Dear Friends,It is now nearly half a year since we left the US Atlantic Coast. The days are growing shorter and the air is getting cooler. The odometer has just turned thirty-thousand miles (50,000 km). Your pilgrims have reached the Pacific coast, having cycled "from sea to shining sea". They have visited many good people in Mt. Vernon, Port Townsend, Edmonds, Marrowstone Island, Vashon Island and elsewhere in the Puget Sound area. From there they went southward along the coast, through Oregon and into California.
It is only possible to recount a few of the highlights we experienced along the way. Port Townsend, WA was certainly one of them. We were received by a friendly and very musical family. Not only did we spend much time singing and playing music together, but they also gave us a tour of the area, including a visit to a popular new coffee shop with a world-class barista from New York. The people in this part of the world, where Starbucks coffee got its start in Seattle, take their coffee very seriously! There was also a visit to the Orthodox Church of St. Herman of Alaska. Their patron, St. Herman, left the Russian monastery of Valaam on Lake Ladoga (which your pilgrims visited in August, 2000) and travelled to North America, going much of the way overland by dog-sled. Russian trappers and fisherman later brought their culture and religion down the Pacific coast as far south as Fort Ross, California. We were taken into the parish there like family and met many kindred souls. We went to the parish camp in a nearby park and were amazed and heartened to see so many people, especially children and teenagers living, praying, playing, singing and just being together with joy and harmony.
There was also a visit to Port Haddock, WA. On one side of the road is a Waldorf School. idealistically working to cultivate the love of learning in children. Next to it is a Bio-dynamic Farm where William gave a talk on nutrition and agriculture at a monthly "mind-mulch" meeting. Across the street is a wonderful bicycle shop run by a competent and kind former science teacher. We had the blessing of meeting both of the founding teachers, and even looked after the animals on the farm of one of them (a gem of a teacher from South Africa), as she went on a well-earned and much needed vacation.
Another highlight was a visit to the Russian Orthodox Monastery on Vashon Island. (See photo above.) The buildings in this oasis of peace and Christian spirituality are constructed in Norwegian style. Indeed, the abbot, Fr. Tryphon is of Norwegian origin. We happened to arrive just before the annual island picnic, which was hosted by the monastery, so we had the chance to meet, sing for and speak to many people on this island where people tend to keep to themselves.
In Astoria, Oregon, (after a harrowing ride over the bridge from Washington) we met a very friendly couple who thought we should stay there that night, even though it was still morning. They not only put us up, but also arranged for us to sing and speak on the Scandinavian Radio Program at KMUN and to sing for patients in the palliative station of the local hospital.
Further south and some days later, we met an undercover missionary (known by his pseudonym, Tumbleweed) in front of the Fred Meyers superstore, who promptly invited us to his home. He not only arranged for us to visit a local church and a retirement home, but also made sure that we were well supplied and provided for before continuing on our way south. You can learn more about him on his blog: www.tumbleweed-2.info From there, we proceeded southward to California. (more about that in our next blog)
As we wrote in the last blog, many people are concerned about the economic crisis: unemployment, lower house prices, unstable financial institutions and even financially unstable state governments. Looking around, though, one sees adequate food, shelter, clothing and other material needs--even luxuries. To begin with, the world is suffering a crisis of over-production. In the human body, a cancerous tumor, grows and grows at the expense of the other organs and functions of the body. Likewise, economic production today has grown at the expense of the rest of society. Political and cultural life are alienated from their true purposes and are forced to serve and boost this production.
This alienation has led to the second aspect of the problem: a crisis in the distribution of material goods. Even as material production increases, more and more people are losing their right (their right before man's law, not before God's law) to a share in this production. As a crass example, as tons of food are destroyed in Europe and America to keep prices up, children in Africa and Asia are getting sick and dying from lack of food.
No political or technical quick fix can change this. Real change must begin with a spiritual renewal, with a "metanoia", a change of spirit. Can we learn to think imaginatively instead of abstractly, to understand the interrelation among economics, politics and culture? Can we have an experience of our basic human dignity, as creatures in the image and likeness of the Creator? Can we help others to have this experience? When such questions have been answered, then and only then can real social change and healing begin.
We send our love and thanks to all our friends, to all who have helped and prayed for us along the way.
Alexandra and William
14 October, 2009
