I spent a few hours doing this pen and ink drawing today. You can click on it for a larger image of it. It is on high quality archival watercolor paper. It measures 4″x10.5″ (10.2cm x 26.7cm). You can purchase the original here.
Lisa and I spend the last weekend with a great bunch of younger people. Well, generally they are younger. There were some older ones there too. And I would put myself in the older group. It was an entirely refreshing time for me. Also disturbing.
It was refreshing for me because they are a curious collection of people. Nobody necessarily agreed with anything I had to say. That wasn’t the point. The point was for me to come and share what I had discovered with them. In turn, they shared their discoveries with me. No conclusions or comparisons had to be drawn. Even though their spirit is deep and rich, it seemed free of negative religious spirit. When I shared with them an explanation of the z-theory (type z-theory in the subject box of nakedpastor to learn more), it was refreshing for me to see interest in their eyes instead of the usual glazing over or anger or indifference. The discussions were lively, courageous and edifying. When we were nearing the end I had the impression that what had happened that weekend was like two subversive underground collectives meeting covertly. It was an affirmative time for me.
It was disturbing because I realized that these guys and I share the same DNA. I saw that my critique of the church is justified. There are vast numbers of people like them, like me, who desire community that respects and embraces a spiritual component but entirely free of manipulation, control, exploitation, expectations and confined thought and belief. I returned more commitment to authentic community free of all these things. I realized on my drive home that this means commitment to receiving more maltreatment, but I’ll deal with that.
The photo is of the group on Saturday morning working together on one canvas. The themes we worked on were journey, sacred, truth and reverence.
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
Lisa and I are driving to Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia. There is a young artistic/ surfing/ spiritual community on the eastern shore looking out over the Atlantic Ocean on one of the nicest beaches for surfing up this way. We are friends with the ones who oversee it and host it at their house, Judith and John Brannen. They’ve asked us to come and hang out with them for the weekend. We are having a wine and cheese party tonight, an arts session tomorrow morning, then a dinner tomorrow night. They’ve asked that I come and talk about my z-theory (type “z-theory” into my search box on nakedpastor and all 17 entries will come up if you want to catch up). I’m excited about it because this community has a reputation for being very curious, fun, intellectual, and deeply committed to the value of questioning.
It’s interesting: these past couple of weeks I’ve talked to several “believers” who are keeping up appearances, but who are actually closet skeptics, closet liberals, closet agnostics, closet atheists, closet whatever. My question is, “Why don’t we just come out of our closets?” There is a lot of fear of persecution, rejection and ridicule from the outside. But there is also the terror of what being honest about our doubts and questions will mean to our own spiritual, intellectual and emotional stability. I think we should all find the courage to question. It is easier with support, which is why I encourage this kind of community. But if we have to do it alone, it’s better to be honest than live a borrowed life.
I’m looking forward to talking with a bunch of younger people eager to explore. I’m expecting to be personally challenged myself. I’m a little nervous about articulating the z-theory clearly. Why? Because my years of searching, culminating in the waterfall dream, was a mystical experience for me, a vision of sorts, that completely altered my mind. How does one communicate such things? I’ll keep you posted.
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
This is a recent watercolor and ink piece of mine that can be acquired here at a sale price. Also, I completed another nude linocut that is available here.
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
This is what greeted me first thing in the morning. This is the river that flows in front of our house. Right now it is flowing under a couple of feet of ice. The moon was setting. It was 12 below 0 C (10F). I was in my housecoat and slippers at the end of my driveway. But I captured the view that inspires many of my paintings, as some of you already know. You can still buy some of my paintings that I’m purging from my inventory at sale prices HERE. Thanks!
I am selling off all my 2009 inventory of my original artworks at sale prices. I’ve gone through a kind of personal transformation that I trust will be manifested in my art. I am turning a new leaf, so to speak. So I am sort of “purging” my older pieces. I still love them, but it’s time for them to go and find their new homes. There are some incredible deals so you might want to hurry to select yours. I will continue posting them on my art site, so stay tuned. Also, I am providing FREE SHIPPING for a limited time. Go HERE and enjoy shopping for some very affordable art.
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
- I have several original 2009 paintings on sale. Want them gone. 50% off!
- Makoto Fujimura inspires me.
- People can’t resist delicious rumors. I hear delicious rumors about me almost daily.
- I’ve become a Cormac McCarthy fan.
- Started writing music again.
- Why do so many people want to see me and my church fail?
- René Girard is important.
- Received lots of flack last year for nakedpastor and got intimidated. Not again.
- I love chorale music, especially from Russia and Estonia.
- The z-theory (type it in my search box) continues to draw attention.
This is one of my paintings for sale, “Birch Row with Stars” (watercolor on Arches 140lb cp., approximately 10″x22″ (25cm x 55cm). I’ll sell it for $80 USD.
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
We had Rik and Zara Leaf with their two kids with us for a week. They just left today. Rik took the entire Sunday morning, playing his songs and talking in between. It was a refreshing time. There was no preaching of any kind. He told stories and talked about their own experiences. His mixture of music, poetry and story-telling had a powerful impact on our community.
He lost his father this last year and he shared that with us. That afternoon I went home and wrote a letter to my own dad. This last summer when we visited I told him some of what was going on in my life. I was afraid that he might be disappointed in me because I have a history of being a shit-disturber and rocking the boat, perpetually self-sabotaging my own success. Rather than express disappointment, he was totally supportive. I wanted to tell him how much that meant to me. I closed the letter with my love, saying: “I wanted to tell you this rather than wishing I had.”
We underestimate the power of the arts. Even Jesus told stories and did things as his main mode of communication. I don’t think he was a preacher. I remember this last summer reading Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road. Now, I’ve watched all the documentaries and read science books and magazines and pamphlets warning me about our impact on the environment, but to no avail, even though I cognitively understood the problem. After I read The Road I became not only interested in but more passionate about radically decreasing the size of my own footprint on the environment. It literally transformed my mind and my behavior as a result.
I remember listening to the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s cd, Te Deum, and being overwhelmed with the universe being full of Glory and that all is loved.
I remember seeing the French artist Luc-Olivier Merson’s work, Rest on the Flight to Egypt (view it here), and being transformed to understand that the good news isn’t just for everybody, but includes everybody.
That’s why, when I say I am an artist trapped in a pastor’s body, it isn’t a bad thing. I am creative, and my creativity doesn’t just find expression in my paintings, my cartoons, my music or my sculptures, but in everything I do, including my relationships and the way I pastor a community. Rik affirmed that to me this weekend when he said that our community is like nothing he’s ever seen or experienced, and he thinks it is beautiful. That’s because we are trying to be creative instead of copycats.
The photo was taken this morning out my backdoor. Do you see the young buck bedded down in our shrubs?
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
This image is a “painting” I did on my iPhone using the Brushes application. I painted it with my finger on the touch screen. You can zoom in 800% to create the detail. It’s a pretty cool app. I’m not sure if I showed it on this blog yet or not.
My hard drive is replaced. Fortunately I used Apples very cool Time Machine to back up my hard drive frequently. So I just plugged in the external hard drive, my Time Machine, and it’s restoring the hard drive to where it was before it broke. It’s taking longer than I thought so my new cartoon will be up tomorrow. Thanks all my readers for tagging along.
Also, some of you might have noticed that I’ve removed the ads from my site. I just wasn’t making enough money off of it to justify polluting my site with unsightly ads. Nakedpastor should be minimalistic, streamline, and, well, naked. Stripped bare. I’m trying to achieve that. Now, if any companies approach me and offer to pay big bucks to advertise on my site… well that’s another story.
Our friends, and friends of our church community, Rik and Zara Leaf and their two kids, are staying with us this week. We are having an open party at our house Saturday night starting at 7pm. All are welcome!! Then he is taking Sunday morning with his music and words of wisdom. I love these guys because they help me to see outside the box. Please join us!
Contributions to nakedpastor are greatly appreciated.
David Hayward is a pastor artistically stripping to the essential.
