Nate Houge

This last Friday I had the distinct honor and privilege of being part of the St. Paul Area Synod Assembly.  I’m not one to give away secrets, but I’ll let you all in on my success as a musician.  I am continually surrounded by others who can teach me.  So it was for opening worship under the leadership of Mark Ertl and alongside the vocalists Sue, Bonnie, and Sean.  And then again in the evening as I led a vespers service with Justin Rimbo, Micah Taylor, and Jason & Erin DeBoer-Moran.

My song “Work of God” was featured in the morning and a slew of Humble Walk friends showed up to play hand drums on it as angel puppets (as seen in the photo) came dancing in.  Thanks to Heart of the Beast for making that possible!  In the evening I put together the vespers from my own music, including a sacred heart inspired arrangement of Psalm 141.  I was short a Magnificat so we used a Taize arrangement and the congregation hit it out of the park as they sang in a four part canon.

For someone like me who gets cynical anytime the church starts to look like big business it was a bit of stretch to be part of the assembly.  But to be present and to see the vitality of this group, to be part of this cloud of witnesses, to be made small, and to be loved… I’m filled with gratitude and a deep appreciation for the organized side of organized religion.

Thanks to Micah Taylor for once again taking photo documentation.

The Houge family is at a very happy place when it comes to productivity. After more than a little bit of work our basement is finished which brings the move we started back in October (after buying our house in July and working on it up the move in date) to a close. Jodi and I both work from home and now we both have desks to call our own. It’s been a few years. Actually with the exception of our year out on Jodi’s internship, it’s been about 5 years. I finally got my little studio rig set up and tried it out recording and doing overdubs on yet another Erik Ritland EP. I can’t tell you how great it is to be able to leave all these guitars in the stand at the end of a session and not worry about how to stack the cases in the corner of the bedroom so that I can still get to my side of the bed, which is where my instruments have been for the last couple of years. There are more exciting music things coming up in the next few months, from playing in Jonathan Rundman’s band to leading some of my own music at the St. Paul Synod Assembly. I’ll keep you posted from the comfort of my own desk.