SHARING OUR RHYTHMS, MISSION, AND STORIES
RE-FORMATION
A look at the creative
process of forming anew.
|
Summer 2016
Summer 2016 |
The Contents
About this issue
Re-Formation In this summer issue we look at the action and
process of forming again. We find ourselves in a unique time in the life
of Holden. It is a creative time. We seek the beauty in the process of
making things new. We are re-forming our relationships to the earth,
the Village and to one another. Our Holden community continues
to venture onto still more “paths as yet untrodden.” We are called to
raise our voices together to find our way forward.
PHOTO BY EMILIE BOUVIER
Chuck + Peg lead villagers
of all ages in community
building throgh art making.
FEATURES
4
PHOTO BY LINDSEY SCHEID
2016 Forerunner Summer
Holden offers a unique
opportunity to spend time
in the Village and contribute
through volunteer efforts.
By Ann Hafften
8
About Holden Village
COVER IMAGE
Holden Village
Artist-in-Residence:
Emilie Bouvier, St. Paul, MN
Mixed Media: Pinhole
photograph in eggshell
"Reaching" (SEE PG 17)
Over the course of 50 years now, Holden Village has
been transformed from a copper mining town to a
vibrant place of education, programing, and worship.
It has been a rich journey of faith. Holden welcomes
all who seek contemplation and community in the
remote wilderness of the beautiful Cascade Mountains.
We invite people of all ages to come and experience
our rhythms, which inspire and equip travelers for
a sustainable life of faith outside the Village. And
we continue to listen to and reflect on our story and
history as we seek to discover our place in God’s
creative mission in our world.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Chuck Hoffman + Peg Carlson-Hoffman
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Chuck Hoffman
ART DIRECTOR Wendy Hudgins
COPY EDITOR Gary Marx
YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS are invited:
[email protected]
Holden Village Voice, HC 0 Box 2, Chelan WA 98816
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.
Living in a Fire-Adapted
Environment
As a community, along with
the burned vistas, we are
also witnessing nature's
“restart” and experiencing
the positive, long-term
improvements. By Carly
Reed, Chelan Ranger
District, Public Information
IN EVERY ISSUE
10
Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
Ecological Theologian
Bonhoeffer’s theology
might change how we,
as the Holden community,
envision our relationships
with the rest of creation,
even the recent fire. By
Jamie Stallman, Masters
of Arts Candidate, Union
Theological Seminary, NY
18
God's interdependence
with Creatures, in
Matters of Creation
A divine risk — creation is
a messy, ongoing process
and not a finished product.
By Dr. Terry Fretheim,
Old Testament
Theologian, Author
2 Exploring the Landscape
Thoughts from our directors
Chuck + Peg
12 Education + Programming
Past season and new calendar
15 The Mailbox
Reflections of Holden
from around the world
20
16 Artist’s Corner
The Power of Small
Putting things into
perspective.
By Pam Kelley,
Beekeeper,
Contributing Writer
Sharing the gifts of poetry and art
17 Art + Theology
Journeys of faith through
word and image
22 Projects + Notes
Our seasonal "Blast Board”
23 Villagers Connected
Called, Equipped, and Sent
24 Pastor’s Message
Rev. Kent Narum closing notes
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JAMES MEIEROTTO, KANSAS CITY
Exploring the
Landscape
Under
Heaven:
there is
a season
The time for building up
requires the artists and
visionaries to see what is and shape the
new from what has been, leaving the results
to the passing of time...much like the work
our Forerunners did back in the ‘60s.
THOUGHTS FROM CHUCK+ PEG
As we write this article, the winter snow is
nearly melted, Rio Tinto is gearing up for
another summer of heavy construction and
the irises are poking their heads bravely
out of the ground. There are random bear
sightings as the deer are working their way
to higher ground. Spring at Holden Village
is such a marvelous experience. It is nearly
impossible to believe that after an enormous
wildfire followed by nearly 300 inches of
snow that life abounds. The forest seems to
have heaved a big sigh of relief (or is that all
of us?). Either way, recovery is in full swing
here in the Village.
For the summer theme this year, we have
focused on the relationship building and
wisdom writings from the book of Ecclesiastes.
Actually, for the past several months, we have
wrestled with the aftermath of the Wolverine
Fire and paused this winter to listen to what
the earth was telling us. We don’t believe in
the common notion that things happen for
a reason. We do think, however, that after
diffi culty, loss or destruction, that beauty
often follows. Beauty is emerging again. As
the snow melts and the temperatures rise we
are taken with the newness of creation and
anxiously wait to see how the soil will react to
the runoff of the snow pack.
We find ourselves in a world of constant
change. We are finding the vagaries of life are
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creative tension necessitates being able to let
go of the past and be present in the moment
moving us forward as much as the blessings,
and sometimes even more so. Loss, suffered
because of circumstances outside of our
control, tests us beyond reasonable levels and
compels us to begin again. Over and over. Our
lives are not lived in a straight line, but follow
a more organic path, one full of tension and
chaos. But, living in this tension provides
fertile ground for new beginnings.
This creative tension necessitates being
able to let go of the past and be present in
the moment, to live in this season that is
before us. It requires from us participation
and a willingness to begin again. Like the
re-emergence of spring, there is a desire to
participate together in the renewal of the
Village and of the land. In doing so, we feel
we are a part of something. We are not simply
observers; we are actors. We do not merely
believe in creation; we are participants in it.
We are encouraged as we see signs of the
resurrection and hope in the re-emergence
of the Lupin, ferns and green grasses and
the Village post-remediation. It is a time for
building up, which requires our ability to
look with sensitivity, and with vision, into
the future. We intuitively know that there
is something not quite seen that is worth
pursuing. We trust that by doing so, we will
bring life to those who come to this place in
the years ahead.
The Irish theologian, John O’Donohue tells
us, “though it may not be seen directly, the
eye of the imagination will often be drawn
to the edges of things where the visible and
invisible worlds coalesce. There is no map for
this invisible territory, yet sometimes its force
completely engages our heart.” The time for
building up requires the artists and visionaries
to see what is and shape the new from what
has been, leaving the results to the passing of
time...much like the work our Forerunners did
back in the ‘60s. They built up and brought
renewal, not knowing what the fruits of their
labor would bring.
It is a time to sow. The writers of Ecclesiastes
help us understand that life is not just about
change, that life is about sowing. Serotinous
is a scientific term for a kind of seed that
requires an environmental trigger in order
to be released. The well-sealed seeds of
Lodgepole pines here in the valley were
extremely patient as they waited for the fire
that released them from their cones. With
patience, we too can sow the seeds that make
change possible for the next generation of
Holdenites. We can sow the seeds that will
make a better world possible for those yet
to come. Sowing is both the struggle and the
gift, and in the work of sowing comes the
hope, albeit thin at times. Faith is sometimes
stretched when you are doing something
new and opposing forces seek to keep what is
familiar.
The forest around Holden has burned in what
is referred to as a mosaic pattern...some trees
remain whole and green, others burned and
gone. This particular time in the life of Holden
invites us see our life together as a mosaic
made from the pieces and fragments of our
human experience, common to all, but lived
uniquely by each of us. It is in the union of
all the pieces that we begin to see a much
bigger picture.
Jesus speaks of true union with all of creation;
with oneself, with our neighbor, with the
outsider, with our enemy, with nature, and
through all of these, with the Divine. This is a
place where we find the beauty in relationship;
love for each other and for the earth. Under
Heaven, in all of its seasons, draws us to the
Railroad Creek valley, that thin place between
the heavens and the earth, where we will
once again gather, to work and study, rest and
laugh. Let us anticipate, with joy, the coming
of the new season.
With good courage,
Chuck + Peg
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.
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BY ANN HAFFTEN | Contributing Writer
2016 Forerunner
Summer Weeks
Week 1: June 19-25
Week 2: June 26-July 2
Week 3: July 3-9
Week 4: July 10-16 (FULL)
Week 5: July 17-23
Week 6: July 24-30
Week 7: July 31-August 6
Week 8: August 7-13
Week 9: August 14-20 (FULL)
We have been waiting... and this summer Holden Village is able to offer an opportunity
to come and participate in rhythms that are familiar, programs that are engaging,
worship that is inspiring, and work that will help Holden prepare the way for guests.
Since last summer’s Wolverine Fire, Holden has
operated with serious restrictions. Now Holden
offers a unique opportunity to spend time in
the Village and contribute through volunteer
efforts. Holden’s focus this summer will be on preparing
the Village for the official Guest Opening, anticipated for
Christmas 2016! The Village is offering a program called
Forerunner Summer, named after the original volunteers
who came to explore, work, and imagine Holden into being.
You may have heard of the original Forerunners. Before
Holden was able to serve guests or carry out any kind of
program, 41 young adult volunteers spent the summer of
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1961 cleaning and repairing the village site. Holden had been
standing empty since the mine closed in 1957 and, while its
foundations were strong, there was plenty of damage caused
by vandals and heavy winter snow.
The Forerunners paid their own way, mostly traveling
from the Midwest. They and the crew that followed in 1962
repaired steps and chimneys, renewed lawns and gardens, and
cleaned all the buildings. It’s said that they replaced 8,000
windowpanes!
Their routine included daily Bible study led by the
Rev. Wilton Bergstrand, a national youth leader from the
former Augustana Lutheran Church, and daily study of the
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5
Hooked
on Holden
1962
Good memories — and a motif that Holden
Village will imitate in 2016. This new generation
of Holden Forerunners can expect to join in
similar daily rhythms of work, recreation and
study. And while the Village walk-ins are clean,
and the windows unbroken, there is plenty to
do after the remediation and fire to prepare the
way for guests.
Pastor Carol Nolte first came to
Holden in 1962 on a family trip
from Southern California to see
the Seattle World’s Fair. As a recent
graduate of Augustana College in
Rock Island, IL, she had heard of
this new retreat center from others
who were coming to work at
Holden as part of the Forerunners.
Her family went home without
her! She stayed and worked and
then went back to Los Angeles
to her Middle School teaching
job. But she was hooked. Holden
became a regular part of her year,
spending her summers at the
Village. She was part of the first
craft workshop at Holden, teaching
card weaving and Inkle weaving
in the basement of Chalet 7. She
lived there every summer with
Beany and Gertrude Lundholm,
becoming part of their summer
family. Beany always said, when
he knew Carol was coming in,
“Here comes Nutty Nolte.” Gospel
and hilarity, serious conversation
sparkling with imagination and wit,
diverse viewpoints and community
hospitality, life shaped by the
Eucharist — at Holden Carol
found a home that matched her
thinking and her faith."
Holden Village, Chalets, 1962
natural environment led by Dr. Harold Leraas
of Pacific Lutheran University.
“We called ourselves the Forerunners after
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ,”
Bergstrand said. “And prepare the way they
did!” Charles Lutz wrote in Surprising Gift. “They
were the ones who at last got the
Village in shape for receiving guests.” Cleaning
the buildings was an enormous task. The
late Pastor Carol Nolte told me about her
Forerunner experience one time as we slurped
ice cream in the Snack
Bar. At Augustana College
(Rock Island, IL) she had
2015
heard about the work crews
going to Holden. That
1962
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SUMMER 2016
for a lifetime and made Holden Village possible
for generations to follow.
summer Carol was camping in the area with her
parents and family. She made a detour to check
it out and stayed on to help.
Carol’s team used shovels and wheelbarrows to
clean out the Hotel’s ground floor. The walk-ins
and storage areas had been filled with food in the
days of the mine. They had been overrun by rats
and other animals. “You wouldn’t believe it,” she
laughed. We talked for a long time about the fun,
learning and work, hiking and fireside singing,
all part of an experience that stayed with Carol
All Forerunners will arrive on Sunday and
depart on Saturday. We must be aware that the
National Forest surrounding Holden Village
is still closed closed because of last summer's
Wolverine Fire. And Rio Tinto, the mine
remediation company, will still be working on
site because they are behind schedule.
Sticking to weekly bus trips to the boat will
help limit Holden’s use of the road. We will
take the time we need for really comprehensive
orientation to the current post-fire risks
and opportunities. There are limitations.
Regrettably Holden cannot offer a Narnia
program until 2017. Only children age 16 and
up will be able to participate in the Forerunner
Program. And a parent must accompany any
volunteers 16 or 17 years old.
We will have advantages, time for study beyond
what the original Forerunners had. With the
2015
2016 summer theme, “Under Heaven,” taken
from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, we will examine the
natural rhythms of God’s creation. Heaven is
both present and future. It is the dwelling of
God, not only a place of dwelling but the way
God dwells with and in us and the whole of
creation. Heaven is hope itself.
We will explore the seasons and times for
planting and uprooting, birth and death,
ecology of creation and the reconciliation and
healing of the land. Teaching staff will focus
on the two major transformations experienced
by Holden Village and the Railroad Creek
Valley: our world since the Wolverine Fire,
and changes brought about by the mine
remediation project.
Outstanding teachers are already on board
for Forerunner Summer. Dr. Mark Brocker, a
Bonhoeffer specialist and author of Coming
Home to Earth, will be at Holden for the
first time. Additional disciplines in the
conversations this year include: the US Forest
Service, Coastal Wetlands Scientist, Richie
Blink; artist and author, John Noltner; and the
Washington State 2014 Poet Laureate, Elizabeth
Austen. Familiar teachers will include: Dr. Chris
Scharen, Tom Witt, and Dr. Julia Fogg. Dr. Lisa
Dahill will teach on the “Eco-Reformation”
and the 2017 Reformation anniversary.
We will explore the
seasons and times
for planting and
uprooting, birth
and death, ecology
of creation and the
reconciliation and
healing of the land.
And play! Time is set aside for appreciating
the beauty and wonder of God’s creation
in the surrounding wilderness. Hiking
was enormously popular among the first
Forerunners, and there will be time for hiking
on selected trails this year, too. We love to
play at Holden: weaving and trying out crafts,
playing games, and reading and enjoying
conversation on the Ark.
We might plan talent shows or festivities.
We will worship together daily in gratitude and
joy. And we will eat, as always at Holden, and
get to know each other over shared meals.
Our work sessions will match our different
skill sets. Some will work in landscaping and
gardening, carpentry and painting, sewing and
general sprucing up. Several Village projects
call for specialized skills.
Forerunner Summer applications are being
accepted now. Apply early, as space is limited.
See the Holden website for more details.
Everyone involved with Holden Village
is grateful for the patience and love of the
whole Holden community during these times
of transition, for your prayers during the
Wolverine Fire and for your continual support
of the Village in so many ways.
We hope to see you this summer!
Learn how you can help be part
of Holden history this summer!
JOIN OUR SUMMER STAFF for the
2016 season! Contact Trudy today:
[email protected]
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BY CARLY REED | Chelan Ranger District . Public Information
living in a
Fire-Adapted Environment
T
he summer of 2015 was hot.
According to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, 2015
was globally the warmest year on record since
1880. A combination of long-term drought
conditions, coupled with high temperatures
and heavy fuel-loading created a “perfect storm”
for extreme fire conditions across much of
the Western United States. Ten million acres
burned nationwide (a record
setter). Fire is nothing new for
the state of Washington,
but in 2015, over one million
acres burned in Washington
alone (another record setter).
The ecosystem in which
we live, the forest and
shrublands surrounding the
Lake Chelan area, including
Holden Village, is considered a
“fire-adapted environment.” These
mid-to-high elevation mixed conifer forests
naturally burn with the type of intensity seen
in the 2015 Wolverine Fire every 35-100 years.
And although 2015 was record setting in many
ways, fire is a natural, necessary and normal
forest process.
The Wolverine Fire was ignited on June 29,
2015, by a lightning storm that also started
five other fires in the upper Lake Chelan area.
Because of the proximity to Holden Village
and Stehekin, the management strategy for
wildfire in this area is full suppression. Four
of the fires were safely staffed and suppressed.
But not every fire can be safely suppressed.
The Wolverine Fire was initially staffed with
firefighters, but it quickly became
clear to those on the front lines
that the steep, cliffy terrain was
extremely dangerous. Once fire
became established downhill
of the firefighters with no safe
egress, the firefighters were
removed and a new strategy of
indirect suppression tactics was
developed. Over 30,000 gallons of
water was dumped on the fire from
helicopters, but the terrain again made
this a difficult tactic for successful suppression.
A strategy to utilize prescribed fire as a tool to
corral the fire was developed. The next several
weeks were spent thinning trees along the
lower 8301 road, around Lucerne and around
cabins at Lightning Creek and Riddle Creek.
Fire managers closely monitored the Wolverine
Fire during this time for the right conditions
for a planned fire ignition. Unfortunately, the
weather became hotter and windier and the
Wolverine Fire made a large run on July 30
from 1,500 acres to 15,000 acres by August 1.
By the summer's end, the Wolverine Fire grew to
be 65,323 acres and resulted in areas of moderate
and high severity fire effects in the Railroad
Creek and Upper Entiat Valley. The Wolverine
wildfire impacted communities and areas
within the forest boundary (like Holden Village,
Domke Lake, and Cottonwood Campground in
the Upper Entiat Valley). The fire also impacted
communities outside the forest boundary (like
Chelan, Entiat and Plain) with smoke and safety
concerns. The impacts to these communities
will not be diminished or forgotten.
However, from the ashes regeneration will
occur. Wildfire leads to significant changes
in the forest ecosystem resulting in long-term
ecological benefits, despite the short-term
visual changes. The prospect of ecological
benefits does not make living through a
devastating wildfire season any easier,
or the effects of a wildfire
less difficult
to address and manage. Yet, it does lend hope to
land managers and community members that
nature is working to regenerate and come back
in a resilient way.
How does regeneration occur? After a wildfire,
a natural process called “ecological succession”
takes place. Ecological succession is the process
by which ecosystems grow and change over time
in response to a disturbance such as wildfire.
The first ecological communities to emerge
after a fire are known as “early seral forests."
Fires change the soil nutrients and allow for
more sunlight, so early seral forests support
a wide variety of plants and animals. The first
plants to emerge are wildflowers, grasses, and
shrubs. The emergence of these species allows
the soil time to regenerate and create an organic
layer that will support seedlings of larger tree
species in the years to come.
Ecological benefits of fire include increased
diversity of plant and animal species, and
increased resiliency of the forest and landscape
with respect to fire disturbance. Other benefits
of post-wildfire forests are the creation of new
habitats for wildlife, such as standing
dead trees and downed logs.
These provide nesting sites for several wildlife
species (like woodpeckers) and food for insects
(like beetles) which in turn help to attract birds
and other insect-eating species. Wildfires
improve native flowers by allowing fireresponsive plants such as fireweed to flourish
in the newly created space. These plant species
attract pollinators, also benefiting the whole
ecosystem. Watch this spring for new flowers
and shrubs sprouting within the burned areas in
Railroad Creek and the Upper Entiat Valley.
It is not uncommon to observe burned hillsides
where fire has altered the landscape in the area,
even years after the fire. There are "burn scars”
visible up and down Lake Chelan from past
fires. The scars provide an opportunity for the
forest to share a story of regeneration. Within
the black of the burned area, natural processes
are occurring that do not occur under a dense
forest canopy. As a result, a variety of wildlife
and other species can thrive during this "open
canopy" stage in the ecological succession.
The Wolverine Fire temporarily adversely
affected Railroad Creek and Holden Village.
Although it is devastating to look at the
blackened forest, it is important to
remember that fire is a natural and beneficial
part of the ecosystem of North Central
Washington. As a community, along with the
burned vistas, we are also witnessing nature's
"restart" and experiencing the positive,
long-term improvements to ecosystem
resilience, species habitat and enhancement
of forest health. And being witness to these
dramatic changes is definitely "record setting"
for we humans who choose to live in this
environment.
For more information or area
closure maps please contact the
Chelan Ranger District at
509-682-4900.
POSTER ARTWORK BY RUDOLPH WENDELIN; PHOTOS BY WENDY HUDGINS
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BY JAMIE STALLMAN | Masters of Arts Candidate . Union Theological Seminary, NY
Dietrich
D
Bonhoeffer
Ecological
Theologian
ietrich Bonhoeffer
(1906-1945) is widely
known as an
influential theologian in the
church struggle in Germany
during World War II, as a Union
Theological Seminary Fellow, as
well as a pastor, martyr, prophet,
and spy. Many of us have heard
of Bonhoeffer’s involvement in the
resistance against the Nazi regime
in World War II, but here I want to
paint a different picture of Bonhoeffer as
a theologian. A quick look at Bonhoeffer's
early theology will be laid out before we
dive into a discussion of how Bonhoeffer’s
theology might change how we, as the Holden
Community, envision our relationships with
the rest of creation and especially in relation to
the recent fire.
Sanctorum Communio
Bonhoeffer wrote his doctoral dissertation,
Sanctorum Communio, mostly as a critique of
differing schools of social philosophy. Social
philosophy focuses on social interactions and
is a field of study asking what it means to be
human. Essentially, Bonhoeffer was asking what
it means to be a Christian. Bonhoeffer’s social
philosophy is expansive, so we’ll get a general
idea and then determine its implications for
anthropological and ecological concerns.
To fully understand the Christian concept
of person means to be aware of original sin.
Bonhoeffer calls the time before original
sin “the primal state,” which will become
important later. The doctrine of the primal
state is necessary because it reaffirms original
sin and constantly reminds us that everything
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1906
1945
is understood “within an intrinsically broken
history” (Sanctorum Communio, 62). The
theological implications here are immense.
We will first continue our investigation of
Bonhoeffer’s early theology.
The next major aspect of Bonhoeffer’s theology
is the idea of will, in the sense of the will to act,
free will, or especially as self consciousness.
Bonhoeffer says “that there would be no self
consciousness without community... Second,
we assert that will is by its nature oriented
toward other wills” (70). It makes intuitive sense
that a community is made of individuals, but
you need a community for wills to naturally
function. I imagine this to mean that we need
community to fully realize what it means to
be a Christian. For Bonhoeffer, I recognize
that I am a self conscious and willful being,
when I realize that You are of the same nature.
To be a Christian means to recognize “the
other” in relation to yourself. This is especially
important when the “I" comes
into being only in relation to
the You; only in response to a
demand does responsibility
arise. In other words, the
concept of an individual arises
when a person relates ethically
to another. Furthermore “only
through God’s active working
does the other become a You to
me from whom my I arises. In other
words, every human You is an image of
the divine You” (55). A community arises
from willful, self conscious beings coming
into relation with one another, from which
an ethical responsibility arises, all originating
from God.
God’s love is another key part of what it means
to be a Christian person. Bonhoeffer says when
I recognize You, I recognize an object of God’s
love. Loving your neighbor becomes an act of
loving God. Bonhoeffer stays on the notion of
God’s love, saying that it is revealed in Christ.
For Bonhoeffer, “Christian love is not a human
possibility” because humans cannot say what
the purpose of love is; only God can do that
(167). There are many implications of Christian
love, but first comes the rest of Bonhoeffer’s
introductory theology.
“In other words, every human You
is an image of the divine You.”
existence in the church community gives rise to
humanity’s relationship with God. Jesus is the
foundation of the church community, the glue
that holds it all together and most importantly,
the one who completes God’s work today.
Bonhoeffer’s social philosophy is based on
relationships within a community. Because of
sin, humanity is living in broken community.
Bonhoeffer’s social philosophy can serve
to inform a new perspective on humanity’s
relationship with creation, with a focus
especially on the saving and restoring qualities
of God’s love and Jesus.
Bonhoeffer and Holden
While the following claims are mine, Sanctorum
Communio serves as the foundation. The first
theological consideration is Bonhoeffer’s weight
that he puts on the primal state as the reason
why humans are not in right relation with God,
as God intended. This is why humans need Jesus
at the center of the community. Taken literally,
the primal state occurred around 200,000
years ago. The primal state not only represents
Bonhoeffer’s idea of right relation with God, but
also humanity’s right relation within creation. It
is the exemplary standard with which humans
might attempt to put ourselves back into the
proper relation. Because of sin, humans are now
living in broken community.
Bonhoeffer says that when I recognize a You,
a divine You is also recognized. Bonhoeffer
continues to say that the “You character is in
fact the essential form in which the divine is
experienced” (55). I imagine this to be a deeper
interpretation of seeing the face of God in
others. Interacting and becoming human
through interactions with other communities,
human and otherwise, means to experience
God in the other. Experiencing and recognizing
creation at Hart Lake might mean to live in
community with Jesus at the center.
As ecologists learn more about the natural
world, a few potentially counterintuitive
findings have changed how humans interact
with creation. One example is fire suppression.
Many people remember Smokey the Bear and
his slogan: “Only you can prevent forest fires.”
Forest fires were seen as preventable, unnatural,
and something that needed to be suppressed.
Now, ecologists realize that fires are actually
restorative. For example, Jack-pines need the
heat of fire for the cones to open and
release seeds. Another example, is that
of invasive species. Often, fire sweeps
through the forest floor and does not burn
down the forest, but instead eradicates invasive
species. Theologically, fire presents us with an
interesting insight into restoring community.
Bonhoeffer says that “human beings, as spirit,
are necessarily created in a community—that
human spirit in general is woven into the web
of sociality” (65). The obvious community that
forms for Bonhoeffer is church. “Church” is
meant as the Gemeinde, or the community
where Christ is present. Jesus is not only active
in the church and at the center of the church,
but also in relation with the church. Christ’s
Fire is a plasma, which is a state of matter in
the group of solid, liquids and gas. Plasma only
exists in nature in a few instances and another
example is lightning. Plasma is a state that is
unlike any other state of matter, just as Jesus is
wholly other. Jesus, as divine revelation of God,
came to the earth to restore community and
die for humanity’s sins. Fire, like Jesus, comes
to restore and put the community into order.
Just as Bonhoeffer says that Jesus is at work in
the world today through community, fire is also
continually at work to restore the ecological
community. Fire is not a divine punishment,
but rather a divine act of restoration and love.
Fire, like Jesus, becomes a necessary aspect
of life in an attempt to live in an unbroken
community. There are many ways of viewing
the reality of broken community. One is due
to sin, which keeps humans out of proper
relation with other humans and the rest of
creation. Another is that Bonhoeffer says early
in Sanctorum Communio “the nature of the
church can only be understood within... never
by nonparticipants” (33). By continuing to be
alienated from the rest of creation, humans
can never truly understand the nature of
community. Though, God’s love and Christ
existing as community today give us a way
forward. Humans might help by seeing the
face of God, the divine You, not only in other
humans, but in the rest of creation as well. As
we have explored, the divine You becomes a
neighbor, an object of God’s love, and an other
that requires ethical responsibility. Christ is
at work restoring the community today and
Bonhoeffer gives us a new lens with which to
view our communities.
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 11
Education +
Programming
1
Seasonal
Summary
3
A recap of all the hilarity
and celebration in the
Village since February
Winter turned to spring as the sun
peaked out from behind Buckskin,
the days grew longer, and the snow
continued to fall! January brought
the arrival of J-Term students from
Luther College, Augustana College,
and Pacific Lutheran University,
who studied, explored the valley,
and engaged in Village life. February
and March were filled with generous
helpings of creative energy as villagers
constructed igloos, shot films for
the Snowdance Film Festival,
celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a
guitar-mandolin-trumpet hootenanny,
and Artists-in-Residence arrived in
the valley. Holdenites said farewell
to the beloved Bell Tree, and Lent
concluded with Maundy Thursday
music, a reading of the Passion Story,
and a Holden-style Easter Vigil
(complete with a short film, original
songs, and even some puppets)!
Now, the sun shines above mountain
peaks and the adirondack chairs are
reappearing. Hilarity, community,
and good conversation abound at
Holden Village!
6
7
4
5
1
2
Oh, what fun!
1.LENT/HOLY WEEK/EASTER: Lent, Holy Week
and Easter were full of Village traditions, food
& fellowship, music and worship.
2.POLAR BEAR PLUNGE: 19 Villagers ranging
in age from 7 to 61 loaded the “Polar Bear
Express” to Lucerne on New Year’s Eve day
and made the frigid jump into Lake Chelan.
[photo by Chuck Hoffman]
3.WINTER OLYMPICS: The annual Holden
Village Winter Olympics began with an
opening ceremony on Chalet Hill and events
like cross-country skiing, coffee carry, and
snow ballet continued all day Saturday.
SUMMER 2016
5.BELL TREE: A Holden farewell was given to
Village icon, as the Bell Tree was felled after
safety concerns led to the difficult decision to
take down the 100-plus-year-old Engelmann
Spruce. Rot in the base of the tree was causing
it to lean more and more toward the bus
unloading zone and Main Street.
6.PEGGY THE PINT SIZE PIRATE: The Holden
School proudly presented the play by DM
Larson after five weeks of rehearsal to a
packed house. Villagers were pleasantly
surprised by the story of the puny pirate
wannabe who both earned his title and
learned what happens to pirates who pollute.
7. RESIDENT ARTISTS: (L-R) Will Chiles, musician/
composer; Laura Bretheim, writer/performer;
and Emilie Bouvier, photographer, brought
creative energy and shared their talents with
the winter community for six weeks.
PHOTOS BY LINDSEY SCHEID UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
12 HoldenVillage.org
4.ABOVE AVERAGE: Total snowfall for the
season was just shy of 300", at 297.8", which is
almost 30 inches above average. This comes as
a relief, post-fire, and brings us back to normal
after three severely below-average winters.
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 13
Education +
Programming
PAINTING BY ELIZABETH PERSON (elizabethperson.com)
The Mailbox
What folks are sharing
with us about their
time at Holden Village
PHOTO BY CHUCK HOFFMAN
What if?
Augustana College
J-Termers from the
winter of 2016 led
by Dr. Jason Mahn.
Holden is beginning to recruit potential teaching faculty for 2017 and 2018 around the themes of Re-Formation; reforming
our relationship to God, to the earth and to each other. We seek candidates with expertise in Theology and Philosophy,
Environmental & Social Sciences, Social Justice issues, and the Arts. If you are interested in learning more about the selection
process, please email [email protected]. We ask that you share this opportunity with colleagues and friends.
The Holden Village Teaching Staff this summer includes:
MAY
JULY
AUGUST
•ART — Elizabeth Person
•ECO-REFORMATION — Lisa Dahill
•MUSIC — Tom Witt
•ENNEAGRAM — Vic Overlund and
Julie Honsey
• YOGA AND MEDITATION —
Kathleen Grimbly
•HOLDEN HISTORY — Linda Jensen
JUNE
•BONHOEFFER’S ECOTHEOLOGY —
Jamie Stallman
•YOGA — Caroline Corcoran
For more information >>
14 HoldenVillage.org
SUMMER 2016
•FOREST ENTOMOLOGY —
Connie Mehmel
•MUSIC — Susan and Steve Wolbrecht, Rolf
Vegdahl, Will Chiles, Matthew Olson
•SCIENCE — Richie Blink, Gus Bekker
•LIVING WORD — Roy Hammerling
•ART — Elyse-Krista Mische, Elizabeth
Austen
• ART + RECONCILIATION — Chuck + Peg
•LIVING WORD — Mark Brocker,
Julia Fogg, Ben Stewart
•LIVING WORD — Christian Scharen
•ART — John Noltner, Laura Bretheim
•PHOTOGRAPHY — Emilie Bouvier
•SCIENCE — Jere Krakow
•HOLDEN HISTORY — Linda Jensen
• ART + RECONCILIATION — Chuck + Peg
Contact Lindsey Scheid, Education and Progam Coordinator: [email protected]
Holden Village opened up a new world for me.
Holden taught me many things such as how
to throw pottery, and even rekindled my love
for playing the piano. However, the village
gave me something greater than I expected—
the importance of living in the present. I am
someone who has always been obsessed with
the past. It has led me to become a history
major because I can ask my favorite question:
“What if?” This question has been the basis of
my thought process for much of my life. But
these two words often cause me to overanalyze
my past and worry too much about my future.
In my time at Holden I wrote this to a friend:
There is a Season
Coming Back
A very belated thank you for the hospitality
that you showed our family and the Luther
College students this January. We had not
been to Holden for 3 years and I had forgotten
how much I love it! The Village has seen so
“I have tried really hard not to ask this ‘What
if' question, but I have to — because asking
many changes in the last year and yet the
questions is a part of who I am. I hate asking
fundamental values of Holden are unchanged,
‘What if’ things, because they mess up my
past and what may happen in my future.”
unfazed, even, by the roadblocks. The values
of hospitality, humor, worship, beauty
Holden made me realize that
The Village — all were abundant and that was
worrying about the past and future
very comforting. Thank you for your
has seen
is okay but I need to accept myself
dedicated work in bringing J-Termers
so many
for who I am and love the present.
to Holden. It leaves an impression on
changes in
I will admit, keeping this mentality
is difficult, especially now that I am
the last year our students that is unparalleled by
away from Holden. But every time
and yet the any other of their college experiences.
I find myself over-asking “What
fundamental And of course our family is deeply
affected as well. We hope to be back
ifs,” I think of the clock outside
values of
of Holden’s Dining Hall. Below
Holden are soon! And we wish you harmony and
hope in the coming months as you
the clock a sheet of paper reads:
unchanged.
make plans for a new and beautiful
“Welcome to the Present.” This image
summer experience.
helps remind me that... the present
is now and it only happens once. And learning
RACHEL SANDHORST, WINTER 2015-16
this is more than I could have ever asked for.
DECORAH, IA
JULIA MYER, WINTER 2015-16
SOPHOMORE, AUGUSTANA COLLEGE
ROCK ISLAND, IL
It was great to return to Holden, teaching staff
for Holy Week and the first week of Easter.
Three artists-in-residence were working on
ecological themes. We loved the community,
worship, hilarity , hospitality — including
a “Thank-you Weekend" for congregations
that had hosted exiles during the fire. All is
green and beautiful around Holden itself.
Teaching on the upcoming 2016 summer
theme Under Heaven, we used a book by Joan
Chittister, based on art of Ecclesiastes by John
August Swanson, There Is a Season. I also taught
sessions from scripture on ecology, and on
Pope Francis' encyclical letter On Care for Our
Common Home. Chuck + Peg led a wonderful
community-building painting session, a
foretaste of what will be a great Forerunner
Summer, 2016! Great beauty awaits you.
BARBARA R. ROSSING, SPRING 2016
PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT
LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
CHICAGO, IL
WE'D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR HOLDEN STORY ATTN: MAILBOX
[email protected]
( For your lovely hand-written notes and doodles, our full mailing address is listed on the INSIDE FRONT COVER )
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 15
Artists’ Corner
Art + Theology
via negativa
Emilie Bouvier
Artist and Theologian
from St. Paul, MN
On the clarion breeze
Under the last of summer’s light
I heard the mountains
The pines whispered amongst themselves
The falls laughed over the rocks
The whistle-pigs griped
The stone cliffs sang their age old song
All angels, bodhisattvas, saints
A cacophony of voices, all rising
falling, joining
pausing
rushing forth in a great excitement
I strained forward along the lake-edge
Green journal in lap, frozen
The jabbering of a bazaar
Tongues I cannot understand
I struggle to translate
Like an interpreter lost for a phrase
and fumbling
lo0sing my balance
Light Entering Darkness
The pages are open, bone-white, silent
How can my scratches capture, record the song?
The names are insuffi cient
Bonanza, Red, Dumbell
How silly, how banal
Abies lasiocarpa - no!
I want to write this tree
But how?
It seems there is nothing to get at
the thing itself flees
Vanishes
I doubt the existence of essence
All of life is voices
And all atoms speakers
Each entering, reciting, exiting
I close my empty journal
and quietly tread back to camp
Birds sing as the sun sets
My heart beats in my ears
ERIK ANDERSON
PHOTO BY CHUCK HOFFMAN
16 HoldenVillage.org
SUMMER 2016
A light shines in the
darkness. This line of
Vespers ’86 has a particular
resonance for me. Not only
because it is poetic and
scriptural, but also because
it describes in a very literal
sense how a photograph is
made. As an artist I am ever
aware that photography,
at its core, is about light
entering darkness and the
transformation that happens
in that moment.
It is really no wonder that
I felt a spiritual connection when I began
to work in historic-process photography, a
medium based on chemical reactions rather
than solely digital technology. To make these
prints requires time in dark, hidden places,
watching the small amounts of light dance
across the surfaces. I feel the ritual and rhythm
of putting prints through the chemical washes,
gently rocking the trays so the print moves
back and forth in the watery abyss, an image
suddenly emerging. In those quiet spaces I
think of the narratives of creation, the opening
lines of John’s Gospel, and I think of stained
glass windows — illuminations at the meeting
point of light and material.
These reflections continued and took on more
layers of meaning as I spent my residency
at Holden making images inside hollow
eggshells that I made into pinhole cameras. It
was striking to make images with fragile and
organic material. It was a process filled with
uncertainty, made by light entering in and
leaving a trace in this held internal and liminal
space — a hollow chamber of new life, breaking
in and breaking open. It says something
particular to use this process in making
photographs of a valley that just burned.
These images, after all, speak from the
perspective of the forest about the cycles and
seasons of the land and about its relationship
with humanity: at its best marked by respect and
rhythm, and at its worst fraught by extraction
and control. Intriguingly, they are images
etched in light, photo-graphed, through a sort
of burning. Not one of combustion and carbon,
but of photons reacting to silver halide crystals
leaving a blackened trace of metallic silver specks.
Creating photographs in an ash-like trace is not
only an aesthetic choice but also a theological
one. For as much as I love the imagery of light
in our sacred texts, I think we have lost its
ashy-ness. In his work Cinders, postmodern
philosopher Jacques Derrida dares to “run the
risk of the poem of the cinder” because it runs
counter to how light is most often understood:
associated with clarity, knowing, and power,
understandings rooted in the Enlightenment.
This is our typical Western lens for reading
scripture. Yet it is exactly this obsession with
control, certainty, and force that sets us at odds
with the fragility and flux of creation. These
tensions emerge in the event of forest fire itself:
in the challenge of being a settled community
in a valley that rejuvenates through burn, in
the history of extraction in this place, and in
the way human intervention has led to bigger
and hotter fires. How we understand light both
speaks to our understanding of God and our
relationship with the landscape.
My hope as both an artist and theologian
is that creating photographs stirs these
questions and becomes an invitation of light, a
willingness to be broken open, a call to wander
in the woods, to listen to the story of place,
to lament the suffering of our planet, to find
beauty in ash, and to embrace transformation.
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 17
BY DR. TERRY FRETHEIM | Old Testament Theologian . Author
To be a creator entails an almost infinite
tolerance of messiness. The moment that
tidiness and strict orderliness become the
rule of the day, creativity is inhibited and the
appearance of the genuinely new slows way
down. For some disorder to persist beyond
God’s originating creative activity is necessary
for the creative development of the universe.
On the other hand, too much disorder can create
havoc. So, subdue the earth! Control the fires!
God’s Interdependence
with Creatures in Matters of Creation
I
n the opening chapters of Genesis, God
exhibits a certain creative style. God doesn’t
snap the divine fingers and immediately
bring the creation into being. God takes time
in creating: there was evening and morning,
one day, two days... Given that the creation
is brought into being over time—whether
seven days or any stretch of time—signals
that creation is an ongoing process and not a
finished product.
Moreover, this Creator God chooses not to take
an “I’ll do it by myself, thank you very much”
kind of approach to creation. God deliberately
catches up the creatures, both human and
nonhuman, to participate with God in ever new
creations. In Genesis 1:11-13, God says: “Let the
earth bring forth... and the earth brought forth.”
The earth is the subject of the creating activity
(see also Gen 1:20, 24, 26). God invites earth and
glaciers and fires (!)—the list seems endless—
into the creative process. God shares creative
powers with that which is not human (see Gen
1:22). God has made a world in which creatures
could make themselves.
And God explicitly invites humankind—you
18 HoldenVillage.org
SUMMER 2016
and me—into that process (1:28). We have been
given the task to be an imaginative co-creator
with God, energetically and constructively
working with creation through continuing
changes as it makes its way into the future.
What you and I do with respect to the
environment will shape the future of the world
in which we live. What we do counts! It counts
for the world and it counts with God.
And, then, at the end of each day of creation,
God looks out over the developing landscape
and makes an evaluation: it’s good. But, pray
tell, why would God ever need to evaluate
what God has done? Would not God’s creative
work inevitably be perfect? Well, apparently
not—because God chose not to do the creative
work alone. God’s first word to the newly
created human being (Gen. 1:28) included
this command: subdue the earth. Subdue?
What would such a word mean in a time when
there was not yet sin? Apparently, the earth
continued to need action with respect to that
which was disorderly. So, God’s evaluation of
the earth as “good” must not mean perfect, or
there would be nothing left for human beings
to subdue.
As Genesis commentator, Sibley Towner,
explains: “If there were no freedom in this
creation, no touches of disorder, no open
ends, then moral choice, creativity, and
excellence could not arise. The world would be
a monotonous cycle of inevitability, a dull-asdishwater world of puppets and automatons.”
So, this ongoing disorder in the world is a good
thing, contributing to the continuing creativity
of the world. The command is given in the
service of developing God’s creation toward its
fullest possible potential. God’s creation is a
dynamic reality; it is a long-term project, ever
in the process of becoming—as the history of
nature shows.
A Divine Risk
Such a creative move on God’s part entails
risk. Eugene Peterson speaks of “the mess
of creativity”: “I can never be involved in
creativity except by entering the mess. Mess
is the precondition of creativity.” He adds
that risks abound in every creative enterprise;
indeed, risk is essential to the meaning of
creativity. False starts, failures, frustrations—
all seem to be integral to the creative process.
This theme of God’s creating, in and through
existing messy matter, continues in Genesis
2. God molds the human being out of the dirt.
God gets down on the ground to shape the
dust into a human being—getting dirt under
the divine fingernails! Human beings are not
created “out of nothing,” but out of the ground,
an already existent creature, a creature that has
creative capacities. God is imaged as a potter
who molds a human being (and animals, Gen
2:19) out of the dust of the earth; God works
from within the world, not on the world from
without.
Moreover, God is imaged in this text as a
surgeon; God puts Adam to sleep, removes a
part of his body (probably his side, not just a rib)
and creates a woman. We often forget that, short
of some kind of magic, this would have been a
bloody process indeed! Creation is messy!
Again, God is bringing new creatures into being
with the help of already existing creatures.
Presumably, God could have simply spoken
a word and “poof,” a new creature would have
been brought into existence. But that is not
God’s way in this text. God chooses to create
interdependently.
The environmental implications of God’s
creating in this way are considerable. God
deeply values the messy stuff of earthy life; it
is creative material out of which new creatures
can (continue to) be brought into being. And, if
this earthy stuff is of value to God, certainly it
is of value to us.
So, nonhuman creatures have a genuine
vocational role in enabling the creation to
become ever new. That story has certainly been
repeated again and again over the millennia
as ever new creatures come into existence,
mediated by the activity of existing creatures,
from glaciers to volcanoes to earthquakes—to
fires! How creative the creatures are! Messy, but
creative. Much of the beauty that we see in the
natural world around us is due to the ongoing
creative activity of such nonhuman creatures.
Think: Holden Village!
COMMUNITY ART PROJECT. PHOTO BY CHUCK HOFFMAN
One must ask whether God purposely created a
world filled with natural disasters, precisely in
the interests of creativity and beauty. Whatever
the risks involved for human and nonhuman
creatures.
Creation and Suffering
For creatures to so participate in creation
means that much suffering will follow in the
wake of the world’s becoming. Earth and waters
are not machines that work in precise and
predictable ways. Earthquakes, fires, bacteria,
and viruses have their role to play in the
becoming of the world—in both a pre-sin world
and a post-sin world. Because humans are a part
of such an interconnected world, we may get
in the way of the workings of these creatures
and get hurt by them. These creatures of God
function in an orderly process in many ways,
but randomness also plays a role; in the words
of Eccles 9:11, “time and chance happen to them
all.” Randomness is a God-given part of the
created order, even with all the accompanying
risks, at least in part because it enhances the
earth’s creative potential.
God also created a world filled with dangers.
Think of water; it is necessary for life, but
it is also dangerous. Or, think of the law of
gravity; it is also indispensable for life, but it
works every time! Let me repeat: God created
a dangerous world, and at least one reason
for God’s creation of that kind of world is the
increased potential for creativity and beauty.
However costly it might be. As the book of
Job teaches us, suffering has no necessary
relationship to sin. Even without sin, suffering
would be an integral part of life.
In Genesis 1:28, the responsibility given by God
to the human has a special place in shaping
the future of the creation. God here makes a
power-sharing move. God says: “I am not going
to retain all power to myself; I am giving you
something to do and the power with which
to do it.” God chooses to share power. Hence,
God’s first move with humankind is an act of
self-limitation. Human words and actions make
a difference with respect to shape of the future
of all creatures.
In sum, God so values every creature that
God will entrust them with tasks and
responsibilities beyond their present knowing.
And God continues to decide not to do
everything all by Godself. God catches us (and
other creatures!) up in this work—what we do
counts with respect to the environment and the
future of this world. And, it counts with God.
A much-abbreviated essay from a forthcoming book,
Eco-Reformation: Grace and Hope for a Planet in Peril
(eds. L. Dahill/J. Martin-Schramm; Wipf & Stock)
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 19
BY PAM KELLEY | Beekeeper . Contributing Writer
1
2
Keep on the
sunny side.
THE
Waggle dance
frequently with
your peers.
Look up.
Be excited by each new
day. Emphasize the
bright spots.
Have lots of small
interactions to keep
communication
flowing.
3
4
Pay attention to
the queen.
5
When the world’s problems feel too big to handle, I put on a pair of
muddy old boots and hang out with 120,000 stinging insects.
T
he power of small
helps me put things into
perspective.
I’m a hobbyist beekeeper with two
backyard hives of about 60,000
bees each. When I began my
hobby five years ago, I wanted to
save endangered species, provide
pollinators for local food growers,
nurture something precious when
my daughter went off to college,
and wear a bee suit that made
me look awesome. But instead of
saving the bees, I think the bees
saved me.
Or at least
reminded
me how
to be in
the world.
20 HoldenVillage.org
SUMMER 2016
• To keep bees I have to
be in the moment.
Slow. Quiet. Present.
• I have to recognize that
the smallest gestures —
and the smallest creatures
— can have a big impact.
• I have to do small
things with great love.
(Apologies to Mother
Teresa.)
• I have to respect the
seasons — spring,
summer, fall and winter
carry their own beauty
and challenges.
When I said goodbye to my
hives to visit Holden Village, the
bees were preparing the colony
for winter. Workers were filling
their pantry made of wax, curing
and sealing honey (their energy
source) and pollen (their protein
source). The queen was laying eggs
that would develop into “winter
bees,” genetically suited to live
four months instead of four to
six weeks. The hive was gradually
reducing its population, which
had been 60,000 bees at the height
of hot summer, to a skeleton crew
of 10,000 needed to sustain the
hive through the deep freeze of
winter until spring warms the
earth.
The bees I left behind are a healthy
bunch, so I didn’t expect to think
about them much while I was away.
But then I arrived at the heart of
Holden Village. And if it isn’t a
buzzing colony of cooperative
souls working for the common
good, I don’t know what is.
Holden Village is a superorganism
—a collective of interdependent
individuals. This is evident in the
hum of voices in the cafeteria. In
our chaining behavior as we carry
and stack wood for winter. In the
festooning behavior required to
build structures to live in or travel
over. I see it when we gather in the
inner sanctum to generate warmth
and community. Or when Holden,
like any effective superorganism,
frets over how to best protect its
young, which represent its future.
And, like a beehive, Holden has
a landing pad for nearly constant
departures and arrivals — Lucerne.
Holden Village so reminds me
of my beloved bees, I made a
“Top 10” list of values I believe
the two hold in common.
With my
beehives as
with Holden,
it is wise
to never
underestimate
the power
of the small.
When creative,
collaborative,
courageous
individuals
come
together
for the
good of the
whole body,
abundance is
sure to flow.
Connect constantly to the
higher force that gives you
purpose. Productivity grows
when there’s direction
from the spirit above
and within.
If your wings
get tattered, it’s ok
to switch jobs.
The hive has plenty of roles
if you’re burned out or want a
change. You’re never too old or
too experienced to learn
something new.
9
Get out & scout.
6
Hives needs scouts and foragers
for constant supply of fresh
pollen, nectar, water and news
from outside. Some scouts are
risk-takers, others stay with
familiar. It’s great to have
a balance of
both.
Have a heart.
It may be in your chest.
It may be in your abdomen—
that’s where bees stash theirs.
But have one.
7
8
Jump in to do whatever
needs to be done.
Never ‘mess’
in your own nest.
Don’t wait to be asked.
If anyone is laden with a
heavy crop, help them carry
their load. Or a fellow guard
bee is fending off a wasp,
join the good
fight.
Bees won’t do it, and neither
should we. If we want to trust
and be trusted, we must keep a
clean hive and be proud to
eat our own honey.
10
Smoke doesn’t always
mean there’s fire.
Life is meant to
be sweet.
But when it does, watch out
for one another, calmly gather
what you need, and swarm
rapidly out of the hive.
Prioritize relationships
over things.
Savor happy times, stand together
in sad times, and know that home
is where we find that love and
acceptance. No single bee can
survive on its own. It needs
its community.
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 21
Projects + Notices
Villagers Connected
Called, Equipped & Sent
THE
Artist Residency Re-cap
Many of you continue to ask,
“What can we do to help the
Village?” Please consider these
opportunities to share your gifts
of time, skill and financial means:
1. The 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. There are still openings to join
us for the Forerunner Summer
2016 during which volunteers
will refresh the landscape with
new flowers and grass.
3. 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 uncertainty, our
Village and the Holden community
endure. We are grateful for all who
have contributed their creative
energy and financial resources
to the healing of the Village.
With good courage we will
move together into the future.
keep up
with ALL
the HOLDEN
happeningS
It’s super easy on:
Holden NetWorks
1. VISIT holdenvillage.thankyou4caring.org
2. UPDATE Keep your contact info current
3. DONE That’s it!
22 HoldenVillage.org
SUMMER 2016
On Holden NetWorks you
can easily share your news
and updates. Register for
special events. Keep track
of your donations. And
keep up with Holden
happenings through our
regular publications: Holden
Village Voice magazine
(seasonally) and BeHolden
(our monthly e-newsletter).
Reconnecting with Holden Villagers around the world
Thousands of people spend time in Holden Village each year. Whether you come as long-term staff or
stay for a holiday weekend, we share one thing in common: we are members of the Holden Community.
“Called, Equipped, & Sent” is a way members of the Holden family can stay connected. Think of it as an
alumni page. To see more updates, and submit one of your own, visit holdenvillage.org/stay-connected.
STAYING CONNECTED
completed his 10th year of youth
hockey and is planning on playing
the next two years for Bloomington
Jefferson HS. Prayers answered
and support felt by the Holden
community will never be forgotten.
Nathan Petersen-Kindem, a student
at Holden Village School with sister
Megan (now Webber) and brother
Mario while his parents Carol
Petersen and Erik Kindem were
registrars, now lives in Minneapolis,
MN, with his wife of nearly 10 years,
Deyhdra Dennis-Weiss. They have
three lovely cats.
Marty Monson Lowe and George
Lowe spent fall 2015 living and
working in Bethlehem, Palestine.
BIRTHS
Phil Egtvedt
(Holden '71-'72,
'81-'82) celebrated
his 90th birthday
April 16, 2016.
Daniel Samuelson-Roberts
(Holden volunteer '08-'10) and
Miriam Samuelson
were married on
June 27, 2015,
in Minneapolis,
MN, where they
now live.
MEMORIAM
Renowned artist and teacher
Richard Caemmerer Jr., 82,
died February 16. A maker
of stained glass, sculptures,
frescoes and tapestry designs
for churches, Caemmerer was
a liturgical consultant and
designer for more than 600
churches throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, and Japan.
He created the ceiling art in the Holden Village Center while the
Artist-in-Residence. Caemmerer taught art and theology at the
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago for 19 years and was
professor of art at Valparaiso (Indiana) University from 1958 to 1980.
With his wife, Liz, he co-founded the Grünewald Guild.
Cable and Mandy Hoover
celebrated the
birth of their
son, Bishop
James Louis
Hoover, on
October 21,
2015.
Deborah Hertzog The Hertzog family lost beloved husband and father,
Frank Hertzog, on January 9, 2015, in Boise, ID, to brain cancer. The
Hertzogs (Frank, Debbie, Christian/Karli, and Jeremy) spent many 4th
of July weeks at Holden. Jeremy worked in the Village Summer 2011.
Chuck Hoffman + Peg Carlson
Hoffman celebrated the birth
of their fourth grandchild.
Ani Maureen Kramer was born
November 17, 2015, to daughter
Heidi and Phil Kramer.
Dr. James Gamrath was called home by God on January 1, 2016, while
surrounded in love by family. Jim and his wife, Ellen, traveled to many
parts of the world together, but one of their favorite places to visit was
Holden Village. Holden Village had a special place in his heart, and he had
a special place at Holden. They started visiting in the early ’60s
and managed a trip nearly every year since.
Rev. Dr. Scott Haasarud, 76, died
April 13, 2016. Scott served for five
years as the Executive Director of
Holden Village. Following his time
as Director he served as Director of
Spiritual Life and Programming at
Spirit of the Desert Retreat Center.
Rebecca (Stitzlein) Britt (Holden
’76) retired after 37 years of
teaching at the elementary level
in Wenatchee, WA.
Kathy Ballard’s grandson was born
a month early during her time at
Holden in 2000. As the Village
prayed for Jacob Brandt he
gained strength in an NICU
back in Minneapolis. Jacob has
PHOTO BY LINDSEY SCHEID
Every prayer, every word of good
courage, and every bit of energy
that Holdenites have been sharing
from around the world, since 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.
The recipients of this
year’s Artist Residency in
Community, Ecology and
Spirituality arrived in the
Village on February 26,
2016, to begin their sixweek residency at Holden
Village. EMILIE BOUVIER,
a photographer and clay
artist from St. Paul, MN, spent her residency preparing for her upcoming
show at the Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hopkins, MN. Emilie’s
focus for this exhibit is creating photographs using hollow eggshells.
LAURA BRETHEIM, a writer and performer living in Chicago, spent her
time at Holden writing essays and scripts on the intersection of the
environment, community, spirituality, and hilarity. WILL CHILES, a
musician and composer from Bois D'Arc, MO, concentrated on writing
and refining the music for his next album. All three artists were eager
to create, learn and grow throughout the course of their residencies.
In addition to working on their own projects, Emilie, Laura and Will
had a willingness to share their artistic gifts with the Holden community.
From leading art and meditation workshops, to facilitating
weekly improv sessions and songwriting classes, these
artists invited the community to experience and
participate in their creative processes and learn
new skills. We are grateful for their time
spent in the Village!
PHOTO BY LINDSEY SCHEID
PROJECT
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 23
Pastor’s Message
Resurrection Postscript
In musical terms it’s called a deceptive cadence
or an interrupted cadence. The song seems
to be wrapping up. But then a chord gets
suspended. The melody line takes a turn.
And the song continues.
In theological terms we call it resurrection.
An end is transformed into a new beginning.
Which is not to say that endings are easy.
“After these
things Jesus
showed himself
again to the
disciples by
the Sea of
Tiberias…”
JOHN 21.1
Like many of us, John’s Gospel seems to have
a hard time with endings. The last two verses
of Chapter 20 seem like a good enough way
to close the story: “Now Jesus did many other
signs which are not written in this book.”
But then there are other things written and
the story continues with “After these things.”
Another chapter, another story —
that’s resurrection.
At Holden the usual spring signs of
resurrection are surfacing. Two daffodils
bloomed in the middle of Holy Week in front
of the Agape laundry vents. Grass seeded last
fall between Lodge 4 and Main Street emerges
green from snowmelt. Themes of a community
making preparation to be broken open for
summer hospitality abound in reflections at
Matins and Vespers.
There are signs, too, of deeper resurrection
growth at Holden, but deeper growth means
they are sometimes harder to see or measure.
To put it in post-terms, the forest around
Holden is still a noticeably “Post-Wolverine
Fire” forest. Like scars along the backs of
Buckskin and Copper Mountains, burned out
strips still visibly mark the view from Chalet
Hill. Uncertainty still remains around when
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SUMMER 2016
favorite hiking trails will open. But living into
this particular ecological postscript means not
only uncertainty, burnout, and ending. For the
Post-Wolverine Fire forest also bears witness
in its own way to the resurrection promise of
ecological renewal for the Wenatchee National
Forest.
To put it in additional post-terms, with the
nearly 300 inches of snow quickly melting
there are signs that another postholing season
is nearly over (for those unfamiliar with the
term “postholing,” it refers to the failure of a
path covered with deep snow to support your
full weight, leading to your leg rapidly sinking
through the snow pack). There’s no question that
if the hopes of the wider Holden community
could magically be made reality, moving into
the season of “Post-Mine Remediation” would
already be part of Holden’s postscript story.
Signs abound (real and hopeful signs!) that
this too shall come.
Writing about the final chapter of John’s
Gospel, the Lutheran scholar and preacher,
Barbara Lundblad, points out that the
postscript of John’s Gospel with its “familiar
fishing story” and abundant catch and eventual
invitation from Jesus to “follow me,” at first
seems “misplaced.” The other gospels all put
this story at the beginning when the ministry of
Jesus is just getting started. However, for John’s
Gospel (which some speculate was written
by not just one individual, but a community
not unlike Holden), the call to “follow” is a
surprising resurrection of a discovery, after
the end of the story. The post-resurrection
Jesus shows up and turns endings into new
beginnings.
I don’t know if it's postmodern enlightenment
that has led to a preoccupation with
resurrection as something that can be
scientifically verified, if not captured by
YouTube or in a Facebook Post. I do know, that
for me at least, an encounter with the postresurrection Jesus is less about measuring
things with scientific equipment (as critical
and valuable as science will be to meet the
challenges of our time) and more about an
experience within a community of grace where
endings bud with reconciliation and blossom
into new beginnings.
For Simon Peter in the postscript of John’s
Gospel, it’s a new beginning where grace burns
like a fire of coals. Grace is this fire that offers
Peter warmth after he crawls ashore in the cool
morning air with sopping wet clothes. Grace
is this fire around which the post-resurrection
Jesus offers the invitation to a meal. And
grace is this fire where three questions of love
are asked by Jesus—a reconciliation of Simon
Peter’s three denials just a few night’s earlier
around another fire of coals.
turns endings
into new
beginnings
Endings are hard, but grace and reconciliation,
resurrection and new beginnings burn as hot
as any fire the Railroad Creek Valley will ever
witness. May the call to ventures of which
we cannot, just yet, see the ending bud and
blossom through the new postscripts in your
and Holden’s stories.
Kent Narum has served as
Village Pastor in Holden
since August 2014.
PHOTOS BY LINDSEY SCHEID
IN LITERARY TERMS IT’S CALLED THE
postscript. The letter seems to finish with
“Love,” or “Sincerely,” and a signature.
But then “P.S.” And the letter continues.
SUMMER 2016
HoldenVillage.org 25
Holden Village
HC 0 Box 2
Chelan, WA 98816-9769
HOLDE N VI L L AGE (est. 1961) is a Lutheran retreat center nestled in the north Cascade Mountains of Washington state.
Our mission is to welcome to this beautiful wilderness all people who have been called, equipped, and sent by God, and to
share the 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.
STAY CONNECTE D
/ HoldenVillage
HoldenVillage.org/contact
In the tiniest of places,
signs of rebirth and growth.
Guiding us to do the same:
to emerge and to grow.
PHOTO BY WENDY HUDGINS