The blog is back!

Hello everyone. I've received many queries regarding our blog. It's true that nothing has be posted since November 12. So now, on New Year's Eve, my resolution is to make sure and add to it very often!

So ... what has happened at Holden since November 12? Just Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas! All of those things are done with great style, festivity, and hilarity. Tonight we marked the New Year at 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time to match the time the New York City.Then Holden children can go to bed! We have 154 people in the Village right now, and it's a fun crowd. The New Year's celebration was preceded by a Variety Show that had lots of variety! Now there's a dance - mostly the 20-somethings, and the night will close with a few of us gathering to sing Compline.

We've had lots of snow today, which is a big improvement. There's been a fair amount on the ground - three feet or so - but with the two cold snaps this month it's all been frozen in place. It's nice to have clouds, snow, and warmer temperatures! Larry has the the stoking duty tonight, keeping three furnaces up to temperature and most of the Village warm. Two people have the responsibility each day - one shift from 6 a.m. - 3 p. m., the second from 3 p.m. to midnight. Larry and I are supposed to share when each of us is scheduled, but he just does it. Much better that way, and I'm very grateful.

Christmas, Advent, and Thanksgiving were as festive as New Year's. Holden is a place where celebration happens with ease, and that is great fun. As the pastor I get a little anxious when things aren't exactly in place, but it always comes together and is wonderful. So we've had lots of music, lots of great food, and lots of laughs, all under-girded by the blessings of a Village gathered for worship.

We had a lovely Christmas with family here: Pat, Sarah and the boys, and Mike. It was fun to go out in the woods and cut our own Christmas tree with everyone - well, we had to dig it out of the snow before we could cut it!

I haven't had a lot of time to read, but I did finally finish Snow by Orhan Pamuk. It's kind of tedious but worth the read, I think. It just takes a while.

I always like to get a new Christmas book each year. This year I picked up a novel (what a surprise) called An Irish Country Christmas by Patrick Taylor. A very enjoyable read. It's about a small-town medical practice in Ulster in Northern Ireland, and is set in 1964. The author does a good job of describing setting, culture, and practice, and it's a nice story. He also includes a glossary for the Irish terms scattered throughout the dialog.

Now I've picked up another Andrea Camelleri Inspector Montalban mystery. These little gems are just terrific. (They aren't very long.) Montalban is a totally unique character. I'd recommend reading them from the beginning: the first one is The Shape of Water. They take place in Sicily. The descriptions of the food are worth the reading, but they're great all the way around.

Well, this is a good start for the new year. I'll look forward to more conversations in 2010. How did we get there?

Wednesday Book on Thursday

I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest this afternoon. What a great read - all 600 pages! It is so sad that Stieg Larsson died just shortly after finishing The Millenium Trilogy. The plots are ingenious, and they keep you hanging until the very end. The translations are good, so if you read Swedish, they must be spectacular! There are quirks - like detailed descriptions of every piece of technology the characters touch. The lead, Mikael Blomkvist, doesn't just use his mobile, he picks up his Ericsson T10; he doesn't just open his laptop, he opens his MacBook Pro with OS2, etc. Also, in this third book, the author starts each of the four sections with a little historical piece on Amazons and women warriors through history. I think it's supposed to go with the lead female, Lisbeth Salander, but I don't think it fits at all.

At any rate, head off to your local Costco, or get in line at the library to read these books: first is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, second is The Girl Who Played with Fire and the third is The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. They must be read in order! The third one will not be available in North America until May 25, 2010. Yikes! But you could pay the freight and order it online from Foyles or Blackwells, or if you know someone headed for England (or anywhere in Europe) give them the money and have them bring it back for you. Our daughter-in-law Sarah brought me mine in October. Thank you, Sarah!

I am sad to be done with this, but I know I will read this trilogy again some time.

Wednesday Book (almost)

I am almost done with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I'll write about it when I've reached the end. I'll be sorry to do it, as there will be no more. Sigh. This Millenium series is really good!

We're supposed to get a lot of snow on Friday - we'll see how it goes. What came last week has stayed around, and the nights are colder. Seems like Winter is really here.

Stay tuned!

Wednesday Book (4, or really 5)

Well, I didn't get anything written yesterday as I thought. The hours just roll on and then the day is over. (Wasn't that profound?) But yesterday was my birthday, and a lovely one it was. Lots of fun. The tradition at Holden is that you can have Happy Birthday sung to you in any manner you choose. I thought first of doing sheep - baa baa baa baa baa baa, baa baa baa baa baa baa, and so on - but then I thought, "Why not the whole barnyard?" It was hilarious!

The last Wednesday book I wrote was on October 14! I finally finished Cathedral of the Sea which was pretty good for one of those long, historical saga things. If you want to know more about 14th century Barcelona, you'll enjoy it.

The program in October here was on pilgrimage. One book we read in the community was The Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple. It's another book in a historical setting, the turn of the 14th century in England, France, Spain. It's about two young people who are engaged, and don't like each other much. So their village priest sends them on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It's kind of a Canterbury Tales book as they pick up other pilgrims along the way, and a good coming-of-age tale. It's written for young adults, but is a good read for adults as well.

In the middle I read Olive Kitteridge, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Elizabeth Strout. I love her writing, and especially liked Abide with Me. But Olive Kitteridge is truly outstanding. I wrote in an email to Bev Christensen, I think, that reading this is like slowly sipping fabulous soup. Every sentence is to relished and enjoyed. Lynn Krog gave me this one from the Faith Women's Book Group, and she did it particularly because it's a novel built from a series of short stories, and she knows I dislike reading short stories! But this is different from the random story. It's beautifully connected throughout the book, and Olive grows on you throughout. It is one of the best books about hope I have read for a long time. Get this book and read it! And, thank you, Lynn!

I'm reading two books right now. One is Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker, another Women's Book Group gift, this one from Kristin Johnson. Kristin loves western writers, so I knew it would be good and recommended it for a Village book discussion even before I read it. (Olive Kitteridge will be coming up one week as well.) It's about a young woman in Montana in the early 1940's. I am enjoying the writing immensely, and others in the Village who are reading it are liking it a lot. I'm looking forward to the discussion on Friday. Thank you, Kristin!

My big treat is the third book in the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It just came out in translation in England on October 1 - won't be here until the first of the year. But daughter-in-law Sarah Murdoch was in England in October and picked on up for me! Thank you, Sarah! It's even better (and, I'm sorry to say, longer) than the first two. This is a great series. If you haven't yet started with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, don't wait another day.

That's a good book update. Happy reading.

It's About Time!

No blog since October 14. It's been a wild time here in the mountains. The weather has been various - enough snow for a snow-guesser winner (everyone picks a day for the first "official"snowfall, which is 1"on the ground at the weather station for 24 hours), but then it warmed up and rained and it all went away.

Halloween was great. Here are a some pictures:

We had a nice celebration of All Saints yesterday, with people telling their own saint stories for the sermon. Tonight we did El Dia de los Muertos for Vespers, and people brought mementos for an ofrenda we had in Koinonia. There were really a lot of things. One person mentioned how interesting it was that people carry these things with them even to Holden, where one tends to bring only essentials.

We had a whole slew of guests leave yesterday, and some wonderful staff today. We're down to about 50 people for the next two weeks, so it is very quiet. Should be nice.

I'll write a little bit every day this week, and may get the Old Miner himself to write his own update!

Wednesday Book

Well. I'm still reading Cathedral of the Sea by Idelfonses Falcones. It's a long book. I'm almost done, and I don't think it's going to end well. To the author's credit, it doesn't appear to be one of those sagas where everything turns out beautifully for the hero.

It's been snowing at Holden, so I was thinking about snow books. Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan came to mind. It was one of my favorite books in elementary school. It's about Norwegian children in occupied Norway in World War II who secretly transport gold bullion in their sleds as they play right under the nose of the Nazis. It's a great story - I've read it many times, including once a couple years ago. Sheryl Schmeling sent a very funny picture about swine flu which also made me think of rereading children's books. Here's the picture:

Poor Piglet! But it made me think of reading the Winnie the Pooh stories. So this week I hope you'll think of some favorite childrens books and take them out and read them again. Comment on this post and let us all know which ones you really like.

Happy reading!

Wednesday Book

We have had beautiful Fall days this week. The tamarack (larch) are all turning, and it's fun to watch the color march down the mountains. The picture is of Buckskin late this afternoon.

I took a detour from the Women's Book Group collection and picked one from my stash of to-be-read. So I'm making my way through Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones. It's set in 14th century Barcelona. It's in the Ken Follet, Arturo Perez-Reverte, Dan Brown, Edward Rutherford mode. I think Perez-Reverte is by far the best writer of the lot, and in this case he may just have a better translator than this author. It's a bit wooden. But it's a fast-moving story and I'm learning a lot about the society and culture of the times. That's not very encouraging, but does make some of our worst hierarchies and such look a little better! We visited Barcelona in 2002, and the story is set in the part of the city where we stayed, including being right by the church (Santa Maria del Mar) that gives the book its name. If you're looking for a bit of a late middle ages escape, this is a good one. The characters are well done, so I do like following what happens to them and sympathizing with their distress and success.

Here at Holden in the Fall and Winter we suggest books for discussion. I picked two that I haven't even read yet from the Women's Book Study collection: Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker, and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I'll be reading those next, and am looking forward to them.

On another book note, yesterday I was excited to see that Hilary Mantel won this year's Booker prize for her historical novel about Oliver Cromwell, Wolf Hall. I really like her books, especially ffludd and An Experiment in Love. She writes all across the spectrum, which is fun. I'm not so sure about Oliver Cromwell, but at the same time I'm happy to read anything new by her.

We're having a "what's your current favorite read" discussion tomorrow afternoon. I don't know what I'll pick, there are so many good ones!

Happy reading!

Wednesday Book (2)

Things have been wild in the Village since 118 6th grade students from the Chelan Public Schools arrived yesterday for their 4-day environmental school. We've always wanted to know what it was like to be back in a school cafeteria. They are well-organized and a lot of fun to have around. They don't participate in Village life other than meals, so we just work around their energy and get on with our days! The 6th grade students from Manson come next week.

Since I missed the book post last Wednesday, I'm doing two, still from the stash from the Faith Women's Book Group. The first one is Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik. This is a wonderful book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The premise is a book group started in the late 1960's by some women who have moved into the same neighborhood in south Minneapolis. The book takes us through four decades with them. The author's conceit is to have each chapter be from the perspective of whichever woman is hosting that month, and includes the book she chose and why she chose it. The chapter headings themselves would make a great year's reading. There are, of course, the subplots of the lives of the women, and that part was pretty solid, I thought. The story of one woman, told in letters she writes to her deceased mother, makes up another theme through the book. If you've ever had the privilege of being in a long-time book group, this book will resonate on every level. By the way, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons (or AHEB) is the name they give their group.

Thank you, Kari!

The other book is Something Mis ing by Matthew Dicks. When I started this I thought it might be too weird to finish, but now that I'm well into it I like it a lot. It becomes a laugh-out-loud read as you go along. It will make you look more carefully at your pantry, your jewelry box, and your garden supplies as you follow the adventures of Martin, a thief who carefully cases his "clients" and stocks his own home with things he knows they won't miss. (The book title is correctly spelled!) I'm not quite done, and it is becoming quite suspenseful as it goes along. A really good read.

Thank you, Sheryl!

St. Michael and All Angels

Today is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels - Michaelmas for all you anglophiles out there. At Vespers tonight we'll read the texts and sing some very American angel songs - Angel Band being one.

There hasn't been much blogging time. We survived (nicely) the LENS conference last week. On the first day of this gathering of clergy and other church professionals our Northwest Washington Synod Bishop Chris Boerger officially installed me as pastor here at Holden. When we got to the "Be among us to..." part, that was done in true Holden style. It was hilarious! Here are pictures. The first is "Be among us to baptize," the second "Be among us to lead worship," the last is the Grand Finale!
We were out very briefly (Friday night - back in Sunday morning), but got a few errands accomplished and Nancy went to a meeting and an ordination. We'll get in some kind of routine around those things as the year goes by - whizzes by, the way this month has gone!

I know I missed the Wednesday book last week. I'll make up for it by doing two tomorrow!

Happy Michaelmas!

Wednesday Book

Yes, it’s the Wednesday Book, and yes, it’s Friday! It’s been a busy week at Holden with a busier one to come. Nothing slows down here very much even as the number of guests diminishes as we get closer to Fall and Winter.

The Women's Book Group at Faith gave me a stack of books at my last meeting with them in August. Each one came with a special recommendation and review from the giver, and these books are my first reading list at Holden. A few days ago I finished Evening in the Palace of Reason by James R. Gaines, which I believe the book group also read for their September meeting. I loved this book about the effect of the Enlightenment and the use of reason on the intuitive sense of transcendence and mystery. Set at a meeting of Johann Sebastian Bach and Frederick the Great, Gaines tells the story of each of these men in the context of the changes going on around them. Frederick was the voice of reason and change, Bach the master of articulating the power of transcendent mystery in his music, expressing his own deep and abiding faith as well.

Gaines has a clear preference for Bach, which is probably one reason (sic) I thoroughly enjoyed this book. His artful weaving of the “Royal Theme” - the very complex 21 note fugue theme Frederick (or someone working for him) set for Bach to improvise on the spot in three parts - makes for an ingenious plot device. We are allowed enough history to stay clued in, and enough drama to keep us interested. Even the complicated musical descriptions make for good reading, although I’d be interested to hear how those sections are for non-musicians. The Royal Theme becomes Bach’s foundation for A Musical Offering, one of the last works of his life, and even the structure of that piece is full of the intrigue of the whole debate. It was fun to listen to that piece as I read.

Here is a quote from the end of the book:

The Enlightenment, which set out to rid the world of its superstitious credulity, still usefully instructs us to find and tear down the veils of illusion wherever they exist, to be just to one another, and to keep studying; even if empiricism could not find a perfect order hidden in the universe, after all, it took us to the moon. ... The beauty of music, of course, what sets it apart from virtually every other human endeavor, is that it does not need the language of ideas; it requires no explanation and offers none, as much as it might say. ... Bach’s music makes no argument that the world is more than a ticking clock, yet leaves no doubt of it.

A great read. Thanks, Marilyn!

Second Sunday

While working on my sermon for tonight, I was inspired to write my Fall Holden newsletter article:

The Village Pastor

God gives seasons for gladness of heart it says over the stage in the Village Center. As Summer gives way to Fall, and soon Fall to Winter, the rhythm of nature’s seasons and the seasons of Village life indeed make our hearts glad.

My first call as a pastor was at Holden in 1976. It is a remarkable thing to return into this office in this Village. The community is new - new every busload as Holden goes - and the times are different. But the rhythms of season and work and worship and life remain as the patterns that sustain and support us together in God’s grace.

It is wonderful to walk through the Village and say hello here, ask a question there, meet a companion on the way, learn about the day’s work. And the wonder of it is contained in our nightly gathering around worship. In proclamation and prayer, in song and silence, the strength of community is manifest in this simple, daily routine of Vespers. Looking around the assembly in Koinonia as so many sing Vespers ‘86 (Holden Evening Prayer) from memory brings its own wonder. And I am in awe of the quiet compassion of the staff as they gather around a dear friend or a new sister or brother in Christ at the corner bowls of Prayer around the Cross.

Ronald Blythe is a historian, writer, and lay reader in the Church of England. He has two books chronicling daily life in the village of Wormingford, Essex, England. His writing describes well the experience at Holden of the day-to-day wonder of Village life and worship.

I am moved by our small worshiping congregation, by the privacy of their public prayer, and by the impossibility of my ever knowing what is going on as they kneel, sit, stand, sing, say, dream. In service terms, worship is that ultimate reverence which a community and an individual has to reactivate week after week. It must be familiar, even commonplace, and yet at the same time elevated and inspired. ‘Wonder is the basis of worship,’ said Carlyle. Wonder is unlikely to fill the entire act of worship, but I notice it creeping in here and there. ... Church-going nowadays can be a traditional or pop concert sans worship. Yet who can prove its absence? No one - least of all myself as I kneel, sit, stand, sing, say, dream ... . One cannot always tell when something wonderful is going on.

-Ronald Blythe, The Word from Wormingford, p.168.

Wednesday Book

Wednesday will be the day for book reviews, thoughts, recommendations and all.

One of the neat things about being at Holden is all the people who come through here on Teaching Staff and just in the Village who are reading lots of great stuff. But this week I got brought up short on reading a book I should have read two years ago: Three Cups of Tea. Greg Mortenson's mother, Jerene Mortenson, has been here all week talking about the work of the Central Asia Institute. I was inspired to finally read the book, which is as great a read as everyone has said. As an educator and a woman she brings a particular perspective to the ongoing work of the CAI, and that is good to hear. I also heard Greg Mortenson at Luther Seminary last January, and was impressed with his humility. He doesn't have any of that "Rah, rah, look at all the great stuff we've done.'' attitude. He simply tells the story of the need and the steps that are being taken to meet it. Impressive all around.

If you're like me and haven't yet read Three Cups of Tea, make yourself a cuppa and go for it!

First Sunday

I'm taking a little break from getting ready for worship. It's all in the evening here. I still need a routine, so it feels a little disjointed to be doing my final preparations in the afternoon.

We woke up this morning to a little dusting of snow on the peaks around the Village - on Buckskin, the saddle, and on Dumbbell. A foretaste of the feast to come. It has been cold and rainy for the last three days, with not much letup in sight. There are lots of games being played in the Dining Hall and lots of reading and knitting going on!

Larry came into the Village on Thursday, and we've managed to get all the boxes unpacked and our living area fairly organized. I'm sure it will all get rearranged soon, but at least we can find what we need when we need it most of the time.

That's the news from the little village in the Railroad Creek valley. I'd better quit while I'm ahead. They've had to turn on heat, and the whole system's a little out of whack. The power has been going off from time to time all day.

First Day at Holden

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot -- "Little Gidding" (the last of his Four Quartets)

This Eliot quote came to mind for me today in the bus on the way up from the lake. It’s an odd experience to return to this place where I first served as a young pastor and now do it as a not so young pastor! As with every community, nothing is the same from year to year, and I’ll be slowly learning the rhythms and patterns of these particular people in this particular time.
Last Friday Larry and I drove both our cars with our 29 boxes (944 lbs.!) of stuff so that Larry could accompany them up the Village when he came in for the Science and Technology Committee meeting. I drove back to Seattle, and he came home on Sunday, surviving a grueling six hour ride because of a fire on the east end of Snoqualmie Pass. Our original plan was to both come in to Holden today. But there’s just too much to do in Seattle before we can both get out of there. So I arrived today (with more boxes) and started my year’s ministry by blessing the Holden School at Vespers tonight. A nice way to start. Eight students this year - 5 in high school, 3 in elementary school. One of the high school students will be a distance learner from places like Nepal as she travels the world this year with her parents. Holden is an interesting and diverse place for somewhere so small and remote. Larry should come in on Thursday, and it will be nice to get organized for the year ahead.
And so we arrive where we’ve started, which is surrounded by God’s grace for all our endings and beginnings.

P.S.: These sheep welcomed us to our Holden home! The wool is spun and the sheep knit at St. Placid Priory in Olympia.