Paul Stromberg Rees It’s early morning in Portland, home of two thriving churches that have been locked out of their once denominational home, the Evangelical Covenant Church. I am alternately fuming and despairing at the expected exclusion of another Covenant church, First Covenant in downtown Minneapolis, arguably the most historic church of the denomination—the denomination … Continue reading Paul S. Rees: One of the frustrated minority? →

You're right, it's not my photo. I could come nowhere near the skill to photograph that magnificent being--an Anna's hummingbird in flight.. Our neighbors, the hummingbirds, have decamped. More than a week has passed with no noticeable visits, and sugar water in our feeder is stuck at one level and growing staler by the hour. … Continue reading Our Neighbors, the Hummingbirds →

Lovely welcoming approach to Westminster Presbyterian Church, Portland, on Lent 4, 2019 The epistle lectionary lesson for Lent 4 was 2 Corinthian 5:11-21, and it was the lesson chosen for reading and preaching at Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the theme of the children’s sermon, as well, but while the word, reconciliation, reverberated numerous times in … Continue reading Teeter-totters and Algebra: Reflections on Lent 4 →

Friends Rev. Amos and Mrs. Esther Muhagachi stop by Free Geek to receive laptops that will return with them for use at Grace and Healing Ministry in Dodoma, Tanzania. He was tall, stately in his way, about my age, bearded with a KFC-sort of goatee, a formidable ponytail extruded from beneath a broad, outback hat, … Continue reading Hardware Grant #35731: A Love Story in Images and Words →

How can an evangelical peace church manage potentially divisive decisions so as to stay well inside the definition of peaceful? To find out I convinced Rod Stafford, now in his 20th year as lead pastor of Portland Mennonite Church, to allow an interview about the process that church worked through to become fully open and … Continue reading When Peace and Justice Conflict? A Portland Church Pushes Beyond Division →

  Adam McInturf is a bibliophile inundated by books predominantly theological in his compact bookstore called Windows Booksellers PDX in North Portland. He is also a philosopher/theologian of some repute, especially to those of us who know him and who follow him on Twitter not only for the links he gives us to fertile contemporary … Continue reading A Prayer for the Poor →

My esteem for Brian Doyle’s writing is well-known by readers of this blog here, here, and here and many others who have stood still long enough to hear my applause, so I’ll not further strain that point, but I return to Doyle long enough to acknowledge a gift of his: his imaginative penchant to give every animal he … Continue reading Homer, a Cat’s Odyssey →

Is Bill Hybels different from Harvey Weinstein? Oh, but of course he is—a thorough-going Christian vs. a matter-of-fact Jew—but differences soon fade. Both are highly-successful, widely-admired, eagerly-followed, masterful producers, and fallen giants of large corporations. Both have been super newsworthy and subjects of countless interminable threads of on-line analysis and speculation. I’ve been especially intrigued … Continue reading Is Bill Hybels Different from Harvey Weinstein? →

Our outing last week to Trout Lake, Washington, had been a delight, and we were heading back to the hot city and home. Our route had taken us down winding roads, across the mighty Columbia, through Hood River, onto more out-of-the-way roads south to Parkdale and vast orchards with trees, rooted in rich volcanic soil, … Continue reading Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries →