"STUFF" THEY DO
Beer & Hymns — A few times a year we meet in a local bar, drink beer and sing hymns. In Advent, we hold Beer & Carols.
Church-Drag-Queen-Bingo, Rock Climbing, Social Workers/Therapists Group, Family & Children's Picnics, etc. — These are occasional events that are led by various HFASSers and announced on our Facebook group.
LUTHERAN PASTRIX NADIA BOLZ-WEBER STEPS DOWN FROM PASTORATE; REPLACED BY
GAY MAN "MARRIED" TO DRAG QUEEN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Nadia Bolz-Weber retired from her pastorate at the House for All Sinners and Saints (ELCA) and was replaced by a gay Episcopal man who is married to a drag queen who goes by the name “Fruit Bomb.” This is not satire.
Reagan Humber, the new ‘pastor’ of HFASS
Bolz-Weber is the giant Amazon-esque, tattoo-graffiti’d, potty-mouthed impastor who has referred to herself as a “dyke” (she is married to a man, however). She is growing in popularity among the pagan world (who she refers to as a “secular” audience) and has successfully used her ordination credentials with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) to bolster herself as a spokesman for a new kind of Christianity that is more or less divorced from any concept of Christian holiness.
Bolz-Weber announced recently that she is leaving House for All Sinners and Saints (they use the acronym HFASS and pronounce it “half-a$$”) to become a “theologian at large.” Her speaking engagements throughout the country are simply too numerous to allow her time to ‘pastor’ the church. She had previously become part-time and has now stepped away from the pastorate altogether in order to pursue her speaking engagements. Pulpit & Pen has reported on the impastor most recently for saying that she wanted to melt down purity rings and use the gold to make a vagina statue for women’s rights, and have also covered her other various antics over the years.
Religion News Service first covered her departure from the pastorate. They wrote:
In mid-June, Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran and now one of the best-known mainline Protestant preachers in the country, announced she would be leaving to explore life as a full-time “public theologian.”
“This church is the great love of my life, and always will be,” she said in a farewell speech during the service.
Bolz-Weber said she had decided to step away only recently and still can’t entirely explain what made her feel like it was the right time. She reached a point, she said, where “the church still loves me, but I don’t think the church still needs me.”
However, it’s not been widely reported as to who is replacing Bolz-Weber at HFASS. Her replacement is the Rev. Reagan Humber, who is not Lutheran, but Episcopal. Apparently doctrine doesn’t matter much at HFASS, but we think you already knew that. Humber came to HFASS from St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. He is “married” to a man who pretends to be a woman and is a “drag queen.” His partner’s drag name is “Fruit Bomb.” You can see a video of his act below (or don’t, because you might need eye bleach and **warning** there’s a dude in tights that are kinda…tight).
Gross.
The basic appeal of HFASS seems essentially to be attracting as many gratuitously lost people into the building as possible, particularly those with such overt signs of reprobation that they would never be accepted by a Biblical church without clear penitence, who still like the thought of religion and community.
The new ‘pastor’ said:
Sure, we’re going to screw some things up. But when we screw things up and then still come back the next week, that’s where the grace happens. That’s when church gets real and the dead are raised.
One wonders how, if the Gospel preached at House for All Sinners and Saints can’t make a gay man straight and keep him out of a dress, it can really have the power to “raise the dead.”
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:9b-11).
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FROM HOUSE FOR ALL SINNERS AND SAINTS:
http://houseforall.org/whoweare/;
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Who We Are
Is this church part of a denomination?
Is everyone Lutheran at HFASS?
Not even close. In fact, our Pastor, Reagan, is an Episcopal priest, but identifies strongly with Lutheran theology. So, HFASS is a big tent. Also, at HFASS we like to say that "we don't care what you believe, but we care a lot about what you hear!" And what you will hear is an unrelenting confession of grace for all, for us and for our enemies. This Good News is at the heart of what we mean when we say "Lutheran."
What is the current demographic in the community?
Well, at this point we are a community of around 500+ people (with 100-200 showing up most Sundays). There are married couples, young families, Baby Boomers and a few folks in their 70s and 80s. Other than that, it's mostly folks who are between the ages of 22 and 42 and single. Maybe a quarter of us identify as Lutherans; the rest are post-Evangelicals, Methodists, agnostics, Reformed, Episcopalian, and the ever-popular "nothing". Actually, it's pretty easy to look around on any given Sunday and think, "I'm unclear what all these people have in common."
What are your Sunday services like?
Pretty much just like a Rolling Stones concert... uhhh, we mean, nothing at all like a Rolling Stones concert. We follow the ancient liturgy of the church (chanting the Kyrie, readings from scripture, chanting the Psalm, sermon, prayers of the people, Eucharist, benediction, etc.) We also sing the old hymns of the church. So there's lots of ancient tradition at HFASS, but there's also some innovation. We always include poetry and a time called "Open Space" in which we slow down for prayer and other opportunities to actively engage the Gospel; writing in the community's Book of Thanks, writing prayers, making art or assembling care kits for those experiencing homelessness in Denver.
We like to say that we are "anti-excellence/pro-participation", meaning that the liturgy is led by the people who show up. The pastor offers the Eucharistic prayer and (most times) the sermon; all the other parts of the liturgy are led by people from where they are sitting. As a matter of fact, even the music is made by the community — with the exception of the 3 or 4 times a year that we have a bluegrass service, the liturgy is a capella. So, all the music you hear in liturgy comes from the bodies of those who showed up.
Who is your pastor at HFASS?
Our Pastor is the Reverend Reagan Humber, who joined the HFASS gang in March 2015. He is ordained in the Episcopal Church and comes from HFASS's big sister congregation, St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Before coming to House, Pastor Reagan served as a hospice chaplain in the BayArea.He has a B.A. in Religion from Wake Forest University, an M.A. in Italian (random) from Middlebury College and an M.Div. from The Church Divinity School of the Pacific (Berkeley, CA). Pastor Reagan moved to Denver with his partner Brian and their dog Ogre. Being Southern, Pastor Reagan can often be found eating or making pie, drinking sweet tea or doing Crossfit (because...HFASS). See Pastor Reagan's webpage for written archives of his sermons (he's working on backlogging them to 2015). You can also follow him on Twitter at @episcopunk.
Pastor Reagan shares leadership with a team of lay leaders who we call Housekeepers. Our head housekeeper (sometimes called a Council President in other churches) we call Mrs. Hughes (see Downton Abbey). We also have a cantor, Jamie Halladay, who leads the choral guild (anyone who shows up to learn the hymns on Sundays at 4:20 pm) and the congregational singing during liturgy. Our House Whip (a.k.a. church administrator) is Alyssa Bennett-Smith.
What is the space like where you meet?
We are currently using the parish hall of a progressive evangelical congregation, Denver Community Church. The building is in the heart of Capitol Hill and was built by a historic Denver synagogue, Temple Emanuel. Unlike our first two buildings, this one is climate controlled. However, it can still get warm in the summer with all those bodies. So, we do what we can to make folks comfortable (popsicles and hand fans in the Summer).
How can I support this ministry?
Are there children at HFASS?
Yes! We have an area in our worship space which features a nice rug and a kid-sized tables for coloring. We like for kids to be actively involved in our worship life as full participants. However, a nursery and children's liturgy are also provided for families who want to use them. The nursery attendant will be in the nursery (on the mezzanine) for children 4 months to 3 years and a childrens liturgy also takes place for kids 3-10 (they go up to the mezzanine together after the Prayer of the Day and come back during the Sharing of the Peace).
What are this community's practices around the Eucharist?
We have an Open Table at HFASS, which means that everyone without exception is invited to receive the bread and wine at communion which for us is the body and blood of Christ. This is His table. We also offer gluten free bread and non-alcoholic wine.
Why do we need a House for All Sinners and Saints?
House is important because it is experimenting with new ways to do church which make sense to urban postmodern folks. It is a place where:
- The Gospel matters, liturgy is recontextualized, and we are free to reclaim the word "Christian"
- Scripture is honored enough to be faithfully questioned and struggled with
- We no longer have to culturally commute or bracket out parts of ourselves to be in Christian community
- We are co-creators of liturgy, rather than just passive participants. Aesthetics and theology both matter
- The community is both intellectually and spiritually stimulating
- We provide a connection or a bridge to the traditions of the church
How was HFASS started?
Our Founding Pastor was the Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber. Beginning in 2008, Nadia gathered with a small group of 8 people in her living room and those gathering grew slowly into what you find today. Nadia pastored the church until 2014 as the solo pastor, and then in 2015, she became part-time in order to focus on her calling as a writer and public theologian. Nadia has published three books to date: Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television (2008, Seabury Press), Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint (2013, Jericho Books), and Accidental Saints: Finding God in the Wrong People (Convergent, 2015). Her fourth book is forthcoming in January 2019: Shameless: A Sexual Revolution (Random House). In July 2018, Nadia retired from House for All in order to pursue full-time her call as a public theologian. For Nadia's speaking schedule, please see her website: www.nadiabolzweber.com.
