photograph by jon w. sparks
John W. Sparks
When I wrote my Dad’s obituary, I mentioned his achievements and the institutions he supported, the ones that gave his life meaning. They not only shaped who John William Sparks was, but his endeavors shaped their own existence.
He met my mother, Jacqueline Hays, at Bethel College in the 1930s. John was studying the ministry and Jackie was manifesting her love for reading and literature. They married and Mom stepped away from college to raise our family and be a good preacher’s wife, always hoping she would return to finish her degree.
Dad was ordained as a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, embracing the denomination’s moderate approach, born of a frontier evangelism that favored acceptance rather than rigidity. When World War II came about, he joined the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps to provide whatever support he could to the GIs regardless of their respective faiths. He made that a career, serving for 23 years.
As a chaplain, he was designated by the Army as a Protestant, but worked with Roman Catholic and Jewish chaplains for service members of any or no beliefs, whether by carrying out duties of faith or through counseling. He forever carried that ecumenical approach after retirement to then serve with his denomination as a senior leader.
photograph courtesy mts
He led churches and worked in administration, with a significant part of his career devoted to supporting the Memphis Theological Seminary, long a part of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. His devotion to MTS was realized by his service on the board as well as teaching, and Mom served as the seminary’s librarian.
Mother was his partner from the very beginning, essential to those communities of the military, the church, and the seminary, making sure their lessons were forwarded to their children. My parents lived to serve, both sacrificed, and both benefited from building a family that reflected those values.
Measure the lives of your own parents against what they lived for, what they taught, what they honored. See what you can do to restore what was lost and pass along the noblest ideals that they embodied.
My folks counseled me that change was a certainty in life, which I continue to embrace, not always cheerfully. Let’s change things for the better, I declared in my youthful enthusiasm. I did not, however, realize that change could bring extinctions, regressions, or an abandonment of legacy.
So, Mom and Dad, I’m heartbroken that too many of the communities that you fought for have been eroded or erased.
I know Dad would be distressed at the changes wrought by the new Secretary of Defense, who has been reshaping the Chaplain Corps. Pete Hegseth is minimizing minority faiths and encouraging his favored flavor of Christian nationalism. Chaplains have traditionally supported a pluralistic, multi-faith support system, which was splendidly articulated in mid-2025 in the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide. Hegseth scrapped that last December, saying it promoted “secular humanism.”
The guide, by the way, was championed by Major General William Green Jr., the Army Chief of Chaplains. Widely admired, Green was one of several Black officers to have their careers recently, and abruptly, ended by Hegseth. Oh, and he was removed during Holy Week.
Dad did not become a chaplain to flog for a narrow-minded, bigoted club of philistines. Sometimes he had to deal with superior officers who were of that ilk, and he resisted. The current Defense Department (they prefer War, of course) would not have kept him around for long.
Meanwhile, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church is also stumbling in distressing ways. A few years ago, it fell into that rigidity Dad had always opposed by approving constitutional amendments that would effectively ban ordination of gays. It was a close vote, and the amendments won’t go into effect until three-quarters of the presbyteries approve them. But several have done so, and the movement has already caused free-thinking congregations to leave the Cumberland denomination.
Dad and Mom would be dismayed to see that so much effort continues to be made to slam doors and retreat into exclusivity. They never entertained the idea that Christianity could be so comfortably un-Christian.
And finally, there is the closing of Memphis Theological Seminary. Read David Waters’ story in our June issue to learn the impact it has made since 1964 as a leader in ecumenism and civil rights. Its demise can be attributed to declining enrollment and an endowment insufficient for survival. A standalone institution without support from a larger academic outfit, it sought a merger but was unable to find one.
As we age, we see more loss and change. For all the good that humanity can do to advance, we also risk our values becoming unrecognizable, as our natural tendency to explore and understand falls to tribalism and prejudice. Measure the lives of your own parents against what they lived for, what they taught, what they honored. See what you can do to restore what was lost and pass along the noblest ideals that they embodied.
