Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 15

Today I emailed in my final paper to complete my work on the Doctor of Ministry degree. It's 147 printed pages, but in reality it's 6 years of pages. It still has to pass the formatting police, but for all intents and purposes it's done.

So today my Gratitude Diary is going to be a list of people who have helped me along the way to the completion of this degree. It's gonna be a long, long, long and maybe a boring list. If you've been keeping up with this Gratitude Diary and haven't gotten bored yet, today may be the day. However, I can't, on this day, go without expressing gratitude to those who have helped me. And if I leave you out, remember, I am getting old and my memory is fading. Don't take it as disrespect.

Linda Ford -- Admissions and Recruitment at Phillips Theological Seminary
Dr. Nancy Pittman -- Dean, Phillips Theological Seminary
Professors -- Dr. Richard Ward (Homiletics, and my Adviser), Dr. Dennis Smith, Dr. Brandon Scott, Dr. Joe Bessler.
DMin Director -- Dr. Kathy McCallie
Facilities and Room Reservations -- Gina Robertson
Clasmates -- Dr. Sonja Tobey, Rev. Taud Boatman, Rev. Wambugu Gachungi


Cathy and Charlie Daniels
Michael Davison
Dr. Lisa Davison
Dr. Wes Allen
Dr. Jerry Sumney
Dr. Adam Harmon

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Winchester, KY. They have supported me unconditionally, helped pay tuition and have encouraged me like crazy people. I am a fortunate pastor. There'a s lot of individual people in the church who have been especially helpful. I noticed,. I am grateful.

Kelly Johns, my spouse
Dallas Johns, Preacher's Kid
Couldn't have done any of this without Kelly and Dallas helping me and supporting me.

Mom and Dad
Richard and Karen, my brother and sister in law
Melissa, my sister
Melanie, my sister

The Hampton Inn, Lebanon, MO

Jennifer Melton. She's my friend, sailing camp co-conspirator, but biggest of all she's been my Editor for six years. She knows how to crack a whip. She fixes my flubs.

I am sure I left some people out. I am sorry for my omissions. I am grateful to every one of you.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 14

Golf has been very important to me in my life. I am grateful for the role it has played across the years.

There is a picture of me somewhere, I wish I had it, holding a plastic golf club at the age of 2 and that club is longer than I am tall. I took my first lessons at age 8. My Grandaddy Dallas took me every day for two weeks. It was a group lesson on the driving range at Mohawk Golf Course in Tulsa. At the end of the two weeks there was a golf tournament, and I won that tournament in my age bracket.

Golf was a continuous bond for me and Grandaddy Dallas. I played with him and his retired golfing buddies always at Mohawk. I rarely played with anyone under retirement age in those early years. It was a great place to learn and a couple of the holes ran along the fence line of the Tulsa Zoo. You could play golf and see some elephants and giraffes at the same time.

Lovely view of Mohawk Golf Course in Tulsa

 I had an aptitude for it early on. I was never really skilled at golf. I was skilled enough. I enjoyed golf. In a way you could say I loved it. But it was never something I thought I would pursue any further than in a recreational and school competition sense. I didn't practice enough. I wasn't disciplined enough. It mattered, but not that much.

Grandaddy got me a locker at Mohawk and I used to ride my motorcycle to the course and play. I got my motorcycle license at 14, and I went to the course most every day during the summer.

When I got to high school I played on the golf team. I didn't make the starting 5 until my senior year. The skill sets of those around me were more developed than mine. I did OK that senior year. I played well enough in the Regional Tournament that Southwestern College offered me an activity grant to play golf, and of course I accepted. At Southwestern College I was in the starting 5 for 4 years earning 4 letters. I played every position from  1 to 5 and in my Senior Year I was medalist in 1 tournament at Salina Country Club in Salina, KS.

Since I finished my competitive years I have played golf with church members, friends, other ministers, in scrambles with people I had never met. I have met a ton of people on the golf course and most of them were good people. Some took it a little too seriously for my liking. And after all these years I am a better golfer now, comparatively, than I have ever been. I like that.

I have been to 2 PGA Championships, 4 Colonials, 6 Bank One Senior Classics, the Ryder Cup and 1 US Open. That US Open was at Southern Hills CC in Tulsa, in 1977. I was chosen to work that tournament as a scoreboard carrier. It's my very best golf memory. I was able to watch all the top players. I carried a scoreboard one day for Gil Morgan and another day for Al Geiberger. It was a great experience.

Tiger Woods approach shot, #18 at Southern Hills CC in Tulsa

So today, I am grateful for the game of golf and all it has given me over the years.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 - Gratitude Diary, Day 13

It’s late. I’ve been working on my DMin paper for much of the day and into the night. So let me just say that I am grateful for electronic data storage. My oh my am I grateful for hard drives and flash drives, for cloud storage and the ability to copy, paste, move around and save. It wasn’t always this way.

When I wrote my first paper in college I had an IBM electric typewriter. Thing weighed about 60 pounds. You couldn’t save anything you were working on. If you messed up you started to type the page over. This weekend I moved thirty pages in a block with Control X and Control C. That would have been impossible just a few years ago. This final paper that I am readying for publication would have taken months longer with the previous technology. Months.

I should have my paper finished and formatted  by my deadline of March 1. Thanks be to God for electronic and cloud data storage. Now I just need to remember to make backup copies.

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 12

I'm grateful for that time I got to take flying lessons, and soloed.

When I was a child growing  up in Tulsa we moved to our long-term home in 1964. The house was about 1.5 miles south and just a touch east of the end of the general aviation runway at Tulsa International Airport. We were about 1.5 south and .5 mile west of the commercial runway 18/36. All those planes coming and going over my head caught my attention. Some of them really caught my attention.

McDonnell/Douglas, North American Aviation and American Airlines all had big bases at the airport. The B-47's and B-52's would rattle the windows of the house and the earth would shake when they took off.

My Uncle David was a flight instructor when we moved to the house on Latimer Pl. At the age of 5 he took me to the airport and loaded me into a Cessna 150 and we flew from Tulsa International to Riverside Airport (now Jones airport) which was on the west bank of the Arkansas River about 12 miles to the south of TUL. It was an absolute thrill and I was hooked.

I didn't really get a chance to fly until the mid 1990's, but I took that chance when it came. I started out at Bluegrass Airport, but soon transitioned to a school at Capital City Airport in Frankfort, KY. One day when my instructor and I were pattern flying he told me to land the place and pull up to the terminal. When I did he hopped out and said, "now take it around, do three takeoffs and landings." It was my solo flight. I took off to the east and as I lifted off the capital of the Commonwealth of KY was just to my north. Three times I went around. Three times I landed and twice I took off. Successful solo. And the thrill was everything I had thought it would be.

Dallas was born in 1997. Kelly's mom passed away in 1998. My flying took a backseat and I never completed my Private Pilot license. I have about 48 hours in a Cessna 150, 152 and 172, and a Piper Archer II. I am so grateful for that time flying. It was truly a dream come true.

Cessna 150 like the plane I soloed

Cessna 152

Cessna 172

Piper Archer II

May you fly and may your dreams come true.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 11

 Today I express my appreciation for Christian Church In Kentucky Summer Camps at WakonDaHo and Kum Ba Ya.

I went to my first summer camp in 1985 at WakonDaHo. I have only missed two summers since then. In 2002 I counseled my first Sailing Camp at Kum Ba Ya and I haven't missed any since.

Camp builds lifelong friendships. Camp builds character, teamwork, community, and faith. It's a place where kids can feel safe and be reminded they are beloved of God.

 
Church camp is an incubator for great church members and leaders. At this moment in the life of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kentucky, all of the people I know who declare for ministry and attend seminary right after college have come through the Outdoor Ministry of the Christian Church In Kentucky. That's an amazing testament to how important summer camp is to the Church.

Me with Shawna Mitchell at WKDH, 1994

Silly me at WKDH, about 1992

Some of my best memories of my years in ordained ministry have occurred at camp. I have literally seen kid's lives become fuller and more meaningful in just a week of camp.

So, today, I am grateful for the Outdoor Ministry of CCK; all it has meant to me, and all it has meant to my son, Dallas. A special word of thanks to all the wonderful people I've worked with over these years and to those who have been so important to Dallas. Thank you.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Sailing Camp, 2007, KBY

Dallas at Junior Camp, WKDH

Junior Camp, 2010 at WKDH

Junior Camp at WKDH, 2003

Dallas at CYF Camp at WKDH, 2016

Sailing Camp, 2013

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 10

Christy Administration Building and the 77 Steps

Let me express my gratitude for Southwestern College in Winfield, KS where I began my collegiate studies in the fall of 1977. Southwestern was an unlikely place for me to attend college. I had never heard of the school until an Admissions Counselor showed up in my senior year at Will Rogers High School. The Athletic Director, Basketball Coach and Golf Coach, Bill Stephenson, offered me an opportunity to play intercollegiate golf and offered me an Activity Grant to do so. For four years I played golf as a Moundbuilder, lettering all four years and simply enjoying myself more than words can say.

On the academic side of things I met two professors my freshman year who would become two of the greatest influences on my life. A.D. Cope was my Freshman Composition professor. She was feisty, deeply intelligent, provocative and she was pushy. The best thing she did for me was to introduce me to Flannery O'Connor (who will be a subject of gratitude in a later post). Dr. Cope plunged us into the world of provocative literature; Camus, Bellow, Graham Greene, Dostoevsky, and many others. She also taught us to do research, support our arguments and make no claims we couldn't substantiate.

I also met Dr. Cecil Findley that fall. Cecil was an ordained United Methodist Minister and an unapologetic liberal thinker. He opened a world of scholarship for me in theology, the history of Christianity, preaching, and biblical scholarship. Cecil was simply amazing. I served as his student assistant my senior year and he helped me secure a two-point charge at Gouda Springs, and at Arkansas City Grandview United Methodist churches. Cecil still comes to mind when I think of the Four Source Theory of Authorship and Historical-Critical study. He was deeply influential for me.

At Southwestern I met a great many wonderful and intelligent students. I enjoyed the campus life. I learned and made a base for how I would see the world as an adult. I am proud to be a Moundbuilder, and I am grateful to Southwestern College. www.sckans.edu

The Mound at Southwestern

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 9

                                                                 Thelma Arnold, 1977

Today I want to express my gratitude to educators. The lady pictured above is Thelma Arnold. At Will Rogers High School she was my Chemistry, and Physics teacher. She was simply the best. All in all my classmates in Physics were pretty smart students. They have become engineers and lawyers, and community leaders. To Mrs. Arnold we were frustrating teenagers. She would smack her pointing stick on the lab counter and exclaim, "C'mon you guys. I could teach monkeys to do this."

We were scared to death of her.

We also respected her without reservation. We knew what she was doing was hard work and that she did her work from a full heart. She may have appeared angry and grumpy but she was only pushing us to be our best. She was the best. Among all the teachers, professors, counselors I have learned from over the years, Momma Arnold was the best.

And our nation is full of women and men just like her.

They get up and go to school every day. They take crap from students, They live on low pay. They pay for items for their classrooms. They work overtime. They cry over our children. They love our children. They push our children. They teach. They embrace.

They even stand between our children and bullets when need be, as did Coach Aaron Feis who was gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL on February 14. He chose to stand between the kids and the shooter and he gave his life protecting the students.

                                                                    Coach Aaron Feis

I pray he is the last educator to be forced to stand between a shooter and students. Teachers are meant to teach, not sacrifice their lives to protect their students, but Coach Feis did just that. And just about all of the teachers I know would do the same. And last week the ones I know thought about it. They thought about having to lose their lives to save lives.

I am grateful for teachers; for educators, for professors. Those who help us learn. I am grateful for them all.

It's been a stressful few days for the teachers I know. Give them some encouragement when you can. Write your representatives in government to advocate for our educators. They believe in our kids. Let's show them we believe in them.

Thanks, Mrs. Arnold. You were the very best.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 8

Today I express my gratitude for the life and writing of Madeline L'Engle.

I first read "A Wrinkle in Time" when I was 11 years old and it opened up a new world of thought for me. It was 1970 and the United States had landed people on the moon the year before. Space travel was on my mind. Exploring strange new worlds was of deep, deep interest to me. How I have wanted over the course of my life to warp time/space and to boldly go where no one has gone before. It was into that context this book found me at the library of William McKinley Elementary School.

Meg and Charles Wallace were instant heroes to me. The struggle against good and evil, the unused powers of the human mind and a "tesseract" held my attention. I have never forgotten the book or even the feelings I had reading it. Life-altering is all I can say.

In the years after that I was consumed with science. I excelled in my science classes. I was interested in psychology and the search for ancient astronauts. The world of the atom and the world of interstellar space had me. And then opened the door to me for faith to walk in. It was indeed because of my love for science that a space for the discovery of the Creator was formed in me. I owe the genesis of that to Madeline L'Engle.

Years after I was ordained and serving in the church I discovered that Madeline was deeply religious. Her books were intended to stir faith. I hadn't known, but of course looking back it makes sense.

I wouldn't be the theologian I am today without Madeline L'Engle. I am grateful for her beyond my ability to express.

And if you haven't read, "A Wrinkle in Time," may I encourage you to do so.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 7

Day 7 of Lent. Today I want to express my appreciation for First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Tulsa, Oklahoma fcctulsa.org. My home church, as they say. It's the church where I was baptized. It's the church that sponsored me for ordained ministry. It's the church that gave me scholarship money for the 7 1/2 years I was in college and seminary. It's the church where I preached my first sermon. It's the church that gave me my first church position -- janitor! Yes, my first church job was cleaning toilets and the like. 

I am so grateful for everything FCC Tulsa has done, what it believes, how it lives its faith in the world. It's difficult for me to watch the church dwindle. The people of the church have done so much for me; influenced my theology and thoughts of what a church should be.

The dome inside the church is an engineering and architectural marvel. The stained glass on the inside of the dome raises as a unit to allow air flow, a pre-air conditioning era, air movement system.

When I was a teenager, and that's when I joined the church, the organ had a console downstairs and in the balcony (where the youth group always sat). The magnificent back-lit stained glass window at the center of the chancel with organ pipes on the sides always inspired me.

My home church means the world to me. I am so very grateful for their love and support over the years. I am especially grateful for Rev. Richard Ziglar, Dr. Eugene Brice, Dr. Roy L. Griggs, Rev. Kim Clements Hames, and Rev. Eric Hollard a transplant from Australia who baptized me. The baptistry is just below the stained glass window pictured above.

I do not know what the future holds for FCC Tulsa. The last ten years have been very tough. I pray that God will help them find a way to survive and then thrive. I am deeply grateful to FCC Tulsa, and the people who call it their church home.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 - Gratitude Diary, Day 6

Lent is a time of austerity and self-denial. It is a season of doing without. As such it heightens our awareness of the pleasure that we deny ourselves. So today I express my gratitude for taste buds. As I have aged I have noticed that my palate has become keener. I am more able to separate out flavors and tastes than when I was younger. Perhaps this is due to my habit of watching the Food Network and the Travel Channel. I swear Andrew Zimmern has the best job in the world.

My tastes have not changed that much over the years. What I loved as a child I still love in middle age. But I have found new foods, beverages and tastes that appeal to me. I have become more willing to try something a little outrageous. I have not been able to fully embrace Zimmern’s tag line, “If it looks good, eat it,” but I have moved a distance toward embracing a wider variety of food and beverage. More than that, I enjoy the experimentation. 

Just a couple of years ago I would not have been able to tell you why I prefer certain bourbons, but now I can separate out the flavors a bit and I’m more able to say what I prefer. Likewise, I can taste spices and separate them out more readily in foods. My palate has gotten smarter. I am grateful for that. 

Picky eater? Not me. I’ll try just about anything. Grateful this has come to be so. 

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 5

These kids.

These wonderful, amazing kids.

I am grateful that their parents send them to church. I am grateful that I get to work alongside them. I am grateful for their faith. I am grateful for the trust they place in me. I am grateful for these kids.

Since I was called to be the Assistant Pastor of St. Stephen United Methodist Church in Arlington, TX in 1983 I have worked with youth and children in some capacity. I have been an Associate for Youth and Children, and as a Senior Pastor I have continued to work with the youth along the way. Besides St. Stephen I have worked with children and youth from First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Richmond, KY; Arlington Christian Church in Lexington, KY; Providence Christian Church in Jessamine Co. KY, and now at First Christian Church in Winchester, KY. These young people  are a source of joy for me. They are so important to me. I am grateful for them.

These kids. I am grateful.

Lent 2018 - Gratitude Diary Day 4

Short post today.

I’m grateful for grace. I’ve made more mistakes than most people I know. I’ve hurt people. I’ve paid a price for mistakes sometimes and worse, others have sometimes paid a price for my mistakes. I’m regretful about it all. I don’t deserve grace. I certainly haven’t earned it. So today I’m grateful for grace, for forgiveness, for second and sometimes third chances. I’m really trying to improve and be better. I’m grateful for grace.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 3

Shoshone Falls, Thomas Moran. On permanent display at the Gilcrease Museum. https://gilcrease.org/ Photo copyright, Gilcrease Museum.

Today I am grateful for the Gilcrease Museum.

I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. One of the great treasures of Tulsa is the Gilcrease Museum. Located in the Osage Hills on the west side of the Arkansas River the museum offers a beautiful vista of downtown Tulsa.

The Gilcrease was born of the vision of Thomas Gilcrease, an oilman who made a fortune in the oil fields that surrounded Tulsa at the turn of the 20th century. Mr. Gilcrease collected more than 10,000 works of art, over 100,000 rare books and documents including the only surviving certified copy of the Declaration of Independence and over 250,000 Native American artifacts. The museum is now owned and operated by the University of Tulsa.

The museum is a marvel to me. When I am back home I try always to make at least one trip to the museum. It is a touchstone; a power center, the place that helps me feel grounded and connected to my beloved hometown. I am especially fond of the collection of Moran, Russell, Remington and Bierstadt landscapes and sculptures. The painting pictured above is entitled Shoshone Falls, and was painted in 1900. It is an enormous canvas measuring nearly seven feet in height and thirteen feet in width.

In this season of Lent where darkness and light meet, where we look inwardly that we may live outwardly, Shoshone Falls is an apt image. It is wild and yet sublime. It is dark and it is light. It is filled with detail and is enormous in size.

Today, I am grateful for the Gilcrease Museum; a gem in the heart of my hometown.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

Lent 2018 -- Gratitude Diary, Day 2

Ash Wednesday is a day of penitence and of the recognition of our mortality.Yesterday it was a day of massacre, destruction and as the headline for this picture read, it was "Catastrophic." Seventeen people. Gone. From dust they were born......

Last night I made the sign of the cross in ashes on the forehead of a four year old girl. I said, "From dust you were born and to dust you shall return," as I imposed the ashes. It was difficult to hear those words on my lips. Not too soon, little one. You are supposed to live a long and happy life. You are but dust, yes, but live first.

This is supposed to be a Gratitude Diary. Writing something for which I am grateful every day is a part of my Lenten Discipline. There aren't many words today.

I am grateful to have been a part of an Ash Wednesday Service last night shared with First Presbyterian Church. I am grateful that we stopped and turned our hearts and our spirits and our prayers toward Parkland, Florida. I am grateful for the friends today who have affirmed that we cannot allow school shootings to become the new normal. I am grateful for people who have had enough. I am grateful for a church community where love binds us when opinion divides us.

I am grateful for the ashes of repentance. Kyrie Eleison. Christe Eleison.

Peace and Love,
Jerry

2018 Lenten Discipline -- Gratitude Journal

The season of Lent is upon us. This year I have decided to eschew as much sugar in my diet as I am able. There will be no carbonated beverages, no pastries, no sweet breads, no desserts. This is a serious amount of denial for me. I don't necessarily intend to eat or drink such things, but sometimes unfold in a way that those are the choices before me. For these 40 days I will look away.

I have also decided to take on a practice for Lent. Thanks to Diana Butler Bass who suggested a Gratitude Journal. Her new book, "Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks" will be on the store shelves soon. Here is an Amazon.com link to her book.

 https://www.amazon.com/Grateful-Transformative-Power-Giving-Thanks/dp/0062659472/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518617965&sr=8-1&keywords=gratitude+diana+butler+bass&dpID=41RTjmwF9XL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Consequently, my first entry into the Gratitude Diary is for Diana Butler Bass. I first met Diana when she was the keynote speaker for the General Minister's Pastor's Conference in San Diego in 2010. Her presentations were timely and informative and she piqued my interest in her books like, "Christianity After Religion," and "A People's History of Christianity." Then, in 2014 I met her again when she was the keynote speaker for the Christian Church In Kentucky Regional Assembly which was held in Hopkinsville, KY. I was honored to prepare a gift basket for her and of course I included bourbon and Old Kentucky Chocolates. I was also asked to be her transport to and from the hotel. We discovered during those rides that we share a birth month and year, and our children, her daughter Emma and my son Dallas, also share a birth month and year. Our conversations over those short excursions covered a lot of ground, and in her book, "Grounded" she included a recounting of those conversations. I was so flattered to be included in her book. It makes me smile.

Diana's contributions to the study of Christianity in current America are academically sound and insightful. She is a delightful person; a proud mother, and a person of great value to our theological and spiritual conversations. So, today, I am grateful for Diana Butler Bass.

As we gather to impose ashes today may the Spirit of eternal life breathe life into our dustiness.

Peace and Love,
Jerry