Josh, Halley, Phil, Kernal, Amos, Ted.
(Photos © J. Maus)
Portland’s place for bicycling believers, the Bike Temple, celebrated its first physical location with a special grand opening event Friday night.
A large crowd of people from varying religions came together at the Lotus Seed Ashram (formerly the First Presbyterian Church) in Northeast Portland to bless their bicycles, profess their belief in them, and to offer themselves in service of anyone with a bike who needs help.
hand and Amos doing Gregorian
chants at the mic.
(Photo Joe Adamski)
The ceremony included an overview of Bike Temple by Deacon Amos and a bike blessing by Pasture Ted. Bicycles where rolled onto stage and their owners were asked by Ted, “Do you believe in bicycles?!”. After a positive affirmation, “holy anointing oil” was dropped onto their chains to complete the blessing.
Weaver has begun work on a
series of murals in the
shop space.
Another highlight of the evening was a recitation of the Bicycle Lord’s Prayer by Reverend Phil and a sermon by Kernal Loose Nut. I talked to Kernal after the ceremony and he called his sermon a “creative visualization of what bicycling could be”. Others said he painted an inspiring picture of the bicycling utopia many of us are working toward.
Attendee Erin Likins was moved by the service. “The power of the service came from the direct community connection. It was like we’re saying, ‘Here we are and we’re going to change things.'”
Bike Temple has secured a shop space in the basement of the church, where founder “Deacon” Amos Hunter says they’ll offer many types of community support, both of the social and cycling variety. Standing in the middle of the space, Amos said “We want to be here to help people, just like any other church group would do.”
A pamphlet Amos handed out explained it in more detail:
“Our goal is to take the best parts of religion, like social service, community involvement, events, and neighborhood organization, and relate them to the bicycle in ways never done before. Our programs and services are designed to introduce religion and cycling in hopes that they play nicely together.”
Learn more about the Bike Temple in our our profile published back in July, or drop by their new shop location at NE 9th and Going.