about brian

'one day we'll awake to remember how lovely we are...' (bruce cockburn) 

i'm a wanderer and a wonderer...a drummer and a dreamer...a percussive and paradoxical pastor who happily and hopefully resides at the intersection of doubt and faith...living with my unique and special family in a unique and beautiful place...usually amazed, always in process...

i spent the first 32 years of my life 'behind the Orange Curtain' (Orange County, CA)...escaped with my family (not by blimp) to Princeton, NJ, where i learned that there were a lot of other places in the world that i could live and be truly happy...then returned to CA (to the northern half of the state, in Burlingame) in time to experience the Schwarzenegger 'total recall', and then got out again in time to miss the Schwarzenegger 'total collapse'...landed in MIssoula, MT, home of the University of Montana, the city where not one but three 'rivers run through it', where i reside to this day with my family (my wife, Kirsten, and my teenage boys, Ian and Trevor).

somehow along the preposterous pathway of life i have traveled, i ended up working with adolescents...and liked it and them. this led even more surprisingly to become a 'Rev.' in the Presbyterian Church (USA), the vocation in which i served for 12 years (in Burlingame and Missoula)...until march, 2012. what followed was a season in a 'liminal' space of doing what i tend to do most naturally (only doing much intentionally)...wandering and wondering...about life, faith (or lack thereof), God, people, calling, future...and trying my best to engage the challenge rather than escape it. and since i am a communicator by calling and gifting (speaking and writing), this blog represents one of the tangible ways i am choosing to 'lean into' this strange season of life.

out of this 'liminal' space emerged a new opportunity to sojourn in the strange new world of transitional ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Ukiah, CA. i split my time between Ukiah and Missoula until Trevor graduated in the summer of 2015. and now i've returned to a 'permanent' call, albeit in a new role (senior pastor) in a new community (Moreland Presbyterian Church in Portland, OR).

and so...for all of you who, like me, are drawn to the paradoxical presence that reveals its extraordinary presence in ordinary life...the 'sacred' Spirit that saturates the 'secular' world in which we live and breathe...the whispers of wonder that speak into life much more through relationships than religion...the rhythm of redemption and re-creation that 'rips through the surface of time' (b. cockburn) and draws ALL of us into the divine dance of creation and life...i hope this will be a space where you can feel free to be and express yourself, to explore and discover more fully your life and your self, and maybe even to experience the perfect Love that gives light and life to ALL through imperfect means.

thanks for visiting this site, and for journeying and joining in the 'dance' with me...peace to you...
brian



1 comment:

  1. That is a great inspirational introduction to yourself and to your insight on life. I do believe that life is dynamic and that everything you experience changes you a little more every day; some are positive changes and some are negative changes but they are changes none the less. Our life and our attitudes are a confluence of all experiences.I will never be you, you will never be me, we are as unique as a snowflake. Perhaps that is the problem with the church. They are talking to snowflakes and wanting to create identical people; clones if you will. I believe we will not become who we were put on earth here to be until the milisecond prior to our death. At that point I would like to look back on life and be able to say that I enjoyed it and I did not enjoy it at the expense of another's happiness. You Brian played an important role in Laura and I's relationship. You offered friendship and counsel and understanding. You didn't condemn but rather grieved with us as we, as snowflakes in life, continue our flutter to the ground.

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