A repurposed Parable

Sarah, allow me to build upon your words. Not long before I left Portland I found myself reading a small book in Powell�s dubbed Flight of the Hummingbird: A Parable for the Environment, a fun little book. After the parable it contained insights and advice from the Dalai Lama and Wangari Maathai, an environmental activist and leader from Kenya. I don�t remember all that the Dalai Lama and Wangari Maathai had to say (don�t get me wrong, it was charming and to the point), but I do remember, almost verbatim, the parable about the hummingbird and the environment. Parables are funny little creatures sometimes. They stick to you like ticks stick to socks after a walk in the woods. I got excited when I found the parable in video form. I, like Sarah, want to inspire change and not merely...

Read more »

Posted in: Earth,Eric Allen,Parable,recycling

repurposed

In the home goods section of most department stores, you can find generic plaques with inspirational words like, �Family�Love�Memories� written in fancy scroll. The other day I was walking through a Target in Portland when I saw one of these cream-colored plaques with black cursive writing. Except instead of �Family�Love�Memories,� it said, �Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.� Only in Portland does the word �Recycle� make it into artwork, I thought. The plaque makes for a tacky decoration, but I appreciate the thoughtfulness behind it, especially since I�ve been thinking recently about a Christian�s response to consumerism. Living in Portland where values...

Read more »

Posted in: consumerism,recycling,stewardship

Please Don't Make Us Sing This Song

Hurricane Katrina, four years later. Video by The Work of the People. The music is from Songs from the Voice, Volume...

Read more »

Posted in: Hurricane Katrina,John Pattison,Waterdeep

Evangelical Myths

A couple months ago I started watching the television show �Northern Exposure� on DVD. �Northern Exposure,� which ran for six seasons on CBS starting in 1990, is set in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska. One of the most fascinating themes of this quirky, funny, and sometimes deeply moving series is the way Cicely�s white and Indian residents co-exist in community. One of my favorite episodes in Season Four depicts the Thanksgiving celebration, which in Cicely has taken on elements of El D�a de los Muertos. Indians ambush whites on the street, pelting them with tomatoes � and then they hug, friends. The holiday culminates with a parade down...

Read more »

Posted in: Evangelicals,John Pattison,Northern Exposure,On the Narrow Road

The Image of God in Ted...

I remember, about a decade ago, interviewing for a ministry position and getting into a doctrinal discussion about the image of God in man, particularly debating the question of what extent the image of God resides in fallen humans. "None" was the right answer, according to the team across the table from me, steeped as they were in a strong reformed theology and doctrine of depravity. "Humanity lost any capacity at all to display the character of God when Adam aligned with Satan."There it is. Simple. "Cut and dried" as they say. They quote some passages from Romans 3 that talk about none who do good, and how our righteousness is as filthy rags....

Read more »

Portland Wins yet another Beer Game

I�m not a beer snob by any stretch of the imagination. The word �connoisseur� would get me laughed out of most circles. And get this, I wasn�t even allowed to drink in college. I attended a Bible college in the Midwest (it's a great school). But I love beer. And I'm finished with school so occasionally I enjoy a good one (okay, �occasionally� was a bad word choice). I almost titled this �Portland Ruins yet another Mid-Western Beer Drinker.� And I very well could have because that�s what it did. The greatest city in the Northwest ruined me. And I'm here tell about it. It�s a tragic tale. It really is. I recently moved from Portland...

Read more »

Posted in: Beer,Eric Allen,Midwest,Portland

back to school

Last night the air in Portland was crisp and cool, and this morning it rained. As I was sloshing to work in the rain, I realized that summer is almost over, which means that school is just about to begin. Which means, of course, that back to school shopping is in full swing. I have never been a fan of back to school shopping. I have always thought of it as one of those contrived holidays meant to entice shoppers to flock to stores to spend their money on things they don�t need. Like shady salesmen who exhort you to celebrate President�s Day by buying a new king-sized mattress. It just hits me wrong.Most shopping hits me wrong these days, actually....

Read more »

Posted in: child labor,consumerism,shopping

Colored Men

The speaker was Robert Bly. The evening was titled "Red, White, and Black." The topic was specific to men; there are some similarities to women, but maybe that's for another day. Here's the Reader's Digest version:In their late teens, 20s, and early 30s, men should have a sense of "red" about them - a.k.a., blood. Whether they're feeling their oats or behaving full of piss and vinegar, this is knowing that if a fist fight is awaiting you, it's best to get the first hit. Most mothers hate to see their sons in "red." In their mid30s up to around 60, men move into the "white." They've settled down a little and are very much a champion of...

Read more »

Posted in: Anger,Men's Issues,Robert Bly

Church Hopping: Monastery of St. Ephraim of Mount Amomon

As I write this, the worse fires to ravage Greece since 2007 are blazing through the northern suburbs of Athens. I�ve been following developments closely. This is more than a morbid curiosity. My brother goes to college in Athens. From the news reports, I�ve gathered that although the fires rage on, they haven�t reached the city proper. They have, however, forced at least one monastery in Attica, the region that contains Athens, to be evacuated, according to this story from the AP: A Greek monastery clanged its bells in warning Monday as an out-of-control wildfire raced down a mountainside, elderly nuns were evacuated from its threatened convent...

Read more »

Posted in: Architecture,Art,Church Hopping,controversy,Saints,Stephanie Nikolopoulos

Meditations: Remembering Who We Are

The 1980�s spy thriller, The Bourne Identity opens with a mysterious man being plucked from the Mediterranean ocean by a fishing boat. He�s suffered several bullet wounds and a head trauma. The man is an amnesiac and doesn�t know his name or his history. He struggles to learn his identity, sifts through the evidence and concludes that he was an assassin. Over the course of three novels, Bourne faces countless dangers only to discover things were not what they seemed. He was not an assassin, but a government agent who had assumed a secret identity in order to hunt an assassin. Bourne�s accident caused him to lose touch with who he really was and...

Read more »

Posted in: Fear

The Idiot Box: Sometimes You Wanna Go...To NOSTALGIA!

My love of opening credit sequences, especially at HBO, is well-documented (by me), but last night I was reminded of the greatest opening sequence of all-time.Seriously, I defy you to find one better. Even "Wonder Years" falls short. I mean, isn't this nostalgia at its finest? The imagery captures the show's essence so purely, recalling how each character has, in a sense, always existed. It's difficult to watch, and hear those doo-wops, without a big fat grin breaking out.(Even without Shelly Long, I feel this rendition is the best, primarily because it includes Frasier, yet still closes with .)I'm open to other suggestions, though. Paste Magazine has a few, and seems to agree with ...

Read more »

Posted in: Jordan,Television,The Idiot Box