Testimonies for the Life of N. Gordon Cosby

As I said in yesterday’s post, the stories are beginning to pour in about the tremendous affect that Gordon Cosby had thousands of people around the world — and he did it without hardly ever traveling beyond his neighborhood of Adams Morgan in Washington, D.C.

(See links to testimonies below. Also see Elaina Ramsey’s In Remembrance of Gordon Cosby, a collection of Gordon & Mary’s writings for Sojourners over the years.)

As I preached outside the White House today, linking Palm Sunday with the movement against the Keystone XL pipeline, I could feel Gordon’s encouragement. I could hear him say: “Well, Jesus surely stirred up a hornet’s nest in Jerusalem and it looks like this new group against this pipeline has got some of that same spirit.”

Now we walk into Palm Sunday and Holy Week knowing that Gordon is cheering us on from that great cloud of witnesses. He’s getting a perspective on things that even he never had before.

And in April, during the Easter Season, we will bear Gordon home and celebrate his resurrection — in Christ and in all of us.

From Kayla McClurg at Church of the Saviour:

We have a palpable sense today of the web of Spirit that sustains and uplifts. Last evening the Potter’s House was bursting with gratitude and love for all that God has given the world through Gordon Cosby. The sharing could have gone on for days! Thank you to all who came at such short notice. …

The Washington Post is writing an article to honor Gordon that will run nearer to the time of the memorial service, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 6, at 10:30 a.m. at Foundry United Methodist Church at the corner of 16th St. and P St. NW. (Besides street parking there is a Colonial parking garage at 1616 P St., across the street from the back of the church).

Marjory Bankson has already prepared a special edition of Callings which will be ready within a few days. We will post it online at www.inwardoutward.org as well as having some hard copies. Also, you will want to go to the inward/outward site even now where you will see that people have been leaving comments yesterday and today about the impact of Gordon’s life on them. You will be moved.

I invite all of YOU, if you are moved to reflect on some of the ways that Gordon’s life and teachings have left an imprint on you, to send your written reflections to this email address for a possible future collection. We will continue to revel in the gifts being given as we seek to be faithful stewards of our grief.

Mary, too, sends her love and ongoing gratitude.

When we learned of Gordon’s death, Karen Lattea sent a lovely note to our current Sojourners interns to explain what he’d meant to the life of our Sojourners community. She said:

An additional piece of the history that is important is the “spiritual director” role he played for years with Sojourners Community (and the organization, for that matter). He was so helpful in attending community meetings over the years to provide guidance. He’s the one to whom I attribute the wisdom, “God calls things into being and God calls things out of being.” He provided counsel as well when Sojourners was setting up its first outside Board of Directors. His impact was deeply felt in times of celebration and struggle, and he was a constant witness to faith and joy.

Indeed he was “a constant witness to faith and joy.”

For those who would like to read more remembrances of Gordon, see below:

Dying and Rising Into the Spirit’s Rhythms by Tim Kumfer

Gordon Cosby: Teaching Us How to Live and How to Die by Jim Wallis

Remembering Gordon Cosby by Ellen Painter Dollar

Remembering Gordon Cosby (1918-2013) by Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove

In Memoriam: Gordon Cosby by Brian McLaren

Gordon Cosby, pioneering Christian activist and founder of Church of the Saviour, dies at 95

Activist pastor Gordon Cosby dies

Gordon Cosby’s Jesus by Dean Snyder

Gordon Cosby’s essence

The Door Gordon Cosby Opened by Dee Dee Rischer