Biography 19

Uptown Team, Give It Up for John!

In Pete’s distribution list I see a lot of fellow team members, and there may be more whose names are not obvious from the Email addresses. Join me in this. John was a great team member in Uptown. He pitched in, did not hold back, and was open with his feelings. When he got open about his attraction to one of the girls living in the apartment upstairs, it took some courage. “In the context,”that was not one of the expected out comes.

Since it is hard to hide in a team, my friendship with John began there. John was drop dead smart as a theologian; and besides that, he was an artist. Since I wanted to be an artist, I hung out with him from time to time though I was disappointed that he could not give me a concise formula for how to be an artist. Also the sexual overtones of his art made me uncomfortable. It would be a while before my awakening. John was way ahead of me there.

Later I was honored that John asked me to baptize one of his children. Artistically John insisted on a naked baby immersed in a large tub of water. Though I was not used to holding wriggling babies, and though the baby did not like immersion one bit, both of us got through it. As another artistic gesture, the water was used to water a newly planted tree. I would like to revisit that tree someday.

Remember the Uptown Team song. This is for John:

“When we came to old Uptown,

It all looked so broken down.

We could hardly stand it there.

Now we just don’t give a care.”

The reflection is over. I want to thank Pete for giving me the distribution list that I hi-jacked for this message. I want to thank the members of Quigley 61(5) for their patience with my reflection especially the song. I guess you had to be there.

 

 

 

 

 

Biographies