This Sunday
We gather for a simple liturgy and a complicated Gospel. Then, you are welcome to stay for a potluck feast. Which will likely be simple or complicated.

Next week
Heatherlyn http://www.heatherlynmusic.com/ makes her triumphant (yet gentle) return to our worship life. Lucky us.

Theology on Tap
Join singer/songwriters Ben Kyle (Romantica), Heatherlyn and Nate Houge as they share songs and conversation. Bring all your people. Monday, February 6 at Shamrock’s Pub. 7-9PM.

Changes in our Worship Life
Change is approaching. Have no fear, Humble Walk. It’s good change. Read about it here: http://humblewalkchurch.org/2012/02/02/change-for-real/

$10,000
Read about who gave it away and who found it. http://humblewalkchurch.org/2012/01/25/10000/

Weight of the Word
We have three different small gathering groups who meet, check in, read the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday, listen and pray. If you are interested in this sort of thing and want to be connected with one, contact Pastor Jodi. jodihouge@gmail.com

And Summer Will Find Us…

Bay Lake
Yes, summer will come. And with it, the promise of a weekend on an island up north. Run away with us to Bay Lake. It’s like going to bible camp, minus the counselors, plus every age. With better food than you remember (because, well, this is actually better food). Humble Walk will converge at Bay Lake Friday, June 29-Sunday, July 1. Reserve your room or tent sight. jodihouge@gmail.com

National Youth Gathering
We are sending our entire senior high to New Orleans, July 18-22. PLUS two adults. Brylle, Val, Slade and Michelle are going to take New Orleans by storm. Our own Rachel Kurtz will be there to lead music. We have already paid for registration costs. We still need to fund hotels, transportation and meals. I am certain that soon you will hear of ways that you can support this trip. http://www.elca.org/ELCA/Youth-Gathering.aspx

Guess what? We are evolving. Again. Further.

A few weeks ago, a group gathered for dinner to talk about our worship life…and what lent might look like at HW. (Stay tuned, it’s going to be good).

Two changes that will affect Sundays:

1. Feast. Remember that time you walked into a room full of mostly strangers and the first thing they did was invite you to sit and eat? Yeah, that was hard, wasn’t it? Well, we do recognize this quite real experience. For a year, we have been feasting on the first Sunday of the month. On the first Sundays, we have set aside our regular liturgy and the table fellowship becomes the main thing. With wine and bread and prayer and crockpots.

For now, we are going to set that aside for a while and see what happens. We will still feast on the first Sunday of the month, buuuuut, the feast will follow regular liturgy. (Think back to Advent. We had worship. We ate soup. Some stayed. Some left.)

This is timely, because it begins this Sunday. Unless you want to run home to watch the Superbowl (Go Sports!), stick around and eat with us.

2. Holding the Space. We are going to continue this practice two Sunday’s a month, beginning in March. We will gather, share communion, have time for individual prayers and then two adults will walk with the kids to Subway. The kids will eat and have their own Weight of the Word time. The adults who remain get to sit. Pray. Rest. Retreat.

The kids are excited to have their own thing. The adults dream of 40 minutes of sitting in silence.

As always, I am grateful for this risk-taking community. And I thank God for this evolution love revolution.

Last Chance!!  Guest Artist, Matthew G G Holm
Matt’s final week as our guest artist…and this one’s a doozy. Matt will hand over the paint brushes as we work on a collective painting. Wear clothes that can get painty. You can also see a variety of Matt’s work on the walls of Acme. Looking to buy local art? Yes, they are for sale.

Coming in February
Guest Artist, Heatherlyn, returns to our worship life.

Theology on Tap
Join singer/songwriters Ben Kyle (Romantica), Heatherlyn and Nate Houge as they share songs and conversation. Bring all your people. Monday, February 6 at Shamrock’s Pub. 7-9PM.

$10,000
Read about who gave it away and who found it. http://humblewalkchurch.org/2012/01/25/10000/

Changes in our Worship Life
Change is approaching. Have no fear, Humble Walk. It’s good change. You will hear more about it around the blog and on Sunday.

Weight of the Word
We have three different small gathering groups who meet, check in, read the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday, listen and pray. If you are interested in this sort of thing and want to be connected with one, contact Pastor Jodi. jodihouge@gmail.com

And Summer Will Find Us…

Bay Lake
Yes, summer will come. And with it, the promise of a weekend on an island up north. Run away with us to Bay Lake. It’s like going to bible camp, minus the counselors, plus every age. With better food than you remember (because, well, this is actually better food). Humble Walk will converge at Bay Lake Friday, June 29-Sunday, July 1. Reserve your room or tent sight. jodihouge@gmail.com

National Youth Gathering
We are sending our entire senior high to New Orleans, July 18-22. PLUS two adults. Brylle, Val, Slade and Michelle are going to take New Orleans by storm. Our own Rachel Kurtz will be there to lead music. We have already paid for registration costs. We still need to fund hotels, transportation and meals. I am certain that soon you will hear of ways that you can support this trip. http://www.elca.org/ELCA/Youth-Gathering.aspx

And then someone gave me $10,000.
Seriously. Well, sort of. Not to just me and not all right away. But
definitely $10,000. Here’s the story…

A few months ago, a friend floated a
grant application my way. (I’m always amazed at free money). These
particular grants are given by the Presbyterian seminary in Austin,
Texas. Meant for small groups of clergy, the grants offer
on going learning and support over the course of two years. The
seminary provides financial support for up to $10,000 for each small
group. Each small group sets their own course for learning.

We quickly assembled a group of three
Lutherans and three Presbyterian pastors and brainstormed ideas. We
finally arrived at the theme: Belonging. What does it mean to belong?
To the Body of Christ? To a church/faith community? What does
“membership” mean and does anyone even care about it anymore? We
six are in very different contexts—and the sense of belonging for
people in our churches varies widely.

Pastors also have such weird jobs that
it’s hard to know where we belong. Want to kill conversation? Have
your pastor walk into your next social gathering. We often carry the
secrets of our communities—it’s part of our vocation. Add odd hours
and weekends and you have some fairly isolated oddballs.

We proposed that we meet for a monthly,
twenty-hour retreat. We have a book list related to our theme. We
picked a retreat space that will feed us good, whole food…with
trails for walking and solid beds for rest. We also picked Wed/Thurs
time frame so that we are forced to stop other work to attend to this
work.

Guess what? We received a grant that
will fund these monthly retreats. Seriously. And then in October,
they fly our entire group to Austin to meet up with the other grant
recipients and more time for learning. I have just the boots for this
occasion! Keep Austin Weird, love.

I am profoundly grateful for these
strangers and their belief in what we do.

Weight of the Word
We have three different small gathering groups who meet, check in, read the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday, listen and pray. If you are interested in this sort of thing and want to be connected with one, contact Pastor Jodi. jodihouge@gmail.com

Guest Artist, Matthew G G Holm
For three Sundays, we experience the life and work of painter, Matt Holm. Matt will share his work and draw us in. Canvas and paint and potential messes are likely. January 15, 22, 29. Please wear clothes that welcome small splatters of paint.

Coming in February
Guest Artist, Heatherlyn, returns to our worship life.
Singer/songwriter showcase at Theology on Tap. Ben Kyle (Romantica), Heatherlyn and Nate Houge.

And Summer Will Find Us…

Bay Lake
Yes, summer will come. And with it, the promise of a weekend on an island up north. Run away with us to Bay Lake. It’s like going to bible camp, minus the counselors, plus every age. With better food than you remember (because, well, this is actually better food). Humble Walk will converge at Bay Lake Friday, June 29-Sunday, July 1. Reserve your room or tent sight. jodihouge@gmail.com

National Youth Gathering
We are sending our entire senior high to New Orleans, July 18-22. PLUS two adults. Brylle, Val, Slade and Michelle are going to take New Orleans by storm. Our own Rachel Kurtz will be there to lead music. We have already paid for registration costs. We still need to fund hotels, transportation and meals. I am certain that soon you will hear of ways that you can support this trip. http://www.elca.org/ELCA/Youth-Gathering.aspx

Weight of the Word
We have three different small gathering groups who meet, check in, read the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday, listen and pray. If you are interested in this sort of thing and want to be connected with one, contact Pastor Jodi. jodihouge@gmail.com

Guest Artist, Matthew G G Holm
For three Sundays, we experience the life and work of painter, Matt Holm. Matt will share his work and draw us in. Canvas and paint and potential messes are likely. January 15, 22, 29. Please wear clothes that welcome small splatters of paint.

Coming in February
Guest Artist, Heatherlyn, returns to our worship life.
Singer/songwriter showcase at Theology on Tap. Ben Kyle (Romantica), Heatherlyn and Nate Houge.

With Gratitude
Thank you to Chase Smith for Holding the Space for us last Sunday and sending us with a blessing. Thank you to Brie for setting up and Slade for locking up.

Hmmm
Do you think it’s sort of cool that I was with Church of the Beloved while you were listening to their music at worship?
 
The Return of the Intern
Michelle and Keith make their way across the continent this week. Look for them in MN sometime soon. Yeah us!

This is a chicken. It lays eggs.

Last weekend, I took a ridiculously short trip to Seattle. Just a weekend. It’s what worked for our family schedule–so, I jammed that weekend full. I arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and found my way to Church of the Beloved’s Rosewood Manor. You can read more about it here. http://belovedschurch.org/purchase-rosewood-manor/

Ryan: leader of Beloved community all around swell fellow.

The nutshell: the church owns and occupies a 100-year-old mansion. Currently, three households are living in the manor (plus, the Houge’s for the weekend). Outside, Beloved has built up incredible raised bed gardens. They also have chickens and bees. Are you beginning to understand the appeal for me? If I could, I would move that Manor and the community of Beloved right into the West End of St Paul and form a mega hippy church with honey and eggs and zucchini for all. Humbly Beloved.

Nate: give's high 5's.

Friday evening, Beloved hosted a big gathering of folks. It was an Epiphany celebration (with spring rolls and beer and kids music led by Nate Houge and chalking of the doorframe).

Rowdy and fun. And I looked around at all of those folks and thought, “Huh. They haven’t given up on church.”

On Saturday, I spent some time with the Maas family (you might remember Matt preaching at HW during his final year of seminary…). Five months ago, they added Ezra (he’s small and cute and learning to sit up).  Then, it was down to the Pike Place Market to eat too much food. Oysters on the half shell (who knew how delicious they were?)

Raw oysters. They taste like the (slippery) sea.

With full belly’s, we drove off to Luther’s Table in the suburb of Renton. The space, food and beer are amazingly well done. I had good converation with Rev. Gretchen Weller Mertes (who leads, bartends, serves, tells the story, wash, rinse, repeat).

I told her that what they are doing at Luther’s Table feels so hopeful and risky and good to me. She responded, “Is it really risky?” And I said, “Absolutely.” Here’s why: Luther’s Table is not going to puts butts in worship. Maybe. But, not likely. So, for the Church to take this leap of faith (and to recognize that Word and Sacrament in a very different setting) is thrilling. I am so proud of what they (we) are doing. Claim it, friends. This is an extension of all of us.

Sunday AM communion.

Sunday AM, I got to take part in Beloved’s inaugural Sunday AM worship. What fun to learn a new liturgy together, in a new space, at a new time of day. Brave work for this community.

It was a gift to be on the receiving end of hospitality. A huge gift, actually. A perfectly timed gift.

I am grateful to my Seattle clan and to the community of Humble Walk for supporting my ongoing learning.

So, who knows of a mansion for sale?

Holding the Space
Worship, Sunday, January 8
This week, worship will look a bit different for us. You are invited to come and depart at your own pace. Quiet, small light, ample candles. We will hold the space for you. Begin the New Year in prayer with us. Leave with a blessing from Pastor Mark Kopka (Shobi’s Table) 4:30PM-5:30PM.

Theology on Tap
Monday, January 9 at Shamrock’s. Topic: God the what? Guest theologian, Rev. Marc Ostlie-Olson. Yeah, boyee.

Study Week
Pastor Houge is starting the year off with study by taking a week of continuing education January 4-10. You will likely notice how much more learn-ed she is when you see her on January 11.

Weight of the Word
We have three different small gathering groups who meet, check in, read the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday, listen and pray. If you are interested in this sort of thing and want to be connected with one, contact Pastor Jodi. jodihouge@gmail.com

Guest Artist, Matthew G G Holm
For three Sundays, we experience the life and work of painter, Matt Holm. Matt will share his work and draw us in. Canvas and paint and potential messes are likely. January 15, 22, 29.

Coming in February
Guest Artist, Heatherlyn, returns to our worship life.
Singer/songwriter showcase at Theology on Tap. Ben Kyle (Romantica), Heatherlyn and more.

I am leaving. I am. But, just for a few days. Starting tomorrow, I am taking a week of self-directed continuing education. I hope to crack the spine of a few books (too many, too many). And, I am spending Fri-Sun in the greater Seattle area.

I am visiting and staying and worshiping with Church of the Beloved (they have places to stay). I am also visiting Luther’s Table. Click on both of their links and you will likely understand what the draw is…Beloved is a community similar to Humble Walk. But then add intentional living, garden and bees. Luther’s Table is a bar and grill…wait…it’s a bistro…wait…it’s a church…wait….it’s a restaurant where the bar tender is an ordained Lutheran pastor…wait…it’s a music venue.

Oh, just watch the youtube video on their site and you decide.

I am so interested and encouraged by these brave places that the church is at work. Labor-intensive, terrifying, life-giving work. And I love that these folks are leading the way for us. Come on, Twin Cities! Be led, already.

 A Humble Christmas at Acme Scenic Arts (bring your people)
Christmas Eve worship at 4:30PM with candles, costumes and carols led by Nate Houge.
If you want a simple, beautiful, unhassled Christmas Eve worship…if you want to light a candle and sing Silent Night…if you want to help act out the Christmas story or watch as others do…if you have always wanted to play Mary or Shepherd #2…this is the service for you.

Christmas Day Merry Christmas (no worship at HW)

Thank you
A great big thank you to Matt Holm and Arielle Taylor and Jean Hyde for feeding the crowd last Sunday. It has been a lovely season of sharing a table/floor/bench with you all. Thank you, Nate Houge, for leading our communal singing (ringing) during Advent.

With gratitude
Rachel Kurtz led some serious caroling at Claddagh Coffee last Sunday. We are grateful for you, Rachel Kurtz…and that you would connect with your coffee shop roots for us.

Holding the Space
Worship, Sunday, January 1 and January 8
For two Sundays, worship will look a bit different for us. You are invited to come and depart at your own pace. Quiet, small light, ample candles. We will hold the space for you. Begin the New Year in prayer with us. 4:30PM-5:30PM

Theology on Tap
Monday, January 9 at Shamrock’s. Topic: God the what? Guest theologian, Rev. Marc Ostlie-Olson. Yeah, boyee.

Study Week
Pastor Houge is starting the year off with study by taking a week of continuing education January 4-10. You will likely notice how much more learn-ed she is when you see her on January 11.