Nate Houge

I’ve been working on seeing where my songs and those of my underpublished friends fit into the lectionary.  If you’re a pastor or worship leader/planner this is a great way to bring new songs into your congregation and support independent artists that support you!
So here’s the first attempt at it – Lectionary Link April and May 2012

Last night I stopped for 2 kids in the crosswalk, as is the law in MN. Then I looked in the rearview mirror and watched as the man in the minivan behind me rear ended me. I could tell it was going to happen because when I first saw him approaching his eyes were looking to his right at the cafe he was passing. Not at the car he was following.

Idiot.
And I only say that because…
Well…
Because he was an idiot.

I’m fine, Jodi’s truck is fine, it could have been worse and all that.

This morning I was approaching a crosswalk on my own two feet. There was a car waiting to make a left turn. We made eye contact so I knew she was aware of me and my forward movement. A car on the cross street kept her from turning, so I entered the crosswalk. Two steps from stepping in front of her car she saw a break in traffic, looked at me again and gunned it. Had I not been paying attention (looking at the cafe to my right for example) I would’ve been clipped by the back of her car.
I probably should’ve let it go.
But instead I punched her car. Hard.
She honked.
I waved, but in such a hurried manner that I may or may not have had time to completely extend all of my fingers… I’m sure I got at least one up though…
It was justifiable anger on my part.
But man, sometimes I act like an idiot.
And I’m only saying that because…
Well…

Walk safe. And watch out for the idiots. (That’s us.)

Lutherans have quite a reputation when it comes to change.
Usually it’s typified in jokes like this:
Q: How many Lutheran’s does it take to change a light bulb?
A: CHANGE??!!??
Or if you’re more of a deconstructionist:
A: We have a light bulb?!?

I think we can be done joking about Lutheran’s inability to change.

Last Saturday I was part of a Lutheran Praise Festival hosted at Good Shepherd in Buena Park, CA. It was comprised of area Lutheran congregations that were growing in new ways of doing worship – the emphasis on this day being primarily (but not entirely) on new music and music leadership. Many of these congregations had praise bands of one sort or the other or were trying to start them.

There are camps within the Lutheran church that look down on band led worship. As if playing a song with only three chords is a threat to our churches rich musical past. There are other camps that see the preservation of pipe organs and Bach Cantatas as a threat to our church’s future. I’ve spent time in both camps. I don’t want dumbed down songs, but nor do I want to see a million bucks spent on a pipe organ. I’m hopeful that we’re moving past these camps. A few weeks ago a worship leading friend of mine was told by a pastor, “I’m not sure if the congregation wants to sing so many of these ‘God is good’ songs.” To which my friend replied slightly befuddled, “But God is good.” Zing.

The congregations that I met on Saturday were not being tripped up on the adiaphora of worship music. They were moving outside of camps and following God’s call in their setting to lead worship in new ways. From listening to their stories here are a few things I learned: They were old and young, they used drums and hand bells, they did songs from the 1880’s, 1990’s, and Today. They lifted hands. They held hymnals. They took out pews. They put in projectors. Everyone survived. (At times members moved to other congregations to survive, but no one left The Body.) They faced challenges. They laughed a lot. They were generous and adventurous and 100% openly embracing change.

We’re a church body firmly rooted in change. We’re reformers. We can both love our roots and embrace a new future. We can do that because our faith is not in what we have done, but rather in what God is doing.

Living accordingly, I’m happy to say that Lutherans will continue to have quite a reputation when it comes to change.

I was trying to say so much of this with my album “Becoming Liturgy.”  I really appreciated these words from Ian Morgan Cron.

Last Sunday at Humble Walk, Tim Snyder added his voice to the liturgical conversation in curating the Restless Liturgy.  It uses existing and commissioned music of Aaron Strumpel.  It was beautiful.  It’s coming back around this Sunday.  You should check it out.  I’m fortunate to be part of a community that makes space and invitation (and a little bit of cash) for artists such as these.  I’m equally fortunate to be led in new ways by gracious and talented creative types that work for the love of what they do and Jesus.  (And a little bit of cash.  A very little bit.  Very gracious artists.)

These conversations and experiences are pushing me to learn in new ways how I can continue to grow as an artist.  I’ve got a pile of liturgical songs that didn’t fit or were written since the Becoming Liturgy album.  One is a sort of pop punk liturgy.  It’s been percolating in my  mind the last month and during the service on Sunday I felt the pull stronger than ever to get it together. Today I lined up  a church that’s willing to ‘premier’ it in April.  And I lined up a drummer.  We’ll see what happens.

Keep creating.  Teach old dogs new tricks and young pups old songs.  Peace.

ashes slow twang of joy
This is the slow version of Jonathan Rundman’s song “Ashes” as arranged by Martin Marty and performed by Twang of Joy. Crazy what one Bm can do. This and Justin Rimbo’s “When It Seems the Day Will End” remain by top 2 songs of Lent.

Lent is upon us and I’m guessing you need a soundtrack.  Here’s one option:  Saints and Sinners Vol 1

In the meantime I continue to learn things from my Vanagon.  It’s been parked and on a charger for the winter.  And still it finds ways to break down.  On Sunday I noticed a small pool of something on the floor of the garage beneath Our Lady of Disrepair.  It was coolant.  From the rear heater core.  I successfully removed it.  The other option was to fix it.  Both are acceptable within the Vanagon cult… I mean community.  Given how we use our Vanagon and the funds allotted towards it’s health care, removal was the best choice.

There are some things in life we fix.  Others we’re just as well getting rid of.  Hopefully this Lenten season we can discern these things in our own lives.

And if you’re taking up alms giving this season may I suggest giving to Our Lady of Disrepair?

Remember you are dust.  Nate.



I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. It looks likes this:

When you’re self employed as I am you still have to do what your boss says. The hard part is knowing how to be a good boss. How do you connect with more folks? What’s the next level? How do you get there? Are you sure you want to go there? How do you constantly self promote without coming off like an arrogant prick?

Luckily I’m not the first songwriter to have these questions. Many greater and a few lesser have gone before me. Some advice I was given early on was to find someone with a similar career path and use them as a model for your own career. I chose David Bazan for awhile. But he got so depressing. Bill Mallonee was in the running for awhile; I’m a huge fan of his. But he got depressing too. Bill and I talked once about depression and I confessed that there are certain months of the year (more of them in MN than in CA) that I can’t listen to him. I have a habit of saying dumb things to people that I idolize. Perhaps you the reader are feeling idolized at this point. Fair enough, let’s continue.

So I’m thinking about all this after last night’s Songwriter Circle that I played with Ben Kyle and Heatherlyn. It was beautiful and I was honored to be up there and I got to share a few songs that haven’t seen much light in public (Resurrection and Mass for those keeping score at home). And I came home reinvigorated to continue writing songs and getting them out there. Now I just need to ask my boss how this is done.

Here’s what he/I has/have come up with so far. (Did you see the 30 Rock where Donaghy out negotiates himself on Liz’s contract? I feel like the whole me/my boss thing is turning into that. I’ll stop. First person from here on out. ‘Cause my boss said to. Snap.)

1. I have a facebook page now. Earth shattering, I know. But now my ‘friends’ don’t need to hear about my career all the time and people can like my music without liking me. Go ahead try: LIKE NATE NOW. As silly as it seems I believe it to be a bit on the professional side and seeing how this is how I make my living, professional is good.
2. A big fat e-mail list. I’ve been really lame for the last few years in sending out e-mails because during a computer switch my contact list got all screwy and when it came down to it, it was a royal pain in the butt. But I’ve been doing the grunt work and getting it all back in place and I’m going to restart the monthly newsletter. You may get it. You can opt out. You may not get it. You can opt in, just send me your e-mail and social security number. Fine. Just your e-mail will suffice.
3. Um.. that’s it. I have a couple other ideas but they’re so big I don’t think they’ll fit here. I’ll tell you about them when I’m on Letterman.

I’m not sure who’s career to follow at this point. Maybe someone like Josh Ritter. Hard working and still hopeful. (I believe Bazan and Mallonee are hard working and hopeful too – and I still love them both and think they’re fantastic. I’ve just dealt with enough mild depression to know that there are certain people I can’t follow to closely.) I’m open to suggestions. I can tell you my goal which may seem small but I like to keep it attainable: I want to show up in a town I’ve never played before and have 100 people turn out for the concert. We’ll pass a hat, I’ll sell CD’s, and I’ll do it all again the next day. That’s my goal for now. It might be easy. It might take a miracle. But heck, if Jesus can turn water into wine how hard can it be to turn songs into groceries?

Thanks for being part of the miracle.

This Sunday I’m leading worship at Gustavus Adolphus.  As I was reading through the texts to choose songs I felt a pull towards this weeks Psalm.  I wrote this simple melody using verse 1 as the chorus and the remaining verses of the Psalm as the verses of the song.  Here’s a lead sheet.  If you’re interested in using it this Sunday please e-mail me and I’ll give you permission and ask for feedback.  I’ve also included a rough MP3 demo, so that if you’re like me and learn more quickly by hearing you’ve got that resource.  And since I had to make a ppt I included that too.  Enjoy!

Psalm 147 mp3

Psalm 147 pdf lead sheet

Psalm 147 ppt

We all try to live the life we love, generally only to find that love is messy. And messy is hard to love.

I’m just finishing this book:

It’s fascinating but also a little scary because as it turns out I have a lot of stuff.

In the retrospection that comes free with every Minnesota winter I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to declutter. How to get rid of physical and emotional stuff. It’s messy.

Last week I met with a group from church and we talked about Mark 5:1-20 which falls neatly in the category of ‘odd stories in the Bible that don’t make a lot of sense.’ (To be fair, it’s a very long list.) In this story Jesus casts demons out of a man into a herd of pigs that then jump into the sea only to find that they are incapable of swimming so they drown. Meanwhile, back on land, the townsman formerly known as The Demoniac begs to follow Jesus rather than stay back in his hometown. But Jesus says no, you can’t come with me. Stay home. This is where I want you to tell the story of what has happened.

Jesus wasn’t offering an escape plan. Quite the opposite. That poor dude was stuck in the thick of things. My friend John summed it up as Jesus saying, “Here’s your life, now live it.” Jesus set him totally free to live a demon free life. He gets to live the life he loves only to realize that it’s going to get really messy really fast. But he does it. I’m guessing if the Newer Testament ever comes out we’ll find out he ends up loving that messy life of his.

One of the observations in the book “Stuff” is that ‘Objects carry the burden of responsibilities that include acquisition, use, care, storage, and disposal.’ (pg. 262) I look around my house and garage and I see all kinds of these things that carry that weight. I look inside me and I see it too. It’s not clear to me always which objects I want, which ones I need, which ones I can get rid of and which ones I’m afraid to touch.

We’ve all got junk to get rid of. And treasures too. What’s what is not always clear. But we feel the responsibilities of love and life and mess. And we live them. And in so doing learn to love messy as best we can.