Shilsky, now Ruth Mcbride, was a young girl, her father taught her how religion was one of the most important things in her life because “ every evening after supper Tateh would sit” her “ and Sam down and make us study the Old Testament” (McBride 61). She instilled this value into her children by taking them to her church every week on Sunday because she was taught how important it was. She would take them on the subway to The

These three perceptions are distinctly different, but ultimately speak to the contextual nature of Black theology—rooting worship, adoration, and discipleship within the notion a (conscious) living G-d. The first perception explored is the image G-d adored through the lens of Sister Sweet and Mother Darling. At first glance, these women appear different in life style and theology—different churches, different abilities, and different approaches to discipleship. But upon further examination, one discovers the same paradigm at work. Both have lost children to AIDS. Both have committed themselves to a praxis centered theology to process their loss. Mother Darling is street missionary and Sister Sweet is a disabled woman confined to a wheel that feeds the birds and attends to the needs of the Little piece of Heaven Church. Both have found peace in their personalized work for the Lord. Their G-d is a “shelter in a time of storm.” The second perception is the image of G-d as seen through Deacon Zee. This G-d is one of salvation and complacence for Deacon Zee. The “White Jesus” he prayed to for his assistance in finding his copy of the Wall Street Journal—a nuanced symbol for prosperity. This G-d speaks to the corporate nature and element of

In order to raise a son who could arguably be the most influential preacher in this century, one would think his parents must surely have been influential, devout, and pious. In reality, Graham's parents were quiet, humble people of God. On a small dairy farm in Charlotte, North Carolina, Billy Graham received his first lessons in the ways of the world and in the ways of the mysterious God. His father was a working man, comfortable only when his hands were immersed and occupied in the work of the farm. Secretly, he always felt some unanswered calling to the pulpit, to be a preacher; a feeling that was only resolved by living his calling through his oldest son, Billy Graham (Frady 33). His parents were God fearing people and strict Calvinists, and raised Graham to believe in hard work and honesty. Billy Graham was later to reject this Calvinistic upbringing, but there is no doubt that his parents were the initial influences on his spiritual life.

In Langston Hughes 's autobiographical anecdote, “Salvation,” the author reflects on his childhood, and also examines the basis on which his religious views were founded. Hughes 's nonfiction piece, written in adulthood, allows him to look back on his past and reconsider what he learned about salvation, as well as organized religion and conformity, as a child. Because of this inquiry, he begins to question the ways in which adults pressure young people to conform to their views of religion, even without having the deep feeling of faith required. When people are young, they are often asked to conform to roles that they don’t really understand or think deeply about, and religious duty is thus carried on without a lot of free will. Langston Hughes divulges the hypocrisy and the fraudulent faith of the Church and its indoctrinated members through irony and his own indoctrination into his damning salvation. The church service pressures and bullies young Hughes into falsifying his salvation. This ceremony proves that the church values tradition over faith.

. His church based education of early and late childhood and his position of employment as teacher are accrued through church institutions. However, he loathes the church for the disparateness of people around him including his grandmother: