The Portland Preacher

A self-loathing preacher with a desperate for love and human connection seeks relief in the arms of a prostitute. In the midst of his warped attempts of trying to give and receive love and cope with life, a tenderness towards human frailty is awakened in him and he seeks redemption in sacrifice.

The idea formed in me one day when I was considering sanctimonious televangelists who end up caught in hypocrisy. I wondered, "what makes these guys tick?" Ultimately it is a story about how a toxic brand of Christianity motivated by guilt, shame, condemnation, and self-loathing pushes its adherents deeper into the sins it preaches against but that redemption and grace can be experienced in the most desperate and hopeless of places.

. . . But ultimately I wrote it so as to be open to interpretation.