Five Friends

 

A DVD worth checking out, Five Friends is a very nice examination of a seasoned man and his friendships.  I’ve watched it with my community of men in Oregon and it provided a nice space for some very good discussion. Specifically I like how it touches upon the gift of longevity with friendship, having a deep friendship and being perceived as “gay” in our culture and in addition I liked also that it spoke of jealousy between friends and fear when a friendship is threatened- a topic that my guess happens more often than not, but few choose to talk about.  It’s well worth checking out.

Here’s the link:  http://fivefriendsmovie.com/

 

Summoning Adam

Here's the cover to their August edition, which is good indeed I'm sure, but you want to pick up the Nov/Dec 2011 edition- "Summoning Adam"

I recommend that you pick up a copy of PRISM magazine’s Nov/Dec issue entitled: “Summoning Adam.”  Lots of good articles in there…

The issue specifically speaks of men of faith who are on the front line of putting their hands and feet to the hard work of embodying what they believe.  From helping men get out of prostitution, to working with men in prison, to working to shut down porn shops the men in the articles in this issue are not men of words, but men of action and true conviction.  Here’s a link to PRISM’s website:  http://www.evangelicalsforsocialaction.org/page.aspx?pid=310

In the spirit of full self disclosure, I’m in one of the articles called “The Measure of a Man” where they interviewed 5 of us asking specifically what is God’s call on men’s hearts and how can the church help do that.  Here is a link to the article:  http://issuu.com/prismmagazine/docs/pages_from_nov-dec_2011_prism_measure_of_a_man

In one of the articles the director of Emmaus Ministries in Chicago told an analogy I really liked:  A man dies and goes and to heaven and saint Peter greets him.  Saint Peter asks the man to roll up his sleeves so he can see his arms.  The man asks “Why?”  To which St. Peter responds “I want to see your scars.”  When the man rolls up his sleeves and sheepishly says “I don’t have any.”  Peter simply replies, “Was there nothing on earth worth fighting for?”

Blessings-  Tim

 

 

“A Bigger World Yet” now on Amazon.

A sketch I did called "Mercy on Me," that is one of the 69 spot sketches and illustrations that can be found in the book. Come on, I'm an artist. Did you think I would wrtie something that didn't have artwork in it?

It’s now official.  You can purchase “A Bigger World Yet:  Faith, Brotherhood, and Same-Sex Needs” through Amazon.   Here’s the link:  http://www.amazon.com/Bigger-World-Yet-Brotherhood-Same-Sex/dp/0578072173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299708123&sr=8-1

You are also more than welcome to write a check for $14.95 (the book) + $3.00 (for shipping)= $17.95 (total) payable to “Tim Timmerman.” send that to:  Tim Timmerman, George Fox University, Box 6003, 414 N. Meridian St., Newberg, OR 97132, and I’ll do my best to get you a book in a jiffy!

Blessings to you.

 

A Leap Into the Abyss

Well, it’s time for me to open up to you what has been on my heart for a long time.  For over the past four and a half years with the help of some wise individuals in my community I have been working on a book.   A Bigger World Yet: Faith, Brotherhood, and Same-Sex Attraction, as of last Friday is now in print.

Currently the book has been independently published by Bird Dog Press,  and from here I’m working on locating a larger publisher who would like to run with the book.  A Bigger World Yet, will be available to purchase through Amazon shortly, as well as at Chapters Bookstore in Newberg.  I’ll alert you when you can get your very own copy!  It should be some time this week.  Your prayers would be very much appreciated in all of this.

Here is the back cover with the description of the book.

 

Wisdom Teaches Without Speaking

Here is the last of the three boxes that potentially may be a book cover (keep those eyes peeled).  With each my objective was to communicate some aspects of what it is to be a man, and the process of healing.

You saw parts of this in process through several posts- here is this work in complete form: (insert trumpet sound here…)

"Wisdom Teaches Without Speaking" Tim Timmerman; assemblage (baseball, marbles, toy soldier, metal with gold leaf), salvaged wood, pate de' verre, dalle de verre; August 2010

"Wisdom Teaches Without Speaking" side veiw

 

A Cry For Friendship.

A very nice print of David and Johnathan likely from the 1800's - sorry I can't figure out who created it.

There was a very nice article as of late in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Faux Friendships” By William Deresiewicz (thank you Rick for sending this on to me).  It’s well worth the read.

http://chronicle.com/article/Faux-Friendship/49308/

Its nice to see others fighting on this front and grieving the loss of “the friend” in our culture.  Too many seem content with the vapid and shallow so called acquaintances in our day and age that many (Christians being no different) passively embrace.

No wonder Mother Theresa would comment that America was the poorest country she ever came to, because we were the loneliest people she ever encountered.

Go hug someone.

Blessings-   Tim

 

Such an Immense Place

Preliminary Model of Male Figure from Fountain of Engineers about 1905-14 by Paul Wayland Bartlett bronze 14 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 12 5/8 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum

You know I’ve picked up as of late a book on the men’s movement from the 1990′s called Wingspan, Inside the Men’s Movement (edited by Christopher Harding).  It’s been very refreshing and reminds me of when I first introduced to this kind of “men’s work” in 1997.  If anything it makes me sad wondering where all the energy and excitement ended up.  Men today seem just as broken and lost as they were then, and I believe are in dire need of transparency and a safe community of brothers.

I found this quote in the book and wanted to pass it on to you here:

“The body is such an immense place. We take so long to find our way across it.  And each of us has so many bodies.  Sometimes they drag behinde us, and we feel encumbered and earth-laden.  Sometimes they race before us, making huge decisions in our name, while we scramble to catch up – and sometimes we call that “sex.” And we know so little about these things. And one of the only ways we can test the little we know is to speak of it.” Michael Ventura

 

The Hearts of Men

Ran onto this poem, and thought I would place it here this evening.

THE HEARTS OF MEN

detail of a painting by Adolphe Dechenaud from the Rouen Museum, France

Swing
like pendulums
from rage to remorse,
from anger to shame.
They do not know
The smaller increments
of a gradual birth,
the gentler shocks
of a congruent light.
All eruption, they pour
their grief like tide
into the air
and move out again,
like Odysseus,
into the deep sea
of disconnectedness,
the wide berth
of their denials. Once,
loved for their weeping,
they were coddled like yolks
in some womanly forgiveness.
Then, they became
what all men become
to earn their one stifled syllable –
an instrument
so hampered in its range
it becomes a bellows,
so shortened in its stops
it resembles a trumpet.
What will they do now
who have gone so long
without weeping,
who seem to have lost forever
the gradual repertoire,
the harp and the flute,
the piccolo and pizzicato?
In whose name,
impoverished ones,
will they learn to love? Who
will embrace them once more
for the shaken trill
of their weeping –
their cleft, broken hearts?

by Mchael Blumenthal
for Karen Allen

 

Some Giants are Really Your Friend.

"Some Giants are Really Your Friend"; Tim Timmerman; ink, watercolor, and gouache, 8”x8”, summer/05 & 9/09

In Jungian thought, the shadow is what you hide, repress or deny.  It’s elements about yourself that you may keep hidden or choose to not look at that are actually in the driver’s seat of your life; running the show.

In much of the men’s work and weekends that I have been a part of for the past twelve years wrestling that giant, or demon, or shadow is a big part of what’s involved.  Developmentally, part of being an adult is a willingness to confront that “giants” in our life, to own those shadows, and get them out of the drivers seat.  It’s a continual process mind you, and old habits die hard.

When I initially created the watercolor above five years ago my intent was to make a work conceptually about “conquering” that giant.  The image was primarily focused upon  axes going at a bean stalk surrounded by seraphim like creatures and trotting figures behind.

In the past five years I have realized much of the emotional work involves “befriending” the giant or shadow realizing that they are actually trying to do a good thing in a very dysfunctional manner.  For example, an individual may have suicidal thoughts, but in reality those thoughts are there in hopes of making the pain go away, which would be a very good thing indeed.  Killing yourself is not so good.

In addition God is about using our very weaknesses for His glory; in fact it is those very things that we are to have in the open for boasting rights. Can you imagine if communities of faith did that?  Talk about a revolution.

So, back to the art… when looking at this watercolor this summer to give it some closure, I thought “Sometimes the giants are really your friends.”  In gouache I painted a very large coyote figure over the initial image.  Whether it has friendly or foe motives at heart, is for you to work out.

Take care-

 

Passing the Orange

I have been for the past 12 years involved in, and am a leader within  a variety of groups that do “men’s work;” experiential weekends, groups, and the like.  It has been life changing.  As a part of this blog, occasionally I would like to reflect on some of this labor of love; insights I’m finding along the way as to what it is to be a man in the 21st century.

Along these lines, I read a poem last night by Leo Dangel that made me smile that I want to share with you.

Passing the Orange

Man in Blue Holding an Orange by Kathleen Elsey

by Leo Dangel

On Halloween night
the new teacher gave a party
for the parents.
She lined up the women
on one side of the schoolroom,
the men on the other,
and they had a race,
passing an orange
under their chins along each line.
The women giggled like girls
and dropped their orange
before it got halfway,
but it was the men’s line
that we watched.
Who would have thought
that anyone could get them
to do such a thing?
Farmers in flannel shirts,
in blue overalls and striped overalls.
Stout men embracing one another.
Our fathers passing the orange,
passing the embrace – the kiss
of peace – complaining
about each other’s whiskers,
becoming a team, winning the race.