As I ride, my thoughts wander, and many times they wander back to my spiritual foundations. Riding a bike is great in many ways, giving us the physical exercise we need every day, as well as cleaning out the cobwebs in our brains. As I thought about how this works for me, I wondered how it might work for others. Some call my constant “preaching” about bike safety and the love of the bike a religion. It’s not, but it certainly can help us as we ride the trails taking in all that God has created.
I found the following in Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. A little extreme but very interesting.
“The Blessing of the Bicycles is an annual tradition which began at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York in which riders of bicycles are blessed by a priest in the hope that it will bring safety for the coming season. Since its beginning in 1999 the ceremony has been ostensibly non-denominational, focusing more on rider safety than religion. However, the service does include prayers and reading of biblical passages, and bicycles are sprinkled with holy water A brief memorial service is held to acknowledge riders who have died in the previous year The Blessing of the Bicycles is one of only three annual occasions—the others being Easter and the Feast of Saint Francis—on which the cathedral opens its 3-ton bronze portal to allow for larger crowds. The popularity of the service has encouraged other localities to follow suit. Annual blessings are held from Burlington, Massachusetts to Los Angles to Melbourne and incorporate varying degrees of emphasis on religion, environmentalism, fitness, cyclists' rights, and safety.”
As I researched this topic a little more I found that Oregon isn’t known for spiritual piety (they have the fourth largest percentage of people identifying themselves as "non-religious" in the United States), but in Portland, a new organization is taking an earnest yet irreverent approach to a new kind of cycle-spirituality: It's called “the Bike Temple”
Why the combination of bicycles and religion? According to the Bike Temple's pamphlet, which can often be spotted in spokes and on handlebars around Portland, "Bicycles give us happiness, good health, a closer communication to our communities, lower consumption, self-appreciation, and most of all, fun!"
The founders of The Bike Temple (who asked to be identified by their self-appointed religious titles), discussed during a recent business meeting how they came to be. It began with a conversation between "Kernal Loose Nut" Moses and "Pasture" Ted during the Pedalpalooza bike festival in 2008. Ted had helped in the birth of the Bike Church (now the Davis Bike Collective) in Davis, California in 2004 and wanted to create a similar community in Portland.
Portland's behavior sent a clear message to the Bike Temple founders. With our multitude of themed group rides and festivals honoring two-wheeled, pedal-powered vehicles, the answer seemed obvious: "this is something the community has been asking for."
"Deacon" Amos has a passion for bicycles and religion. "If they’re the same," he says, "it just makes for a more efficient service." He explains the Bike Temple’s long-term goal of having a permanent space to grow and build their ministry. They envision a "bike club house" with a shop where people can work on their "venerated mode of transportation," where kids can grow up together in a supportive environment, and the community can build closer together
Again, an extreme but interesting concept, as long as God is included. And getting back to where this column started, what a blessing it is to ride and view all the works of His hands in nature. Let’s all get out on our bikes this fall season, and enjoy it to the fullest.