Brief Encounters
I am one of the editors for the 150th Anniversary of Johnson Memorial book which will be available in September (trust me, you will want one!). As you can imagine, I am learning lots of interesting facts about our church. I've been struck by the long-lasting legacies of two men who had only brief relationships with JM.
Rev. Jefferson W. Johnson came to Huntington's First Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1889. The congregation was outgrowing its building at 1022 4th Avenue and Rev. Johnson envisioned a new structure, encouraging the members to raise funds for a new church at the present location. Tragically, Rev. Johnson died in an accident in 1890, never seeing the completion of the church which would bear his name: Johnson Memorial.
Edward T. Jones began teaching the Wesleyan Goodwill Sunday School Class at Johnson Memorial in June of 1945. He died suddenly on December 30 of that same year. The members voted to change the name of the class to the E.T. Jones Class to honor him. If you've had any association with JM in the years since 1946, you know that the E.T. Jones Class has been a strong, close-knit group whose members served the church in many capacities.
Both Rev. Johnson and Mr. Jones had a huge impact on the church for generations to come after spending very little time there.
Think of some of the brief encounters Jesus had with individuals that changed their lives: the Samaritan woman he met at the well (John 4: 7-42); the crippled beggar (John 5: 1-15); Jarius (Mark 5: 21-43); a hemorrhaging woman (Mark 5: 24-34), and Zacchaeus (Luke 19: 1-10) to name a few. I found a site with info about how Jesus interacted with people which you may find interesting. https://bible.org/illustration/how-jesus-interacted-people
How about our own brief encounters? In previous devotions I have mentioned our former member Anita Unger Campbell saying her grandmother always said everyone has an invisible sign around their necks that says, "Make Me Feel Good." I don't kid myself that being kind to someone for a minute will change their life, but it might make their day. In these days of Covid 19, I like to say to clerks at the grocery stores or pharmacies, "I'm smiling at you under this mask." I can tell they're smiling back by looking at their eyes.
Remember, you can share the love of Jesus with even the briefest of encounters.
Anita Farrell
