tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53579299990273291532024-03-24T23:09:09.969-07:00God, LLCSpirit Generator.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-80894045364294364992015-05-03T20:30:00.002-07:002015-05-03T20:30:46.571-07:00Divine bandwidth: writing, printing, mass media, entertainment, the 'tool shed' (which we now call 'home'), the information highway, and...<span style="font-size:24px">"Every time culture succeeds in revolutionizing its cybernetic technologies, in massively widening the bandwidth of its thought-tech, it invites the creation of new gods." - David Porush (via <a href="http://techgnosis.com/">TechGnosis</a>)</span>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-69695254734725909882014-03-02T19:22:00.000-08:002015-03-27T20:25:46.581-07:00Lubomyr Melnyk in concert. YU as ark.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Scott Mayoral | Central Meridian</td></tr>
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Following the <a href="http://godllc.blogspot.com/2014/02/lubomyr-melnyk-comments-on-divine-with.html">Lubomyr Melnyk lecture</a> at PSU on Friday, having just heard from Melnyk himself that the majority of his career has been spent playing to very small audiences, it was nice to see a sizable crowd forming at the expansive Yale Union arts complex for the artist’s evening concert.<br />
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Wandering the building’s spacious and vaulted upper floor, and pacing through its various enclaves, I found myself in a unique position to both engage socially, and detach for intervals of roving solitude, an opportunity typically not afforded patrons of other lovely but less spacially endowed arts venues.<br />
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I also found time in the course of the evening to lie down on the floor, taking in the sights and soaring sounds of Melnyk’s undulating compositions from the perspective of the worn, wooden floors of this former laundry building.<br />
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Through my wandering and lying down stretched out I was able to reap the unspoken rewards of attending these types of subtle meditative events. Through thought meanderings and reflections of all kinds, the mind is given a chance to unwind, easing symptoms of the day-to-day, and giving the brain a much needed break from common strains of information deluge.<br />
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On one occasion while wandering, I was having a familiar interior monologue about the ways in which people’s sense for the spiritual seems to be evolving. I began to liken the building’s cavernous interior to that of a modernist church, a stark, concrete and wooden ark (to use a Christian metaphor). I even noticed how the large wooden beams overhead resembled a giant cross.<br />
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To be clear, these metaphors and symbols have nothing to do with my identifying with the Christian faith, or having any desire to see its numbers grow. I am not a Christian (except perhaps in the loose anthropological sense promoted by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade">Mircea Eliade</a>.) What I am saying is that, as part of my own peculiar mental landscape, these images and symbols have taken on an altered meaning. They speak strongly as metaphor.<br />
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To liken this concert (featuring a modern composer performing at a center for contemporary art) to a church gathering is only to draw attention to the analogous climate of solemnity and reverence. But reverence for what? This is a question often waged at the newly appearing “<a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/01/07/260184473/sunday-assembly-a-church-for-the-godless-picks-up-steam">atheist churches</a>” cropping up in cities throughout the U.S. and Great Britain.<br />
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Though I can’t answer the question (but for myself), what I did note at YU was that many of the desired effects one might look for in a church service (solemnity, tranquility, reverence, shared experience, a balance of anonymity and sociability, transcendence, a welcome distraction, inspiring speech) were all available without evoking any of the conventional flavors of god issuing from the world’s popular religions.<br />
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Instead, there was a tranquil atmosphere, a shared sense of <em>knowing</em>, a container for the private landscapes of individuals to flourish in.<br />
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Richard Rorty, an influential American philosopher who in his later life preferred to be seen as an “anti-clericalist” rather than an atheist, nonetheless envisioned a future for religion—if not for himself, at least for others who experience more of a ‘religious impulse’ than he did.<br />
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The religion of the future, according to Rorty, would emphasize the private spirituality of individuals, avoiding the tendency toward universality.
Arguably all matters of ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’ are highly private and individualized even in the more dogmatic realms of institutional religion. In a sense, there really is no religion but <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzP1hNxd1Y0">a religion of one’s own</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Scott Mayoral | Central Meridian</td></tr>
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Melnyk’s last song was a lengthy one, with a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFfubhg970k">memorable theme</a> that developed slowly atop one of the composer’s signature “continuous” streams of arpeggios. He had indicated that for his final piece (as in an earlier one) he would play overtop a recording he had made of himself playing the same piano earlier that evening. He emphasized the importance of making the prerecording on the <em>day of</em> the event (and using the same piano) to ensure consistency, and also to establish the <i>nowness</i> of the gesture.<br />
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Admittedly, it was difficult for me to discern the prerecording from the live playing while lying on my back staring at the ceiling, but the distinction was far from my mind. Instead my mind was flooded with the content of my own psyche.<br />
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At a point, it seemed possible (though I’m cautious of projecting) that being amidst this thought-full crowd, a certain unspoken appreciation was being channelled. A thankfulness (foremost) for the beautiful music and for the evening's tranquil ambiance, but also for being among the beneficiaries of yet another magical visitation, this time by Melnyk, one of the most recent to pass through Portland’s revolving door of sublimity. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Scott Mayoral | Central Meridian</td></tr>
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dFfubhg970k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-42450468712572215212014-02-28T20:39:00.003-08:002014-03-01T00:56:44.431-08:00Lubomyr Melnyk: comments on the divine [with his fingers].<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQt_15raKgAO7bhbgP4R57Wb9Q6v51TLILwo6jGYd-g7x5TcKNDfS9d4RbBqUG_SYlFDrIny9uKqkk2iEoprvgGri7mpTJAbzcU-ERB6CfuAQ3EbiZh6on0nUC_grMjdc9xX1LKJdNYNZ7/s1600/lubomyr_melnyk.JPG" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQt_15raKgAO7bhbgP4R57Wb9Q6v51TLILwo6jGYd-g7x5TcKNDfS9d4RbBqUG_SYlFDrIny9uKqkk2iEoprvgGri7mpTJAbzcU-ERB6CfuAQ3EbiZh6on0nUC_grMjdc9xX1LKJdNYNZ7/s400/lubomyr_melnyk.JPG" /></a>
<p>This afternoon I left the bottling line (my job at the kombucha production facility) to attend a lecture/workshop by <a href="http://www.lubomyr.com/">Lubomyr Melnyk</a>, a modern composer regarded for his unique playing style which he calls “continuous music”. It was a welcome change from operating a bottling machine that was crushing bottles and going haywire for the day. Instead I transported myself to my alma mater, Portland State University, and spent the afternoon taking in the sunshine on my walk to the music building, before witnessing a fantastic lecture by Melnyk in a small day-lit room with a piano (a Steinway!! which Melnyk lambasted for its apparent deficiencies in the upper range… he called it “half a piano” and went on to exclaim that this would never happen in Europe where Steinways are rarely encountered.) The disheveled, long-bearded Melnyk kept the small group of attendees in relative suspense as he lamented the Steinway and confessed to being in a bad mood on account of his luggage (containing some essential references for his lecture) having been caught up at the Canadian border. But the man of humble appearances quickly endeared himself with his authentic demeanor and palpable love for music and the art of his craft.</p>
<p>In the course of his lecture which culminated in an intimate performance, Melnyk rhapsodized at length about the various techniques and philosophies which inform and help to distinguish his music. He emphasized the training of the fingers, not simply in terms of the repetitious or compulsory learning of notes and scores by famous composers, and not just where to place the fingers and when, but how to place the fingers and with what sort of conviction. This instruction has resonance particularly for serious musicians striving for a high degree of facility on their instrument, but it also is an inspiration to anyone honing a craft and emphasizes the need for lengthy durations of practice. A style like Melnyks cannot be approximated. He has invented a way of playing which is uniquely his own. His finger movements stem from the wrists but have roots in his entire body. He says his gut so informs his playing that he avoids putting anything in his stomach before a concert.</p>
<p>During his performance (a piece which for all I know may have been invented on the spot) Lubomyr Melnyk and his small audience were (I’m prepared to say) transported into another realm of time. A space was created by the sound created by Melnyk that was like undulating fingers pouring over you in the form of melody.</p>
<p>These are the moments which I look for, or that find me with a lucky degree of regularity. That’s not to say that they can readily be compared one to the other. But it’s the stuff of patient people of subtle genius. Sometimes it's more pronounced, perhaps in the case of Melnyk who exuded an archetypal sage-genius inspiration that made him seem like a conduit for the sublime arpeggios of the cosmos. But it can happen to lesser, or simply different degrees. And in a way transitioning in and out of these moments of *special* space and time is becoming one of the great privileges of my life.</p>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-22066394721951982342011-02-15T13:29:00.001-08:002011-02-15T19:29:42.768-08:00The Coming Technological Singlularity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDeMKIIX0qFZJTGQ-e6Nj3HDR6J1sNiYtXKYpqv1nkzpGKB5cdYp1G_AKKC2NeRkU-7zCbbxMdBjeoZwaDAU_FtzpOWHr5_5zoYPASGbaFqSv5PcUxitIeS-oWEpgidAv56jibmQ4B_ax/s1600/cone.jpg"><img style="display:block; border-color:#333333; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDeMKIIX0qFZJTGQ-e6Nj3HDR6J1sNiYtXKYpqv1nkzpGKB5cdYp1G_AKKC2NeRkU-7zCbbxMdBjeoZwaDAU_FtzpOWHr5_5zoYPASGbaFqSv5PcUxitIeS-oWEpgidAv56jibmQ4B_ax/s400/cone.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574084316996245842" /></a><br />The Singularity is something I've been meaning to bring to this forum for some time. What has kept me, I think, is the scope of its implications, and trying to say anything intelligible about it.<br /><br />I think it was around 5 years ago when I first came across Vernor Vinge's concise but potent and provocative essay, <a href="http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/vinge/misc/singularity.html"><em>The Coming Technological Singularity</em></a>, in which Vinge outlines what he sees as an imminent future of super-human intelligence, at which point, he claims, "the human era will have ended." The time which Vinge expects this to happen by is 2030.<br /><br />For those who don't know, Vernor Vinge is a sci-fi author, computer scientist and now-retired math professor. He's written a handful of Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas, including <em>Fire Upon The Deep</em>, <em>A Deepness In The Sky</em>, <em>Rainbows End</em>, and <em>Fast Times at Fairmont High</em>. His article on <em>the singularity</em> was published in 1993 in conjunction with a NASA-sponsored event called VISION-21 Symposium. <br /><br />Basically, this <a href="http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/vinge/misc/singularity.html">short essay</a> is something that I haven't been able to forget. It's like an impassive, left-justified afteraffect, or a whirling spiral funneling into oblivion that appears whenever I begin to think about 'human progress' and notions of morality.<br /><br />For example, <em>what prerequisite is there for environmental alarmism if machines are to be the next expression of evolution?</em> <sup>1</sup><br /><br />And for theists—<em>what significance do popular conceptions of 'God' have in a universe where <em>consciousness</em> can be uploaded and preserved?</em> <sup>2</sup> <br /><br /><em>What will become of human selfhood, that perceived <em>uniqueness</em> which leads to ideas like 'soul'—as all forms of intelligence become omni-accessible—and by entities with a far greater capacity to create cogent understanding than ourselves?</em> <br /><br />Does this not turn Jesus of Nazareth and his all-too-human brand of prophecy on its nappy head?<br /><br />I feel confident that a dizzying and accelerating stage of technological advancement is underway, and while there are always Ludites—history tends to preserve them as such. <br /><br />Vinge concludes his essay thusly:<br /><br /><blockquote>I think the new era is simply too different to fit into the classical frame of good and evil. That frame is based on the idea of isolated, immutable minds connected by tenuous, low-bandwith links.<br /></blockquote><br />He then goes on to quote the Amercian physicist, Freeman Dyson:<br /><br /><blockquote style="font-size:28px">"God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension."</blockquote><br />Time recently did a feature on The Singularity, check it out: <a href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138,00.html">2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal</a><br /><br /><hr><br /><p style="font-size:13px"><sup>1</sup> I think the word 'machine' is provincial here. What we're really talking about is forms of AI that could foreseeably comprise processes which are quite biological.<br /><br /><sup>2</sup> And perhaps re-implanted in our bodies which might be healed or reconstructed through biological engineering<br /></p>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-11146670001293775762011-02-07T20:18:00.000-08:002011-02-07T20:24:12.555-08:00GOD, LLC's 100th Post!!!<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/19633891" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/19633891">Jesus lullaby</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user5954272">Matthew Henderson</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-21537455835987648062011-01-26T12:08:00.000-08:002011-01-26T13:22:54.996-08:00Crystal Cathedral files for bankruptcy<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Cathedral"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/CrystalCathedral.jpg/800px-CrystalCathedral.jpg" width="400"></a><br /><br />Two things I love in this post: architecture and mega-churches going under.<br /><br />Crystal Cathedral, its glimmering 'prayer spire,' and the handy "International Center for Possibility Thinking" (whatever the fuck that means) constitute an almost-buffet of modern-master church architecture. With a collaborative work between Philip Johnson and Richard Neutra, and a later addition by Richard Meier, it's the sort of trove that an enterprising pastor might like to polish regularly with a soft, lint-free cloth, getting the in-between parts with a Q-tip and mild cleanser.<br /><br />But the mega-church ministry behind the nice architecture has filed for bankruptcy, citing unrest among creditors and a 30% drop in revenue, largely a result of the weakening donation stream from the church's televangelist show "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3YquZccl6Q">Hour of Power</a>."<br /><br />Reports of the news when it first broke in October depict a convoluted scene:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/18/crystal-cathedral-bankrup_n_767219.html">Huffington Post</a><br /><br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304011604575565060738315760.html">Wall Street Journal</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130679470">NPR</a>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-45132648779197400182011-01-16T23:39:00.000-08:002011-01-23T00:43:26.388-08:00The Game of Merit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyupn20jDfV05i-2cQWpMmr8e9rY9Xsq4d5dfqOXZ8eOUMXrktubP9a-dp8DjM20XW7ZUywZX6WZl5brNshUh-xEGy6cQpOc1DWABiyvXNIXNynCY8IORBrMtDXjlOOtAdT0fi0liQ3bCb/s1600/photo.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyupn20jDfV05i-2cQWpMmr8e9rY9Xsq4d5dfqOXZ8eOUMXrktubP9a-dp8DjM20XW7ZUywZX6WZl5brNshUh-xEGy6cQpOc1DWABiyvXNIXNynCY8IORBrMtDXjlOOtAdT0fi0liQ3bCb/s400/photo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563057047286122354" /></a><br />Believe it or not, my grandfather invented this game. It's called Merit, "The Catholic Game," and it comes with "Ecclesiastical Approbation" and bearing the inscription: <br /><br /><blockquote>"Unless you turn and become as little children you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."</blockquote><br /><br />(That is, of course, Matthew: 18: verse 1-6, for those who don't know.<a href="http://www.beardsarebeautiful.com/godllc/an_education.html" style="text-decoration:none">*</a>)<br /><br />The game is meant to be a fun educational tool for kids and adults alike to learn the rules and commandments of Catholicism. I found it to actually be somewhat demanding. For example, what is it to land on "Extreme Unction"? No, don't get out your 'wonder killer,' aka iPhone, that's cheating. <br /><br />(Extreme Unction, as the <a href="http://www.beardsarebeautiful.com/godllc/extreme_unction.html">accompanying graphic</a> seems to indicate, has to do with some sort of a deathbed blessing, or perhaps confession. Basically, it's something <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0dldtkxzVU">Christopher Hitchens</a> will likely opt out of.)<br /><br />In general, this board game (and my Grandpa Ed) gets two thumbs up for presentation and execution. It's a very refined product. Very much in line with other more established board games. It seems to be based on Monopoly, except instead of houses you plant <a href="http://www.beardsarebeautiful.com/godllc/merit_church.jpg">churches</a>, and instead of a shoe, you are <a href="http://www.beardsarebeautiful.com/godllc/merit_mary.jpg">Mary</a>. <br /><br />As for playability, it is difficult for people like myself who lack a Catholic education to play this game. It is very much an educational game, and perhaps not the best drinking/party game.<br /><br />Questions range in difficulty from "Who made you?" (Answer = "God made you." Silly!) to ones more exacting and obscure, like: <br /><br /><blockquote>Q: Name the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary?<br><br /><br />A: Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning of Thorns, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion and death of our Lord."</blockquote><br /><br />You may draw a card which says: <br /><br /><blockquote>"SAY ALOUD ONE HAIL MARY THEN MOVE TO ANY LOCATION ON THE BOARD DESIRED."</blockquote><br /><br />or this one, which caused surprise/laughter/confusion (in that order):<br /><br /><blockquote>"SAY ALOUD AN EJACULATION, THEN MOVE TO ANY LOCATION ON THE BOARD DESIRED."</blockquote><br /><br />(Next thing I know I'm googling "examples of ejaculations," this could only be bad...)<br /><br />Basically, this game is kind of fun. I take it back, it is a good drinking game. Or a good 'educational tool' depending on your idea of an education. I suspect there aren't too many of these floating around out there with board/game pieces/cards intact, but if you happen to see Merit "The Catholic Game" in the Goodwill bins, say aloud one Hail Mary and snatch it up cos my Grandpa designed that game!<br /><br />I've added some pictures at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayosturd/5376616258/in/set-72157625876967408/">Flickr</a>.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-45565768851908101172011-01-15T13:53:00.000-08:002011-01-15T14:38:58.959-08:00The Alpha of Wikipedia<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg/448px-StJohnsAshfield_StainedGlass_GoodShepherd_Portrait_cropped.jpg" width="400"><br />It's only too appropriate that one of the first and most controversial articles created in Wikipedia's infancy was that of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus">Jesus Christ</a>. Slate gives an interesting overview, as Wikipedia turns 10:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2281294/">http://www.slate.com/id/2281294/</a>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-59646397275694173922011-01-10T15:45:00.000-08:002011-01-10T23:39:50.017-08:00Good press for GodAmerica loves a good rags-to-riches story. And God loves America.<br /><br />I hope things continue to work out for this kind-hearted fellow...<br /><object width="400" height="321"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LAcIFIASiI4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LAcIFIASiI4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="321"></embed></object>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-3682758355710670942011-01-06T14:26:00.000-08:002011-01-07T00:16:47.943-08:00Xhurch Update: Winter survival and beyond (and before).<img src="http://www.xhurch.net/images/xhurch_november.jpg" width="400"><br /><br />So it's a dramatic title and it isn't. Xhurch life is hard in a sense. I've had to forfeit a handful of domestic luxuries; shower, washer/dryer, dishwasher, and in the early days, heat and kitchen sink. I'm happy to say I've been enjoying the latter two amenities for some time now—life without would have truly been shit.<br /><br />One of my two electric ranges broke back in November so I've been running on a single cylinder in the kitchen (Comfort Zone CZ-SS95 burner). Of course there's always the Chefmate Toaster Oven and Broiler which continues to impress me with its reliability and efficiency. Quorn Chick'n Nuggets for example can be prepared in a quarter the time it takes to bring a conventional oven to temperature, and with no compromise in taste or texture! <br /><br />The oven's interior dimensions are of course nothing to boast about.<br /><br />*** <br /><br />Outside of the kitchen, which sees a lot of the same meals prepared over-and-over, I'm continually impressed by the versatility of the xhurch's interior topography. The pews, heavy as they are, have found themselves in a host of different positions, coinciding with the different events that have been held here. <br /><br />Quiet concerts, and talks—notably, the xhurch's <a href="http://xhurchtalks.wordpress.com/">lecture series</a>—have been highlights of the xhurch's brief but nurturing trajectory.<br /><br />A loud-and-proud Halloween concert was—well for one super rad—but also an important, if ill-advised episode for the xhurch, as it spurred instantaneous feedback from the neighbors and local law enforcement. This forced pressing matters of diplomacy in the ensuing weeks, and I'm glad to be in a position now to say the xhurch's neighbors are an insightful bunch, with great vision for the neighborhood, and a mind open to possibility.<br /><br />***<br /><br />Perhaps the crowning achievement of the Xhurch's 5 months of (hyper) activity was the <a href="http://godllc.blogspot.com/2010/12/xhurch-nativity_28.html">nativity</a>, which has been reported on in previous posts, and at <a href="http://janafordknits.blogspot.com/2010/12/nativity.html">other blog(s)</a>. This will surely evolve into a sort of holiday tradition, if the Xhurch-and-I can continue to make our marriage work.<br /><br />Here's to luck and chance and everything nice in the new year!GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-58924470710832071512010-12-28T14:49:00.000-08:002010-12-30T17:19:07.596-08:00XHURCH NATIVITY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9d_xVl9kWywI22qoQjLFBhQhHafX7lx_W6jsQ5165EAIIskAENasY_RLopvYxzVMYe768Nq5vtoLoJQHq7drRGwRKOeZ35pnf-J4KJVwogsweVg0EopXvWuNc60_Cwcmxcj9m_-QC0ALH/s1600/nativity_detail.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 0px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9d_xVl9kWywI22qoQjLFBhQhHafX7lx_W6jsQ5165EAIIskAENasY_RLopvYxzVMYe768Nq5vtoLoJQHq7drRGwRKOeZ35pnf-J4KJVwogsweVg0EopXvWuNc60_Cwcmxcj9m_-QC0ALH/s400/nativity_detail.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555871081093752658" /></a><br /><div style="font-size: 12px; margin: none" margin="none">Photo: Eva Schifter</div><br />I posted some photos of the Xhurch's <em>Christmas Nativity</em> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayosturd/sets/72157625578873023/">at Flickr</a>.<br /><br />(You may also view it as a slideshow with musical accompaniment <a href="http://www.xhurch.net/nativity_slideshow.html">here</a>.)<br /><br />The Xhurch's <em>Christmas Nativity</em> took place Thursday, December 23rd, between the hours of 5 and 8pm at the Xhurch. (The Xhurch, for those who don't know, is a small repurposed church in Portland, OR that has been remade into a home studio/gallery/event space. It is also home to GOD, LLC.) <br /><br />The Xhurch's <em>Christmas Nativity</em> was a purely nostalgic nativity—a "non-theist's" nativity. It was an opportunity for a small contingent of irreligious types to create the conditions for a warm holiday scene, complete with mood lighting, low-volume Christmas music, homemade hot chocolate, homemade hot apple cider, and pews to sit and sip and reflect on the nativity.<br /><br />A statement was issued to accompany the nativity which can be read <a href="http://www.xhurch.net/nativity_statement.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Special thanks to everyone involved in making the nativity a success, and to a delightful audience.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-9478905373498857962010-12-26T12:36:00.000-08:002010-12-30T16:55:47.249-08:00Holy See, seen and re-seen...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPSxPGLN3ty1Y7XoWPBl9RR13QyV5_iaVZi78yzrlMCSkO6w62lrgBjBU9tVODHCGh5KguIJ-I5YOzuHa2Se6_eZNoROmB_8lsMONG6Jk5e5toWCHhh_tzs0zJUsIgDUeQp6agjsSPrOl/s1600/pastedGraphic-2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPSxPGLN3ty1Y7XoWPBl9RR13QyV5_iaVZi78yzrlMCSkO6w62lrgBjBU9tVODHCGh5KguIJ-I5YOzuHa2Se6_eZNoROmB_8lsMONG6Jk5e5toWCHhh_tzs0zJUsIgDUeQp6agjsSPrOl/s400/pastedGraphic-2.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555464009631497442" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZ3L6dH6iwvwFvyAFTv4fnStmtOa6wpn68ssbBS5TTHgwEVbxFIdRk8UZ8L5GOKVrsGLSMEEpZnaGMcFJfW6YamSrqN87oRmg6-ClGCWaljP6b7FDV7pLtYx6quILQiBAV3PeFG8VYvHp/s1600/pastedGraphic-1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZ3L6dH6iwvwFvyAFTv4fnStmtOa6wpn68ssbBS5TTHgwEVbxFIdRk8UZ8L5GOKVrsGLSMEEpZnaGMcFJfW6YamSrqN87oRmg6-ClGCWaljP6b7FDV7pLtYx6quILQiBAV3PeFG8VYvHp/s400/pastedGraphic-1.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555464157492548674" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4uQW3J1PWh5RnphFMbxNU9wB8zH9DR6U_YqQps62egVfTP-yJYT1SJSk4wrNQmuXw5u2f-dYPyEKdXhSPRYoFCjfK2e-oJWt4IkETLqEuNIQZiSU-teuvpG3ZkqpKrnoIg9NiKUBpFSrY/s1600/pastedGraphic-3.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4uQW3J1PWh5RnphFMbxNU9wB8zH9DR6U_YqQps62egVfTP-yJYT1SJSk4wrNQmuXw5u2f-dYPyEKdXhSPRYoFCjfK2e-oJWt4IkETLqEuNIQZiSU-teuvpG3ZkqpKrnoIg9NiKUBpFSrY/s400/pastedGraphic-3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555464228614044498" /></a>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-66020890737945516492010-12-19T12:01:00.000-08:002010-12-20T23:23:55.976-08:00Xhurch Nativity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJ-rwTspt9YOM8Q9yt9lNxwofAUL9FcnOBuNURcdRkuss69vs0JzvanHGZfVjJ_0aGaAulRdE_AbyYovfTwuajLBd6YFh0i4KmH5rDU6GnQCGFw332aDs3zbbhSSfwq__8RHH4zFSlWHf/s1600/nativity_animals.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJ-rwTspt9YOM8Q9yt9lNxwofAUL9FcnOBuNURcdRkuss69vs0JzvanHGZfVjJ_0aGaAulRdE_AbyYovfTwuajLBd6YFh0i4KmH5rDU6GnQCGFw332aDs3zbbhSSfwq__8RHH4zFSlWHf/s400/nativity_animals.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552493193937099042" /></a><br /><br />Duh! It was in the cards all along—the xhurch was to host a quality nativity this holiday season! And so, myself and a select group of godless cohorts have been busy constructing animals and costumes and mangers for the affair, which will take place on Thursday, December 23<sup>rd</sup>, between the hours of 5 and 7pm. <br /><br />The Xhurch's <em>Christmas Nativity</em> also marks my first concerted venture into the visual arts realm in years. Please come and enjoy the tranquil scene, have a cup of hot chocolate, and give yourself over to nostalgia's warm embrace. Or be made breathless by the terrestrial embodiment of your literal reading.<br /><br /><em>Read the <a href="http://www.xhurch.net/nativity_statement.html">Nativity Statement</a></em>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-30221638172865760432010-12-14T18:45:00.000-08:002010-12-15T14:42:41.081-08:00R2D2 Christmas Tree<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnENY9lEe1-im9GouJ22gyglpGSdrgz9Mt7TBmHS4lQIl2pxULvUP5XhFef-8ACkSjkqGBB-QZmFmkjYUFt-0ptYLZowPOIGvThVqz4pwiOITIYl7m3R8OVC_ocdtHgDGK0KuqJsNBGUWg/s1600/156945_470510074106_782749106_5666168_6012724_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnENY9lEe1-im9GouJ22gyglpGSdrgz9Mt7TBmHS4lQIl2pxULvUP5XhFef-8ACkSjkqGBB-QZmFmkjYUFt-0ptYLZowPOIGvThVqz4pwiOITIYl7m3R8OVC_ocdtHgDGK0KuqJsNBGUWg/s400/156945_470510074106_782749106_5666168_6012724_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550779356639048370" /></a><br /><br />A friend posted this on Facebook. Needless to say, I thought it was worth sharing. I suppose then I should have "liked" it...<br /><br />It did get me thinking though—anyone have any interesting Christmas tree photos they'd like to submit? Any C-<em>Tree</em>-POs? Even plain-old Christmas trees can be interesting. Don't feel like you have to floor me. You couldn't possibly. Trust me I've seen EVERYTHING.<br /><br />Submit to: <a href="mailto:submit@xhurch.net">submit@xhurch.net</a>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-33603711917954512162010-12-12T12:14:00.000-08:002010-12-26T19:20:14.345-08:00Bill Moyers on the origins of the religious 'impulse,' according to Joseph CampbellI borrowed a great book from a friend: The Power of Myth. In it, decorated journalist, Bill Moyers, supplies the manuscripts from his interviews with Joseph Campbell in the years just before Campbell's death in 1987. The stuff of these interviews became the popular PBS documentary series, <a href="http://www.mefeedia.com/video/5735204">Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth</a>. <br /><br />Campbell had a way of stringing stories together that was basically mesmerizing. He had a sort of benevolent, paternal authority about him—a grandfatherly command over conversation. In a way, he seems to embody a bygone masculinity. This passage isn't meant to illustrate any of that, but it does provide an interesting account of what is sometimes called the "religious instinct."<br /><br />Bill Moyers recalls Joseph Campbell's view:<br /><br /><blockquote>He imagined that this grand and cacophonous chorus began when our primal ancestors told stories to themselves about the animals that they killed for food and about the supernatural world to which the animals seemed to go when they died. "Out there somewhere," beyond the visible plain of existence, was the "animal master," who held over human beings the power of life and death: if he failed to send the beasts back to be sacrificed again, the hunters and their kin would starve. Thus early societies learned that "the essence of life is that it lives by killing and eating; that's the great mystery that the myths have to deal with." The hunt became a ritual of sacrifice, and the hunters in turn performed acts of atonement to the departed spirits of the animals, hoping to coax them into returning to be sacrificed again. The beasts were seen as envoys from that other world, and Campbell surmised "a magical, wonderful accord" growing between the hunter and the hunted, as if they were locked in a "mystical, timeless" cycle of death, burial, and resurrection. Their art—the paintings on cave walls—and oral literature gave form to the impulse we now call religion.</blockquote>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-29432116862395031562010-12-09T13:11:00.000-08:002010-12-09T13:24:36.807-08:00'Benevolent domination:' Rorty on dealing with fundamentalist studentsThis is straight from the Wiki-page on Rorty which I was exploring last night...<br /><br />With respect to confronting religious fundamentalism in a university setting, Rorty says:<br /><br />“It seems to me that the regulative idea that we heirs of the Enlightenment, we Socratists, most frequently use to criticize the conduct of various conversational partners is that of ‘needing education in order to outgrow their primitive fear, hatreds, and superstitions’ ... It is a concept which I, like most Americans who teach humanities or social science in colleges and universities, invoke when we try to arrange things so that students who enter as bigoted, homophobic, religious fundamentalists will leave college with views more like our own ... The fundamentalist parents of our fundamentalist students think that the entire ‘American liberal establishment’ is engaged in a conspiracy. The parents have a point. Their point is that we liberal teachers no more feel in a symmetrical communication situation when we talk with bigots than do kindergarten teachers talking with their students ... When we American college teachers encounter religious fundamentalists, we do not consider the possibility of reformulating our own practices of justification so as to give more weight to the authority of the Christian scriptures. Instead, we do our best to convince these students of the benefits of secularization. We assign first-person accounts of growing up homosexual to our homophobic students for the same reasons that German schoolteachers in the postwar period assigned The Diary of Anne Frank... You have to be educated in order to be ... a participant in our conversation ... So we are going to go right on trying to discredit you in the eyes of your children, trying to strip your fundamentalist religious community of dignity, trying to make your views seem silly rather than discussable. We are not so inclusivist as to tolerate intolerance such as yours ... I don’t see anything herrschaftsfrei [domination free] about my handling of my fundamentalist students. Rather, I think those students are lucky to find themselves under the benevolent Herrschaft [domination] of people like me, and to have escaped the grip of their frightening, vicious, dangerous parents ... I am just as provincial and contextualist as the Nazi teachers who made their students read Der Stürmer; the only difference is that I serve a better cause.”<br /><br />– ‘Universality and Truth,’ in Robert B. Brandom (ed.), Rorty and his Critics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), pp. 21-2.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-80455750875739511032010-12-08T14:46:00.000-08:002010-12-08T12:42:44.035-08:00Prophetic indeed...What Maxwell fails to acknowledge are the ambitions of his own enterprise. The faithful yearn to see their doctrines gain ultimate acceptance, ever striving toward theocracy. Ridicule and marginalization are societies tools for regulating irrational, and/or unpopular beliefs.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="321"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QaBDxkAprjo?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QaBDxkAprjo?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="321"></embed></object>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-84081885996555010062010-11-30T11:28:00.000-08:002010-12-02T10:53:08.195-08:00Portland churches: Sandy (II)<img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5006/5221096153_43bbdf2cee_z.jpg" style="width:400px"><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/5221824224_05b85dbbb3.jpg" style="width:400px"><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/5221098827_1f30a110c7.jpg" style="width:400px"><br />more at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayosturd/sets/72157624935201710/">Flickr</a>.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-21887729914323126442010-11-30T11:03:00.000-08:002010-11-30T11:38:33.109-08:00Portland churches: Sandy (I)<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5087417741_07af92ec0f_z.jpg" style="width:400px"><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/5088015872_abbc8f13d1_z.jpg" style="width:400px"><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5088015266_5cc92cbe91_z.jpg" style="width:400px"><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/5088016784_40ae933387_z.jpg" style="width:400px"><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/5087418219_df1c86d6f6_z.jpg" style="width:400px"><br /><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5087418383_7df0d0ffd1_z.jpg" style="width:400px"><br />more at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayosturd/sets/72157624935201710/">Flickr</a>.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-58805890569540683262010-11-28T12:08:00.000-08:002010-11-28T13:14:07.386-08:00Sam Harris in well-measured words<object width="400" height="321"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZwUG9aV6Ybk?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZwUG9aV6Ybk?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="321"></embed></object>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-84565972193573951412010-11-26T20:59:00.000-08:002010-11-27T16:45:05.716-08:00November update: God LLC's faith intactAnother Thanksgiving has passed, providing another opportunity to converse with relatives on the topic of faith and spirituality—a sort of faith-o-metric probing I due each year, with no such plans or intentions.<br /><br />But alas, coming from a big family such as mine means being one among a plurality of beliefs and opinions and making an effort to understand one another. I feel fortunate to be a twig on such a diverse family tree, especially one that gets along so famously, and teaches me so much. I'm reminded often of my minority status as an atheist.<br /><br />Still, the topic of spirituality continues to occupy me, in fact it enacts the most high-functioning part of my brain, that tier reserved for an uncharacteristic seriousness, or what might get called "discourse."<br /><br /> <em>What is that special thing that happens when large groups of people get together with a unified purpose? That sense of </em>oneness<em>?</em> <br /><br /><em>What is that feeling of elation you get when a scenic vista is reached amidst a day-long hike?</em><br /><br /><em>What happens in the brains of Pentecostal churchgoers during a cathartic outpouring of song and dance?</em><br /><br />What I've realized is that I have my own way of describing these experiences. And it's important to recognize that I do so by way of a mix-and-mash of inherited vocabularies (things I've read/been taught, conversations I've had, life experiences that have shaped me). This is true for everyone; we are shaped and limited by our use of language, and I'm lately coming to terms with the rarity of my current vocabulary, that what I take for granted as <em>prevalent</em>, or <em>common</em> wisdom in describing 'spiritual' matters, is in fact newfangled, an emerging but underutilized dialect.<br /><br />Evolving alongside this dialect is a new one for the faithful as well. A morphing set of ever-nebulous descriptions that shun the <em>specific</em> in favor of unity and tolerance. A <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2255741/"><em>Shack-esque</em></a> permutation. In one sense, this is a good thing, as it means less blatant unthinking, less partitioning off of the mind to allow a refuge for pure unreason—but I wonder if the religious will wake one day soon and realize that really there is nothing concrete left to stand on; that what they really wish to hold onto, aside from the promise of a neatly grounded morality, is this notion of the 'spiritual,' and the comforts of ceremony. Both are notions which, I feel, can be redescribed; in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus"><em>psychological</em></a> terms; in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSZNsIFID28"><em>scientific</em></a> terms; and through <a href="http://xhurch.net/meditations_at_lagunitas.html"><em>poetry</em></a>.<br /><br />As for the alleged supernature professed by most of the world's religions, with their stories of miraculous interventions and divine oversight, I continue to see these matters through a pane so pure, so clear—as clear and as pure as the most crystalline holy water, distilled from the tears of all of heaven's most chaste angels—that these accounts are merely hearsay, the memetic flotsam of our more primitive, fearful and ignorant ancestors, and it troubles me, when others can't see what appears so obvious; that the Jesus story, and all those of the world's religions are purely terrestrial, <em>not</em> divinely inspired, entirely without supernature—at least none that we can sensibly comment on.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-79375259635100384302010-11-22T23:10:00.000-08:002010-11-22T15:53:41.635-08:00Absurd seeming church namesEver notice how some church names are downright unintelligible? Or read less like a welcoming handle, and more like a jumbled-together string of keywords from a website's meta tag?<br /><br />Take these for example:<br /><br />Assemblies Of God Faith Christian Fellowship<br />Sound Doctrine Missionary Temple of Praise<br />Apostolic Assembly Of The Faith In Christ Jesus<br />Christian Science Eighth Church Of Christ Scientist<br />Greater Solid Rock Church Of God In Christ<br />Mt. Zion Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas<br />Praise All Day Church of the Redeemer Christ Our Everlasting King<br /><br />It's almost as if there's a master list of select church jargon that gets assigned to some lottery balls, and the first four or five to pop up indicate the name of a new sect:<br /><br /><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1133/5178025932_638aebcfd7.jpg"><br /><div style="font-size: 12px; margin: none" margin="none"><em>Come on in, the fire's warm!</em><br /> Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/preciousj/132700525/">Jason Rinka</a></div><br />Here are some others that are funny for one reason or another:<br /><br />Ark Of Safety Church Of God In Christ<br />Holiness Or Hell Church Of God In Christ<br />Boring United Methodist Church (Boring, MD)<br />The Entire Bible Church<br />C.R.A.C.K. House Ministries (<b>C</b>hrist <b>R</b>esurrects <b>A</b>fter <b>C</b>rack <b>K</b>ills)GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-68646710943768420132010-11-19T01:48:00.000-08:002010-11-19T11:21:42.230-08:00Petty Friday: The Jesus Coin Holy Medallion Of LifeCourtesy of the Miami-based, The National Center For Religious Collectibles, you too can own this "special keepsake of His Eternal Love."<br /><br /><object width="400" height="321"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ymfm7JjP19E?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ymfm7JjP19E?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="321"></embed></object><br /><br />That's right, "in these uncertain times, don't be without this most important symbol of hope."<br /><br />And if you're having second thoughts, remember, "True collectors recognize the majesty of this hand sculpted, master-crafted collectible."<br /><br /><em>HE WHO BELIEVES HAS ETERNAL LIFE!</em>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-398986224958907212010-11-18T15:36:00.000-08:002010-11-18T18:13:15.442-08:00Xhurch update: Part III forgot to mention. I found out some interesting history on the church. A neighbor tipped me off that there was an historic photo of the church at the Oregon History Museum. So I visited the OHS website to see if I could access it online but struck out, so I called their office and they referred me to the research library, to whom I sent an email soliciting historical materials. They got back rather promptly with two photos and a newspaper clipping(!)—all dating to-or-before 1952.<br /><br />The newspaper clipping, stamped October 9th, 1952, told of a neighborhood controversy that was spurred when the church—then a synagogue—was in the process of being sold to, as the article states: "a negro congregation." Nothing like old periodicals to prove the impermanent nature of language.<br /><br />Having the names of the two congregations involved in the sale, I was then able to poke Google's brain for more info, and Google responded faithfully, like a giant sea anemone that first turned inward—all its tentacles aflutter, and then spat back a name—that of a man called Samuel Gruber, who has a blog: <em>Samuel Gruber's Jewish Art & Monuments</em>. <br /><br />His <a href="http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2010/09/usa-1952-sale-of-orthodox-synagogue-to.html ">September 10th, 2010 entry</a> pretty much tells it all.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHVhHuzFZsB_GnRlBh_Fk7qFewkDfEQ_FehJUAswigTPWUMmcfBgRMcginnMXin4v67BqZABWcFHmT84Whqa6Zxei636hHQuWsk2D7LCenMMJ9QQ7Dd3ka1VV5jqPgaWqAtcMFfGMNB2u/s1600/xhurchygogue.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 325px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaHVhHuzFZsB_GnRlBh_Fk7qFewkDfEQ_FehJUAswigTPWUMmcfBgRMcginnMXin4v67BqZABWcFHmT84Whqa6Zxei636hHQuWsk2D7LCenMMJ9QQ7Dd3ka1VV5jqPgaWqAtcMFfGMNB2u/s400/xhurchygogue.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541064560149187250" /></a><br /><div style="font-size: 12px; margin: none" margin="none">The Xhurch, circa 1950. Photographer: unknown</div>GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357929999027329153.post-51110047794287262182010-11-16T22:15:00.001-08:002010-11-17T00:49:55.974-08:00Xhurch update<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbs97qRm0qlLYC-TMqDpTd437OIAWTntaHqyxZQZDzwrh7jKhnh9mJoUlbLs3mQWVpFY47nwecjDtkZA_zViu_05ZnF4HbzExNtyYZ2hCb3Ly6l1ggTooMi1cYuzuWPzpozv1lOjNo8ZM/s1600/xhurch_ceiling.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbs97qRm0qlLYC-TMqDpTd437OIAWTntaHqyxZQZDzwrh7jKhnh9mJoUlbLs3mQWVpFY47nwecjDtkZA_zViu_05ZnF4HbzExNtyYZ2hCb3Ly6l1ggTooMi1cYuzuWPzpozv1lOjNo8ZM/s400/xhurch_ceiling.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540426157389825266" /></a><br />As you may have read, October was a chilly month here. The heat has since been turned on however, and now I eagerly await my first bill so that I can know the cost of the relative luxury I've been enjoying within the newly warmed church walls. Seriously, I have high hopes for this bill. I feel that most of the obvious places where heat was bound to escape have been plugged up.<br /><br />In the meantime, I've gotten use to cooking on two small camping-style burners and with a toaster oven (a highly efficient way to cook for up to two people). Also, my sleeping situation has changed somewhat, at least for the time being. Previously, I had unwittingly recreated the sleeping conditions of my infant-hood, when I shoved two pews together to create a cradle-like bed—the 'manger' as I liked to call it. Lined with wadded-up newspaper to level out the sleeping surface and then layered with two sheets of egg-crate foam, this was a surprisingly comfortable arrangement. Now I'm on a small mattress on the floor. Neither are as comfortable as my old queen-size bed, but I'm avoiding my former mattress in favor of stowaway-ability. It's important I'm able to make my bed disappear with no fuss to free up space for other of the church's functions.<br /><br />At large, the xhurch feels more and more like home. I've become accustomed to a radically different color palette. The light and objects found here are strikingly distinct from anyplace I've ever lived. This is owed largely to the deep red carpets and blue-green stained glass windows, which mediate every bit of light that enters the building. I've found that it's best if I start the day by getting outdoors (even if just for a walk around the block) so as to expose myself to true daylight, and avoid the feeling of being shut-in. Working from home, and generally eating here too, the tendency is to be indoors a lot. It takes surprising discipline sometimes, especially in wintertime, just to get out.<br /><br />I guess the good news is, I like my cell. There are trade-offs of course—I've outlined a few. But the church is a most-nurturing workshop, endlessly flexible, warm and spacious—accommodating, but just moody enough to keep my interest. I think I'll stay awhile.GOD, LLChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13083022791049436590noreply@blogger.com7