MTSO The Story : Page 12
STUDENTS ey’reputting the ‘be’ inbeatitudes A new book features MTSO’s April Blaine and Jeremy Scott “They really are students who show great leadership potential” g Scott and Blaine In a forthcoming book by the leader of the Beatitudes Society, nine seminary stu- dents and alums will be featured for the ways each of themmodels a beatitude pre- sented in the fih chapter ofMatthew. Two of those nine are MTSO students. Claiming the Beatitudes: Nine Stories froma New Generation, by Beatitudes Soci- ety Executive Director Rev. Anne Suther- landHoward, is due to be published this winter by the Alban Institute. 10 METHODIST THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN OHIO “I chose nine students that I’ve encoun- tered inmy work,”Howard said, “and they stretch across the country fromBoston to Berkeley.” MTSO student April Blaine appears in the chapter illustrating Verse 7: “Blessed are themerciful, for they will receivemercy.” MTSO student Jeremy Scott’s ministry is held up as an example of Verse 10: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdomof heaven.” Both Blaine and Scott areMaster of Di- vinity students. Blaine will graduate this spring, Scott in 2010. Scott founded the MTSO chapter of the Be’Ats, asmembers call it, in January 2007. e national organization describes its mission this way: “e Beatitudes Society develops and sustains emerging Christian leaders at seminaries and divinity schools as they build a progressive network for justice,
Pastor’s best friend
Diane Winters Johnson’s award-winning children’s book is told from her guide dog’s point of view
It wasn’t that there weren’t books about blind people, even blind people in religious settings. But Rev. Diane Winters Johnson, who earned a master’s in Christian education from Methesco in 2002, was looking for something very specific, and she couldn’t find it.
“I frequently was asked to go to elementary schools and talk with classes about issues of blindness and disability with groups of children,” said Johnson, who is the associate pastor at Wooster United Methodist Church and is blind. “And I never had any materials to use with kids.”
“All the books that we could find showed a blind person that was the object of ministry rather than in ministry. So I thought about writing a book to use for my own.”
Johnson's task of creating her own book was helped along by two relationships. The first was with Margaret Freed, who attends Wooster UMC and is a professional artist.
Johnson approached her about providing illustrations.
I thought, well, as long as we're going to do this, why don’t we have it bound and make it a gift for the children here in our church? Johnson said. She and Freed discussed it over lunch, and the more we talked about it, we discovered that she had had this lifelong dream of doing a children’s book and being published.
Soon they were compiling a list of children’s book publishers.
Ministry and that involved another important relationship. She would tell children about her work and the sometimes hard-to grasp trappings of a church with the help of Walter, the Seeing Eye dog who was vital to her work in the church, not to mention her education at MTSO.
“Walter traveled my road to ordination with me,” Johnson said. “Walter was a necessary piece to my traveling from being a layperson in ministry to being an ordained person in ministry. I used a white cane very successfully for years, but I couldn’t have gone to seminary without Walter.”
Johnson has happy memories of Methesco that began well before she enrolled.
“My first time on campus actually was as a confirmand, and I’m not going to tell you how long ago,” she said, laughing. “I think I was 13.”
Most weeks, she'd get a ride from Wooster to campus with a member of her congregation, and a ride home with her husband, Wesley. (The Johnsons have four grown children.)
On the MTSO campus, Walter was Johnson’s constant companion, walking every step and attending every class with her.
I treasured those years, she said. The two even graduated together.
“He has a diploma as well as I do,” Johnson said, “only his says he has a degree in dogmatic theology. When I was ordained, the bishop laid hands on him as well.”
Walter put his ordination to good use.
“He learned the order of worship,” Johnson said. “He would stand up when it was necessary to stand; he would lie down when it was time to lie down. He knew it was bread first and juice second.”
But more than that, she said, “He had a way of touching people. And a lot of it came through with visitation. Sometimes in the hardest situations, just having him there would calm somebody. He just had a way of communicating with people. He was truly a pastoral-care kind of dog.”
Walter retired several years ago and went to live with members of Johnson’s church.
“He is now actually 16 years old, and very much a lump on a pillow,” she said. “He’s almost all white now. He can’t hear anymore, and he can barely see. But he still wags his tail, and he still thinks it’s all about him.”
Johnson's current guide dog is Amber, whom she considers as indispensable as Walter was. But it's Walter who stars in the View from Under the Pew, appearing in every one of Freed's illustrations.
The book has earned plaudits for both the words and pictures, recently winning the silver medal in the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards for non-fiction picture books.
Even before the award, the book was a big hit in Wooster. The church is faithfully
recreated, as are other buildings in the community.
“You would recognize it exactly,” Johnson said. “You would not only recognize the Church, but you could probably pick out the people. My daughter is in the book. Our senior pastor is in the book.”
The senior pastor is Dr. David Wilcox, who also serves as vice chair of the MTSO Board of Trustees. And he confirms that he appears in the book. Sort of.
“I had a caveat for the artist,” Wilcox said.
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