Ride to the "Signify, Sanctify, Believe" service on Sunday

Believers, Unbelievers and Agnostics --

The Bike Temple is pleased to announce a series of monthly rides on the theme of "Monogamous Sects."  We'll get together somewhere, go for a glorious bicycle ride of a modest distance, then attend a church service, a religious-themed event, or something in between.  We'll be doing this on the "Third Sunday" of each month. 


This Sunday, May 20, is our first ride, to attend "Signify, Sanctify & Believe with us!" A brunch & service at Xhurch

The details:
* 10:30 am Vera Katz Statue, East Bank Esplanade/Hawthorne Bridge
* 11:00 am Meet up at Bike Temple HQ, 4734 N Williams
* Ride Leaders: Sister Carye and Pasture Ted
* Cost: Free,but donations for food welcome, or bring a brunch potluck item
* What: Xhurch is hosting LA-based performance artist troop Signify, Sanctify, Believe. We are invited to attend a pizza brunch and service
* Length -- short ride from Bike temple HQ, brunch and service should take up to a couple hours

"Come all seekers! All curious! Come and be temporarily initiated into our order of creative spiritual experimentation and sanctified dabbling!" heart / mind / open.


More information:
* The Troupe: http://signifysanctifybelieve.org/
* The Xhurch: http://www.xhurch.org
* Youtube clips of S,S,B
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cojM1DtvAmM&feature=plcp
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRoijiOMhAU&feature=plcp

Other links to the ride: 
* On Shift Calendar: http://shifttobikes.org/cal/#20-3013
* On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/406976196001937/

Upcoming
* June -- Look for a Joy of Sects (multiple venues) Bike Temple Ride on the Pedalpalooza Calendar (http://www.shift2bikes.org/cal/viewpp2012.php)
* July 14 or 15 will be the next Joy of Monogamous Sects Ride. TBA

Attend a Mormon service, Sunday Feb 5th

Dear Unbelievers, Believers, and Everyone Else --

The Bike Temple is going on its first 2012 expedition this Sunday to attend a Mormon church service in Northeast Portland.

Meet at The Waypost Cafe at noon, ride at 12:30. Service starts at 1:00. 3722 NE Going St. -- you can also meet us outside the building if you like.

Mormons, more than any other religion, are known for bicycling. Young Mormon men are encouraged to accept a 2 year assignment as missionaries for their church, and they often ride bicycles. It's a beautiful thing.

Mormon Sunday Services consist of a three hour series of meetings. We'll just attend the first hour, though if there is compelling interest to stay we can do that.

The meetings are:
* Sacrament Service, 12:00 - 1:15. Meet in the sanctuary, members of the church partake of the "sacrament" (communion, bread and water), then there's 35 minutes of talks by members of the congregation. On the first Sunday of the month, members don't eat breakfast or lunch, and the Sacrement Service is "open mike" where anyone who feels so compelled can stand an testify their beliefs. Expect about 80 people in attendance.
* Sunday School, 1:35 - 2:05. Bible study, Book of Mormon study, or Mormon church history study. Expect about 10 people/class.
* Womens' and Mens' meetings, 2:15 - 3:00. Expect about 15 people/class.




More on The Mormons

Mormons are one of the few religions that was founded in the United States. Founder Joseph Smith said he was visited by an angel, and later given gold tablets by an deceased American Indian who returned as an angel. The tablets were translated into the "Book of Mormon" -- the spiritual history of the American Indians and their relationship with the god of the Bible. The book is still held as truth by adhering Mormons, though it has significant failings in its claims to be a historical document.

After rocky beginnings, including communitarianism, grift, wife swapping, polyandry, militias, the Mormons moved west, leaving the United States in 1847 to settle in today's Utah, only to be annexed back into the US shortly afterwards.

In the 1960s, the Mormon Church was at its finest, and touted its strengths as an American instution. Since then, its status has waned, conversions have all-but ceased, and the church leadership remains stuck in a 1960s mentality. Church services are essentially unchanged, dress is unchanged, staunch lifestyle requirements adopted in the early to mid 1900s remain unchanged, and many modern youth are not endeared to this lifestyle. Meanwhile, the internet has made it possible for members to read alternative versions of the origins of their church, which include historical events that do not support the assertions of the church leaders as being led by a diety, but rather show an eclectic bunch of men trying to create a religion out of whole cloth, and using non-god-sanctioned means to control the masses.

So, come meet the Mormons, prepare to travel back in time to about 1975. Women wear dresses, men white shirts and ties with no facial hair, and free range children.

After the meeting we can gather at a watering hole on Alberta and debrief.

Yours in The Faith,
Pasture Ted, exmormon.
(I spent 2 years in Hong Kong as a Mormon Missionary, and had 2 months of riding a bicycle out of the deal...)

Blessing of The Bicycles: Wednesday at St. Stephens

Photo from the 2010 Blessing of the Bicycles

This Wednesday is the annual Blessing of The Bicycles at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Home of the Portland Bike Shrine.

St. Stephen's has a corner of their sanctuary set aside as a bicycle shrine, where bicyclists can come in and meditate whenever the building is open. There are a few icons and artifacts there, including the ghost bike that commemorated PNCA student Tracey Sparling's fatal crash location.

You'll want to come a bit early to this event. Come right on inside, with your bike (use the wheelchair ramp on the north side). Then you can mix and mingle, enjoy the harp music, and wait for the very short service to begin.

The service consists of
* the prelude music (usually by Halley the Harper -- Portland's own Bicycling Street Harpist),
* a short reading by Deacon Ken and others, praising the bicycles and the hardy people that ride them,
* a blessing of each bicycle in the sanctuary with holy water and a few words,
* then a short closing statement, and
* socializing with punch and cookies.

5:30 - 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the parish, 1432 S.W. 13th Ave (SW 13th at Clay).

Note that the event only lasts 15 minutes. If you're schedule challenged like me, plan to arrive by 5:15 at the latest.

Yours in The Faith,
Pasture Ted

**********

More info:

* St. Stephens web page here and Bike Shrine page here. (no mention of the blessing, maybe their web guru is out for the month)

* Portland Tribune story on the service Here.

* St. Stephens also blesses pets -- here's a Facebook link to their "Celebrity All-Star Pet Bless-O-Rama EXTRAVAGANZA!"

East Portland Sacred Spaces ride tomorrow

This just in -- 3rd annual "East Portland Sacred Spaces" ride is tomorrow.

*************

Hey all, it's our 3rd Annual Sacred Spaces Ride, this Saturday,
October 1st, from 9:30 am to Noon, starting and ending at the
Eastminster Church, 12505 NE Halsey. For early arrivals, there is also
a free breakfast at 9 am.

The ride is about 14 miles on mostly residential streets in northern
East Portland, and includes a labyrinth, a sacred druid grove, an
Orthodox church, a Lutheran church, and several other sacred spaces.
The ride is lead by our own Brian Heron, recently returned from a
74-day bike tour of the western US.

We hope to see you there!

***************

& check out their nifty flier from the First Annual ride in 2009
http://biketemple.blogspot.com/2009/10/portland-sacred-spaces-ride-tomorrow.html

Yours in The Faith,
Pasture Ted

"Joy of Xhurches" ride, Sunday Aug 7th

The Bike Temple is pleased to partner with Matt at the Xhurch to have the first ever tour of Xhurches in Portland.

Xhurchs are buildings that look like churches, used to be churches, but aren't churches anymore. They may be private residences, community centers, event centers, schools, or anything else.

On the June "Joy of Sects" ride we visited the Xhurch on NE 20th and Going -- we were invited in by Matt, who told us about the various events that happen there, some religious, some secular, and some somewhere in between. (like a live nativity scene -- http://www.xhurch.net/nativity_slideshow.html )

The ride will visit xhurches of all descriptions -- including a "nascent xhurch" -- a masonic temple, turned Christian church, now for sale for whatever purpose anyone cares to put it to.

Meet at the Bike Temple at 11:00am, depart at 11:15 sharp. We'll cover 6 different xhurches in about 12 miles. Pace is slow.

Bike Temple is at 6 NE Wygant St. (N Williams at Wygant).

Your in The Faith,
Pasture Ted

Downtown and NW Sunday Parkways -- This Sunday

Portland's next Bicycle Holy Day is this Sunday, when Sunday Parkways returns to the Northwest to sanctify some of the most profane streets in the city.

The route promises a transformation of 8 miles of downtown streets into sacred space for humans and their pedal-powered machines. Big streets, normally filled with vile, smoking smoldering cars will be made open to us, in a wonderful example of how we can make our future Bicycle Heaven right here on the existing pavement in Portland Oregon.

The transformation will come to Big Name Streets. Streets best known for gridlock, smog, big boxes of steel, unhappy humans stuffed in the cars or squoozen between them. Naito Parkway (2 lanes will be free of cars). Columbia Street (lined with profane financial institutions) and SE Stark.

Portland is going to great lengths to make this transformation happen -- we Believers should turn out in force, to play and ride in these beautiful spaces. Bring your friends. Come and walk, ride, skate or dance. Enjoy the beautiful downtown canyons, play on the park blocks, see sights never seen before by the un-windshielded eyes.

Sunday July 23rd, 11am to 4pm. From Waterfront Park and the Salmon Street Fountain in the SE to the Portland Art Museum and Park Blocks in the SW, to Union Station and the Overton Neighborhood Greenway in the NE to Wallace Park and Chapman School in the NW, come and enjoy a car-free downtown!

Bring your friends.

The Bike Temple will be staffing a corner, possibly at Johnson and 17th. Stay tuned.

Yours in The Faith,
Pasture Ted

Enjoy Sunday Parkways with the Bike Temple

Dear Faithful,

Tomorrow is the first "Sunday Parkways" event of the year in the Holy Bicycle City of Portland. From now until September, the fourth Sunday of each month will be observed with the closure of an 8-mile loop of streets for sacred travel by bicycle, skateboard, foot, and other modes of transportation.

This divine gift is a fabulous opportunity for bicyclists of all stripes and skills to get out and experience a car-free city. A city free of the noise, smells, and potential fatal interaction that cars impose on their surroundings. There will be masses of children wobbling along, families out together, and elderly people. And you.

The route stretches from Lents Park in the northwest to the Springwater Trail in the south. There's also a Lents Street Fair, or something along those lines.

The Bike Temple is hosting the intersection of SE 88th and Reedway -- just north of Foster Blvd and just south of Lents Park. We'll be there from 11am to 4pm, offering bicycle blessings, sermons from the 2030 Portland Bicycle Plan, miraculous healings, and general socializing. Stop by and join us, and enjoy the wonderful parade of two-wheeled traffic rolling by. Bring your own holy equipment or music to share -- bells, whistles, musical instrument, holy scripture, communion, sidewalk chalk, incense, etc.

If you want to help set up, we'll meet at N Williams and Wygant at 9:30, roll out at 9:45, and head back to N Portland at about 4:15, any help staging equipment or carrying part of the load is welcome.

And remember -- Sunday Parkways events are unparalleled opportunities to put your bicycle-lite or nonbicycling friends on a bike, rolling around, having a safe and wonderful time. It's an opportunity for conversion. If they have a great time tomrrow, they'll be more likely to get on a bike in the future. You can even load the bikes on the back of your car and drive there to make the whole experience easier for them.

Yours in The Faith,
Pasture Ted

Map and details at
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=282549&c=51515 and
http://bikeportland.org/2011/05/18/pbot-to-make-portion-east-portland-carfree-on-sunday-53152