Forde Lives

I sent this message to Paull Spring at CORE  this morning. I am surprised and not surprised by the shortening of the “year of discernment”

Dear Friends in Christ,

Grace to you and peace in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! This was going to be my “you foolish Galatians” letter, but honestly, I just feel profound and helpless disappointment, and a lack of surprise, and fatalism.

Your members said you were going to take a year of discernment. You did not. If three months is a satisfying substitute for a year, what reason should I have to believe you ever meant to take that time? This departure from our denomination feels like a fait accompli, not a measured decision. It is the landing of a fist, one you held cocked at the church over these last years, ever more determined that if the ELCA might be fer it, you were gonna be agin’ it, no matter what “it” was.

I fear also it is too short sighted by far. Your congregations, adherents and members—right now, as you read this helpless missive—your people are out there, making new lives. There are mothers birthing babies, parents raising children, families makin little Lutheran CORE youth. Kids who in just one short generation will grow up to discover they are gay as geese and that nothing, Nothing will change that fact. They will curse themselves and they will curse God for handing them both this terrifying truth about themselves with one hand; and with the other a passion for the Gospel of Jesus and Him crucified. They will be called, as so many have been, and you will not have the faintest idea what to do with them, except stroke your beards, muttering into your hands that you “did the hard, right thing in 2009.”

God can make congregations of stones, a people from dry bones, masses numberless as the stars from aged barren soil. You cannot see his handiwork in the littlest lost last and least of this generation?

Mercy on us all. Mercy.

In Christ,

Jon Olsen

Good morning in Christ’s name!

I am a former student of Gerhard Forde. I ascribe to many—even most—of his theological views. I am passionate about the legacy of his ministry and work. I feel a responsibility to carry forward lessons he taught me, though my updates to this blog have been fitful. I know that this isn’t a very thoroughly maintained and sustained homage to my late friend, teacher and inspiration. So mine is not a very loud or consistent voice. That’s one struggle.

Related to that struggle is that I am participating in a twelve step recovery program. My entry into addiction recovery began in late winter of 2009—coincidentally a little bit after the most recent entry in this blog! (so you can guess part of reasons for the slowdown) One of the things I have learned in that process is that many of us in recovery have “resigned from the debating society.” It’s a little risky to participate in polemical writing of the kind I knew would happen on this blog, because I’m focused on putting my recovery—and the humility required to stay in it—in front of the many reactions I used to have.

The next struggle is that I greatly differ with my friend and mentor on several key subjects. The most high-profile divergences (and those of immediate concern) are on the subjects of church organization/governance and human sexuality, my views of which have branched and sprouted and changed considerably over the last two decades.

I own this domain name, and I made some cool Forde Lives bumper stickers (still available). Plus, I have no doubt that I want to keep the flame of Forde’s legacy alive. I still yearn to interpret not just the church and the corpus of Christian theology, but society and culture, perhaps life itself through the lenses we received from him!

But I also have little doubt that many of the people who are sympathetic to this desire would…to use the kind of salty language my other friend and mentor Jim Nestingen might employ…flip their shit, knowing that I’m a “queer-lovin’ commie.” So, I’m sensitive to this matter: you should know that on the issues of human sexuality most notably addressed in 2009, my stance is more in line with that of the mainline ELCA, than with many of the publicly visible people who likewise carry the Forde legacy. In fact, my personal stances are probably—I’ll be charitable— much less timid and soothing than those voted on in Minneapolis!

Can we continue this? Can you keep (or start) reading? We will see. God’s will shall sort these things out in time. I will stand by my love of Gerhard and his work. I’m committed to a path of service. What will become of this blog? Stick around, decide once things get going. But you should know right now that into which you are getting!