Author Archives: Obie Holmen

Series of Vietnam short stories to be published

Obie with over-underI was discharged from Army active duty on Christmas eve, 1970, and I enrolled for winter term at Dartmouth College less than two weeks later.  I had spent 2+ years at Dartmouth before the military, so when I returned as a junior, I already had a circle of friends.

I also had Super 8 movies from Vietnam.  I had purchased a Super 8 camera from the An Khe PX and filmed about ten rolls (3+ minutes each) and sent them home without developing.  By the time I was back at Dartmouth, the films had been developed and spliced together to form one movie of about 30 minutes.  In those days, “cut and paste” was literally how you edited film.

One Saturday evening while hanging out at my favorite fraternity, I mentioned the movie, and we decided to watch it in a private room upstairs.  As curious passersby poked their heads in, we ended up watching the movie three times that night as word spread and more and more folks came to see.  This college crowd was genuinely anxious to know more.  The movie and my stories kept the swelling crowd spellbound, and at the end someone said, “You ought to write a book”.

Forty years later, I am finally taking that advice.  I have started to write stories based upon my Vietnam experiences, stories that are based on fact but which are embellished to make for good reading.  A year ago, I published a novel (A Wretched Man, a novel of Paul the apostle), and through that experience, I hope I have developed some of the writer’s craft (scene & setting, plot, character development, tension, etc.), and I have applied the techniques of storytelling to my Vietnam stories.  Thus, I call them “autobiographical fiction”.

Since most of the stories relate to my role as a “LRRP” (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol), the series will be entitled LRRP Rangers Vietnam.  A “lurp” was the Vietnam equivalent of a cavalry scout; instead of mustangs, we rode helicopters to remote and unfriendly territory.  These stories will be published as eBook short stories, one at a time in serial form.  The first two are now published.  Be forewarned, the language is realistic and thus more than a little salty.

Eleven Bravo, the opening short story in the series, refers to the Army’s 11B designation for the combat infantryman.  After an brief scene in Tiger Village of Fort Polk, Louisiana (the primary training center for Vietnam-bound infantry), the story opens as a young soldier arrives in Vietnam while Neil Armstrong walks on the moon, and the story concludes nearly a month later as soldiers celebrate to the music of Jimi Hendrix at the same time the rock star is performing live at Woodstock.  Read more …

The second short story in the series is entitled Here Comes Charlie.  The soldier has now departed Alpha Company and volunteered for recon duty as a LRRP.  Themes of self-preservation and moral ambiguities, introduced in the first installment, are advanced as North Vietnamese soldiers unwittingly file toward four lurps hiding in the tall grass.  Read more …

The eBooks will be available in all formats at your favorite online eBook bookstore.

FYI, the movie was transferred to video tape years ago through the cumbersome process of using a video camera to record the movie from a screen.  Later, the videotape was converted to a DVD and now has been converted to online video formats and may be viewed on YouTube and here.

The Muse is Found

Regular readers of this blog may wonder where I’ve been.  Posts have been nearly non-existent recently.  Some have asked, “Have you lost your muse?”

Au contraire!  I have been churning out page after page, but not for this blog.  Since the first of the year, I have penned a pair of short stories, over sixty pages of a sequel to A Wretched Man, and made a good start on a non-fiction piece that grows out of this blog.  More later.

The Woodsman CoverFor those of you who have succumbed to the eBook phenomenon, I’m moving that way myself as an author.  Again, more later.  For now, I have published a short story entitled The Woodsman as an eBook (all formats).  From now until the end of the month, readers of this blog may download the eBook free of charge by using a coupon.  Beginning in April, eBook downloads of The Woodsman will carry a slight charge.

Go here, and enter this coupon number: AD29N.  Of course, you may choose to pay for it as a gesture of support.  I have an ulterior motive in making the eBook free for a short time—I would like feedback.  After you download and read, please offer your comments, here, on the book page, and at Amazon; don’t forget to click on tags at the bottom of the Amazon page.

This short story is unlike this blog—no religious politics–but I hope there’s a bit of creation spirituality.  There’s more than a bit of me and my dad in there based on many days spent amongst the oaks and maples of the Burtrum Hills in central Minnesota.

The Muse is Found

Regular readers of this blog may wonder where I’ve been.  Posts have been nearly non-existent recently.  Some have asked, “Have you lost your muse?”

Au contraire!  I have been churning out page after page, but not for this blog.  Since the first of the year, I have penned a pair of short stories, over sixty pages of a sequel to A Wretched Man, and made a good start on a non-fiction piece that grows out of this blog.  More later.

The Woodsman CoverFor those of you who have succumbed to the eBook phenomenon, I’m moving that way myself as an author.  Again, more later.  For now, I have published a short story entitled The Woodsman as an eBook (all formats).  From now until the end of the month, readers of this blog may download the eBook free of charge by using a coupon.  Beginning in April, eBook downloads of The Woodsman will carry a slight charge.

Go here, and enter this coupon number: AD29N.  Of course, you may choose to pay for it as a gesture of support.  I have an ulterior motive in making the eBook free for a short time—I would like feedback.  After you download and read, please offer your comments below,  on the book page, and at Amazon; don’t forget to click on tags at the bottom of the Amazon page.

This short story is unlike this blog—no religious politics–but I hope there’s a bit of creation spirituality.  There’s more than a bit of me and my dad in there based on many days spent amongst the oaks and maples of the Burtrum Hills in central Minnesota.

February and March figures of ELCA departing congregations

Here is the content of the email received from the office of ELCA Secretary for February figures:

As of 2/4/11, 716 congregations had taken first votes to leave the ELCA.  These 716 congregations have taken a total of 759 first votes.  (As you know, the greater number reflects that some congregations have taken multiple first votes.)  Of the first votes taken, 532 passed and 227 failed.  There have been 395 second votes — 375 passed and 20 failed.

Here is the corresponding statement for March:

As of March 3, 2011, 743 congregations have taken first votes to leave the ELCA.  These 743 congregations have taken a total of 791 first votes.  Of the first votes taken, 551 passed and 240 failed.  There have been 437 second votes; 414 passed and 23 failed. 

Reader Survey Results

This is a highly unscientific attempt to see what the readers of this blog think.  Actually, I am curious about the correlation between religious affiliation and political affiliation.  During a coffee shop discussion yesterday, I discussed American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us with my friend Phil.  This book explores similar issues in depth and suggests there has been a change in America in the last generation in that various religious groups have become politically homogeneous.  That is, if one belongs to xyz denomination, then there is a strong probability that such a person also belongs to abc political party.  Such a strong correspondence between religious affiliation and political affiliation is a new phenomenon, according to this book.

This may be a flop due to small sample size, but let’s have a go of it.  If meaningful results are obtained, I will publish and we can have a discussion.  To increase sample size, please forward to your friends.

UPDATE WITH RESULTS:

Guess what?  The readership of Spirit of a Liberal blog tends to be liberal.  That’s hardly shocking, but I am a bit surprised at how overwhelming that proved to be in this survey.  Here are key results:

76 % ELCA.  No other denomination had more than 3%

An even split between clergy and laity when seminarians were considered clergy.

63% Democrat, 31% independent, 6% Republican

67% male, 33% female

67% age 45 or older

Support gay clergy 80%, against gay clergy 11%, conflicted opinion 9%

Support marriage equality 76%, support civil unions but not right to marry, 19%, against both gay marriage and civil unions 3%, conflicted 2%

I think this last finding is the most revealing.  Even for those who said they were against gay clergy, 70% supported either gay marriage or civil unions.  Similarly, self-identified Republicans supported either gay marriage or civil unions by 80% to 20%.

Add a comment if you have more specific questions.  The poll remains open for now so go ahead and take the survey if you haven’t yet done so.

Happy Valentine’s Day but don’t get married

St. ValentineValentine’s day has become a secular celebration of romantic love especially beneficial for vendors of chocolate candy, flowers, and jewelry, but the secular observance has its origins in the Christian feast of St. Valentine. 

Who was St. Valentine?  Turns out there were numerous early Roman martyrs of that name (“Valens” was very common), but the one executed and buried on February 14th, circa 270 CE is the best known, but that’s not saying a lot, and there are other candidates and traditions.

Systemic Roman persecution of Christians was at its height in the latter half of the third century, spilling over into the fourth, until the time of Constantine when the situation was reversed.  It was in this staunchly anti-Christian milieu that Valentine was convicted and executed for aiding Christians, including the unspeakable crime of performing marriage ceremonies between Christian couples. 

According to history.com:

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Eight months ago, I attended the Annual Conference of the Wisconsin United Methodists in the delightful river city of La Crosse, under the bluffs of the Mississippi and gateway to the Coulee Country of Wisconsin.  I was there as a vendor to sell and sign copies of my novel, and my booth happened to be placed right next to the booth for Kairos Co Motion, which is a Wisconsin-based, Methodist,  LGBT advocacy group.  Over the course of three days, I had plenty of time to visit with the folks who staffed that booth, including Pastor Amy DeLong the executive director.  At the end of the Convention, Kairos sponsored a luncheon, followed by a Eucharist service, and I was privileged to attend as a guest of my new-found friends. 

During that luncheon, Pastor Amy reported that she would likely be brought before an ecclesiastical court for the crime of performing a Holy Union ceremony for a lesbian couple.  Like pastors everywhere, she had filed a year end report of her activities (baptisms, burials, marriages, etc.), and she openly reported the Holy Union of the lesbian couple.  Called before her bishop (who was largely supportive), she refused to recant or fudge what she had done (by re-submitting a sanitized report that didn’t mention that the couple was lesbian).

“I need to be honest about their love and their relationship,” Pastor Amy said (I paraphrase).  “To fail to acknowledge the full truth would diminish them and me.”

Val and Rev AmyAmy’s trial, which will determine her future as an ordained pastor of the United Methodist Church, is scheduled for April 11, 2011.  At issue in the trial will be the Holy Union as well as Pastor Amy’s own relationship with Val, her partner of fifteen years.  A website has been created to follow Amy’s case at Love on Trial

As a side note, largely in response to the pending trial, a significant group of retired UMC bishops has issued a statement urging the UMC to remove its ban on gay clergy.   “Retired Bishop Neil L. Irons, the executive secretary of the Council of Bishops, said this is the first time in his memory when this many retired bishops have released a public statement such as this.”

“We believe the God we know in Jesus is leading us to issue this counsel and call — a call to transform our church life and our world,” says the “Statement of Counsel to the Church – 2011”.

“The statement is the result of a prayerful consideration of the Bible, the church’s Wesleyan heritage and the bishops’ experience and “conviction of God’s intention for a world transformed,” the document says.

A Wretched Man novel survey results

On January 31, we sent a survey to gauge reader response to A Wretched Man novel.  Of course, the survey was limited to those on the email list.  Unfortunately, we do not have email addresses for the anonymous folks who have purchased the book through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, bookstores, etc.  By necessity, the survey was limited to a select audience whose email addresses were known.   Please join the list by clicking the button at the bottom.

The response was overwhelming.  Thanks to all of you who participated.

Here are the results: 

  • The overall reader rating of the novel was 4.3 on a scale of 1 to 5.
  • Favorite part was split very evenly, but the humanization of the characters was at the top of the list and geography and setting was at the bottom.
  • Did readers like the scene depicting the Damascus road experience?  81% yes, 19% no.
  • Did readers like the ending?  96% yes, 4% no.
  • Did readers think the book would work well for a group discussion? 97% yes, 3% no.

Some survey participants added comments, but due to sheer volume, they cannot be reprinted here.  We have set up a page on the website that includes all of them, uncensored and unedited.  Click here to read them.

 
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Listen to the children

I had coffee recently with the chaplain of St. Olaf, one of Northfield’s private, liberal arts colleges and an ELCA school with deep roots in American Lutheranism.  His student based congregation is a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) congregation (open and affirming toward gays), but he said that status is old hat.  Gay rights, including gay clergy and marriage equality, are no longer issues for this generation, he said.  A fait accompliDe facto if not yet de jure.  As baby boomers like me argue, this generation has moved on.

Just last week, a lesbian couple in the twin cities, after first being banned from processing together in a high school social, were welcomed enthusiastically by fellow students.   Last fall, another twin cities student, a gay youth whose article in the school newspaper was banned, was later elected homecoming king.  By the example of their experience, they hasten the inevitable change that is becoming matter-of-fact.

Another young man spoke eloquently recently about his personal experience.  The nineteen year old college student from Iowa spoke before a legislative committee that is considering a constitutional amendment to overturn a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court a couple of years ago authorizing gay marriage.  This high-achieving student spoke of his experience of growing up with two moms.

Hear him speak.

Reconciling in Christ nationwide celebration

The “Reconciling in Christ” movement functions  as an ancillary activity of Lutherans Concerned North America (LCNA), which is the well-organized and successful Lutheran LGBTQ advocacy group.  From the LCNA website:

The Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Program recognizes Lutheran congregations that welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) believers. The complete Reconciling in Christ Roster now exceeds 450 settings, including congregations, synods, colleges, seminaries, and other organizations.

Yesterday, January 30th, many RIC congregations celebrated their RIC status.  What follows is a sampling of blogosphere comments from RIC folks around the country.

From St. Andrew Lutheran Church of Parsipanny, New Jersey.

About ten years ago, our congregation voted, UNANIMOUSLY, to adopt a statement that we would be open and welcoming to ALL people who seek to know Christ, regardless of any discriminating factor, including their sexual orientation or gender identity. We became part of a community of believers, affiliated with Lutherans Concerned/North America, to adopt this statement. By doing so, we became a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Congregation.

This one of the things I love about my congregation. We voted unanimously to become RIC because it is part of the culture of who we are. There were no dissenters. We all knew this was the right thing to do. We were already living it; we should just say it out loud. All are welcome here.

[W]e really DO care. We DO care that you are here with us. We DO care that you feel welcome here. We DO care that you find a relationship with God and work to draw closer to Him. We DO care that you should not feel judged by the people here. We DO care that your gifts and talents are recognized and valued here. We DO care that you find fellowship with the other members of the body of Christ who worship here. We DO care…because you are a child of God… our brother or sister in Christ Jesus.

From St. Michael’s Church of Philadelphia:

Not only for once a year on “Reconciling in Christ Sunday”…but for everyday!  A message we at St. Michael’s proudly uphold:

“All Are Welcome, All Are Welcome, All Are Welcome…Welcome Here”

A South Carolina newspaper reported that Reformation Lutheran of Columbia is becoming rejuvenated, along with its inner city neighborhood:

… an influx of urban pioneers, many of them gay and lesbian, began buying up the arts-and-crafts cottages and other homes that had fallen into disrepair.

The congregation decided to reach out to its new neighbors but found that many were suspicious of the church. That’s when the congregation underwent a series of conversations that let it to become a congregation intentional in its mission and outreach. Now the church, with 150 members, is a vital part of the community.

My wife and I were privileged to attend the celebratory service at St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Mn.  For those who know the history of LGBTQ advocacy within the ELCA, St Paul Reformation is an iconic congregation.  It was the first RIC congregation dating to 1984.  It is the parish of Pastor Anita Hill, a national figure in the ELCA movement toward gay inclusion.  Other prominent members include the lesbian couple, Ruth Frost and Phyllis Zillhart, who made history in San Francisco nearly twenty years ago, and Emily Eastwood, the executive director of LCNA.  Click here for an earlier post about the recent Rite of Reception for Hill, Frost, and Zillhart which officially welcomed them to the clergy roster of the ELCA.  We greeted all of these folks yesterday.  Frost delivered the sermon, her first since becoming rostered (her current call is to a hospice ministry), and she told me that she and Phyllis will return to their former San Francisco congregation on February 27th for an historic celebration in which the St Francis congregation, once expelled, will formally return to the ELCA. 

I was honored to play a small part by addressing the adult forum.  We discussed the apostle Paul’s struggle with the Jerusalem leadership of the early Jesus movement and their “yes, but” attitude toward Gentile inclusion in the early church and the parallels with the current struggle for full inclusion of the LGBTQ community.

The Road to Damascus

Tuesday, January 25th marks the conversion of Paul, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. 

Wikipedia suggests a “Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert’s previous religion.”  In this sense, the term “conversion” is actually an anachronism disliked by scholars because at the time of Paul’s Damascus road experience, neither he nor any others of the fledgling Jesus movement anticipated or intended a new religion.  Perhaps “transformation” is a better choice.

Paul on the Road to Damascus by Richard SerrinWhat happened that day on the road to Damascus?  In Paul’s own writings, the only reference to Damascus is the following understated account from his letter to the Galatians:

But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.   Galatians 1:15-17 (NRSV)

By the time the author of Acts told the story, a generation or more later, dramatic flourishes had been added:

Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.            Acts 9:3-7

Paul conversion by RubensApparently forgetting what he had written earlier, the second telling of the story by the author of Acts reversed the seeing and hearing.  In the first passage, the companions of Paul heard the voice but saw nothing; in the second, they saw but did not hear.

While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.’         Acts 22:6-10

Finally, the third version contained within Acts significantly expands the conversation between Paul and the voice: 

when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’    Acts 26:13-18

current copyIf you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably know that my novel about Paul, entitled A Wretched Man, was published around ten months ago.  How should I depict the scene on the Damascus road?  How could I describe an event that is believable to my readers yet account for the profundity of Paul’s experience?  As I wrestled with my choices, I also wondered, to what extent was Paul’s experience of the presence of the divine, his theophany, different from the times in my life when I felt God’s touch?  Or, from a more intellectual perspective, I wondered about the famous 19th century book by William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, which a late 20th century reviewer lauded for its “penetration into the hearts of people.” 

In my novel, I foreshadowed the Damascus experience in a scene with Paul’s fictional mentor, Eli the sage.

“The Prophet Ezekiel describes the God who is indescribable. How do we see the God that is beyond sight? How do we know the God who is beyond knowing? The absolute holiness of God is greater than a mere human can bear and more than we can comprehend. These are words beyond words with meaning beyond meaning.”

“I understand,” said Paulos.

Eli scowled. “Do not be overconfident, my young friend. Self-doubt is the blossom of wisdom. When Moses faced God in the burning bush, he asked, What is your name? We must all pursue the same question,” Eli said, and then his voice dropped to a whisper, “but we err if we believe we have the answer.”

The oil lamp flared and briefly chased the shadows, but then the flame died, leaving the room dark except for the shaft of light that fell across the scroll in Paulos’ hands.

“As soon as we name the one whose name is unknown, we create the one who created us,” Eli said. “Ezekiel the prophet painted colorful pictures that point to the truth, but they are untrue.”

Paulos squinted into the nearly blind eyes of the old man. Had the fuzziness that coated his eyes reached his mind? Paulos began to doubt his mentor who spoke in silly riddles. He tugged on his nose and his gaze returned to the written words. His finger traced the scribed marks with care not to touch the holy scroll. He read aloud, “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.”

The wizened old man rhythmically tapped his willow cane on the tile floor. First, he offered a promise. “One day you will see the glory of the Lord.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

And then, he issued a challenge, “What words will you speak when you tell the tale? What picture will you paint?”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

And finally, he uttered a warning, “But retain your humility and self-doubt. Do not pretend to answer Moses’ question or paint truer pictures than Ezekiel. Do not commit idolatry.”

In the end, how did I write the Damascus scene?