Amanda here, just checking in to let everyone know Joel and I haven’t disappeared! We’re still going to church (see photographic evidence above)! It’s just been an incredibly busy summer – I’m in school and Joel just opened a new business – and neither of us has reliable childcare, which means our writing time has…

By Joel Gunz Every Sunday at 6 p.m., Augustana Lutheran Church does a Jazz Service, starring some of Portland’s musical luminaries, like diva Marilyn Keller and legendary drummer and Pope of the jam session scene Ron Steen.  I’m sure the church has taken its share of flack for this (isn’t jazz worldly, or something?), but…

The United Methodist church is big. How big? Worldwide, about 12 million members and over 40,000 congregations big. Put another way, UMC is the largest mainline (read: establishment, fairly liberal, non-Catholic) religion and the second-largest Protestant religion in the United States. Put still another way, unless you subsist on deliveries from Amazon.com, eBay and Domino’s,…

By Amanda P. Westmont Two weeks ago, I had one of the worst days I can ever remember having. I’d spent the afternoon up to my eyeballs in pure, unabashed ugliness. I honestly thought it couldn’t get any worse, but then a police officer pounded on my front door, read me my rights and accused…

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