Tag: Wilderness Way

Bees and the Great Economy

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

beesBy Dave Pritchet. Second post in a series on bees from the Wilderness Way, Portland, OR

For millenia, people around the world have noticed the economy of bees.  The Roman writers Virgil and Varro lauded bees for their thrifty behavior, and the Greek philosopher of economics Xenophon used them as an example of economic well-being.

For over 100 million years, bees have been evolving with plants, providing the service of pollination in return for nectar.  As the agents of genetic exchange for a host of plants, bees are at the heart of what Wendell Berry called the Great Economy.  Berry notes that if the biblical Kingdom of God includes all and that humans by default, whether they are aware or not, live within it, a modern rendering of the phrase would allude to the economy of nature. Thus, the “Great Economy” becomes shorthand for that which humans both live within and live by. Continue reading “Bees and the Great Economy” →

When Bees Talk…We Listen

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Theological Animation, Watershed Discipleship2 Comments

BeesBy Solveig Nilsen-Goodin, Wilderness Way Community, Portland, OR

“I heard something…” she said.

I had just spoken the final, “Amen,” closing the prayers at our weekly gathering as the Wilderness Way Community on a sunny Sunday afternoon in early June. But she had heard something. And she needed us to hear it too.

It was a message from the bees.
Continue reading “When Bees Talk…We Listen” →

Taking the First Step: Addiction, Ecology & Recovery

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

SNGBy Rev. Solveig Nilsen-Goodin of the Wilderness Way Community in Portland, a team of Jesus-followers committed to “discovering wisdom for our time, healing for ourselves and our planet, and the power of untamable (resurrection!) life!” She and her partner Peter are also active participants with Eco Faith Recovery, a growing network of faith-based people and institutions within the Christian tradition, waking up to the enormity of the ecological-economic-spiritual crisis before us. Their children, Soren & Stig, recently interrupted our dinner conversation with chants of “We hate coal! We hate coal!” (above: the Nilsen-Goodin family)
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The profound ecological degradation we are currently witnessing and the rise of addictive behaviors such as alcoholism and drug addiction are two sides of the same coin.
Albert LaChance

Waking up to the developing global ecological crisis is like moving from being a child in an alcoholic family to growing up and going into recovery.
Continue reading “Taking the First Step: Addiction, Ecology & Recovery” →

The Well of Grief

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as ResistanceLeave a comment

grief wellA poem from David Whyte, passed along to the RadicalDiscipleship community by Peter Nilsen-Goodin of the Wilderness Way Community of Portland, OR.

Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief

turning downward through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe

will never know the source from which we drink,
the secret water, cold and clear,

nor find in the darkness glimmering
the small round coins
thrown by those who wished for something else.

The Wilderness Way: 7 Sustainable Practices

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Watershed DiscipleshipLeave a comment

portlandThe Wilderness Way Community (Portland, OR) is a practice-oriented community pledged to be “guided by the wisdom of Nature, the undomesticated Jesus and his movement, and the wilderness tradition in which Jesus was grounded.” They share a common life by committing to live by a common set of daily practices. These practices flow from their mission statement and shape their life according to values other than those of the marketplace or the battlefield.

Over the years their practices have changed as the community has changed. For several years they used these Seven Sustainability Practices to shape their lives. For many of them, those once-new practices have now become simply part of how they live their lives.
Continue reading “The Wilderness Way: 7 Sustainable Practices” →

Reading The Bible With The Land In Portland

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Grounding and cultivating wild Christian disciples and fearless spiritual leaders: that’s the mission of the Wilderness Way Community of Portland, OR, a radical ministry under the umbrella of the Oregon Synod-ELCA. In early August, members of the Wilderness Way spent some intentional stewardship time together, discerning the fate of a 6-acre property that is owned, but currently not being used, by ELCA. The community then collaboratively penned a letter to the Oregon Synod, detailing their process & conclusions:

We each walked around the property, praying and listening. We tasted the luscious blackberries, strolled through the rows of grapes, followed the path to the cross and the fire pit, and then gathered under the apple trees with limbs already heavy with green apples. We noticed the hospitality of the property and its many spaces for “outdoor classrooms.” But perhaps the clearest message we heard the land saying that afternoon was, “I want to bear fruit.”

Continue reading “Reading The Bible With The Land In Portland” →