RE-FORMING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, WITH THE EARTH, & WITH EACH OTHER
Peace to you,

November at Holden Village brings frosty mornings, shorter days, and golden leaves carpeting the valley. This past month, the spectacular autumn scenery inspired many staff members to create a one-day outdoor art show against the backdrop of the forest and creek. The Social Justice Retreat empowered community members to build cultural self-awareness, cultivate empathy and engage in anti-racism work. The community switched to its winter rhythm of daily worship with matins at breakfast on Tuesdays and lunchtime conversations on Thursdays. Villagers commemorated All Saints Day by honoring the saints (imperfect as they may be) who touched our lives. Halloween brought much joy and hilarity as Villagers enjoyed costumes galore, trick-or-treating, a dance party, and a haunted lodge. The fun continued with a murder mystery party a week later.  

We hope you enjoy these stories and images from the past month at Holden!
VILLAGE LIFE
 Take a look at beautiful autumn colors and fun events in the Village!
STAY CONNECTED
Holden Evening Prayer Around the World (HEPAW) is February 5, 2020. Once a year Holden invites Villagers across the globe to come together through participation in the Holden Evening Prayer. This vesper service, written in 1985-86 by Marty Haugen during a musical residency at Holden Village, is a simple Lutheran vespers service that follows traditional form while using contemporary and inclusive language. Together, we seek to support and draw strength from one another, reaffirming our values as people who have been called, equipped, and sent, and supporting each other’s work in environmental stewardship and justice for all people. Plan a gathering and add your HEPAW event to our map of events around the globe.
VILLAGE LIFE
HOLDEN VILLAGE FILM FESTIVAL
The Holden Village Film Festival returns February 17-21, 2020 with the conversation centering around “Awakenings.” This unique winter festival, set in the remote wilderness of the Cascade Mountains, began in 2012. Every year we focus on a new conversation and the inspiration and dialogue that comes from the films selected. This year we are looking for films that address the issues that face us as an earth community and open us to new insights and beginnings. What issues in the world need to be brought to light? How does it feel to be enlivened after experiencing indifference and embark on a new path or forge one? We are looking for films and filmmakers that are wrestling with their own awakening and move us all to action. Learn more, submit a film, or plan to attend!
VILLAGE LIFE
HOLDEN VILLAGE BOARD DIRECTOR SEARCH
The Holden Board seeks an Executive Director or team of Executive Directors for Holden Village. The primary responsibility of the Executive Director(s) is to nurture and keep the Holden Village Mission, Vision, and Core Values as the animating center of the Village’s life and work. All friends of Holden are encouraged to nominate individuals or teams of individuals with the gifts and skills to lead Holden Village. Interested persons may apply directly. The usual term is five years. This term will begin in September 2020. For more information and to apply, please view the Position Description, Application, and Frequently Asked Questions document on our website.
Holden’s mission seeks to “welcome all people into the wilderness to be called, equipped and sent by God as we share rhythms of Word and Sacrament; work, recreation, and study; intercession and healing.” Some of the ways we view ‘welcome’ are through the core values of hospitality and diversity. In order to better welcome and include people of various gender expressions, the Village has changed signage on single stall restrooms in public places to more clearly proclaim our welcome to all people, and to assure them that they are safe to be who they are here. In creating all-gender restrooms, we open up our physical spaces and our minds to a more expansive and inclusive environment that allows for all the beautiful and unique expressions of gender and identity. We hope to keep in conversation about accessibility and work more in the future towards providing hospitality to all people.
SUPPORT HOLDEN VILLAGE
YOUR ONGOING STEWARDSHIP SUSTAINS THIS PLACE OF EDUCATION AND RENEWAL FOR ALL PEOPLE
This year, Holden was again filled with the spirit that has carried this place apart for decades. Music, laughter, and community filled the Village, as well as thought-provoking conversations led by renowned teaching faculty from around the world, joined in the spirit of Unity of Love. It is our hope that Holden Village may continue as a place for civil conversation, for learning to listen deeply to one another, and for finding hope in our world. As we move forward, we face a number of challenges. Now, more than 80 years after their construction, the buildings that have held thousands of Villagers need your help so that they can continue to support the rhythms of this place. Fire safety and continued maintenance of structural safety remain a top priority and plans are in place to complete a number of safety upgrades. But we can’t do this without your continued support, whether that be financial gifts or the gift of your time and skills as a volunteer . We need your support to complete these projects and ensure that the Holden Village remains a safe place for all to gather in conversation and community! www.holdenvillage.org/donate
Check out the latest issue of the quarterly Holden Village Voice magazine and SUBSCRIBE to receive new issues in your mailbox!
BLESSING
Blessed be the gifts you never notice,

your health, eyes to behold the world,

thoughts to countenance the unknown,

memory to harvest vanished days,

your heart to feel the world’s waves,

your breath to breathe the nourishment

of distance made intimate by earth.
–John O'Donohue
From To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings
Reference herein to any specific commercial products or services does not necessarily constitute or imply its
endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Holden Village.
 PHOTOS: Hannah Lauber & Callie Mabry VIDEO: Hannah Lauber