vinea.church: meditations from the vineyard
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” ~John 15:5
In 2015, I did a year long apprenticeship in the vineyard, volunteering a day a month that year to work in the vineyard and learn from the vineyard more of what it means to be human, more of what it means to love God, more of what it means to love others. That year, 2015, Cannon Beach Community Church (where I have served as Lead Pastor since 1993) and I were awarded $50,000 through the Lilly Foundation, a grant with the theme of Cultivate the Vineyard: A Journey Together into Fruitful Spiritual Growth. Because of this grant, my wife and I were able to travel in Europe for three months, where I studied viticulture, worked in vineyards harvesting winegrapes, visited sacred pilgrim sites such as Lindisfarne, England, Alsace, France, and St. Hildegard Abbey, Germany. During that pilgrimage, I studied ten of my favorite medieval fruitful heroes of the Christian faith, including Aidan and Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Hilda of Whitby, Hildegard of Bingen, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis and Clare of Assisi, Jan Hus, Johannes Tauler, and Martin Bucer. I think of hhis blog as some of the clusters of fruit harvested from that year of apprenticeship in the vineyard.
In September, 2015, we immersed ourselves for a week in one of the world’s most famous wine-making regions, the land ...
There is no easy way to summarize the life and legacy of Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179). In the sanctuary of ...
Several times a year, over the past decade, I’ve made prayer/study retreats to Mount Angel Benedictine Abbey in Oregon where, ...
During the week of September 7-11, 2015, we had the pleasure of living in a fertile region of central Germany ...
Traveling in another country brings you face to face with many daily joys and challenges. Mark Twain had it right ...
On September 6, 2015, we toured the Rheingauer Weinmuseum (Wine Museum of the Rhinegau Region). The Rheingau is a world-reknown ...
On September 3, 2015, we had the pleasure of biking about 30 miles along the Alsace Wine Route. We rented ...
Martin Bucer, was born November 11, 1491 into a family of barrel makers. His mother was a midwife. His father ...
(Note: This blog post was prepared and posted from Alsace, France, on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Albert Schweitzer's death, ...
Today, August 31st is St. Aidan’s Day. What a joy to celebrate St. Aidan’s Day on Holy Island of Lindisfarne ...
If you choose to walk over to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne as we did this month, you will come ...
"Prayer Carpet" Pages preceding each Gospel, featuring cross pattern "Prayer Carpet" pages with opening page of Gospel including illuminated initial ...
On August 24-28, 2015, I am on retreat with The Community of Aidan and Hilda at the Open Door Retreat ...
For five days, August 20-24, 2015, Trina and I walked the pilgrim path called “The Way of St. Oswald”, 50 ...
St. Columba (529-597), also known as Columcille (Irish for "Church Dove") was a 2nd generation Irish Christian following in the ...
Britain is a land of hedges. I’ve never given much thought to hedges. While eating breakfast on August 18, 2015, ...
Note: The first three paragraphs in this blog post are quoted from Ancient Paths: Discover Christian Formation the Benedictine Way, ...
On July 6, 2015, the people of Czech Republic among many others around the world commemorated the 600th anniversary of ...
Here's a collection of images featuring some highlights from Copenhagen, Denmark. We spent two days biking in Copenhagen, visiting great ...
Danes are known the world around for their sense of beauty, both in the natural world, in art, architecture and ...
We've had the pleasure of biking in Copenhagen this past week, spend two days on bikes borrowed from our Danish ...
"The grape is the most noble and challenging fruit one can grow." Allow me to introduce you to Dyrehøj Vingaard, ...
I bumped into an elderly Danish man today, by the name of Grundtvig. Prior to today, I had only seen ...
While in Jutland, Denmark, a peninsula surrounded on the west by the north Atlantic and on the east by the ...
