“Be always kind and true”
I have been working at Montreat Conference Center, a gathering place for Presbyterians, for most of my life. In the 7th-8th grade era I made coffee for conferences my father directed at the Board of National Ministries for the former PCUS. In college I worked on the auditorium crew, setting up endless tables and chairs and riding around in the Aud truck which occasionally had a steering wheel. Between college and seminary, I worked for two years as the program assistant for Rev. Neddy Mason, Program Director at Montreat, and the first woman minister I really knew. I continued to work as an Interim Program Director in summers during and after seminary. In 1986 I wrote liturgy for summer Sunday worship in Montreat. In my 42 years as a Presbyterian minister, I am continually grateful for Montreat’s formative embrace.
For the past 31 years I have had the great privilege and honor of serving as Montreat’s Arts Ministry Director, which means running the Sally Jones Pottery, creating liturgical art and worship, living in Montreat about 5 months a year. I live in Greenville, MS (St Andrew Presbytery) the rest of the time.
But this year was particularly notable. This year we celebrated 50 years since my mother, Marilyn Jones, started the pottery ministry in its present form. On July 4th we gathered lots of folks around the two giant trees in front of the Sally Jones Pottery and Currie Craft Center. We prayed, heard inspiring words from staff and community, ate cake, and told the story of the pottery:
Following the death of her 12-year-old daughter Sally in late 1973, Marilyn Jones, potter and artist, came to Montreat in 1974, determined to get Montreat’s pottery program going again. She started with one ancient Crusader kiln, the old blue standup wheel which used to live underneath the Barn, an equally ancient “tractor” wheel, and a “co-op” of volunteer artists willing to teach traditional Appalachian crafts, opening the doors to whomever wanted to come and create. Free coffee and abundant hospitality flowed equally.
In the spring of 1976 a group of young people from Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church in Louisville, KY participated in Montreat’s Youth Workcamp program, , as described in this article:
The 1976 Youth Workcamp returns from Montreat, NC, this Sunday evening following a week spent in renovating the Craft House at the General Assembly’s Conference Center. The group of eleven young people and their four advisors include Chris Averell, Al Earley, III, John Giesel, James Giesel, Bitsie Jones, Marilyn Jones, Jim Latta, Carol Laufer, Robbie Laufer, Vickie Poole, Betsy Rissler, Jim Rissler, David Terrell, Jane Terrell (Bannerman!), and Dick Torstrick. We congratulate them on what we know is a job well-done.
James Giesel remembers the essentials: extensive amounts of Pom Pom yellow paint, pouring a new concrete pathway, rebuilding parts of the building, and, of course, daily visits to Hinkle’s store for Winkies (ice cream!).
In 1989 Marilyn Jones felt a call to the Peace Corps. Montreat President Bill Peterson led a service of thanks and dedication for her service, officially dedicating and renaming the pottery the Sally Jones Pottery, in memory of Marilyn’s daughter Sally Jones.
The ministry has not stopped growing. No longer Pom Pom Yellow, the Sally Jones Pottery continues to thrive at the Currie Craft Center at Montreat Conference Center. Last year we welcomed over 2000 students, offered 230 classes, and enjoyed 35 visiting artists in residence, in addition to our incredible staff. Creativity through the arts is a gift to each of us from God. Today in 2024, as in 1974, we look to the coming years with joy and wonder, as we embrace the creative spirit in all persons.
My mother’s favorite saying towards the end of her life was “Be always kind and true,” from the notable song “Sunday School is over, and we are going home! Goodbye! Goodbye! Be always kind and true!” We adopted this as our theme for the summer, with a sturdy dose of gratitude undergirding our life and work together!
As we bridge this time between summer and fall, as we reflect on all the reunions and gatherings and people and communities we have encountered along the way in these days, may we take a moment and imagine gratitude. Gratitude for one another, for our churches, our Presbyteries, and for our Synod.
Here is a poem which alludes to our gratitude, offered and recited from memory by the Rev. Lewis Galloway as a part of the 50th celebration worship service at the Sally Jones Pottery in Montreat on July 4th:
The Satisfaction of Circles
I don’t mean knitting circles, or musical circles
with their hums and dainty tunes. I certainly
don’t mean Dante’s Circles of Hell. I mean drum
and bell of heaven-earth-God-human circles,
like those pebble-fall water circles, or mushroom
caps (even nibbled), open eyes, Frisbee’s hurtles,
egg-yolks (whole), Cheerios, hula hoops, full moons—
all delegates of divinity’s delicate perfection, teasing
our wistful hearts like wayward halos. I mean
even bicycle wheels—not only spokes’ and hubs’
Godly geometry (centre everywhere), I mean
their capacity for travel, their revel and reach
like mother-rapture, baby held by her love-gaze,
captured by her mouth’s O-shape (love’s awe).
I mean I am cycling toward the Summoning Wheel—
I mean my Source—Who (mad potter at his wheel)
throws ceaselessly and shapes the circling clay,
drawing us up and up, higher and higher till we say
Amen.
~Johanna Caton, OSB (The Christian Century, June, 2023
My name is Christina Carlisle, and on behalf of the Pottery Staff, we are so glad that you’ve joined us to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of Sally Jones Pottery! If you were here today then it is likely that you have engaged with this place in some way: as a student, patron, friend, or teacher. We are drawn here initially because we are curious about clay or because we crave the tactile sensation of making with our hands. But the magic of the craft center is about much more than clay. Clay is only the catalyst. I suspect the reason we all return, summer after summer, is about connection. Our objective as a staff is as much about creating community and a place of belonging for our patrons as it is about teaching students the craft ceramics. This is a ministry in the truest sense and I marvel that its aim has not been compromised over these 50 years. Thank you for supporting this mission so faithfully and being an integral part of this community.
Christina Tietje Carlisle