Welcome Letter from the Executive Director

In the 2015 movie Knight of Cups, Rick is a Hollywood screenwriter at the peak of success. His celebrity and fortune have opened for him a world of potential pleasures, and Rick fully indulges, living the life of a hedonist. But as he careens from one bacchanalian party to the next, the cup gradually begins to lose its intoxicating power. Eventually, he tastes the dregs. And an existential hangover sets in.

One day he remembers a story that his father used to tell him as a young boy:

“Once there was a young prince whose father, the king of the East, sent him down into Egypt to find a pearl. But when the prince arrived, the people poured him a cup. Drinking it, he forgot he was the son of a king, forgot about the pearl and fell into a deep sleep.”

In his mind, he hears his father telling him this story. He hears the voice of his father, “Remember the story I used to tell you as a boy…”

Rick begins to wonder if somehow this story his father told him is actually true about his life. Could this story hold the answer to the gnawing sense of loss he feels in all his pleasures? Is he perhaps that young prince who has fallen asleep by drinking a cup the world gave him? He becomes fascinated by this task of finding “the pearl,” and wonders if perhaps he might be meant for something greater, grander. He senses a new world is opening before him, a road stretching out to the East. The question is, will he set forth?

The movie ends with the voice of his father again, speaking a single word, “Begin…”

In the same way, God’s story is meant to re-narrate our lives. We are not only to read it, but to let it read us. We are to hear it as a child listening to our Father as he tells us the true story about all of reality, about our reality.

Filling our hearts and imaginations with the story of God transforms us, into sons and daughters of God, princes and princesses of the great King. God’s story then transfigures the world to us, allowing us to perceive God’s purposes in all things, to see the task of finding “the pearl” in all the activities of our lives.

The mission of the Eventide Center for Faith & Investing is this: “To inspire an authentically Christian practice of modern investing.” There are two active verbs, inspire and practice. And the order of these verbs is crucial. Before the practice of faithful investing comes the vision, or story, that inspires it. Our purpose is to help you see the beautiful story of God for investing, and then to discover the joy of living out this story in your life.

We invite you to sit down with us as we tell this grand story. We trust that you too will hear the voice of the Father saying, “Begin…”

With gratitude,

Jason Myhre