Three days after Christmas, 60 people braved an evening storm to gather at a Grange Hall in the Cedar Mill area of Portland to take part in the fourth Oatmeal Bible Hour.
The OBH was started last September by David Golden, the music director of a church in Northwest Portland, and is advertised as "high-fiber, low-fat alternative worship, meeting monthly in the Leedy Grange."
It is a musical worship experience, where risks are taken, rules are broken, and quality takes a backseat to creativity.
On this night, after an opening prayer, the house band Zimrath played an original song just two days old, then songs by the Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers, and NOFX.
They were followed by musical guests Counterpoint, a local contemporary Christian vocal group. Everyone was invited to sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" after noting that Charles Wesley and Felix Mendelssohn wrote the words and the music about 100 years apart, and probably neither the author nor the composer would have chosen to combine that music with that text.
David Weekley, pastor of Montavilla United Methodist Church in Southeast Portland, was introduced as the "theologian du jour." He read some scripture and told a Christmas story.
The evening concluded with Zimrath presenting a musical hybrid which might be titled "Hark! The Gadda da Vida," combining the Charles Wesley text with the music of an infamous epic 1967 rock song by Iron Butterfly, complete with extended improvised solos on the organ, electric guitar, and drums.
The "congregation" attending The Oatmeal Bible Hour is diverse in age, from young children to senior citizens. The members of Zimrath, which has always been the nucleus of the Oatmeal Bible Hour, range in age from 13 to 48.
To learn more about The Oatmeal Bible Hour, log onto www.oatmealbible.org.
Upcoming Oatmeal Bible Hours are scheduled for 5 p.m. the last Sunday of each month, at least up through May 2004.