<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="auto">I remember it well, Marilyn. Thanks for rehearsing the details, some of which I had forgotten. </div><div dir="auto">Collegially,</div><div dir="auto">John</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div id="composer_signature" dir="auto"><div style="font-size:85%;color:#575757" dir="auto">Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device</div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div><br></div><div style="font-size:100%;color:#000000" dir="auto"><!-- originalMessage --><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Mari Crocker <maricrocker@gmail.com> </div><div>Date: 6/10/20 16:49 (GMT-07:00) </div><div>To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> </div><div>Cc: jlepps39@gmail.com </div><div>Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Thanks for the Memories </div><div><br></div></div><div class="">Dear John and our OE colleagues,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div>Regarding Karen’s last posting.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Yes, and the more profound courage and power of that address was that John, and others of us serving that year on the Global Panchayat, knew JWM had “returned to his maker at high noon”, as Bishop Jim, who was with us at that very moment, pronounced. Knowing Joe was close to his end, we had the traditional OE “Completed Life” posters ready to put at the elevator landings at noon, and then decided to recall them, until after the Guardians meeting. What a burden John, and all who knew JWM had passed, were bearing, but how graciously John prepared Those Who Care for “the life of destiny.” Once the Guardians had departed, Joe’s body was laid in state on the 4th floor and viewed by our community, and was taken to the crematorium (a trip which I recall John and I were assigned to accompany.) Upon return, the Panchayat began calling Religious Houses across the globe, announcing Joe’s death and sharing the plans for the Celebration of Joe's Completed Life, to occur, which it did, about a week later.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">John, do you remember it this way?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Hugs, my colleague, Marilyn<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jun 10, 2020, at 4:14 PM, jlepps39 via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" class="">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><div dir="auto" class="">Thanks, Jim and Karen </div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="">I had forgotten the content of that talk, but remember vividly giving it. If you have it please forward me a copy. I don't have it.</div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="">How did your surgery go,? You've been in our thoughts and prayers. </div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="">Take care,</div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="">John</div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div id="composer_signature" dir="auto" class=""><div style="font-size:85%;color:#575757" dir="auto" class="">Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device</div></div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div style="font-size: 100%;" dir="auto" class=""><!-- originalMessage --><div class="">-------- Original message --------</div><div class="">From: Karen Snyder via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" class="">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> </div><div class="">Date: 6/9/20 16:38 (GMT-07:00) </div><div class="">To: Order Ecumenical Community <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" class="">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> </div><div class="">Cc: Karen Snyder <<a href="mailto:karen.snyder10@gmail.com" class="">karen.snyder10@gmail.com</a>> </div><div class="">Subject: [Oe List ...] Thanks for the Memories </div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">When I read John Epps’ remarks titled “Thanks for the Memories,” a small echo rang in my head. I recalled he had thanked colleagues before in a talk he gave sometime in the late 1970s. Scouring the archives database, Karen found what I was looking for. </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">John was assigned to deliver a talk on “The Life of Destiny” at a Guardians meeting. I was present for the talk and in re-reading it now, a couple of things struck me. John, surprise-surprise, had a 4 X 4 outline. He did a marvelous thing with the first three points. Instead of describing his own theological insights (which as we all recall, were numerous if not a little mysterious), he pointed back to the talks and reports given by others up to that point in the weekend meeting. That way, he reinforced and celebrated the contributions of his colleagues. I have often utilized that technique ever since.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Here is the pivotal pearl of his talk (slightly abridged for clarity):</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 27pt; line-height: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><i class="">The other thing we need to know and be aware of as we give the gift of destiny to people for the sake of their profound humanness is that it means also giving up your death, in the sense that death is no longer - once one is a person of destiny - it is no longer an option to at least be let alone to die peacefully. Even death becomes a sign. Even that becomes a tool, a vehicle, a device that history uses for the sake of its creative movement. That is what we are doing to folks.</i></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">The impact of this remark is accented when one realizes that right before John came on stage to deliver his talk on the Life of Destiny, institute founder and dean Joe Mathews had completed his life that noon, Sunday, October 16, 1977. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Well, John nailed it, didn’t he? And all I can say is, John, you have fulfilled your destinal gift as well, brother; we’ll never forget the sign you have been to us.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br class=""></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" class="">Jim Troxel</span></p></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">OE mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net" class="">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br class="">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></body></html>