Thomas Merton
Portland is where young people go to retire.
Portlandia
On the morning of Saturday, August 17, we left Whidbey Island on the ferry and drove south to Portland for a 4-mile run along the Williamette River, across a couple of bridges and into the Southwest part of the city. The weather was perfect. We then drove to Newberg to participate in our very first Native American sweat lodge ceremony at the Eloheh farm administered by Randy & Edith Woodley.
Randy, a theology professor at George Fox Seminary, invited us to join their monthly "Jesus Sweat" after I met him this Spring on my trip to Portland with Ched Myers. Randy has been conducting these for the past 23 years and on this day, there were 13 of us led by Randy's 18-year-old son Young, the first time he has ever led! This was a powerful experience of prayer, song and open sharing around the circle. We spoke individually, counter-clockwise and finished each prayer or sharing with a communal "aho," the Cherokee word for "amen."
The focus of a sweat is on confession and purgation. The completely dark lodge is heated with lava rocks and symbolizes a mother's womb, where each participant has a born-again experience, emerging out of the refining heat into New Life. Each "round" of the ceremony got hotter and, by the end, we were both laying on our backs to avoid passing out.
Randy & Edith have been mentoring radical disciples and conducting retreats for years now. They are passionate about connecting their Christian faith to their Native heritage, something we continue to learn on this trip are two things that are extremely compatible, strengthening each other along the Way (both of which focus on what Seattle-based biblical scholar Wes Howard-Brook calls "God of Creation" spirituality...as opposed to "God of Empire"). While teaching, farming, writing and raising children of their own, the Woodleys infuse everything with a Gospel of hospitality and inter-connectedness. Randy gave Lindsay a copy of his recent Shalom & The Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision as a parting gift.
We got to stay with Tom's cousin, Jeff, on Saturday night in Sherwood. Jeff truly has a global vision of Life and definitely appreciates a good road trip. He has been all over the world, participating in Peace Corp missions and all sorts of other adventures. He currently works at New Seasons, an alternative grocery store (competing with Whole Foods) in Portland. He made us a phenomenal batch of his nachos bell grande out of the freebies he got from the deli the previous day.
His wife, Melissa, is a speech pathologist who gets to ride her bike to work everyday in the beautiful Williamette Valley. She missed the Saturday night festivities because she was attending the birthday party of her 91-year-old grandfather in Bend, but we connected for Mexican food in Southeast Portland on Monday. Afterwards, Jeff introduced us to his signature dessert: Stumptown ice coffee and a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie from the local New Seasons.
On Sunday, we met up with The Wilderness Way community for their Nature/Sabbath Sunday, a once-a-month hike to intentionally connect to the Source of ancient wisdom, spend time (re)connecting with each other & learning more about the history and challenges of their own watershed context.
The Wilderness Way community is committed to the biblical practices of Sabbath, Jubilee and Shalom as a community while each member is encouraged to commit to taking personal inventory of their own process of practicing the Way of the wilderness. This community has a deep structure with a beautiful liturgy focusing on LEAVING empire, LOVING one another and LEARNING the Way of the wilderness (just like Israel & Jesus) and every Sunday of the month has a different focus:
First Sunday focus: The wisdom of our lives (last year, they shared their nature autobiographies)
Second Sunday focus: The wisdom of Jesus and the Jesus movement
Third Sunday hike: The wisdom of nature/sabbath
Fourth Sunday focus: The wisdom of Sabbath, Jubilee and Shalom (learning about this wisdom more deeply, and sharing about how we are living our community practices)
Fifth Sunday focus: As the Spirit guides
We were welcomed into the home of Peter & Solveig Nilsen-Goodin and their precious boys Soren and Stig. Tom (known to the family as T-Bone) met the NGs in the Spring and Lindsay (L-Bone) was really looking forward to meeting them and participating with the WW community on a Sunday. Solveig is an ordained Lutheran minister and Peter is a junior high music teacher.
We had a great dinner, met Matt Smith and his son, Jack, heard more about the Leaven Project and related Salt + Light community, swapped life stories and then capped the night off with a dance party to the latest hits from Alvin & the Chipmunks.
Married for more than 20 years, Solveig & Peter are committed to leading their boys into the challenges of the Wilderness Way. Their authenticity and passion for neighborly hospitality and peace & justice work are clearly evident. What a perfect family to officially end our journey with.
Nice work putting this all together, my Love. The only 2 things I would add:
ReplyDelete1) We were also so very thankful and blown away by the hospitality of Soren and Stig, who not only facilitated one of the best dance parties EVER, but also put in some intensive hours of labor before our arrival to create for us the "rich bed," complete with an intricate elephant sheet hanging over it from the ceiling. I have never slept in such luxury! ;)
2) One of the best/most inspirational moments for me was over dinner when, while the adults were chatting about how faithful watershed discipleship and eco-justice are taking shape in Portland, all three boys (Soren, Jack, and The Stig), spontaneously started chanting in unison, "We hate coal! We hate coal! We hate coal!" Out of the mouths of babes...these boys are learning an alternative vision of how to Live in this world, indeed. Such encouraging and beautiful Time to spend with them and their uniquely inspired parents.