Report: Meeting of the Clergy

Meeting report -- Jan 25, 2010
Present: Deacon Amos (DA), Pasture Ted (PT), Grand Master Morgan (GMM), Kernal Loose Nut (KLN)
Absent: Halleylujah, Sister Erin, Josh, Johnnie :^(

* Bike Temple Shrine --
Bring it to GMM's house (pending housemate approval) then schedule a time in Johnnie's shop to work on it, he can teach us all to weld. We took a look at it, it's a little forlorn, but with fresh bike inner tubes, new welds, air in the tires, a little incense and flower leis, and maybe attaching the brake levers to the steering mechanism, we'd have a fine bit of Mobile Religious Equipment to bring to Fourth Friday Artwalk and other misc Portland Holy Days.

* January Social Event -- Feed The Sprockettes?
Pushed back to February 7th, Sunday. We learned that The Sprockettes use the Lotus Seed as a rehearsal space on Sundays from 3 - 7pm, so we figured we'd meet at 6pm and set up food on the stage, maybe bring tights 'n tutus to be cheerleaders, then have a "Feed The Sprockettes" social/potluck/service event that would convene at 7pm sharp.
This all pending on the Sprockettes being willing co-conspirators, of course. But we're optimistic.

* February Social Event: Home Shrine Workshop
We opted to have three "Home Shrine Construction" workshops over the course of the year. Having a bicycle shrine/altar in your home brings a sense of comfort and security, a personal sacred space for you to commune with diety or just put some cool stuff. You can add to it over the course of a lifetime, bringing home sacred artifacts from important times and places.

Since none of us have actually made a home altar before, we'll have three events over the course of the year:
- Winter event: a warm up event, where we bring all the materials we think we need, get people together, and see what we can put together. Welder, paint, artifacts, bike parts, stickers, bottlecaps, glueguns, and watch beauty and divinity unfold before our very eyes.
- Spring event: we'd build shrines sometime around Pedalpalooza, this would be a properly supported and planned-for event, and it might be a fundraiser, too (am I getting this right? --PT
- Fall Event: have a "fundraising shrine workshop" where we'll build shrines and other arty stuff for sale at BikeCraft as a Bike Temple fundraiser.

So, start collecting your sacred bits now, sketch some plans on napkins, and plan to come to the Bike Temple on Sat or Sun, Feb 27th/28th (pending Lotus Seed confirmation)

* Monogamous Sects Rides --
Discussed doing this on Sunday the 14th after the Bike Porn screening, possibly involving a venue where we could confess sins (Catholic church?). Decided that a Feb 14th ride would be in conflict with a number of peoples' personal schedules, so settled on Feb 21st, destination TBD, but possibly the Portland Secular Humanist meeting. The KLN expressed an interest in going to some of the American-based proselytising denominations, like Mormons, JWs, and maybe Seventh Day Adventists? PT noted that he'd be happy to lead a ride to the Mormons, but would probably be out of town on the 21st.

DA noted that he would like to build a database of church's degree of "bike friendliness" and that he started with the First Presbyterian. He had made a suggestion to their website person that they include the 18 bike parking spaces in the lavish underground parking structure to their website, but they haven't updated it yet.

For a March Monogamous Sects ride, planning on March 14th, possibly an Irish Catholic church.

* Feb 7th: CCC Scrounge --
GMM reports that 501(c)3 charitys can come and pick through the CCC's castoffs on Feb 7th -- DA and PT will meet with Wren to see if we can accept bike parts on behalf of the Lotus Seed.

* Jan 30th: New Tract and Folding Party --
DA will be putting together a new tract, we'll have a "Tracts and Pinball" social night at Billy Rays on Saturday Jan 30th. Meet upstairs at the big round library table, time TBD. We'll have the tracts printed up, but will slice them with the paper cutter, fold, and staple at Billy Rays. (Your choice of Medival Madness, The Soprannos, Monster Bash, Attack from Mars, and that .75 game...)

* Future Plans, Summer Dreams --
As usual, some good dreaming and musing about how the Bike Temple can expand to better fill the spiritual needs of a bicycling society. DA noted that there were probably a lot of bicyclists in Portland that believed in Jesus or other dieties, and would like some genuine conventional religion. PT noted that there were plenty of elderly congregations around, and DA noted that they'd probably salivate if we walked in the door and looked like we had a bunch of people ready to join. DA and KLN both brought wine, it was a beautiful night with a bit of a moon, ideas were flowing.

* Wrapping-Up --
"The bicycle is a Trifecta of God because you have Health, the Environment and Fun, it's the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Happy Healthy Home, the Rolling Trinity." -- Grand Master Morgan

Yours in The Faith,
Pasture Ted