The Front Porch Project

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Just a few days ago, we had an event at Ventana del Soul with Talley Summerlin and Todd Garza providing the entertainment, and as it turned out–the sermon.  We had told everyone that this would be our last event of the year and they should all come and celebrate with us the past and the visions for the future.

Little did we know, Talley and Todd would steal the show. Oh, we knew Talley’s music–poet, rocker, dude. We’d checked out Todd and were anticipating great things. They did a now trademarked presentation: Sing a song, talk about the inspirations and moods of the songs, sing another song, talk a little more, then switch singers; repeat formula.  We couldn’t take our ears off of them. They crooned poetry that swept us away, sang whimsy and soul, strummed and picked original tunes–then shared from their hearts and humors. We all asked honest questions that came up for us and they answered them true and fresh.

What was to be a celebration (truly was celebration) becomes prototype. All events put on by the Front Porch, she declared defiantly, will be from the heart, from the humors, honest, true and fresh. I want to receive the gift that someone offers and return to the giver good hearing and gratefulness. I want the gifted to come on the Front Porch knowing their art will be given careful hearing. I want those who come to receive the gifts to know before arriving  that they will receive something special from a giver who has taken a risk to offer up his or her gift.

These things I want and, almost impossibly, I imagine that soon, on the Front Porch they’ll happen all day long, seven days a week. And I’ll follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far. Thanks to Talley and Todd for epitomizing this dream for me. I wish you had been there.

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The curious, the quirky, the clueless and the clever have gone out to the hills southwest of Austin to check out the Wizard Academy. Though founder Roy Williams was dubbed the Wizard of Ads by a satisfied client, you don’t just learn about advertising when you go out there. Roy has a sort of collector’s mind–collecting literature favorites who’s heroes turn up on the walls and rooftops of the beautiful structures being built out there, trivia and oddments from places you wouldn’t expect, and facts and trends that the world has yet to notice. A day spent out there often leaves me unable to describe just what I went out to learn, nor why I seem to have learned this other thing instead. That’s why I go back.

One thing I have enjoyed on my visits is the 40-Year Pendulum. This is a multi-media presentation that takes us on an eighty year gallop through recent history, demonstrating Roy’s theory about this gigantic, predictable pendulum swing taking us from a civic minded society to an idealist minded society, with twenty year markers swinging by. You can see the trends in the music, literature, film, and certainly politics. And as we reach the current dates in the pendulum swing, we can follow the swing on out into the future–making some predictions if we dare.

Whenever Roy says to everyone, “I have something else for you or we can do the 40-Year Pendulum.” Everyone hollers, “40-Year Pendulum.” We’re so excited to be able to present this to you, our friends on the Front Porch. One of the Wizard Academy’s associates, Adam Dormoyer, will be with us on Thursday, December 2 to present this to us. Join us at Ventana del Soul, 6:30 to grab some refreshments and at 7, the program begins.

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What does the Harry Potter phenomenon mean in this day and age?

On the eve of the last Potter film, Deathly Hallows, the Front Porch Project is hosting an evening with Greg Garrett to celebrate and discuss the release of his latest book, One Fine Potion.

Come to Ventana del Soul in Austin, Texas, this Thursday at 6:30pm. Snacks and drinks will be served. Two free tickets to the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows will be given away.

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When the first Harry Potter book came out about a dozen years ago, I was stunned like a lot of other parents by how fast my 8 year-old son devoured it. He read each one in succession. I wondered at the Harry Potter phenomenon and sought to find out just what it was that was playing such a significant part in shaping my son’s outlook, positively or negatively. I began to read them for myself.

It’s amazing, really, the degree to which this story has embedded itself into our cultural consciousness. It means something. Sure, it’s been a Rorschach for all kinds of interpretations, but I’ve always had an uncanny hunch about the fact that this story came when and as it did. It has struck such a collective chord for some important reasons. It’s a phenomenon that begs for a conversation on the Front Porch!

And so I’m grateful for Greg Garrett’s latest book: One Fine Potion: the Literary Magic of Harry Potter. In this book, Greg says, “Like Rowling, George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien all wrote fantasy epics in which the church seems absent as an institution, yet in each of their greatest stories, the Christian story lies submerged just below the surface and sometimes breaking though into the light.” Hmmm…definitely time to meet on the Porch with Greg and muse over this idea and so much more.

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I’ve been to a couple of the Slow Money Salons in Austin (well, we hosted them on the Front Porch). I’ve listened to the issues, could even shift gears as the conversation shifts from the practical example to the theoretical visions to the harsh realities. One part of me gets excited thinking that if we’re talking about it, that will lead to progress. Who could think about the issues of sustainable food practices and not be interested?

But, I’m just a dreamer and I own very few of the details. I can sort of say that I know people would rather eat a poorly made hamburger (fries, of course) than slow down, take the time to eat veggies from their garden or ones that they bought from a local farmer–chock full of the vitamins that are supposed to be in there. Of course, they’d have to slow down and take time to create the garden, and or go to the farmer’s market to get the nutrition-filled goods, grown right here, not having set stem on a freight truck from another town.

But what is the business end of allowing the ventures that understand the benefits and needs for producing goods and service locally–and especially food related ventures. Let’s say someone has an idea for collecting rain to water a household garden, or has a business that will enable people to turn their lawns into veggie gardens, or put gardens in places where it really makes sense, like schools or hospitals or aging care facilities. What great ideas, but risky? Yeah. Seems to the bankers like dreaming or impractical schemes? Probably. These, I believe, are those harsh realities that the Slow Money people are talking about, and I plan to be there to listen.

I evesdropped on a recent conversation that included a blurb from Wendell Berry. This may be the topic of our November 11, Slow Money Salon. Listen:

Our time is characterized as much by the abuse and waste of human energy as it is by the abuse and waste of fossil fuel energy.  Nuclear power, if we are to believe its advocates, is presumably going to be well used by the same mentality that has egregiously devalued and misapplied man- and womanpower. If we had an unlimited supply of solar or wind power, we would use that destructively, too, for the same reasons.
 
Perhaps all of those sources of energy are going to be developed.  Perhaps all of them can sooner or later be developed without threatening our survival.  But not all of them together can guarantee our survival, and they cannot define what is desirable.  We will not find those answers in Washington, DC, or in the laboratories of oil companies.  In order to find them, we will have to look closer at ourselves.
 
I believe that the answers are to be found in our history: in its until now subordinate tendency of settlement, of domestic permanence.  This was the ambition of thousands of immigrants; it is formulated eloquently in some of the letters of Thomas Jefferson; it was the dream of the freed slaves; it was written into law in the Homestead Act of 1862.  There are a few of us whose families have not at some time been moved to see its vision and to attempt to enact its possibility.  I am talking about the idea that as many as possible should share in the ownership of the land and thus be bound to it by economic interest, by the investment of love and work, by family loyalty, by memory and tradition.
“The Unsettling of America”
By Wendell Berry

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I think this is my dream idea of how the Front Porch will work. We overhear or tune in on a topic, noodle around in it, and then suddenly nothing will do but that we host a conversation about it.

Such a thing has happened with an event we’re co-hosting next Thursday. In my former congregation, there was a group that had begun taking pilgrimages to Southern Malawi. Of course, this had its roots way back in the 70′s when their bishop, Bp. James Tengatenga was in Seminary in Austin and attending St. David’s. Now, folks have become interested in the beauty and the troubles of the Diocese of  Southern Malawi and have made several pilgrimages.

Of course these people come back changed, awed, passionate, committed and things we can’t know without true heart surgery. Let them tell you their story and tears fall, eyes gaze outward, people and places march through their minds. And they have done things. Three water wells have been dug and are operational, with more planned. The ability to get micro-loans has been created. A school, orphanage, hospital, all in various stages of creation to furnishing.

So, wired on what we were hearing, we said, let’s host a conversation. Let these pilgrims come together for a little reunion and express their hearts to a wider audience to hear and become empassioned themselves. The Front Porch Project is working to plan this event with Warm Heart International (the non-profit encouraging the pilgrimages and many of the projects) and, interestingly Cafe Monet.

The owners of Cafe Monet have traveled in Africa, passing through Malawi and were interested in the country. They wanted to learn more and wanted to bring friends to learn about Malawi and perhaps come on the next pilgrimage. “Why don’t you have it at our place and we’ll invite all our friends,” they suggested.

One of the hopes of this event is that more will want to come on these well-priced pilgrimages. More will go and meet the people, experience the incredible hospitality, and become empassioned to participate in efforts to support the Diocese of Southern Malawi and all those warm hearts. Always, the Front Porch wants to be a part of lifting great ideas up to more ears, encouraging good conversation and bringing groups together.

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The Front Porch Project is hosting a book launch of Enuma Okoro’s newest book, The Reluctant Pilgrim. Enuma will be reading from her book and having a Front Porch-style dialogue with us on September 29th at Ventana Del Soul.

The complete title of this book is The Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody, Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert’s Search for Community. Enuma takes us on her journey to find some place that she can feel at home in worship. Shane Claiborne says of her book, “In these honest tear-stained pages are a clear sign that there is a “Hound of Heaven” hunting us down…this Spirit that is stalking us with love, winking at us with miracles, tickling us with grace, subverting everything that could destroy us, and whispering in our ears that we are truly beloved.” Books will be on hand for sale and for the author signing.

Wednesday, September 29th

Ventana Del Soul –  1834 E. Oltorf

Gather:  6:30 pm      7:00pm Enuma’s presentation

The Front Porch is hosting this conversation in collaboration with St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and St. David’s Episcopal Church.

Check out Enuma’s blog:

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I have one foot in the world of church and one foot in the world.

At the moment, I’m intimately involved with day to day operations of a family sized church in Pflugerville. I worry about liturgy, music, Christian formation, the bathrooms, the teenagers, the candles, programs, visions and dreams for growing. But mostly I worry.

The foot that’s in the world wants to contribute to my spiritual experience here on the planet. My soul is hungry and sometimes confused (what with all that worrying). So Steve and I have decided to start a weekly group and turn our minds toward the great mystery.

Some of the things I’m thinking about: What is the substance of that between us when we’re really connecting or dreaming together? Where is peace and serenity in the vortex of the worry and push? What is it that you do to keep you sane or lift you into the mystery? Could we stand it if we had lots of that—being in the joy or ecstasy or satisfaction of great connection? Must I grow quiet, empty my mind? Shall I face eastward on my knees? Steve calls it Attention Giving—how ever do I do that in the vortex?

We’ll begin meeting next Sunday, the 26th, at 7:30 at our new downtown digs in the Hannig Row Building on 6th St. (200 E 6th St) 3rd Floor. We’ll wander around in the mystery to our own satisfaction then, if we’ve a mind to, we’ll go to St. David’s at 9 for Compline (choral Compline, too beautiful for words. Check link). We may speak of this as Sunday Evening on the Front Porch when we invite you to join us. My hungry soul needs all the input it can get.

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