HOLDEN VILLAGE
VOICE
Fall 2015
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 1
Inside This Issue
Fall 2015
From the Editors
4
Finding the Way Forward: Notice how the new logo on the cover
emphasizes the word “voice.” This is no accident. Over the decades, the
people engaged in the workings of the Village have continually shaped
and reshaped its character, mood, and direction. With a little help from
the Wolverine Creek Fire, Peg + Chuck have quickly grown into their
roles as leaders of the Village, and brought their unique voices with them.
The new design of this magazine is a visual incarnation of Holden’s postfire, post-remediation era. In it, we hope Villagers around the world will
“hear” many different Holden voices. Special thanks to our cover artist,
Elizabeth Person, one of Holden’s 2015 Resident Artists, who captures the
magic of Holden with her beautiful watercolors. As summer gives way to
fall, and the community ventures onto still more “paths as yet untrodden,”
Holdenites everywhere are called to raise their voices together to
find the way forward.
In Every Issue
HOLDEN VILLAGE
VOICE
2:Thoughts from Chuck + Peg
The Directors explore pathways unknown
photo by Kari Greer, Forest Service
HOLDEN VILLAGE
4:The Wolverine Creek Fire
Fall 2015
Never-before-seen photos and an insightful
overview and timeline of this major fire
Karen Thygerson with help
from countless Villagers
Holden Village is a Lutheran retreat center in the North Cascade
mountains of Washington state, welcoming all people.
The vision of Holden Village is the love of God making new
the church and world through the cross of Jesus Christ.
The mission of Holden Village, a Lutheran ministry, is to welcome
all people into the wilderness to be called, equipped and sent
by God as we share rhythms of Word and sacrament;
work, recreation and study; intercession and healing.
Our core values are worship, theology, hospitality, vocation, diversity,
grace, shalom, ecology, gifts, study, rest, place, community and hilarity.
Executive Directors: Chuck Hoffman + Peg Carlson-Hoffman
Designer & Lead Editor: Karen Thygerson
Editors: Laura Brown, Max Jennings, Daniele Maeder
Your comments and questions are invited:
[email protected]
Holden Village Voice, HC 0 Box 2, Chelan WA 98816
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Cover Images:
Front: In many parts of the world, cairns—human-made stacks
of stones—are used by hikers and travelers as trail markers.
Artwork by 2015 Holden Village Artist in Residence Elizabeth Person.
Inside front: Villagers of all ages gather to paint a banner depicting the
chalets as part of the Porch Crawl event in May. Photo by Karen Thygerson.
Inside back: On July 31, 23 Villagers and 220 Rio Tinto contractors were
evacuated. An additional 75 left on August 1 as the Wolverine Creek Fire
made its way up Railroad Creek Valley. Photo by Lindsey Scheid.
Back: With hopes of returning soon, Villagers hug goodbye during
evacuation. Photo by Lindsey Scheid
Holden Village operates on the Okanogan-Wenatchee
National Forest under a special use permit.
USDA Forest Service is an equal opportunity provider.
Printed with soy inks on paper with recycled content.
8:Ahead of Schedule
Examining the natural role of wildfire
in our wilderness landscape
Max Jennings
10:Voices From the Fire
Three Holden staff reflect on
their fire experiences
Cindy Shultz, Elise Wied,
& Nancy Rerucha Borges
Looking back at Village life since last February
15: Artists’ Corner
Special Features
VOICE
12:Education & Programming
This issue, we feature a poem & illustration
16: Art and Theology
Chuck Hoffman asks theologians and artists
about the intersection of art and faith
Pádraig Ó Tuama,
Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Glenn
Jordan, Rev. Jan Richardson,
& Dr. Christian Scharen
23:Called, Equipped, & Sent
Villagers around the world reconnect
24: Pastor’s Message
Kent Narum on finding the way forward
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18:Building Bridges
The new footbridge isn’t the only
bridge being built at Holden.
Karen Thygerson
20:Hiking for Holden
James Nagel reflects on his PCT hike.
Laura Brown
22: Miscellanea
The Beautification & Education Project, Board
Elections notice, and the 2016 Artist Residency
photo by Lindsey Scheid
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 1
Thoughts from Chuck + Peg
Upcoming Events
The primary focus in the Village this fall and winter is on fire
recovery and safety. Because the BAER (Burned Area Emergency
Response) report indicated some significant risks to the road
and areas surrounding the Village, programming and guest
opportunities in the valley this coming season will be extremely
limited. All signs point to renewed programming in summer 2016.
Silence Between
the Words
Creation Awakes
• Thursday, November 5, 2015, in Everett, WA
• Friday, January 22, 2016, in Northfield, MN
• Saturday, January 23, 2016, in Minneapolis, MN
• Sunday, January 24, 2016, in Rochester, MN
• Wednesday, March 2, 2016, in Sedona, AZ
• Saturday, March 5, 2016, in Rock Island, IL
Since late June, we have known that our first article for this magazine
would be forged in the fire of life. Our installation as new Directors on
June 27 was followed by a knock on the door at 6:45 the morning of June
29. We won’t forget the words Abbey spoke: “There’s been a lightning
strike and there is a fire. We need you to come to Area B right away.”
(“Area B” is shorthand for the Rio Tinto offices.) The lightning strike that
began as fire 287 would later become the Wolverine Creek Fire that roared
up the valley and around Holden Village in August.
If we had the opportunity to choose a time to begin our term as Executive
Directors at Holden with the information we have now, we most likely
would not have selected this summer, but that doesn’t mean it’s not
exactly the right time. It is the time in which we find ourselves, our only
time. It is a time to embrace. As a couple, we now measure our time by the
fire—before the fire, during the fire, and after the fire.
Chuck was present in the Village for the duration of the fire, working
alongside Marc and Nancy Rerucha Borges, Jeff Pierce, and Andrew
Kingsriter. It was intense, the duties pointed, and communication
relayed like bullet points. Peg was downlake with the evacuated Villagers,
meeting with the Forest Service and the agencies directing the fire, and
attending cooperators’ meetings; no bullet points, only narrative. It is still
something we notice and laugh about post fire.
The fire and its aftermath ask us to move
into the silence of the unknown. All of us—
Directors and constituents alike—must wait
for the next moments to unfold.
Downlake, during the fire, there was a continued sense of urgency and
action. Where would we go when the B&B was threatened and evacuated
by the First Creek Fire? What church would take 20 exiles and a dog?
What and where are we eating tonight? What was happening at Holden?
Friends of the Village—old and new—showed staggering kindness for
weeks on end. Churches hosted Villagers and the business office. Words
2 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
Turn to page 14 for more information, and check our website
for info on other events as they are scheduled.
photo by James Meierotto, Kansas City
Chuck + Peg working in their Genesis + Art Studio. Their work is a result of collaboration,
going beyond the conceptual sense, to include working together on the same canvas.
photo by Lindsey Scheid
and stories were frequent, news and information spotty. The spaces
between were filled in by imaginations.
The fire and its aftermath ask us to move into the silence of the unknown.
All of us—Directors and constituents alike—must wait for the next
moments to unfold. Many wait for concrete words about what is next,
but there are no certainties. The magnitude of the event prevents us
from getting too far ahead of ourselves. In time, nature will tell us what is
needed. What trees will survive? Where are the weaknesses in the road?
How much rain will trigger a debris flow? We wait in silence between the
words. We travel these pathways unknown together.
The fire has impacted all of us in ways that are unknown and yet untold.
The Wolverine fire asks our faith to carry us into these unmapped
territories and unknown pathways. John O’Donohue tells us, “Your soul
knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of
your future; therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself.
If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will
teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.”
As artists, we find ourselves on unknown pathways that are paradoxically
familiar and necessary. They allow the unseen to take shape, giving form
to feelings that cannot yet be articulated, and are often too deep for
words. Even when the fire was smoldering the first several weeks on top
of the ridge, we recognized the privilege to be with the forest through this
transition. The Holden community and the Village itself bear witness to
this particular moment in the life of our valley. It will reveal itself only
in time.
Chuck and Peg share images and reflections at the Creation Awakes event in Kirkland.
2016 Artist Residency
• Application due December 4, 2015
Turn to page 22 for more information.
The season of fall will take us from the summer of fire into the silence of
winter. It is a season of transformation that holds the promise of new life
and beauty. The time of darkness and silence is not without its difficulties
as it works to birth new possibilities, but it is a time to watch and listen.
The writer of Isaiah tells us, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have
called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I
will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall
not consume you. For I am the Living God, your God.”
With good courage,
Peg + Chuck
Chuck Hoffman + Peg Carlson-Hoffman are
the Executive Directors of Holden Village. They are artists
and community builders using art as a language to reconciliation.
photos by Karen Thygerson
2015 Resident Artists Elizabeth Person (left) and Elyse-Krista Mische (right).
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 3
The
Wolverine Creek Fire
When lightning struck three miles northwest of Lucerne, Holden began
its month-long vacillation between Level 1 (be ready) and Level 2 (get set)
evacuation notices, creating ongoing tension for Villagers propelled into
waiting mode. Mine Clerk Abbey Dibble remembers, “Remediation folks
and Villagers fine-tuned their evacuation plans, and drills were held.
Daily updates from the Forest Service and their frequent presence in the
Village assured us that they were looking out for Holden. Even though
the fire stayed small for a long time, we were still told to be prepared to
leave.” The Forest Service cleared brush, built fire lines, laid hose, and set
up sprinklers. They also helped educate Villagers about fire ecology and
its behavior specific to Railroad Creek Valley. For many years, Holden has
prepared for an inevitable fire. Metal replaced cedar-shingles on Village
roofs, and teams of fire and utilities experts worked for years to install
the “Big Gun” Rain Bird system. This network of sprinklers, intended
for fire protection and landscape irrigation, drew raw water directly
from Railroad Creek via a rented pump to make it rain on command
in the Village. These measures would soon become deciding factors
in protecting the Village from what was once, as Medic Linda Evans
described it, “just a wisp of smoke on the top of the ridge.”
Evacuation began on July 31 with a long line of vehicles carrying
Villagers and remediation workers down the mountain.
photo by Lindsey Scheid
of
2015
EVACUATION: On July 30,
the evacuation escalated to
Level 3 (Go!). Head Maverick
Rosa Palumbo was one of the 13
Villagers to leave on Friday,
July 31. “It was a festive occasion
with drums and picture taking.
Rio had snacks and water at
Lucerne, so it felt pretty relaxed.
Over 200 remediation folks
were with us—the boat was the
photo by Lindsey Scheid
The beginnings of the Wolverine Fire.
fullest I’ve ever seen it.” Thanks
to the practice drills, the actual
evacuation that day went very smoothly. A second group prepared to
leave the next day, and 20 Villagers planned to stay behind.
photo by Rich Larson
Holden staffers greet the helicopter as the last evacuees arrive in Chelan.
The fire burned hottest on its way toward the Village.
photo by Kari Greer, Forest Service
But later that night the fire was frighteningly active, scorching the
switchbacks along the first few miles of the road, threatening the
structures at Lucerne, and even destroying all but one of the structures
at Domke Lake. Saturday’s 5:30 a.m. departure was delayed due to heavy
smoke, so evacuees waited with little to do, but lots to worry about. Travel
rosters were written and rewritten as some who thought they’d be part of
the stay-behind crew were told to prepare their bags. Finally, two buses
plus eight other vehicles left the Village once again, carrying 72 Villagers
and contractors through entirely different terrain, flames burning on both
sides of the road. “Saturday was completely surreal,” says Abbey. “There
was very little visibility, and seeing how much had burned, and how hot,
just overnight was hard to comprehend. But we left the Village in the best
possible state. We had a lot of expertise and know-how on our side, and
the push this last spring to make this place ready for fire really paid off.”
Hotshots wrap buildings in specially-designed foil.
Thinking they’d be in the valley for at least a few days, the remaining 14
stay-behind Villagers set to work. Andrew “Zumba” Kingsriter recalls,
“Andrew [Lund] and I headed over to the second level to do some work.
It was surreal to be working in an area that just a day before had been full
of moving vehicles and radio chatter.” But as he looked down the valley,
he realized that this force of nature was beyond human control. “Billows
of white smoke were rapidly rising skyward and flashes of red and orange
could be seen through the darker gray smoke closer to the valley floor.”
With the fire pressing in on them, they would have to be evacuated
straightaway, along with four Forest Service personnel. Quickly, they
gathered their things and met on top of the tailings piles to board the
rescue helicopters. Meanwhile, the downlake evacuees were just starting
to settle in when they learned of the emergency evacuation. Immediately,
they arranged transportation and gathered snacks. Linda remembers,
“The helicopter ride was sobering and amazing. The smoke from the
fire covered the area towards Stehekin but I could see Glacier Peak and
Mt. Rainier clearly.” Abbey, greeting the final evacuees, felt, “It was both
a relief to see them all safe on the ground, and also terribly sad to know
that none of us were left in the Village.” Safety Administrator Nancy
Rerucha Borges was on one of the four helicopter trips. “One of the most
touching moments of the day was flying into the Chelan airport and
seeing Holden staff on the ground waving us in, just like a bus arrival at
Holden. They had ice water, blueberries, and smiling faces.”
FIGHTING FIRE: Chief Firefighter Jeff Pierce, who was out of the Village
at the time of the evacuation, was the first to return on Monday, August
3. Between the evacuation and Jeff’s return, an emergency management
specialist refueled generators, ran the sprinklers, and maintained critical
systems. On Tuesday, August 4, the Entiat and Silver City Hotshots—
whose specialty is fighting fire with fire—arrived. Jeff commented,
“Hotshot crews are the hardest working folks you can imagine. We had
the best fighting for us.” The next day, four other Villagers arrived to
support the fire-fighting efforts: Nancy, Andrew, Operations Manager
Marc Rerucha Borges, and Co-Executive Director Chuck Hoffman. Nancy
recalls, “We would all eat dinner at nine-o’clock, and even though it was
our responsibility to clean up after dinner, the hotshots would just start
stacking dishes, wiping tables, vacuuming, and doing whatever needed
doing.” Like the hotshots, the five Villagers formed a hard-working team,
focused on the tasks at hand.
photo by Kari Greer, Forest Service
As the fire spread up the valley, the crews prepared for its imminent
arrival. They wrapped porches and crawl-space skirtings with speciallydesigned foil to resist flying embers and radiant heat. Keeping the
sprinklers running was also a key tactic—anything soaking wet would be
less vulnerable to fire. Because of favorable winds, crews were blessed
with a full week to prepare and implement their ultimate plan, which
included burning a ring of black around the Village, thereby guiding the
oncoming blaze around it. Hotshots cut brush and small trees—which
could act as ladder fuels, carrying the fire into the tree canopy—to keep
continued on page 6
June 29
July 4 (100 acres)
July 30 (580 acres)
July 31 (1,526 acres)
August 1 (4,000 acres)
August 4 (16,000 acres)
August 5 (26,640 acres)
August 10 (28,829 acres)
Lightning strike in Wolverine Creek
drainage ignites fire
After almost a week at Evacuation Level 1,
Village advances to Level 2
Forest Service issues Level 3 Evacuation
notice for Holden Village
Evacuation begins, all but one of the
structures at Domke Lake lost
Evacuation completed,
business operations set up in Chelan
Entiat and Silver City Hotshots
arrive in Village
Five Villagers back in Village
to support firefighters
Backburns set to direct fire
around Village
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photo by Kari Greer, Forest Service
Hotshots go to work, fighting fire with fire.
Peg shares what she learns during daily meetings.
the fire along the control line less
intense and reduce the chance
of it jumping the line. Ignition
devices dropped from a helicopter
created the outer edge of the
burn ring, slowly burning off
the vegetation along the ground
and leaving a majority of the
trees. With the backburn close
to the valley floor, the hotshots
hiked upslope, dropping fire
in the brush and methodically
bringing the burn edge closer
to the fire roads and trails just
outside the Village, which marked
the inner burn ring. Jeff recalls
one particular, intense moment:
“I remember seeing hotshots
walking off the hill directly
behind the Village, drip torches in
hand, smoke rising behind them.
Other crew members were spread
out along our perimeter road with
hoses to ensure the fire didn’t
jump over the road and continue
into the Village. The combined
efforts of countless people—
including these hotshots, Chris
Shultz’s Public Works crew, and
so many others—culminated in a
successful, positive outcome.”
photo by Lindsey Scheid
DOWNLAKE: While Chuck and the other four worked in the Village, Co-Executive
Director Peg Carlson-Hoffman oversaw downlake business operations, attended daily
Forest Service fire meetings, and served as a communication link between those in
the Village and Holdenites
everywhere. Throughout August,
Chuck, Andrew, Jeff, Nancy, and Marc in the Village.
photo by Kari Greer, Forest Service
poor air quality and other
Chelan fires forced evacuees who
stayed in central Washington to
keep moving. Evacuees moved
the business office from the
B&B to Lake Chelan Lutheran
Church, then to Celebration Lutheran in East Wenatchee, and later to the Grünewald Guild
near Leavenworth, before finally returning to the B&B. Abbey reflects, “I never thought I
would stay at so many different places in one month! But we were met in each place with
an abundance of hospitality. The traveling band of exiles came to realize the importance of
staying together, even though it sometimes meant sleeping on church pews.” Despite the
hardships, evacuees also experienced profound gifts during this time. Families, friends, and
former Holdenites opened their arms to exiles, offering food, housing, emotional support, and
photo by Marc Rerucha Borges
Backburns set around the Village kept the highest intensity fire away from the Village.
worship opportunities. Mark Tesh and Michele Jerome hosted a potluck,
barbeque vespers every Wednesday night at their Chelan home. Making
themselves useful, evacuees helped with fire-prevention cleanup, ran
errands, and helped with projects at the host facilities. Abbey remembers,
“We knew that every possible measure was being taken to protect the
Village, but it was as if we were holding our collective breath until the fire
passed by.”
MOVING FORWARD: Holden Village is a community without
boundaries. While the historical buildings and beautiful scenery of
Railroad Creek Valley are intensely important to Villagers everywhere, it
is the people that make Holden special. This fire revealed and broadened
the Holden family. Each of us has our own story of this time, with its
own struggles and opportunities. Every story is valid, but the common
thread is the spirit of Holden, and how we all long for its renewal in our
lives. These unique experiences within connectedness are precisely what
make us a vibrant community, and will allow us to move forward through
healing. As Rio Tinto’s contractors continue to maintain the road and
cut down dangerous trees, and Village leaders evaluate the potential risks
from the coming
rain and snow, one
thing is certain:
Holden Village
will never be the
same as it was, but
it will continue
to be. Fire and
water have always
been a symbolic
photo courtesy of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Gaithersburg, MD
(and literal) part
Groups small and large observed Holden Evening Prayer
of Holden. Like
around the world.
the blue skies and
mountain vistas brought back by the fall rain, clarity will come once again
as we travel through the untrodden paths of this era together. v
AROUND THE WORLD: While evacuees in central Washington clung
to each other throughout the uncertainty, Holdenites living elsewhere
searched for updates wherever they could find them. Public Works Clerk
Cindy Shultz, who spent most of her exile in Tacoma with family, sums
up the feelings of many who watched from a distance: “I had a love/
hate relationship with Facebook. I couldn’t seem to keep away, but more
often than not, it left me feeling distant and disconnected.” Villagers
Thanks to Abbey Dibble, Linda Evans, Andrew Kingsriter, Rosa Palumbo, Jeff Pierce,
everywhere knew this was a defining moment in Holden history, and
Nancy
Rerucha Borges, Marc Rerucha Borges, Cindy Shultz, and everyone who posted
came together as they were able to share news, prayers, and hugs. Holden
prayers
and musings online during the fire for informing this article with their stories.
Evening Prayer services sprung up all over the world throughout August,
reminding worshipers that “...the sufferings of this present time are not
worth comparing with the glory
about to be revealed to us. For the
From inside the post-fire Village, only a few burned patches on the mountainsides hint at the big event.
photo by Keith Thygerson
creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the children of
God” (Romans 8:18–19). This verse
was chosen with a much different
summer in mind, but it turned
out that “waiting” was indeed the
theme for many, watching from
afar as their beloved Village was
threatened, and wondering where
this would leave them. Ultimately,
this was a time of bonding for the
Holden community. Marc recalls,
“It was amazing to see all the
pictures of the groups of people
who had come together and were
sending their love.”
August 14 (37,792 acres)
August 19 (40,470 acres)
August 24 (52,001 acres)
August 25 (53,571 acres)
August 28 (62,167 acres)
September 1 (62,940 acres)
September 4 (65,275 acres)
September 18 (65,512 acres)
Downlake office moves to East Wenatchee,
10-Mile Falls overlook is lost
Three firefighters die battling the Twisp fire
in Okanogan County
Fire crews leave, four Villagers remain
in the Village
Firing operation successful in bringing
lower-intensity fire around the Village
Four more Villagers return to Village
(for a total of eight)
Downlake Villagers return operations
to the B&B
More Villagers begin to return to Holden to
complete construction projects and winterize
The Forest Service BAER team visits the
Village to evaluate potential post-fire risks
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We now understand
the forest should be
ever changing
A few days later, I stood where the fire camp
had recently been a hive of activity, but was
now a deserted patch of Lake Chelan shoreline.
With the lake on three sides, silent in the
stillness of a windless summer night, I looked
at the plume of smoke—large in my mind, but
small against the massive slopes and pale blue
sky. I got on the boat and left for what should
have been a few weeks away.
I have not returned, and don’t know when
I will. My story turned out to be about the
inevitable arriving ahead of our prescribed
schedule.
Max Jennings on the natural role of wildfire
photo by Kari Greer, Forest Service
The radio squawks with a wave of static
much louder than the preceding chatter. We
both flinch at the piercing sound, and I eye
the volume knob trying to decide if I, the
passenger, can turn the radio down. The driver,
after a long series of ear-piercing interruptions,
finally throttles the knob to the left before
acknowledging the radio hailing.
“Holden van, I need you to take 9.3.”
We’ve traveled less than a mile from the Village
with a trunkful of cardboard boxes of rapidly
cooling food for the fire crews camping at
Lucerne, and we’ve already pulled off twice for
incoming pickups. We sit in the van, windows
open and air conditioner blasting.
“Nothing gets between people and their
dinner,” the driver says, as a line of white
super-duty trucks rushes past. “So, what are
you trying to get?” He shifts into gear and we
start rolling again.
“Um,” I mutter a few times, buying time to think
about the question. “I guess I just want to see
the fire camp as a way to figure out where to
start my story.”
When we finally reach Lucerne, he expertly
backs down the narrow gravel road to the
8 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
Forest Service guard station and we open the
back gate of the van. A line of men in blue
T-shirts and green Nomex pants materializes
to transport the food to waiting tables. I look
down at my shoes, suddenly self conscious
of my athletic trainers, the only non-boots in
attendance. In the back pocket of the ill-fitting
Nomex pants I found in a storage closet I can
feel the small notebook with my list of
planned questions.
In 1935, the Forest Service and state firefighting
resources established the so-called 10 a.m.
policy, which decreed that fires should be
suppressed by 10 a.m. the day following the
initial report. This policy led to decades of total
fire suppression, greatly increasing the fuel
load in many Western forests. Simultaneously,
the amount of interface between urban
landscapes and wildlands exploded by millions
of acres, increasing population density and
recreational use of wildlands, and providing
more sources of possible ignition.
Hands are washed in what looks like a circular
cake pan. The captured water is dumped
immediately in the dirt where white soap scum
has built up from a week of this process. The
men disperse to eat, and the opportunity to ask
questions never presents itself. I walk through
the clusters of small tents scattered among the
trees on a hill above the cabin. Tools, packs,
ropes, and boots litter the ground in
surprising disarray.
It wasn’t until the 1960s that policy finally
acknowledged that attempted total
suppression had interrupted natural ecological
processes that keep forest systems healthy. The
Forest Service and other land managers began
programs of prescribed burns in an attempt
to emulate the natural burn and rebirth
process previous management procedures had
ignored. Yet the scale of the programs was small
compared to the massive size of public lands,
and they tended to be implemented far from
developed areas.
This was the night before the crews withdrew
from what was basically a preparation mission.
The fire lines were dug and the structures
around Lucerne were prepared. The Wolverine
Creek Fire had been smoldering high above
the lake, but after several weeks of little fire
movement, the crews would be reassigned to
other, more active fires.
Earlier this year in The New Yorker, Kathryn
Schulz described public apathy toward
the impending rupture of the Cascadia
Subduction Zone, which will result in a series
of earthquakes and a tsunami that will damage
human systems in the region to a degree not
seen in this country in a century or more.
She was referring to the limited way humans
and requires fire
for rebirth and renewal.
understand events happening outside of the
relatively short time cycles with which we
measure our lives. A period of three or four
years seems to be the longest unit that feels
intuitive to us. If a process falls outside that
limit, or we perceive the event as random, like
earthquakes and wildfires, we tend to interpret
a statement like “there is a one in three chance
that a rupture along the Cascadia Subduction
Zone will take place in the next fifty years” as
“the Cascadia earthquake won’t happen for at
least fifty years,” a number that feels like a
long time.
photo by Kari Greer, Forest Service
When I began this article, Railroad Creek
Valley was decades past due for a fire, and I
believed I was exploring what our reaction
should be when one arrived. When I took
the boat downlake on that hot July day,
smoke from Okanogan County fires had
turned the sky above the brown, scorched
slopes a ghostly white. I knew there was fire
smoldering relatively near the Village, I knew
low snowpack and hot temperatures were
combining to create perfect fire conditions, but
I still believed I would be coming back on the
boat a few weeks later.
Our difficulty in grasping natural time intervals
is not an issue confined to disasters. Evolution,
the thorny process at the heart of how we came
to be on this planet, is easily observable to a
high-school biology class watching a bowl of
minnows. Yet for every staunch Buddhist or
University of Washington minnow scientist
whose concern for minnows is very real,
there are 200 million people for whom
well-established science involving minnows
is apparently not convincing.
Fire cycles, like evolution, are not terribly
complicated in theory, but since the process
is largely too slow to experience in what we
misleadingly call “real time,” we have trouble
integrating it into how we interact with the
natural world. Our choices of where to live,
and expectations of access to wildlands, have
not been successful at balancing the needs of
the land and our desires for recreation and
immersion. The most difficult to accept is
that what wildlands perhaps need most is
to be free of us.
Even after all my reading and research, I still
was buying into the “it won’t happen to me”
delusion that is at the heart of any person,
group, or country’s decision to live with
long-term risk. We now understand the forest
should be ever changing and requires fire for
rebirth and renewal. The forest was waiting to
pick up its life cycles where it left off; though
we intrinsically center our perspective on
human history, we are just a short diversion
in the forest’s long life.
We have become accustomed to the forests
around our tiny spot on the map staying largely
the same year to year, so the next time you or I
take that ride up the road, the strange, burned
areas on either side might generate a solely
negative reaction. Yet that is to buy into the
dangerous fallacy that how the Railroad Creek
Valley was is all it should ever be.
Each time someone leaves the Village and
another person arrives, the place changes, even
if the gravel of Main Street is the same. The
fire didn’t give most of us the luxury of saying
goodbye to Holden as it was, but when the
smoke clears and the seasons roll over, the first
spring will bring a carpet of green among the
blackened trunks, and with each passing year
the forest will return.
I don’t believe that Holden should be a place
preserved in amber—a museum piece to be
viewed but not touched. Wildfire is an agent of
creation. It may be a scary, unpredictable one,
but no one ever promised that the change and
rebirth we must allow and facilitate to keep
Holden vibrant, would be easy. v
Max Jennings has served the Village as lead cook, trivia
master, and writer. He currently lives in Minnesota.
The Entiat Hotshots (pictured) and the Silver City Hotshots defended the Village from August 4–24.
photo by Chuck Hoffman
Ahead of
Schedule
A truck waters the bypass road above the tailings piles.
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 9
Fire
Nancy Rerucha Borges, Operations
Knitting together
our varying experiences
looking out the window at the fire moving steadily down
the butte, pretending things were fine. We had nearly
completed the bases of our baskets (no small feat while
looking out the window every other minute) when others
from our group came to tell us we needed to return to the
B&B to evacuate to Chelan.
Holdenites everywhere—from the five who stayed in the Village supporting firefighters to Holden
expatriates across the world—were affected by the Wolverine Creek Fire. Watching this force of nature
take over our beloved valley was not easy for any of us, but sharing our stories will help knit together
our experience of it as a community.
Cindy Shultz, Public Works Clerk
My husband, Chris, and I were involved in the details of the evacuation, including
strategizing how to get the sprinkler system as fully operational as possible. On August 4,
we flew to Norway for a family wedding and reunion, and entered a communication void.
Despite being surrounded by beautiful places and family, our nights were spent scouring
the internet for every scrap of information.
I did not like what this experience was revealing about me. I’m usually a very positive
and sympathetic person, but I was so hurt and angry that I couldn’t see any perspective
but my own. In my sleeplessness, I wrestled with God, and Proverbs 3:5-6 became my
mantra: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding.
Acknowledge God in all your ways and God will direct your path.” Both convicted and
comforted, I realized I had not been trusting God. We felt secure in our call to Holden,
and trusted a new call would come when our time there was complete. If that time was
now, so be it. God had not abandoned me.
Our evac story is not all hard. I am grateful for many precious moments (time with my
parents and friends we’ve missed in our five years at Holden), opportunities to look
beyond myself (helping a friend remodel, painting my niece’s new home, volunteering
at a local food bank), and especially connecting with other exiles. We experienced first
hand the breadth and depth of the Holden community and their love for this Village.
I will probably never say I am glad the fire happened, but I
know I have learned things about myself that would have
been hard to learn otherwise. I pray I get better at trusting
in the Lord with all my heart and not leaning on my own
understanding, acknowledging God in all my ways.
photo by Jeffrey Louden
When we returned, and the communication void continued, we felt like outsiders. Time
dragged as we continued to check the computer day and night with little payoff. The
longer the evacuation lasted, the harder it got to maintain perspective. “Maybe they don’t
want me,” I thought. “Everyone else has more information than I do. If only I were in
the Village—Chelan, somewhere else—I would know more.” I was a spoiled child on the
playground, ready to take my ball and go home. When we found out we would not be
returning to the Village as soon as we expected I was angry, jealous, and resentful.
Elise Wied, Facilities Associate
This was not the summer I signed up for. I wanted hikes
and uncomplicated adventure. Not fire. The Village makes
an evacuation plan every year—and I admit, finding out my
assigned role can be a little exciting, like finding out which
team I made. But I never expected us to actually use it.
In the 24 hours after I evacuated on July 31, the fire
exploded. Suddenly the Village was in danger. My
summer hiking wasn’t just ruined—the Village might
burn down.
I still have hard days. I am coming to believe that grief takes twists and turns, has hills
and valleys. Sharing stories helps. The days when I resist focusing on my own hurts and
needs are the most joyous.
Soon the fire slowed enough for fire crews and a few
Villagers to return to execute plans to save Holden. I was
in the Chelan area with other Villagers who had nowhere
to go. There was comfort in being together in this crazy
time of uncertainty. Some still had work, but others, like
me, felt a little extraneous. Just as we got into a rhythm of
working, cooking, cleaning, and fun, more storms arose.
In “Just Mercy” Bryan Stevenson writes, “...each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve
ever done... If you take something that doesn’t belong to you, you are not just a thief.
Even if you kill someone, you’re not just a killer. I am more than broken... embracing
our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need
to show mercy. When you experience mercy, you learn things that are hard to learn
otherwise... You begin to recognize the humanity that resides in each of us.”
Multiple lightning strikes started fires near Chelan
exactly two weeks after I left the Village. As we left the
B&B and headed into town for a basket weaving class,
we saw the fires. I was confident that fires so close to a
town would be taken care of quickly, so, in the basement
of Lake Chelan Lutheran Church, we wove baskets while
10 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
We were pretty good at this by now. Even so, I got an
eerie feeling when the power went out because the lines
had burned, and then again as we drove along a hillside
burning ever lower. It felt apocalyptic—air tankers,
helicopters, ash floating everywhere, an orange hue to
the sky, sirens in the background, another power outage,
DC-10s dropping flame retardant, fire visibly moving
down the butte, spots of dark smoke from structure fires.
It was beyond surreal.
The last few cars in our now-twice-evacuated group were
not allowed to follow us into Chelan, so we headed for
East Wenatchee instead. The first morning I woke up
there, smelling of smoke, I thought for the second time
since evacuating, “Surely that was not real, it must have
been a dream.”
We spent way too much time with each other, slept three
to five people per room, combined our laundry, chatted
with scattered friends, and learned we all have our share
of quirks. (It turns out there’s something even more
intimate than living in a tiny, remote, mountain village.)
And we waited. We spent too much time on the internet
checking updates for multiple fires, and waited for Peg to
return from meetings (which usually provided the same
information we had read online).
We all wanted to know more. We all wanted the fire to
hurry up and get past the Village so we could figure out
what we were going to do tomorrow, next month. We
wanted to know if there was even going to be a Village
to which to return. I checked the maps like they were
oracles. And I never got to finish my basket.
This was not the summer I signed up for. I returned to
the Village exactly five confusing, ambiguous, frustrating,
difficult, complicated, emotional weeks after I evacuated.
I learned a lot more about fire than I ever expected, but I
also learned about myself, community, and the power of
perseverance. There were tears, there was laughter, there
was fear and love and anger and hope. Even though I
had different adventures planned for this summer,
this evacuation was a crazy and beautiful
adventure nonetheless.
Let me tell you about the
squirrels. These cute little
guys weathered the fire in
fine fashion, going about
their days as we went about
ours, with purpose, focus,
and intent. Our job was to
move stuff, fix stuff, and
spray stuff with water. Their job was to eat stuff, store stuff, and wonder why there were so
many intermittent rainstorms.
photo by Jeffrey Louden
photo by Jeffrey Louden
Voices
From
the
Life with fire can be very simple. You get up early. You go to bed late. In between you do
a variety of seemingly unrelated tasks: serving up java thunder or chocolate chip mint
to Forest Service hotshots (the java thunder of wildland firefighters); sorting through
mining camp leftovers (I’m talking food here) with the fire crew medics conscripted as
cooks; cursing that hose nozzle that sends an equal stream of water up your sleeve as
toward your target; waking up snow machines to get them out of the woods; carefully
folding fitted sheets into wads. You view everything around you as burnable or nonburnable. You don’t pay your bills. You don’t clean the house. You don’t reply to emails.
You don’t do any of the numerous mundane things that keep your normal life running
smoothly. You are graciously excused from all these tasks by those who imagine you are
brave. They are mistaken. I am so amazingly lucky. And I know it. And I am grateful.
There was smoke. Lots of it. It lent an ethereal quality to our days. It lent a dingy haze
to the dining hall tables. But there was more. One day, I wrote on the weather page:
Smoke, with a chance of smoke. And beauty. The sun is an amazing red orb, the mountains loom up
like shadows, there is no breath of wind, the silence and stillness embrace birdsong and deer mewings.
The weather? Smoke. Calm. Beauty. Here in our oasis. For it was an oasis. Our dome of humidity.
Our sanctuary. Deer took refuge. It was truly a “retreat center.”
Our motto: “It is what it is.” We were not fatalistic, but realistic. We’ll do what we can, and
then it is what it is and we will deal with it. Our other motto: “Someday the snow will fall.”
There will be life without fire. The land will rest. And most importantly, we’ll be skiing.
After a while we got a little loopy, and in late August I wrote on the weather page:
The smoke has changed from a brown/yellow murk to a gray/white haze. The laundry smells like a
cocktail smoking lounge. The squirrels have taken to ordering drinks, wearing gold chains, and dancing
disco outside their dens. Me? Smoke has not affected me at all. Hack. Days with a lot of smoke
actually felt safer, because you couldn’t see anything, and it was calm. Sort of the head-inthe-sand mentality. Ignorance is bliss. The calm before the storm. You knew that when
the smoke cleared there was a reason, usually involving inversions lifting, meaning
winds, meaning increased fire behavior, meaning worry.
Fire at its heart is a power that is almost unfathomable. And at night it is stunning. At one
point Copper and Buckskin glowed with elvish campfires, and they melded right into the
night sky, right up into the Milky Way, into Deneb and Altair, Vega, like nebulae, like star
nurseries. There are now places where you can see the bones of the earth, the shape, the
curve. The familiar is unfamiliar. There is a stark beauty. And such quiet—yet there is
the chatter of a squirrel, the squawk of a gray jay, the rustle of deer softly padding up a
barren slope.
There’s a line from the movie “Never Cry Wolf” that keeps coming back to me. “I wish that
I could say ‘Thank you,’ just so, straight into the universe.” Being in the Village during the
fire was a privilege I will never forget. Thank you. v
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 11
Education & Programming
1
1
Seasonal Summary
A recap of all the hilarity and celebration
in the Village since February
2
photo by Karen Thygerson
3
photo by Karen Thygerson
Winter: (1) Women’s Retreat: Participants created space for their inner artists
So many seasons, so much fun!
With a fall chill in the air in
Railroad Creek Valley, and a
dusting of snow on the peaks of
Buckskin and Copper, it’s a great
time to look back at the highlights
and hilarity from the past several
months. Last winter’s retreats
and festivals brought visitors and
teaching staff from wide-ranging
backgrounds. Villagers danced (and
painted) in the streets to celebrate
Sun Over Buckskin day, and took
every opportunity to sled down
Chalet Hill. Spring brought music,
creative worship, a naturalization
ceremony, and of course, Work
Weeks. As summer approached,
many of the celebrations centered
on school-year-end activities.
“Space Beach” prom was a party
for all ages, and this year’s
commencement ceremony boasted
a record number of graduates. With
winter on the horizon once again,
the seasonal cycle of this unique
place comes full circle.
photo by Karen Thygerson
with Chuck + Peg, Elizabeth Austen, and Linda Breitag.
(2) Presidents’ Day Weekend: From sledding races and puzzling on
the loading dock to Valentine’s crafts and a fancy brunch,
everyone found a way to make the most of this lively weekend.
(3) Resident Artists: Elyse-Krista Mische and Elizabeth Person impressed
and inspired Villagers who enjoyed peeking over their shoulders as they sketched.
(4) Snowdance Film Festival: Villagers enjoyed watching, discussing, and making films
that evoked this year’s theme, “Living Well.” This year’s Best Picture, “Chick Flick,” is a
romantic comedy that tells the heartwarming tale of two chickens in love.
photo by Karen Thygerson
Spring: (1) Holy Week: Beginning with a Palm Sunday pilgrimage down
Main Street, Easter weekend culminated in a meaningful Three Days journey.
(2) Work Weeks: Volunteers successfully transformed lodging and community
spaces for summer, mended quilts, washed windows, and enjoyed the sunshine.
(3) Folk Festival: The bright sound of banjos jangling, the clear voice of fiddles
singing, and the toe-tapping rhythm of strumming guitars filled the
Village with cheer during the Second Annual Holden Folk Festival.
(4) May Day: Blooming daffodils inspired a dance around
the Maypole on Main Street.
2
4
3
photo by Curt Eidem
photo by Karen Thygerson
4
photo by Karen Thygerson
Sun Over Buckskin: Villagers celebrated the sun’s crest over Buckskin’s peak with sweet treats, dancing,
snow painting, and most importantly, time together. This annual celebration in mid-February is a Holden classic.
12 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
photo by Karen Thygerson
photo by Karen Thygerson
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 13
Artists’ Corner
1
2
Poetry and Illustration
Take a peek at inspiring art being created
by Holdenites around the world
photo by Keith Thygerson
nothing to be done
but wait that’s your whole job
resting and waiting and by god
photo by Laura Brown
Summer: (1) Prom: Multi-generational “Space Beach” prom
participants’ attire ranged from beautiful gowns to silly costumes.
A flat-bed truck offered “limo” service, and Villagers and
remediation workers performed a flash-mob.
(2) Graduation: 2015 boasted a record-setting five graduates. The creekside ceremony included speeches and a Star Wars-themed recessional.
(3) Independence Day: The traditional fireworks slideshow with
bubble wrap accompaniment lives on! The day also included
a picnic, miniature golf, an over-the-top parade, and friendly games.
(4) Summer Solstice: Sunrise Jacuzzi, Main Street wiffle ball, swimming in
the creek, and free ice cream filled the gloriously long hours of daylight.
(5) Last Day of School: Even though living in Holden is a perpetual
play date, excitement over the new-found freedom of summer
is contagious. Kids and families bring an irreplaceable
richness and vitality to Holden Village.
3
4
that’s difficult enough giving up
everything you know
about resilience persistence
winning listen
when the signal comes
and it always comes
we will all turn over
and begin again facing the wind
and the place in the clouds
where we last felt sun
5
photo by Laura Brown
photo by Lindsey Scheid
Coming up: Creation Awakes
Join Peg + Chuck as they share images and information about the impact of
the Wolverine Creek Fire and plans for 2016 and beyond. These free events are
opportunities for the Holden community to come together in familiar rhythms
including teaching sessions, coffee break, and worship. Full Narnia (childcare)
programming is available unless otherwise noted, so the whole family is welcome.
Thursday, November 5, 2015, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 24, 2016, 2:00–5:30 p.m.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Wednesday, March 2, 2016, 5:00–8:00 p.m.
Brammer Chapel at Trinity Lutheran College,
2802 Wetmore Ave, Everett, WA
(no teaching session or Narnia)
photo by Karen Thygerson
(Contact Anne at [email protected]
for information about this event at a private
residence in Northfield, MN)
Saturday, January 23, 2016, 2:00–5:00 p.m.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church,
4100 Lyndale Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN
14 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
WINTER GARDEN
Elizabeth Austen, Washington state’s Poet Laureate, is a dynamic
performer who frequently teaches the art of poetry aloud. She believes that
“something magical is possible in a performance that doesn’t happen anywhere
else.” During her most recent visit to Holden, she taught sessions on poetry and
creative writing as part of the 2015 Women’s Retreat.
Hosanna Lutheran Church,
2815 57th St NW, Rochester, MN
(soup dinner instead of Coffee Break)
Christ Lutheran Church,
25 Chapel Rd, Sedona, AZ
(potluck dinner and Lenten service,
no teaching session or Narnia)
Saturday, March 5, 2016, 2:00–5:00 p.m.
Ascension Chapel at Augustana College,
639 38th St, Rock Island, IL
Some poems, like this one, are forms of prayer. Simone Weil wrote in her essay
“Attention and Will” that “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same
thing as prayer.” In this poem from her collection “Every Dress a Decision,”
Elizabeth Austen meditates on the art and reward of waiting. (Reprinted by
permission of the author.)
Elyse-Krista Mische is primarily an illustrator who combines
Picnic Peace
11” x 17” watercolor, mica watercolor, and archival pen:
This piece was inspired by Elyse-Krista’s time as one of Holden’s 2015 Resident Artists.
images from dreams, memory, and reality. She also works with ceramics, textiles,
metal, wood, and printmaking. As a Holden Artist in Residence this past winter,
she made a series of illustrations and illustrated picture books that narrated her
journey to Holden and observations of Village life. She is currently working in
Appleton, WI.
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 15
art and
theology
Religious experience can
engage in dialogue with
the world at large only if it
makes use of concepts drawn
from the culture around us.
How can the arts help us
form new stories of faith for
the purpose of community?
Chuck Hoffman
Artist & Co-Executive Director
of Holden Village
I asked five
community
builders, who
are leaders and
influencers in
their own right,
from around
the world this
photo by John Noltner
question: How
can the arts help us form new stories of
faith for the purpose of community? The
arts can help give rise to new meaning and
understanding of both the seen and unseen.
This panel offers five world perspectives
with insights on how they have each formed
community in their ministries. They reflect
on their own creativity and examples of how
the arts can turn us toward one another,
touching the heart as well as the mind to
form community.
16 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
Pádraig Ó Tuama
Theologian & Poet
from Belfast, Northern Ireland
The arts, as I see
them, are all about
telling stories of
meaning. Stories
begin in unusual
places and the best
stories aren’t finished,
they are open ended,
photo by Helen Baird
and they neither
constrain nor convince. Instead, they invite
the observer of the art—whether that’s the art
of poetry, painting, sculpture, performance,
or movement—to engage. Art isn’t addicted
to control; it knows that it cannot control the
mind of the one who observes. In this way, art is
relational—the observer brings as much to the
project as the artist. Boisen speaks about people
as “living human documents” and ultimately, I
suppose, we can see the projects of the gospels
as great endeavours to write an unfinished
story with the art of words. Approaching text
and lives like this can help us find places of
encounter where we are seeking to be converted
towards each other, where our repentance is
repentance from certainty and our faithfulness
will be seen in the shared endeavour of being
unfolded into meaning as we are shaped by the
art pieces that each human story is.
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a theologian, conflict mediator,
researcher, and writer. He is the leader of the
Corrymeela Community in Belfast. Established in
1965, Corrymeela is a place of diversity, dialogue, and
reconciliation where people from across the world
address global issues of division and violence.
Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb
Glenn Jordan
Rev. Jan Richardson
For the last three
thousand years the
land of Palestine has
been living under
recurring empires. In
ancient history these
were the Assyrians,
Babylonians, Persians,
Greeks, and Romans.
These empires were militarily, politically, and
economically powerful. The people of Palestine
were powerless, lacking such resources to face
the empires. All that they had were the stories
they kept and told over and over again. Jesus
was born under Roman occupation. He faced
the empire through parables that he told to
give life meaning. These stories, poetry, and
parables became the Bible.
When an artist
gives form to her
imagination a
profound thing is
happening in the
world. Whether that
is in the placing of
pigment on canvas,
photo by Tim Millen
or moving images on
screen, when what is
in the mind of the artist takes shape around us,
this is supremely an act of incarnation. It is also
a profound theological act.
The work of the artist
is about refusing to
turn away from what
is broken. An artist is
someone who knows
how to turn toward
the brokenness, to
look closely instead
of looking away, to
sit where shattering has occurred, and to
imagine how God might want to work through
us to put the pieces together anew.
Theologian & Community Director
Bethlehem, Palestine
When the early church in Palestine faced
persecution under the Romans and had to go
underground, they chose art, the symbol of
the fish, to express their identity and faith in
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the savior. In
the seventh century and during the Byzantine
rule, the monasteries in Palestine became the
refuge for the icons that were threatened to be
destroyed. In these monasteries icons became
an integral part of the liturgy and spirituality of
the Christian community.
Living today as a Palestinian under Israeli
occupation, I have come to realize how
important art is for people’s survival. Art
becomes a way of celebrating life in a context
still dominated by forces of death and
domination, an art of resisting creatively and
non-violently. Art is the medium through
which we communicate what we really want in
a language that is different from the political
semantics and religious formulas.
Art is the means that empowers us to give
face to our people and write melodies to our
narrative. In this sense, art is theology.
Dr. Mitri Raheb is the President of Dar
al-Kalima University College in Bethlehem, as well as
the president of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. He is a pastor
and widely-published Palestinian theologian.
Theologian & Writer
Belfast, Northern Ireland
A work of art takes flesh (or carved sculpture
or printed word or whatever) amongst us
and reveals to us something of the mind and
character of the artist. Good and true art is
revelation not propaganda. But its power and
meanings can also transcend the artist.
I have spent most of my career working in
socially and economically deprived urban
communities where life is so fragile and
contingent it leaves little space for creativity.
The poverty we find hardest to measure is the
poverty of imagination.
Artists speak the language of imagination.
They incarnate hope and newness in the
world. They dare to imagine what is not but
which could and even should be. And in so
doing they reveal newness. They embody
transformation. They empower communities
to transcend the limitations of history.
I like to imagine the ancient prophets as
artists. On returning to the ruined Jerusalem,
whose built environment was shattered, whose
social infrastructure was ruined, Isaiah saw a
transformed city. It was an act of imagination,
yes, but the words he spoke and wrote had
creative energy, and so made possible the hard,
street-level work of regeneration.
Glenn Jordan created Skainos Square, an innovative
inner urban regeneration project. He is currently the
Director of Law Centre NI, a pro bono legal practice
promoting social justice through the law. As an
Irishman and theologian, he wrestles constantly to
bring faith and life in the city into connection.
Pastor, Writer, & Artist
Orlando, Florida
I began to learn this more clearly than ever
when my husband, the singer/songwriter
Garrison Doles, died unexpectedly a year and
a half ago. Nothing could have prepared me
for the absolute shattering that came with his
death. Yet because of my work as an artist—
particularly my work with collage—I know in
my hands, my bones, my soul, what it means to
put the pieces together. I know what it means
to sit with what is torn, what is in fragments,
and ask the Spirit to brood over the chaos and
connect one shard to the next, and the next.
As an artist and writer, my job is not to banish
the brokenness present in the world and in my
own life. My job is to say, Look, here is grace—
and here, and here. Beyond all reason. Beyond
all logic. Here is grace big enough to meet my
grief, my anger, my sorrow, my despair; grace
that flows into the broken places and inspires
us to find the connections, to see new visions,
to dream new dreams.
This is not just the call of the artist or writer. It
is a call that belongs to each of us: to sit amid
the shattering, to not turn away, to bear witness
to the wild workings of grace, and to see how
God wants to act through us to create anew.
The above was adapted by Jan from an interview with
Candler School of Theology. Jan Richardson is an
artist, writer, and minister in the United Methodist
Church. Based in Florida, she serves as director of The
Wellspring Studio, LLC, and is widely known for her
distinctive intertwining of word and image in her books
(including “In Wisdom’s Path”), blogs, and
online retreats.
Dr. Christian Scharen
Pastor, Teacher, & Musician
St. Paul, Minnesota
photo by Christian Scharen
I love rock and roll.
With deep roots in
the Delta blues, it
is one of America’s
genius gifts to the
world. Yet it has a
long and complicated
relationship with the
church.
But because I see every work of art, every song,
as full of God, I can’t give rock and roll over
to some realm outside of God’s reach, as if it
is territory ceded to the devil. Even in what
some regard as offensive music, I listen with
openness to the presence of God’s creative
power. To avoid this would be only to see
brokenness, and not the creative power that
produces a particular form of pop art. I believe
that in music that shows its brokenness—its
self-imposed exile from God—God is especially
attentive and engaged.
Let me explain. When Martin Luther argued
for a category of “theologian of the cross,” he
pointed to the fact that God’s embodied action
in reconciling love for the world shows up
in the most surprising places; not just as the
expected Almighty parting the clouds, but as
Jesus, who Christians call Immanuel—God with
us. Jesus was born to an unwed teenage mother
surrounded by animals and straw. The gospels
describe Jesus eating with the outcast, healing
the impure, criticizing the religious leaders. In
the end, he died in a place of shame, outside
the city gate, with condemned criminals.
Believing in the God shown in Jesus teaches me
to see that what many consider “godforsaken”
is exactly the precinct of God’s holy work. With
this theological perspective, the Holy Spirit’s
work regularly surprises us outside the pale of
properly religious music. Despite itself, even
the most broken music finds itself caught up in
larger purposes of which it knows not!
Christian Scharen is VP of Applied Research and
Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Theological
Education at Auburn Theological Seminary of New York,
Co-Director of the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project
(an ecumenical national study of ministry), and a scholar
working at the intersection of ethnography and theology.
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 17
Other 2015 Projects
Village Improvement
Complete upgrades to chalet basement
utility rooms
by Karen Thygerson
The footbridge connecting the west end of Main Street to the south side of Railroad Creek is
a Holden icon. Over the north approach, a hand-carved sign reads, “Where the river flows,
life abounds.” This verse from Ezekiel 47:9 reminds pedestrians exploring (or working) on
the mining bank of the creek that our very existence depends on clean water carving its
way through the valley.
The Ezekiel sign, carved by Villagers under the direction of artist and St. Olaf Professor
Christie Hawkins, was added to the bridge in celebration of the 2012 summer theme.
But the bridge itself was built around 1980 and modified over the years with an
extended roof, new shingles, and cribbing (the
log supports). Previously, a simple, flat-sided
bridge served hundreds of miners commuting
from Winston town to their worksite.
There are, and have been, a number of other
bridges in the valley. A long-gone bridge at the
Ball Field provided access to a pack trail leading
to Copper Mountain’s first mine portals and
photo by Laura Brown
Honeymoon Heights. The original west-end
vehicle bridge was replaced by a steel and concrete bridge in the 1990s, which washed
out in 2003. In 2012 the east vehicle bypass bridge was added to allow this era’s heavy
equipment to circumvent Main Street.
The waters of Copper and Railroad Creeks provide vital power, hydration, and fire
suppression to Holden Village. The bridges exist because of the water, but their
value goes beyond the functions of carrying hikers to Copper Basin and Rio Tinto
contractors to work. Bridges create literal and figurative connections between Villagers
and construction workers, the Village of the past and the Village of the future.
Because of the need for clean water—for us and the organisms of Railroad Creek
and Lake Chelan—Holden Village has been in transition for the past several
years. The era of mine remediation has finally come to pass, bringing clean
water, bridges, and connections, with more work and more opportunity
than expected. Accomplishing massive tasks like building bridges and
cleaning up 75-year-old tailings piles is a tall order made taller by the
remoteness of this valley. There is never enough skilled labor, time, or
power. But the struggles and impositions of this time have been repaid
tenfold by the opportunities. Improvements to the Village will make it
possible for the Holden ministry to continue for another 50-plus years,
and relationships have been forged between the most unlikely groups.
Facilities Manager Matt Meacham reflects, “We’ve relearned something
we’ve always known about Holden: we are here for something more than
we realize—for ourselves, for each other, and for this part of the world.
And we can learn to do things differently and make the world a bit more
whole and healthy.”
Holden is not only building bridges, but also crossing them. As the Village
begins to emerge from this era of remediation and fire onto the other bank
18 | Holden
Village
Voice Fall 2015
Illustration
by Elizabeth
Person
| www.holdenvillage.org
of guest-filled
summers, the
territory will
be at once
familiar and
uncharted.
While the
fire has
changed the
surrounding
photo by Larry Penberthy
The mining-era footbridge.
landscape,
the next-era
Village will look and feel an awful lot like the
pre-remediation Holden we all know and love.
Under the surface, however, it will be distinctly
different. There will be new infrastructure,
cleaner water, and stronger bridges—both
literal and figurative.
“Today’s footbridge” will soon be “yesterday’s
footbridge” as volunteers and contractors have
made major progress toward replacing it. All
building materials have a lifespan, and the
logs that hold the footbridge are no exception.
The current bridge would
have been strong enough to
support the load of newly
expanded water and power
lines. But the new bridge,
with its durable concrete and
steel structure, and greater
span and clearance, will hold
those vital utilities safely out
of the way of future floods on
its underside.
2016, the bridge span and roof will be installed.
Structural engineer Peter Jamtgaard succeeded
in designing a simple, robust, and affordable
structure which maintains the essence of
today’s bridge, loved by so many. Thanks
to Capital Projects Lead Andrew Lund the
entire crew is on task. Many others have been
instrumental, including Head Maverick/Trails
Lead Ruth Sackman and her crew, volunteer
carpenters Scott Murdock and Ben Gilmore,
Chief Firefighter Jeff Pierce, Electrician Penny
Gates, and Holden volunteers Jesus Osorio and
Piotr and Paul Szponder. Outside contractors
including Khaled Siwash (Nelson Geotech)
and Ricky Padilla (Bremmer Construction)
were also essential parts of the team. All of
this has been overseen by Facilities Manager
Matt Meacham.
Bridges can be scary, especially when we
like where we’ve been. And luckily, much of
what makes Holden Village unique remains
despite—or because of—the uniquely liminal
space in which the Village has been existing.
Making a conscious choice to
leave the past behind opens
the door to opportunities
beyond imagining.
You—yes, you!—were
also a key player in the
building of this bridge. Your
contributions of time, talent,
and money have helped
keep the ministry of Holden
Village alive during this time.
The new bridge will reference
And more than anything,
courtesy of Peter Jamtgaard
both the original and today’s.
your continued engagement
A rendering of the new footbridge (left)
Instead of steps, the north
compared to today’s bridge (right).
and commitment to a bright
approach will start at road
future for Holden have made
level and ramp down to the main span. An
it possible for not only the new footbridge to be
earth ramp will connect the south end to the
built, but also the Holden community as a whole
bank. The structure will be faced with native
to emerge from this transition. On your next
rock and wood. By season’s end, crews will
visit to a revitalized Holden Village, the Ezekiel
complete footings, retaining walls, and other
sign will remain, but the bridge will be new. Take
foundational work By next year, it will carry
a moment to appreciate what you’ve built. v
power and water lines. When the snow thaws in
Remodel Chalet 6
Mitigate basement mold and replace
rotted support beams and foundation on
Narnia building
Complete upgrades on all Hose Houses
Repair construction damage to landscaping
and begin landscaping improvements
Cut over all buildings to underground electrical
system & remove overhead power lines
Upgrade LAN communication system with
fiber-optic network
Potable and untreated water systems completed
on the north (Village) side of creek
Tap penstock and install valves and associated
piping for connection to untreated water system
Mine Remediation
Barrier wall completed
Continue installing groundwater collection
system behind barrier wall
Continue jet grouting
(tailing stabilization columns)
Finish grading of waste rock and tailings piles
Complete quarry blasting for this year
Re-line and fortify the bed of Copper Creek
Reconstruct the hydro tailrace that flows into
Railroad Creek
Install portal pipe water collection system
from mine
Produce rock, sand, dirt, and mulch to be used
for tailings cover, road improvements, creek and
interceptor channel lining, and Village projects
Build surface water interceptor channels to
redirect runoff water (that would otherwise reach
the tailings piles) to the water treatment plant
Place tanks and silos, and finish assembling
steel structure for water treatment plant
Unload daily barges
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 19
back to the job I left,” he said. “The uncertainty
of it is a little unnerving, but I’ve always been
one of those people who says, ‘I’ll figure
something out.’”
From April 16 to
October 7, Holden
Village Board member
James Nagel hiked the
Pacific Crest Trail in an effort to
raise money and excitement for
the re-emergence of Holden’s larger
summer community.
Almost six months after
setting out on the Pacific
Crest Trail—hiking from the
Mexican-US border, across the
Southern California desert, into the
breathtaking High Sierras, around
Lake Tahoe, and through fire-scarred
forests in the Northwest—Board member
James Nagel has completed his journey.
On October 7, he crossed the border between
Washington and Canada.
Visit www.holdenvillage.org/donate/
hiking-holden/ to make a
tax-deductible donation
directly to Holden Village.
His readiness for improvisation came in handy
when James encountered areas of the trail
impacted by wildfires. In northern California, he
hiked about 600 miles unaccompanied. “It was
a very lonely time on the trail, punctuated by a
re-emergence of blisters and shin splints. But I
had the whole Holden community supporting
me and cheering me on, and that really kept
me going.” Having to skip over a section of trail
near Crater Lake was a disappointment because
it’s considered one of the great gems of the trail.
But by the time he reached Washington, the
PCT closures had all been lifted.
In this way, a thru-hike is a lot like Holden:
existing in a space between, moving from one
thing to the next, but still engaging in the
Back in June, he hopped off the trail to visit
the place where it all began for him: Holden
Village. When asked about unexpected
challenges, listeners anticipated profound
tales of loneliness and self-examination, but
James said frankly, “It was hard to ignore the
blisters.” Every step for
the first 600 miles was
painful, he noted, and
he quickly learned that
thru-hiking is a growing
experience not only for
your spirit, but also for
your feet. “General foot
maintenance is important,” he said, with an air
of newfound trail wisdom.
Now, after hiking more than 2,600 miles,
James is heading back to Holden for a brief
volunteer stint. After that, he hopes to make a
stop at Crater Lake on his way back home to San
Diego. His calluses are starting to soften, but
the lessons he’s learned along the way are sure
to stay with him. “I’ve realized the importance
of being present, living simply, appreciating
that what we consume affects our being,
acknowledging different values of beauty, and
sincerely incorporating whimsy in our lives.”
In his final Facebook post from the trail, James
wrote, “What an incredible journey! This
lifestyle is simple and beautiful, but seasons
end, and it's time for the next adventure!” v
Hiking for Holden
ph
ot
os
pro
vid
ed
by
Jam
es
Na
gel
By Laura Brown
But the rustic unpredictability of the
wilderness brings unexpected joys as well as
challenges. At the base of Mt. Whitney, James
and his hiking companions went to sleep at
9 p.m. and awoke three hours later to begin
their ascent to the summit. Traversing icy
boulders and panting through the thinning
air were worth it to watch the sunrise from the
highest point in the lower 48 states.
Besides an appreciation for the physical beauty
of the trail, what did James hope to gain from
this experience? “I think it was the right move
to do it now, and really reflect on if I want to go
20 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
journey along the way and gleaning all the
insights it offers. One such insight came from
a fellow hiker (trail name “Siren”) who helped
James decide what to leave behind. He started
with two outfits, and she told him, “Lose one
outfit. Everything’s gonna be gross, all the time.
There’s no avoiding looking like a trail person.”
James realized that a lot of what you think you
need is just extra weight, clutter, and a false
sense of security. Better to let go and bask in
the freedom of simplicity. “The trail has a really
supportive community,” James reminisced.
“People are really willing to help out and pitch
in.” Much like at Holden, the people are the real
joy, and everybody’s made a sacrifice to be there.
Illustration by Elizabeth Person
Triumphant, James celebrates the completion of his epic hike.
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 21
Called, Equipped, & Sent
Stay Connected to
Villagers Around the World
Every prayer, every word of good courage, and every bit of energy that
Holdenites shared from around the world during the Wolverine Creek
Fire have kept the spirit of Holden alive! Stories of waiting in the face of
ambiguity and change demonstrate the steadfastness of this community.
Despite the challenges and struggles of this time, you continue to be the
beating heart of Holden Village.
Many of you have reached out to ask, “What can we do? How can we
help?” Please consider these opportunities to share your gifts of time,
skill, and financial means:
photo by Lindsey Scheid
1. The new Beautification & Education Project will provide a financial foundation for fire-related Village improvements and educational
programming for guests returning next summer, focused on fire ecology, climate change, water conservation, and healing stewardship for our planet.
Visit www.holdenvillage.org to contribute.
2. This coming spring, we’ll have Work Weeks in April and May during which volunteers will refresh the landscape with new flowers and grass, repair
water-damaged porches, and continue fire-prevention measures. These vital tasks are made possible by the Beautification & Education Project. Watch
for more information, including specific dates and registration info, on our website and Facebook page.
3. Just as the fire has changed our landscape, it has changed the way we witness and respond. Holden has already taught us that many small gifts can
accomplish big things, and that many individual voices can make a powerful sound. Please share this message and invite your friends and family to
join in this new planet stewardship conversation.
Amidst all the unanswered questions, the Village and the Holden community endure. And though the specifics are yet to be worked out, a summer
guest season in 2016 is still joyously anticipated—more information to come! Now is the time for us to move forward through healing.
Board Elections Notice
At its July 2016 meeting, the Board of Directors of Holden Village will be
electing several new members, each to serve a four-year term. The Board
is committed to reflecting the full diversity of the church, including
representation from
Evangelical Lutheran
Church of America and
Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod.
Board members are
asked to invest their
personal energy and
skills in the purposes
and mission of Holden
Village, to seek
opportunities to apply
those individual skills
and abilities, and to
demonstrate support
for the Village. The
complete application packet provides information about the Holden
Village mission, vision and core values, and a description of board
member responsibilities and benefits. To request an application packet,
please contact Linda Kingery at [email protected].
22 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
2016 Artist Residency
Are you a professional artist looking for a chance to get away and focus
on your work? Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Holden
Village Artist Residency in Community, Ecology, and Spirituality. This is
your chance to live and work in this unique community for six weeks this
coming winter. Share your vision and creativity, be an essential part of a
dynamic and fun community, and get loads of time to focus on your art.
Artists working in all types of media are invited to apply. Applications are
due December 4. Visit our website to find out more about this program.
Holden NetWorks
You’re hungry for information about Holden, and we
want to keep you informed! By joining Holden NetWorks,
you can ensure we have your most up-to-date contact
information. You can also register for special events, keep
track of your donations, and opt in or out of receiving our
regular publications. We never share your information with
other entities. Simply visit our website and click on the
Holden NetWorks link to create or manage your account.
Thousands of people spend time in Holden Village each year. Whether you came as long-term
staff or stayed for a holiday weekend, we share one thing in common: we are members of the
Holden community. Eventually, the time comes for each of us to leave Railroad Creek Valley.
“Called, Equipped, & Sent” is an effort to keep members of the Holden family connected; think
of it as a Holden Alumni page. Members of the Holden community are invited to share updates
on major life events outside of the Village, including births, deaths, marriages, major vocational
milestones, and other life events. As space allows, submissions will be shared here and on our
website. Visit www.holdenvillage.org/stay-connected/ to see more updates and submit your listing.
Stan Berntson
and Sharon
Hansen Geldaker
have transplanted
themselves to
Eugene, OR. Stan
is working at
Central Lutheran Church as Interim
Pastor and Sharon is a Labor and
Delivery nurse at RiverBend Hospital.
Rachael Button
and Peter Kraus
were married in
Damariscotta, ME
on July 10.
After 20 years of living on Whidbey
Island, WA, Dan and Karen Erlander
have recently moved from their home
in Freeland into an independent living
apartment in Seattle.
Marvin and Maggie Fink celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary on
September 12.
After nine years of working toward the
goal of becoming a Board Certified
Chaplain through the Association of
Professional Chaplains, Janet Grant is
working as a chaplain at Providence St.
Peter Hospital in Olympia, WA.
After 40+ years working with his
family business, Clay Gustafson is
now using his gifts as a volunteer to
help to bring environmental healing
to the Village.
Katy (Fiedler)
Hammel
completed her
Master’s of
Education in
Differentiated
Instruction.
Inge Hansen proudly announces
the marriage of her daughter,
Anna Hansen, in August.
Elaine Harrison celebrated her 50th
high school reunion this summer.
Werner Janssen self-published a
book. “Holden Village—A Memoir”
shares his perspective on the struggles
and shared delights within the Holden
Village community from 1961 to 1983
when he was on staff.
Dennis Johnson celebrates two 30th
anniversaries: 30 years of ordained
ministry in the ELCA, and 30 years of
marriage to his wife, Susan.
Ray Makeever has retired from
leading music and worship at both
Augsburg College and Trinity Lutheran
in Minneapolis. He’s looking forward
to new creative pursuits, including
taking his music on the road from time
to time.
Kristin (Bauer)
Mortenson and
Peter Mortenson
were married
on May 31 in
Stillwater, MN. They are expecting
their first child in December.
Arya Autumn
Rasmusson was
born in
Wenatchee on
June 5 to former
long-term staff
members Shane
Rasmusson and Meredith Ishida.
Arya spent eight of her nine
gestational months at Holden.
Leah (Armelagos) Salas gave birth
to a baby girl named Grey Guadalupe
Salas, a.k.a. Lupita Lobita. She looks
forward to welcoming her into the
Holden community soon.
Earlier this year, Roy and Dorothy
Satre became great-grandparents
twice. Harper Renae (born New Year’s
Day) and Elijah Roy (born February 10)
joined their family.
In April, Kaethe Schwehn’s Holden
memoir, “Tailings,” won the Minnesota
Book Award in the Memoir/Creative
Non-Fiction category.
Becky Swanson has a new call as the
Director of Contextual Education at
Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
Rachel Weeks
and Kyle (Larson)
Weeks were
married on
September 21,
2013, in
Alexandria, MN.
They have recently purchased a home
in St. Paul, MN.
In Memoriam
Holden volunteer Craig Plummer
from Ephrata, WA drowned while
boating and swimming with family.
A service was held on July 25 at
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
Rev. Gerry Swanson died
suddenly on July 3. He and his
late wife Jan Bowman supported
Holden throughout their lives. The
family has requested that gifts be
made to the Swanson Memorial
Fund at Cal Lutheran or to Holden.
Charlotte Graber passed away in
April 2014. Her husband Al, who
passed in 2013, worked at the
Holden Mine in the 1940s.
The Rodgers family (Holden Mine
1941–1957) lost three members in
2014: Raymond Rodgers in April,
his twin Robert on September
14, and Dorothy Rodgers Miles
on July 14. Dorothy was married
to Eddie Miles, whose family also
lived at Holden.
Pat Handel Schonder died in
her sleep on January 18, 2015, at
her home in Ephrata. Pat lived in
Holden as the child of a miner, and
she and her husband, Ralph have
been volunteers.
Joline Marie Recknagel Lambert,
born in Holden, passed away
January 21 in Everett WA. At her
request, her ashes will be scattered
near the Village.
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 23
Pastor’s Message
Hope & Morels
(or A Fungus Among Us)
For creation waits with eager longing...
Romans 8:19
Throughout the month of July, I kept watch
on a few ideas for this message while they
smoldered like the fire in Wolverine Creek
drainage. I thought I’d wait for a spark to catch
my attention as the month wore on. Needless
to say, I waited too long.
At breakfast on July 31 the words “Evacuation
Level Three” were spoken. My focus turned
away from this message as the smoldering fire
in Wolverine Creek drainage erupted into
flames, and the flames became a firestorm. As
I evacuated by bus from Holden to Lucerne on
the morning of August 1, I witnessed firsthand
that the firestorm had turned much of the
valley (not to mention my hopes of keeping
this a simple, easy message) into ashes.
Then their eyes were opened,
and they recognized Jesus; and he
vanished from their sight. They said
to each other, “Were not our hearts
burning within us...?”
Luke 24:31–32
In the six weeks that the Holden community
spent waiting, watching, and hoping to return
to Holden, words and emotions and life all
seemed to burn with greater intensity. A
familiar prayer or liturgy kindled a startling
hope. A simple phone call set ablaze surprising
comfort. A small gathering of staff turned into
a firestorm of vulnerability and grace.
Familiar stories from scripture also took on
new landscapes of meaning. A story with literal
fire provided a temporary home while Holden
was inaccessible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah picks a
mountaintop fight with the prophets of Baal
to see whose god’s fire is bigger. But after the
contest turns deadly, Elijah flees for his own
24 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org
life, and on a second mountaintop he finds
God’s presence, not in fire but in the paradox of
waiting, stillness, and silence.
Another familiar story, this one with a burning
metaphor, became a companion carrying
the hope and grief of many in the Holden
community. In Luke 24, two wayfaring disciples
ask at the end of their day’s walk, “Were not
our hearts burning within us?” Of course, this
hopeful question comes only after the stranger,
who had walked and shared a meal with them,
is revealed to be Jesus. It isn’t until after the
smoke clears that they realize it was their hearts
that were on fire.
“Silly disciples,” we say. “They can’t see Jesus
when he’s right in front of their eyes.” That’s
one way to read the story: a self-righteous
lesson on how blind others can be. But the
smoke of life blinds our eyes too.
illustration by Angela Mietzke
No doubt, months or years from now the
Holden community will look back at the
summer of 2015, when the Wolverine Creek
Fire climbed up Railroad Creek Valley, and say,
“Were not our hearts burning within us?” For
the time being, we’ll have to settle for morel
mushrooms.
It’s the disciples’ three-word litany of grief
earlier in the story that helps us see the smoke
that blinds our own eyes. “We had hoped...”
they say. They don’t see that the one to which
they pour out this hope just so happens to
be walking next to them the whole time. The
living incarnation of their hopes has been
fulfilled and walks the road with them. They
don’t see it because surely hope doesn’t die on a
cross. Surely hope isn’t found in places of deep
pain and trauma.
Most of the time the morel lives dormant,
hidden in an underground network called
the mycelium. After a forest fire, however,
the morel reveals itself as the familiar aboveground mushroom in what’s called the “fruit”
or the “child” or (my personal favorite) the
“manifestation” of the underground mycelium.
In fact, the surest place to find realistic hope is
hiding in plain sight, in broken places, buried
like morels in a fire-scarred forest.
I wish I could say that finding hope is a simple,
easy process. Like this message, it’s not. We are
bound to miss the hope that’s buried just under
the surface of most forest floors. We are blind
to the hope that walks alongside us. Hope finds
us first. Hope walks with us. Hope waits even
now “with eager longing” to be revealed like a
morel after the fire. v
In the year or two after a fire, crowds
of black morel mushrooms pop up all
over the charcoal forest... Mushrooms
are like icebergs—what you see is only
a small part of the whole...
The Charcoal Forest: How Fire Helps Animals & Plants
Who knew there was an underground, aquiferlike network of morel-ness hidden beneath the
forest floor the whole time? Who knew that it
takes fire to reveal it?
Pastor Kent Narum has served as
Village Pastor in Holden since August 2014
www.holdenvillage.org | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | 25
26 | Holden Village Voice Fall 2015 | www.holdenvillage.org