Tom's Northwest Passages

Tom and Michele continued their travels, though the trip of the year was Michele journey through Egypt and Israel with Amy for three weeks last September, while Tom hung out at the Oregon coast and went fishing with an old friend on the Missouri River near Pierre, SD. We also went to Baja CA, to Leadville, CO to watch grandson Sam ski in the State tournament, to Seattle for the Tigers-Mariners series, to Marblehead-Salem-Boston in July with the whole family at Jason and Helen’s new old house, to Michigan for the wedding of brother Greg’s daughter, Lauren and her husband, Alex, and to Newberg, OR, where we used to live and work, a couple of times to meet with friends. In March, just before our 53 rd anniversary, we finally sold the Coupeville house, after a year on the market. We are really enjoying our downsized 1600 sq. ft. home in Oak Harbor (1371 SW Windsor St., 98277; only cellphones 503-550-9277 [T] and 503-550-9249 [M]). It’s just right for us, all on one floor, and easier...

Christmas 2017 It’s only December 1. I never write the annual Christmas letter this early! OK, here goes - just treat it as you usually do - the Delete file - well, at least it won’t add to your recycle bin.   We moved mid-year. Our new address, in case you need to track us down so we can right some wrong we may have committed against you, or to report us to the NSA (oh, wait, they already know) is: 1371 SW WINDSOR ST., OAK HARBOR, WA 98277.   We love our new home, 1600 sq ft., less than half the size of our dear old, still unsold house in Coupeville. All one floor, no outdoor maintenance, no stairs, much more convenient for yelling questions at each other (no pretending you didn’t hear that request that always begins with “Sweetheart, would you . . . .?), and in a senior living community of small houses labeled “55 and better”) called Whidbey Green.   I’ll have to get out my calendar for 2017 to remember what happened this year. I envy you if YOU can rem...

Recently, a woman friend and former colleague asked me what insight I might have into the current sexual harassment issue in America. I have no special insight into what is happening in our crazy, sad world. Only God knows. There has always been a dark side to our culture, and every culture I know about, with regard to sexuality. I didn’t handle mine very well either. We make way too much of it, in both expression and repression, in flaunting and in denial, in shamelessness and shame. The example of our current president is of no help here. Women have suffered more, but men too have been and are oppressed by cultural expectations and historic patterns that are not caring or kind. Sometimes, less often, women’s desires and actions have been and are disordered, and this has also contributed to men’s “permission" to be disordered too. Both genders and all sexual orientations are responsible to be caring, faithful, and non-exploitive. This requires a degree of diligent self-awaren...

Protestant Barriers to Contemplative Prayer Author:  J. David Muyskens I am an ordained Protestant minister who has benefited greatly from contemplative prayer.  I speak from experience with a way of being open to contemplative prayer called Centering Prayer. I am well acquainted with some of the resistances Protestants have toward contemplation. What led me to Centering Prayer was a physician asking me, “Are you trying to do it all yourself?” My symptoms were caused by stress. I was trying to do it myself, leaving out my dependence on God. I did not have a private practice of prayer. The question caused me to find that missing ingredient. As I set up a daily practice of prayer I learned that prayer is not only talking to God but also listening and very much a matter of being in faith and love with my Creator, Lover and Holy Spirit. In prayer I put into practice my relationship with the divine. I learned the practice of Centering Prayer by reading Basil Pennington a...

Luke 18:9-14                                                                                           St. Stephen's Episcopal Church October 23, 2016                                                                                   The Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Johnson                      The Pharisee and the Tax Collector When I was reading this Gospel passage, I first noticed that Jesus was telling a story. It’s not a historical event; it’s a story, and so the characters are overdrawn, portrayed in almost co...

My priest friend, Mary Green, wrote this reflection in view of the wave of violence sweeping our nation. She speaks for me and Michele. Thank you, Mary. July 8, 2016,  Reflection informed by recent meditation on Genesis 15:1-6 and Hebrews 11:1-3. Abram believed in the promises of God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, right relationship with God.   Belief, that place of trust in God, even in the face of not seeing the fulfillment of promises.   Today, just after the killing of 4 police officers in Dallas during protests over the killing by police of two black men earlier this week, in the wake of Orlando, in the wake of the obscene parade of violent and hate filled behavior and language that seems hell-bent on total destruction of this country, I have no words to pray.  I have no way to believe in the future.  I have no way to confront any of the problems that threaten to overwhelm this country.  No, wrong word.  The threat is lon...

Homosexuality in Romans 1 - Paul was right in one sense, but he was also not fully informed. Biblical authors assumed a geo-centric worldview. Were they wrong? Or, were they not fully informed? Morgan Guyton explains how Paul was right in principle, but was uninformed as to the best application of that principle. This should be no more disturbing for us than the discovery that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe. [Oops! People got excommunicated for believing that!! So, we may have a way to go yet.] Morgan Guyton:      “So here’s where my quarrel occurs with a strictly historical Biblical interpretation like N.T. Wright’s. Paul did believe that non-heteronormative sex was “unnatural” and that “unnatural” sex resulted in bad spiritual fruit. In Romans 1, he says that when people “exchange natural intercourse for unnatural” (v. 26), they are “filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice” (v. 29). The reason Paul calls non-heteronor...

http://wipfandstock.com/healing-church-strife-in-the-new-testament-and-today.html New Title From James Christensen and Thomas F. Johnson Healing Church Strife in the New Testament and Today Beyond Matthew 18:15-17   When churches experience troubling conflicts, they are likely to be offered Matthew 18:15–17 as the only solution. This book opens our eyes to the rich variety of conflict solutions that are described throughout the New Testament. Healing Church Strife explores options for our time, and the reader receives practical suggestions that are biblically based. James Christensen MSW, PhD, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), specializes in helping churches manage conflict. During the past fifteen years he has worked with congregations in northwest Washington, Alaska, and in Vienna, Austria. In addition, he trains pastors and other church leaders and consults with church judicatories on policies and practices. Currently he serves as Con...

Stay positive in relationships with other people and in one’s attitude toward oneself. Minimize or eliminate all criticism, complaining, and arguments. When you have to choose between being right and being kind, choose kind (Dyer). Always admit when you are wrong, biased, and limited in your own view. When disagreements are important, not over trivial matters, seek for common ground. Emphasis what you have in common with others and what is praise-worthy. Take a genuine interest in other people. Remember and use the other person’s name. Listen more than you talk. Encourage people to talk about themselves and their interests. Treat people with respect and consideration. Try to see things from the other person’s point of view and empathize with their concerns. Stay in the interrogative mode: what if . . ., could we . . . how would it work if . . .? Find a way to win-win, avoiding win-lose (Covey). Praise every improvement or positive change. Encourage people...

A 2015 Christmas Thank You from Tom and Michele Johnson This was the year of the anniversary - our fiftieth - and we celebrated all year. The official date was March 26th, but we didn’t let that narrow window of time stop us from enjoying the whole year with each other, our family, and you.  So, thanks to the people we love, who have included us in their love for a wonderful 2015, esp. to our children: Jason, Amy, & Sarah, their spouses (Helen, Peter, & Matt), and our three grandkids (Nina, Nathaniel & Sam). I guess you all meant it when you said to us last Jan, 1, “ Happy New Year!! ” It was indeed. Thanks to friends at St. Augustine’s and St. Stephen’s Episcopal churches, and at Oak Harbor Lutheran Church with whom we prayed, sang, planned, studied, retreated, ate, and talked. Thanks to all the people with whom we got older, grieved the loss of friends, read books, and shared coffee, beer, meals, a second annual (may there be a third, Go Seaha...

My View of Gay/Lesbian Marriage First, a little context. I was asked to write this essay by good Christian friends, people I love and respect, who do not understand my support for gay marriage. How can a Christian who takes the Bible seriously, as they and I do, hold this viewpoint? Well, here is a personal account, not a logical argument, for how I came to hold my outlook on this issue. I have come to the views I currently hold on gay and lesbian marriage, on the basis of a long period of reflection on biblical texts (authoritative for Christians), reason (what seems logical or rational to me in the light of evidence), and my experience with friends and relatives who are gay or lesbian. All these factors shape my understanding of homosexuality and gay marriage. I never believed that homosexuality itself was wrong, immoral, or unethical. But I did believe, at one time, that the practice of it was wrong for Christians. It seemed to me that certain passages in the New Testamen...

At Christmas 2014 This is a rambling account of our year. Please feel free to stop reading at any point. There were pictures in the .pdf version. Ask me and I'll send you that version as well. On January 4, the day the family left after a wonderful Christmas time together here in Coupeville, we were in the airport ready to leave for San Jose del Cabo, when we noticed a hemorrhage in Michele’s eye. Checking it out, we discovered that it might be serious, and so took the shuttle back to the Island and had an emergency appointment with an ophthalmologist. Canceled the Mexico trip. Eventually, we found the cause, no surgery needed, the bleeding stopped, and eventually the floaters became less visible. Michele kept busy all year working as a volunteer with the Lighthouse Environmental Project, accountant for Habitat for Humanity, tax preparer for the AARP free tax prep service, and at our local food bank, Gifts from the ...

GENERAL: * ADLER, MORTIMER, HOW TO READ A BOOK *BENNIS, WARREN, ON BECOMING A LEADER *COVEY, STEPHEN, THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE THEOLOGICAL: BONHOEFFER, DIETRICH, LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON *BRUNNER, EMIL, THE WRITINGS OF, ESP. TRUTH AS ENCOUNTER CALVIN, JOHN, INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION LADD, GEORGE E., A THEOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT *LEWIS, C.S., THE WRITINGS OF, ESP. SURPRISED BY JOY  LUTHER, MARTIN, THREE TREATISES NIEBUHR, H. RICHARD, CHRIST AND CULTURE PINNOCK, CLARK, THE OPENNESS OF GOD STOTT, JOHN R.W., BASIC CHRISTIANITY TALBOTT, THOMAS, THE INESCAPABLE LOVE OF GOD TILLICH, PAUL, THE WRITINGS OF PHILOSOPHICAL: BUBER, MARTIN, I AND THOU CARNELL, E.J., A PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION COPLESTON, FREDERICK, A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY HOLMES, ARTHUR, ALL TRUTH IS GOD’S TRUTH *PIRSIG, ROBERT, ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE DEVOTIONAL/SPIRITUAL CLASSICS: *BIBLE INCLUDING TH...

                      REASONS FOR LEARNING NEW TESTAMENT GREEK           There are many reasons for learning New Testament or Koine Greek. Some people just don't have anything better to do with their time. Bored of TV sports, reality and game shows, and video games, they say to themselves, "Gee, I think I'll learn Greek." Now, I will grant you that this doesn't happen very often, and some of these people are institutionalized. The Nielsen ratings for New Testament Greek are also pretty low compared to Monday Night Football and Wheel of Fortune, the last time I checked.           Other people learn New Testament Greek in order to speak it conversationally. They are usually very disappointed to discover that it is a dead language. It used to be pretty popular around the time of Jesus. But now, not even Greeks speak it anymore, and New Testament Greeks are all dead.  ...