ONE ON ONE | John Horner Episcopalian priest rises to challenge of city ministry
Where did you serve before coming to Youngstown?
I was in Philadelphia for the last 14 years, at a church in Ardmore, Pa., St. Mary's, along that stretch that all of Philly calls and that is known all over the world as the Main Line.
Why did you come to Youngstown?
I felt that ministry was over and began to look around and got connected with the search committee here. I was looking for a challenge, truthfully.
What kind of challenge?
I had wanted to come to a downtown church. My interest in cities goes back to 1969, when in seminary I took an intern year. With students from three other seminaries, we spent a year in Richmond, Va., studying cities. At that point there was a huge interest in helping cities to live. Suburbs were in full swing, but not to the extent they are now.
I seem to have always been interested in cities. It's something I haven't been able to shake. [Laughs] What kind of a ministry does a city need and how can you spark new life?
How does that tie into your faith?
I think it grounds in the Christian faith in a number of places. In the Book of Revelation, in the world that is to come, the kingdom is depicted as a great city. I think it is a way of telling us our social relationships have to be worked out as well as our personal relationships. ...
The great images of heaven or the kingdom are always communal. I think the test here for us is to see if we can begin that kingdom process here on earth -- 'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven.'
And it's not an isolated pursuit, but something for all people of all races at all times and of all ethnicities and all ages. And the city is a place where you can get to see how we do. It's sort of an accountability issue: Can we get over our grave divisions and in important ways become a people? I think that is God's test for us, or at least [a] challenge.
Your degree is engineering. Any particular branch?
Well, it was in civil engineering. I just come from a family of them and thought I was angling to follow in that line.
How did you make that sharp turn into theology?
[Laughs] Duke at that time was trying to broaden its student base in seminary. It was the '60s, and they were trying to reach out to people who were not the junior high youth leaders who decided they were going to stick with the church. They were trying to attract people of varied interest. I was connected up to the admissions officer and was offered a one-year scholarship. I did and got hooked. I'm still hooked.
What was the appeal to you?
I come from a very complex religious background, which on my father's side was steeped in Roman Catholicism and on my mother's was Southern Baptist. If there are two groups in the world which have major conflicts one with another, it's those two. ...
The scholarship to Duke really, I think, was God's opening up an avenue for me to look more deeply into these matters that seem to create such division on the face of the earth, while they are intended to create harmony.
What's your advice for the holiday?
The religious holiday is the celebration of God's birth or planting seeds in the wilderness of life. Bethlehem is a stable. It's in the wild places of life and the places of despair and the places of hurt that Christ was born on the lowly stable level, not the first floor of life, but in the quiet places where people hurt and also yearn. Those two go together; they do not yearn lest they first know the pain of despair. But that is where the hope is born, and that is where Christ is born. So I think that's the real meaning of this story.
What are your hobbies?
I'm remodeling an old house. My wife and I hike when we can, we're both avid readers, and we travel. We've been able to go to many places.
What was the spark between you and Dr. Sweet that led to the Smoky Hollow plan?
I met him at a party and told him I was across the street, that I had a long interest in the health and well being of cities, and to let me know if there was anything I could do to support him. He was very quick to give me a map of Smoky Hollow, and I very quickly saw it as a huge opportunity.
It's just this new time in Youngstown when people are ready to do something different.