I recently read a eulogy of Gordon Cosby, founder of Washington D.C.’s Church of the Savior, by Jim Wallis. Cosby died Wednesday at age 94. I was struck by something Cosby recently said to Wallis: “I am enjoying dying.” What did he mean by that? How could anyone enjoy dying?
I knew a little about the ministries that the Church of the Savior had sponsored, but wasn’t aware of how extensive their activities were. Cosby and his church were certainly active. What was particularly interesting, though, was Wallis’ account of what Cosby hadn’t done:
“Gordon Cosby never needed or wanted to be out front or become a famous public figure. He could have spoken across the country, and was often invited to do so. But he instead decided that his own vocation was to stay with a relatively small group of people trying to “be the church” in Washington, D.C.: the Church of the Savior, which has produced more missions and ministries, especially with the poor, than any church I know of anywhere in the country — even the huge mega-churches who capture all the fame. He never wrote a book, went on television, talked to presidents, planted more churches, built national movements, or traveled around the world. He just inspired everybody else to do all those things and much more.”
So perhaps he was able to say that he was enjoying dying because he had been dying all along—dying to fame, to success, to self-aggrandizement. That’s pretty much what Cosby told Amy Frykholm of Christian Century that all followers of Christ should do:
“We must die to our own egos and open up to a new reality. That new being is what Christ was after. He wanted me to be a new being. He wanted the old self, the old ego, to die. God wants all of us to move into that new being of love for which we were created. Therefore, personally, I should be moving into love and embodying love. Not just doing loving things, but becoming love. That’s what it means to surrender, to give one’s life to God—who is love—to the one who planted the seed of His/Her own being in our deepest being.”
The distinction between doing loving things and becoming love seems important when it comes to death. If what I’m all about is doing loving things, I’d be interested in staying alive so that I can do more good (and perhaps also feel proud of myself for what I did). If I’m becoming love, though, I’m giving up my life, my plans, everything, for the sake of love. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to, like Cosby, reach the end of life enjoying dying—enjoying surrendering yourself to God and His love?
Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to assert that
I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I
achievement you access consistently quickly.
What’s up, every time i used to check blog posts here in the early hours
in the daylight, as i love to gain knowledge of more and more.
Hi! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly
enjoy reading your posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums
that deal with the same subjects? Many thanks!
Thanks so much for reading. I’m glad you enjoy what I’ve been writing: Here are a few blogs that I particularly enjoy that address similar topics. A really excellent blog on issues of aging is the New Old Age Blog, found at http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/. Another I like is Help! Aging Parents at http://helpparentsagewell.com/. A couple more that have infrequent posts but are nonetheless worth following are found at http://dripinventory.wordpress.com/ and http://eleanorbrownn.wordpress.com/.
Greetings! I know this is somewhat off topic but
I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this
website? I’m getting sick and tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform.
I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Actually, I am using WordPress. Sorry that you’ve had problems with them.
Good day! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout
out and say I truly enjoy reading through your articles. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics?
Many thanks!
Glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read. Here are a few blogs that I particularly enjoy that address similar topics. A really excellent blog on issues of aging is the New Old Age Blog, found at http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/. Another I like is Help! Aging Parents at http://helpparentsagewell.com/. A couple more that have infrequent posts but are nonetheless worth following are found at http://dripinventory.wordpress.com/ and http://eleanorbrownn.wordpress.com/.
I’ve learn some good stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting.
I wonder how much effort you place to create this type
of great informative web site.
Thanks for the compliment. I probably spend an average of 3 hours a week writing for my 2 blogs; I’m thinking about them more than that, but that’s just a matter of thinking about what I’m interested in already.