Tribute to Jerry J. Jud

The Inspiration and Founder of Shalom Mountain Retreat Center, The Rev. Dr. Gerald J. Jud, left his earthly body at the age of 99 years (+ 9 months and 11 days)… on March 9, 2019. We mourn his passing but also rejoice in a life well-lived and in the gifts of the Spirit that he left this Earthly realm.

Below is my reflection on what my relationship with Jerry meant to me…

I met Jerry Jud exactly three times. The first was at a large event on Shalom Mountain several years ago. He was greeting dozens of people and did not remember me. This was not surprising because I was a different person then. It was around the time I left Shalom for a few years… a dark period of my life when I was struggling with what to do as a career, entering a loveless marriage, and on my then husband’s insistence, abandoning a place that I called “home” and the many friends and loved ones whom I had come to think of as family. In short, the first time I met Jerry, I was lost.

After leaving that marriage, I soon found my way back to Shalom Mountain and into the Leadership Training and Advanced Training. Within a few years, I was leading retreats of my own. But still, I resisted traveling to Timshel, the home of Jerry and Georgeanne Jud, to meet him. I was reluctant, I think, to sit at the foot of the “master” when I had no idea what I would say to him – or, perhaps more worrisome – what he might say to me.

Nevertheless, the occasion arrived when I simply could not ignore the call anymore, and with a dear friend, I made the pilgrimage to meet the person who had inspired not only my personal growth work but my entire career. As a UCC Minister and a Yale Divinity School graduate, it is not hard to see the parallels between Jerry and me; in fact, they are far from accidental. While a student at Yale, I found the UCC Church partly because I had heard that Jerry had served such a church close-by, so I figured it was worth checking out (and it was!)

I have always resisted bowing to the role of a “spiritual teacher” or “guru” – even when I was a practicing Buddhist and this was an integral part of the religious tradition. I found myself reluctant to select a personal Lama, or to request the guidance of a personal teacher – it was not my thing. Yet I assumed, I think fairly, that this would be my experience with Jerry. If I agreed to meet him, he would be my teacher, and I would sit at his feet and have to think of things to ask…

And so, while I knew that meeting Jerry again would be powerful, I could never have predicted that I would feel so much his equal. In fact, Jerry was also resistant to the idea of being anyone’s one source of spiritual teaching and fulfillment. While, of course, he had followers to the end of his life, and preached with a clarity and mastery of the Holy that is unlike any other teacher I have had the privilege to know, he was at his heart – human – and this was a comfort to me.

As with any Spiritual Leader, Jerry was also more than a man. He carried a legacy that will live on in both the inspiration he channeled through his teachings and in each and every person whom those teachings touched. The Principles and Skills of Loving are for me simply the most practical and the most sacred scripture there has ever been. I strive to live my life by these teachings and have come to feel as close to them as any friend, teacher, or companion I have ever known.

My final visit with Jerry was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of he and his dear wife (and my friend) Georgeanne. It was a celebration I will never forget. And in just a few days, I will be getting married again, this time to a person who has taught me just how deep and holy The Principles and Skills of Loving can be lived – across both space and time. In some ways, I have Jerry to thank for teaching me that love could run this deep.

Although I am deeply saddened that I will never again hear Jerry’s deep “woof” on the other end of the phone (a common sign-off instead of “goodbye”), I look forward to continuing the legacy of Jerry Jud in both my personal life and my professional vocation.

I will be forever grateful to have called him a friend…