Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing

January 20-February 17 (Tuesdays)
@ 7-8pm on zoom

“Whether or not it manifests in clinically acute ways, and no matter the cause, the belief that a person is bad, untrustworthy and broken at their core is one of the most destructive things a person can be told or can come to believe.”

Hillary L. McBride's Holy Hurt explores the reality and far-reaching impact of spiritual trauma—the deep hurt caused by institutions and communities meant to be sacred. Drawing on clinical research and personal stories, the book offers a compassionate guide to acknowledging and healing these wounds, individually and collectively. Holy Hurt empowers those who have lived through spiritual trauma or witnessed it, as well as those who want to develop healthier church environments and prevent abuse.

Each Tuesday, January 20 through February 17, we will meet on Zoom from 7:00-8:00 p.m. to explore the ways that religious and spiritual trauma can inform our relationships to self and others. As a community that seeks wholeness not harm, but hope to provide space for conversation and healing.

Feel free to come to any or all sessions for whatever amount of time you might have available.
The "plan" is to discuss two chapters each week:

Book Study & Conversation
1/20 Intro/Welcome
1/27 Chapters 1-2
2/3 Chapters 3-4
2/10 Chapters 5-6
2/17 Chapter 7-8

We encourage you to purchase the book from your favorite independent book store (or online).

Email info@echoesbellingham.org for the zoom link!

Join Echoes for our monthly Dinner Church!

We will gather for food IN community, recognizing the importance of gathering around the table together! This month we will have a pasta feast! We will have pasta, red sauce with optional meat toppings keeping the base sauce vegetarian! We will have a simple lasagna as well.

Please bring a salad, garlic bread, parmesan cheese, dessert, drink or anything that screams PASTA feast to you!

We will feast together with food, sing simple songs, share in reading and prayer, and spend time together in conversation. The world feels/is on fire. Come and find some space to commune with the sacred.
This dinner is free and open to the public.

Location: 2750 McLeod Road, Bellingham, WA 98225

We will gather food donations to fill the food boxes with the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Bring your donations for distribution!

Contact Pastor Emma with what you might be bringing so we can ensure there is enough! emma@echoesbellingham.org

Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing

January 20-February 17 (Tuesdays)
@ 7-8pm on zoom

“Whether or not it manifests in clinically acute ways, and no matter the cause, the belief that a person is bad, untrustworthy and broken at their core is one of the most destructive things a person can be told or can come to believe.”

Hillary L. McBride's Holy Hurt explores the reality and far-reaching impact of spiritual trauma—the deep hurt caused by institutions and communities meant to be sacred. Drawing on clinical research and personal stories, the book offers a compassionate guide to acknowledging and healing these wounds, individually and collectively. Holy Hurt empowers those who have lived through spiritual trauma or witnessed it, as well as those who want to develop healthier church environments and prevent abuse.

Each Tuesday, January 20 through February 17, we will meet on Zoom from 7:00-8:00 p.m. to explore the ways that religious and spiritual trauma can inform our relationships to self and others. As a community that seeks wholeness not harm, but hope to provide space for conversation and healing.

Feel free to come to any or all sessions for whatever amount of time you might have available.
The "plan" is to discuss two chapters each week:

Book Study & Conversation
1/20 Intro/Welcome
1/27 Chapters 1-2
2/3 Chapters 3-4
2/10 Chapters 5-6
2/17 Chapter 7-8

We encourage you to purchase the book from your favorite independent book store (or online).

Email info@echoesbellingham.org for the zoom link!

Service Church is Echoes’ chance to help non-profits and mission partners serve those in our community who need it the most! Movie Church gathers to watch, discuss and engage with films that can help us think deeper about our communities and the vast connections.

This week we will do a mash up of Service + Movie Church!

January 19th is Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, so in addition to watching a film about MLK’s legacy, we will have an opportunity to write valentines cards for Seniors in the Bellingham community.

All are welcome. We’ve got comfy chairs, movie snacks and supplies!

We will watch the film “I Am MLK Jr.” a fantastic documentary about his life, legacy and impact on the challenges we face today!

Location: 925 N. Forest Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

Come create personal life “punch cards” for 2026 to track visually goals for YOUR year! Any fun/creative/educational/inspirational things that you would like to DO in the year - create motivation to help you experience it!

Want to hike more? See more movies? Write your legislators? Get outside? Do art?

We all love the whimsy & motivation of getting a new loyalty or punch card at a coffee shop and having a fun reward when you’re sticking with your practices or goals!

The possibilities are wide for this creative project, but we’ll provide the supplies (paper, glues, markers, pens etc.) and you provide the things you want to DO! We are most excited to have colorful clips to keep your punch cards together, organized.

You bring ideas for a few punch cards and we’ll have a punch party to bring light into winter’s darkness.

Location: 925 North Forest Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Enter on Laurel Street, look for the Echoes sign to show you the specific entrance

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

Hello 2026 - Come join Echoes for Pub Church and start off your New Year with some conversation and community!

Join us at Larrabee Lager Co. around a big table in the back (look for our question sheets and chaos) for deeper questions on religion, theology and the forces that our shaping our beliefs that we may not have had words for!

“One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal.” -Henri Nouwen

What parts of our understandings of God is bring us healing? What thoughts have we outgrown that are causing internal/external conflict? What to keep? What to let go? Come join us as we seek to make room for questions not quarrels.

Location: Larrabee Lager Co. - 4151 Guide Meridian Rd #100, Bellingham, WA 98226

Contact Pastor Emma if you have questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

We’ll take this Monday off for a Christmas rest.
See you next week!

We’ll gather for a meal together before Christmas.

This will be a simple soup supper. A sampler of soups if you will!

Bring a favorite soup to share, (home made or store bought - doesn’t matter).
Or bread or a favorite side or beverage.

Don’t forget a TO-GO container to take home other soups! Bring your own muffin tin and you can try a few!

All are welcome. We’ll have a vegetarian soup option. Come and Eat.

Location: 2750 McLeod Road, Bellingham WA 98225

We will collect shelf stable foods and seasonal fruits and vegetables to fill the food boxes with the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters. Please bring food to help feed your neighbors in need during the beginning of winter. We fill the boxes on the 4th Tuesday of the month.

Let Pastor Emma know what soup you are bringing! emma@echoesbellingham.org

Our December Wild Church gathering will continue our tradition of a Winter Solstice Spiral Walk.

We will have a spiral of greens for you to walk and meditate in and through. We’re making space for you to slow down as the winter season is upon us.

Since it is the start of winter, this event is inside, with live music to guide you through the green boughs. You can go at your own pace with spaces to sit and ponder the coming of the cosmic light and love.

This is a drop in collaborative event between Echoes & Faith Lutheran Church- so stop by when you can for a space of calm and comfort.

Location: 2750 McLeod Road, Bellingham, WA 98225

A special evening of quiet creativity enfolds you. Join Us.

Arts & Crafts supplies will be provided so you can create what you need to help your heart stay warm during this chilly season. We’ll have a hot chocolate bar with custom toppings and also tea and light snacks for consumption.

Bring a project you have been working on, or bring ideas to create something new with our supplies!

Muppets Christmas Carol may be showing so we can get in the Advent/Christmas spirit!

Location: 925 N Forest Street, Bellingham, WA 98225
Enter through the access door off of Laurel Street, look for the Echoes sign!

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

"Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards."
– Theodore Zeldin

Join us for our monthly Pub Church - where conversation creates community!

Let’s shuffle the cards and incorporate new dialogue and insight into our lives! It’s that time of year where we break out old traditions and old stories, how do we make space for new rituals and tales in our lives?

Come discuss with Echoes, we’ve got a seat and a beverage for ya!

Light snacks will be provided and food is available for purchase at nearby food trucks and restaurants and can be brought in.

Location: Menace Brewing - 2529 Meridian Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

POSTPONED - Service Church 12/6
We will reschedule this work party at a later date!

We're looking at going out to the BFDF garden space for about an hour on Saturday, December 6th in the morning (10:30am) and then hitting up the Bellingham Farmers Market for a snack!
If you are interested let us know as we will carpool to the location-TOGETHER.

Shared Stories: How the Quran Records the Birth of Jesus
We will welcome a special guest to Echoes for an evening of Learning Church!

Dr. Michael Chrastowski will share his presentation on how the Muslim sacred text captured the story of Jesus Birth.

The virgin birth of Jesus is recorded in the Gospels but also in the Quran — the holy Scripture of
Islam. The Islamic version of the story has both similarities and differences with the Gospels.
The differences are notable because they relate to early Christian ideas from gospels that did
not become part of the New Testament. What is similar about our shared stories? What’s different?
A Lutheran religion professor specializing in teaching Christians about Islam, Dr. Michael Chrzastowski, will lead this informative class for Echoes. We will read how the Quran portrays John the Baptist, Angel Gabriel, the virgin Mary, and the infant Jesus.

All are invited. Light snacks and Tea/water will be served!

There may be a zoom option, please email Pastor Emma if interested so she can make sure you get the handout emma@echoesbellingham.org

Location: 2750 McLeod Road, Bellingham, WA 98225

Come join Echoes in making Advent Wreaths & Candle Holders to prepare your heart and hearth for the Advent season.

All are invited to come and create with us. Greens and basic wreath making supplies provided.

If you have a unique holder? Bring it! Extra/Older Candles? Bring them! Extra Christmas Decorations?
We can use them! At Creative Church, making in community IS worship, so whether your new, inquiring, a regular or an extreme crafter, we would love to have you create with us!

Take time with Echoes to slow down and enter into the season of waiting and wondering before Christmas - Jesus’ Birth.

This event is free and open to all. We would welcome donations to help with supplies.

Location - 2750 McLeod Rd, Bellingham, WA 98225

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

We are gathering for a special Dinner Church night to feast, celebrate and honor the last 13 years of Echoes!

We are honoring our November Friendsgiving tradition and have a tasty seasonal potluck!
Bring a side, dessert or drink to share! This dinner gathering is free and available to all. Just come!

We will share in scripture, story and song coming around a big table to converse AS worship.
Help with set up (6:00pm) and Clean up (8:00pm) is very welcome!

We will also be collecting food for the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters to help fill the food boxes in north Bellingham. With the SNAP benefits in limbo, we need to feed our neighbors NOW more than ever.

Location - 2750 McLeod Road, Bellingham, WA 98225

Contact Pastor Emma if you have any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

Join Echoes for an in person opportunity to spread the love and holiday cheer and make & write cards for Seniors (Santa for Seniors) & Immigrants (Global Refuge) with HOPE for the HOLIDAYS!

We can use your creativity and help to prep cards of hope for the holiday season. Let’s help lessen the loneliness and stress of the season and work together to spread JOY!

We’ll provide the supplies, and you provide your time AND your creative eye!

Tea & Cocoa and light snacks will be provided. Come and Join us!

Location: 925 Forest Street, Bellingham, WA 98225
(use the main entrance on the corner of Forest and E Laurel Street, and you can use the LCSNW parking lot across Forest Street)

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

More Information: https://www.globalrefuge.org/get-involved/volunteer/hope-for-the-holidays/

https://lcsnw.org/bellingham-santa-for-seniors/

“One good conversation can shift the direction of the change forever.”
— Linda Lam

Join Echoes for our monthly conversation on topics that matter. Together around the table we’ll share our questions, opinions and thoughts in a setting that fosters dialogue across difference.

Conversation Builds Community. Come Chat!

Beverages are available for purchase. Light snacks will be available. A food truck will also be on site.

Location: Wander Brewing - 1807 Dean Ave, Bellingham, WA 98225
https://wanderbrewing.com/

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions - emma@echoesbellingham.org

Join us for a spooktacular Dinner Church!

We hope you will join us for a SALMON feast for this month’s Dinner Church!

We’ll provide the salmon (locally sourced from the Lummi Nation) and you provide the sides, desserts and drinks! Most importantly just bring yourself!

You can HELP with set up (6:00pm) and clean up (8:00pm) because every hand counts.

Dinner Church acknowledges that eating together is worship and we do this by coming together over a shared meal with simple readings, song and communion. The world is chaotic come and EAT!

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

Location: 2750 McLeod Rd, Bellingham, WA 98225 (Faith Lutheran Church)

“When a bookmark tumbles out of an old book pristine and unwrinkled, it is like a gasp of breath from another century.”
― Don Borchert, Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library

Together we’ll explore and create our very own unique bookmarks!

We will have the supplies, including laminating sheets so you can make your own bookmark. Please come and join this Echoes gathering and prep materials to encourage more beautiful reading!

Have favorite stickers you want to make into a keepsake?
Want to create a special collage of favorite people or pets?
Are you open to see what colorful creations you might make to keep your fall/winter reading filled with good stuff? - This gathering is for YOU!

Materials provided. Free ($1-5 sliding scale donation suggested)

Location: 925 N Forest Street, Bellingham WA 98225
(Free parking is available in the LCSNW lot across the street - enter from the main door on forest - please knock when arriving!)

✨2025 Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration ✨
nilh tu o: Weaving the Past, Present and Future
📅 Monday, October 13, 2025
🕠 Doors open: 5:30 p.m. (with dinner service)
🎤 Program: 6:00–8:00 p.m.
💃 Jam + dancing: 8:00 p.m.–late
📍 Location: Lummi Nation School - 2334 Lummi View Dr, Bellingham, WA

🍽️ Dinner, community, student speakers, music, and dancing — come celebrate with us!

Please join our local community in celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This year’s theme is: nilh tu o: Weaving the Past, Present and Future. Nilh tu o (pronounced Neesh tu o) translates from Xwlemi language to “since the beginning/creation".

We will enjoy a community dinner catered by local caterer Seawolf Surf n Turf managed by local business owner Cesarita Ballew.

🌎 All are welcome! This family-friendly, intergenerational community event for everyone in Whatcom County, invites students from: Lummi Nation School, Northwest Indian College, Whatcom Community College, Bellingham Technical College, Ferndale & Bellingham School Districts & Western Washington University to collaborate and plan together. This event is sponsored by the Community Consortium for Cultural Recognition.
Learn more at: wwu.edu/indigenous-peoples-day

Please note we are not the hosts of this event, but supporters and look forward to attending this event together!

Join Echoes for our annual Blessing of the Animals!

We’ll gather for our monthly Wild Church to bless all of the animals in our lives-including the animals we share this planet with!

All animals who seek a blessing are welcome.
If you are unable to bring your pet physically, please bring or send a picture so that we can do a blessing from afar.

Location: St. Clair Park - 2015 St Clair Street, Bellingham WA 98229

(This is a quiet park near the entrance of Whatcom Falls Park so this should work well to have a nice space for all types of pets to come and be blessed!)

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingha.org

Join Echoes for our monthly gathering where conversation IS worship.

We’ll gather for discussion, beverages and community! Light snacks will be provided and food is available for purchase from local restaurants

Dress in Layers! If our group is larger look for us outside under the tent/heat lamps so we can ensure everyone has a seat at the table.

Location: Menace Brewing - 2529 Meridian St, Bellingham, WA 98225

https://menacebrewing.com/

Let Pastor Emma know if you have questions, otherwise see you at the brewery! emma@echoesbellingham.org

We’ll gather for our monthly Dinner Church where all are welcome to the table!

Let’s feast on a “build your own” classic: Tin Foil Dinner packets!

You’ll get to mix and match your meat and veggies with a base and will put it in the oven for a tasty and easy clean up meal.

We’ll provide the basic meat and potatoes and you provide the veggies, cheese and other toppings! We would welcome you to bring sides, drinks and desserts to share. This event is free and open to all, so most importantly bring yourself.

As with all of our Dinner Church experiments, we welcome your help @ 5:45/6:00pm for set up and meal prep as well as with clean up at 8:00pm.

Dine with Echoes and remember your belovedness!

Location: 2750 McLeod Rd, Bellingham, WA 98225

Contact Pastor Emma to let her know what you are bringing or if we can save your seat.

Embrace the beauty of the changing season at Echoes' annual Fall Equinox Wild Church!
Prepare your spirit for Fall as you welcome the new season, savor the vibrant colors, wander the labyrinth, and gather in the lingering light.

Our labyrinth walk will be lined with paper luminaries created at our Creative Church on 9/15.
Join us in the labyrinth in the back of Fairhaven Park at 107 Chuckanut Dr N, Bellingham, WA 98225.

All are welcome to this Equinox gathering.

Let us know if you have questions - Contact Pastor Emma emma@echoesbellingham.org

Join Echoes for a Creative Church and explore your creativity as spiritual practice.

Together we will make paper luminaries out of creative materials for our upcoming Fall Equinox Wild Church 9/22 @ Fairhaven Park!
We will craft paper light holders that will encircle the labyrinth for a special Fall gathering.

FREE - Supplies will be provided, bring your creativity!

Location - 925 Forest street, Bellingham, WA 98225 (downstairs entrance from the doors off Laurel Street) - Parking in the LCSNW Lot across Forest Street or on the street (Free)

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

We will have No (regular) Monday Gathering as we will be recovering from our Fun RETREAT the weekend before.
Please join us at our Retreat!

September 1, 2025
@ 6:30pm (Gathering)
7-9pm (Trivia)

Consensus said let's gather for an Echoes Trivia night!

We'll create teams for Monday Trivia at Zeeks Pizza/Fountain Brewing! Two rounds, five categories and five questions per category.  Topics include current news, “starts with”, audience requests from previous week, music, sports, history, geography, science, music, general knowledge, and more. 

1-6 person teams. $10 gift card for best team name. $2 buy in per person (all cash from buy-ins paid out to top 3 teams). Pizza and beverages available for purchase. Please join us for a fun, casually competitive gathering in the Fountain District!

Echoes normally takes Labor Day off, but our retreat next weekend (September 5-7) means we are taking next Monday, September 8th off!

Location: Zeeks Pizza Bellingham - 2416 Meridian St., Bellingham, WA 98229

Contact Pastor Emma so she can know to save you a seat - emma@echoesbellingham.org

“To eat dinner together is to convene, to talk and learn about one another”
– Lynn Barendsen

Join Echoes for our Dinner Church gathering, where all that’s missing from the table is you and your favorite BBQ condiment!

We’ll have hotdogs, veggie dogs, condiments & water! Bring a dish, chips, beverage, dessert or side to share with everyone. But don’t worry if summer is busy just come and bring yourself, we’ll have plenty!

Location: Lake Padden Park Picnic Shelter - 4882 S Samish Way, Bellingham, WA 98229

Together we’ll share in story, prayer, conversation and food AS worship, because patterned in the traditions of Jesus means gathering around the table to eat together is a sacred act and a spiritual practice.

We will be collecting food items for the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters boxes that we fill on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Please bring your shelf stable items and seasonal fruits and vegetables for donations to our neighbors in need.

Contact Echoes with any questions or to let us know what you are bringing! info@echoesbellingham.org

Church doesn’t need to be confined to walls or even a building!

Join Echoes for our monthly Wild Church and wander in one of the beautiful places that we share and call home.

We’ll meet near the picnic shelter past the playground/restrooms. You’ll have time to wander under ancient redwoods, listen to birds, admire the undergrowth and experience Whatcom Falls in the summer.

Together we’ll share in scripture, story and communi-TEA as we relish the summer evening.
Kids, Pets and Wanderers Welcome.

Location: Whatcom Falls Park (parking lot) 1574 Silver Beach Rd, Bellingham, WA 98229

Contact Pastor Emma with any questions emma@echoesbellingham.org

We are grateful to be members of the Wild Church Network We seek to widen our welcome to include seekers and those who are playing with new ways of being human in relationship with the land and creatures as a space to grow and learn together. We need each other in this time of so much breakdown and breakthrough.