Down in the River to Pray

Growing up in a Buffalo suburb, I was spoiled by my home’s proximity to the mighty Niagara River. Five short blocks, and I could ride my bike along its banks, skip stones, or simply sit on its shore and ponder the mysteries of heaven and earth. In the intervening years, I’ve moved through New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, seeking out places the Celts call a thin space, where the human spirit is able to touch the divine. Due to geographic restrictions, this space has seldom been defined by rushing waters, although vacation has allowed for sacred times at the Atlantic, the Pacific (one awesome visit), and even a magical trip to “the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond.” 

As I’ve entered new communities as well as welcomed new phases of life, I’ve had to search out those places of respite, sometimes simply the rocking chair in the corner of a darkened living room long after our children’s bedtime, or the stillness of a bench under the spreading canopy of the cemetery’s mighty maple. During my seminary days in Ashland, I happily discovered the ATS Prayer Garden, nestled alongside the south wall of the library. After cramming my mind with knowledge in the stacks of books, I was glad for the opportunity to refresh my spirit in the quiet of the prayer garden.

Now one of my favorite places of respite has received a facelift, as current seminary student Kathy Kollar and classmates have spearheaded its restoration to honor one of its beloved professors, Dr. JoAnn (Jody) Ford Watson, Ashland Theological Seminary’s H.R. Gill Family Professor of Theology and Spiritual Formation. I’ve been privileged to sit under the anointed teaching of Dr. Watson, and our mutual name (which our mothers even spelled the same), our connections within the community, and our shared appreciation for Henri Nouwen, Mother Teresa, and the role of women in ministry, have allowed me to call her friend and sister. She’s a sister kind of girl, and even titled one of her early books, “Sister to Sister,” a volume that provides a spiritual formation resource based upon the narratives of biblical women. 

Watson has led the way for many of her sisters in faith and life, beginning in her days at Princeton Theological Seminary and Northwestern University, where women were a small minority of those studying theology. Returning to her hometown of Ashland to join the seminary faculty, she became the first tenured female professor at that institution. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, she was among the first women to serve the church in its pulpit and pastoral ministry.

But when I think of Jody Watson, I don’t think of her degrees or her pioneering status in the church and the seminary. Instead, the Jody Watson I know is living a life epitomized by the word “encouragement.” Put aside any accolades, duly deserved. This is not a woman (like some who strive for a certain status in life) who has stomped on the fingers of those trying to follow her “up the ladder” of success in her field. Instead, she has been a cheerleader in the best sense, the giver of enthusiasm and courage, who has both led the way and walked alongside others, inside and outside the classroom.  

As a friend recently said to me, it is the end of an era at ATS. It is hard to imagine the seminary without the presence of JoAnn Ford Watson. But wait. I’m hearing an echo, for I’m sure similar words were spoken a generation earlier, when Watson’s mother, Dr. Lucille Ford, retired from the Ashland University campus. If Dr. Ford’s experience in retirement is any indicator, I can’t wait to see how Dr. Watson’s post-retirement life unfolds. 

Bungee-jumping? A new book or two? It wouldn’t surprise me. But as she enters retirement, we just may find Jody Watson sitting on a bench in a prayer garden, extending the healing and courage-giving grace of God. And if we listen carefully, we may hear her softly singing with Alison Krauss: “O sisters, let’s go down, let’s go down, come on down; O sisters, let’s go down, down in the river to pray.”