Sharing Food & Filling Bellies

Help us feed our neighbors in north Bellingham when the need for shelf stable food is still great. At our monthly Dinner Church we will collect food donations for the food boxes we fill on the 4th Tuesday of the month for the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters.

Together we can share food and fill bellies of our neighbors in need.
Monetary donations are also welcome to purchase foods that are still needed to round out each box (often ready to serve/eat meals).

FOOD DONATIONS COLLECTED 2/26 @ DINNER CHURCH

Winter Food Box Needs
granola bars  |  canned / shelf stable milk  |  nuts  | canned/pouch meat/fish  |  canned beans  |  canned fruit  |  soups/stews  |  jerky  |  fruits / veggies stable in cold  |  oats  |  sauces  |  spices  |  tea / juice  |  parmesan cheese  |  syrup  |  sugar  |  cereal  |  tortillas  | sliced bread  |  rice |  salt / pepper

Ash Wednesday 2024

“Let the remember-ing
that we are dust
and to dust we will return
be a reckoning with our inseparable lives and deaths
be an apology for all we have chosen instead of each other
be a grounding in the promise
that we come from holy soil.
Holy dirt.
Holy dust.
Created good.”
-M. Jade Kaiser

As Lent began, at Echoes we found ways to get our spirits and our bodies ready for the season.

On Monday at Creative Church we burned palms and the things we wanted to release as we prepared to create art with ashes.

Taking time to create art with the ancient material of the earth reminds us of the beautiful things that God can and continues to make with the dust and with us, imperfect earthen vessels.

On Ash Wednesday we brought the ashes down to Waypoint Park Beach for a sunset service to mark our faces with dust as we remember where we come from and where we will return. It was chilly, but warmth was found together, in community.

This 40 Day season is about remembering we were created good and must remind ourselves of this even in our process of transformation. We gave thanks to the Earth that reminds us of this constantly, and daily at the rising & setting of the sun.

There is an old English word: Dustsceawung: (dust+iinspection) which is contemplation of the fact that dust used to be other things – the walls of a city, the chief of the guards, a book, a great tree: dust is always the ultimate destination.

May such contemplation loosen

the grip of our worldly desires.

Blessings to each of you as the winter makes way for spring.

Fuller Hearts & Pantries

Thank You for Your Donations to help make fuller hearts & pantries!

The end of the year brings many things, and were hoping full-er pantries can be one of them.
At this month's Dinner Church we collected food donations for the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters with your help.
Thank you for your support of those with food insecurity in northwest Bellingham.

Because Food IS love.

We'll collect donations in January, at our Dinner Church, Monday, January 29th @ 6:30pm.

Shelf stable food and seasonal vegetables & fruits gladly accepted!

End of Year Food Box Donations Needed!

Help us feed our neighbors in north Bellingham at the end of the year! At our monthly dinner church we collect food donations for the 4 food boxes we fill on the 4th Tuesday of the month in Bellingham. This month due to Christmas day being on a Monday, we will collect on the 3rd Monday 12/18 this month.
We are grateful for the work of the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters to bring nourishment (and love) to their neighbors in need. Monetary donations are also welcome to purchase foods that are still needed to round out each box (often ready to serve/eat meals).

FOOD DONATIONS COLLECTED 12/18 @ DINNER CHURCH

Winter Food Box Needs
granola bars  |  canned / shelf stable milk  |  nuts  | canned/pouch meat/fish  |  canned beans  |  canned fruit  |  soups/stews  |  jerky  |  fruits / veggies stable in cold  |  oats  |  sauces  |  spices  |  tea / juice  |  parmesan cheese  |  syrup  |  sugar  |  cereal  |  tortillas  | sliced bread  |  rice |  salt / pepper

When Worship Experiments Collide!

Our annual Friendsgiving Dinner Church Potluck was filled with delicious foods, good stories, and songs around an inclusive colorful table! And it is at one big ol’ crowded table that our worship experiments COLLIDE!

We used candles from past creative church experiments (candle painting and advent wreath making) as our centerpiece and ended up with a unique waxy art piece that allowed people to play even after the meal was finished.

But have no fear we don’t waste at echoes and all the wax was reclaimed and filled two recycled candle containers in a very beautiful shade of green.

Thanks to all who cooked, who came, who cleaned and who collaborated to remind one another that food is love.

We shared this blessing together:

May we always look
out for one another
May we always be willing to go
the extra mile in search of water,
not only for ourselves
but for the sake of the other. 

May we never forget
we were made to be in community,
never made to do this life alone.
Your small act of being present
will go a long way.

May we only continue to grow 
and learn from each other.
As elephants living together 
learn from one another, 
let’s embrace the wisdom
of those who came before us.

Let us hold dear
all of the notes of survival
that have been passed down and shared among us.

May we never forget 
that the greatest gift 
we have to give to another
is love.

-Morgan Harper Nichols
(You Are Only Just Beginning)



Feed Our Neighbors: Together!

Food Donations Collected 11/27 @ Dinner Church

At our monthly dinner church we collect food donations for the 4 food boxes we fill on the 4th Tuesday of the month in Bellingham. We are grateful for the work of the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters to bring nourishment (and love) to their neighbors in need.

Fall Food Box Needs
granola bars  |  canned / shelf stable milk  |  nuts  | canned/pouch meat/fish  |  canned beans  |  canned fruit  |  soup  |  jerky  |  fruits / veggies stable in cold  |  oats  |  sauces  |  spices  |  tea / juice  |  parmesan cheese  |  syrup  |  sugar  |  cereal  |  tortillas  | bread  |  rice |  salt / pepper

Monetary donations are also welcome to purchase ready to eat foods.

Fill the Food Boxes for Fall!

At our monthly Dinner Church we collect food donations for the 4 food boxes we fill on the 4th Tuesday of the month in Bellingham. It’s fall and folks are needing shelf stable food, and fruits and vegetables that can stand the fluctuating weather. We are grateful for the work of the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters to bring nourishment (and love) to their neighbors in need. Monetary donations are also welcome to purchase foods to round out each box (often ready to serve/eat meals).

Last month we filled the Northwest box first, and then after filling the other 3 we went back around in what we call the “great bean migration” to ensure that each box has a mix of different types of foods, and found that the box in that 30 minutes had been almost completely accessed! So filling the boxes and feeding others is needed more than ever, especially at the end of the month when money is tight. Thank you, thank you for your contributions!

We’ll collect our next donations at Dinner Church on October 23rd!

Fall Food Box Needs
granola bars  |  canned / shelf stable milk  |  nuts  | canned/pouch meat/fish  |  canned beans  |  canned fruit  |  soups/stews  |  jerky  |  fruits / veggies stable in cold  |  oats  |  sauces  |  spices  |  tea / juice  |  parmesan cheese  |  syrup  |  sugar  |  cereal  |  tortillas  | sliced bread  |  rice |  salt / pepper

Check out the full list of needed items for the boxes here!

Fall Equinox Blessing

Sunset from Deception Pass State Park, Whidbey Island, WA. (September 2023)

Fall Equinox Blessing

I do not know if the seasons remember their history or if the days and nights by which we count time remember their own passing.

I do not know if the oak tree remembers its planting or if the pine remembers its slow climb toward sun and stars.

I do not know if the squirrel remembers last fall's gathering or if the bluejay remembers the meaning of snow.

I do not know if the air remembers September or if the night remembers the moon.

I do not know if the earth remembers the flowers from last spring or if the evergreen remembers that it shall stay so.

Perhaps that is the reason for our births -- to be the memory for creation.

Perhaps salvation is something very different than anyone ever expected.

Perhaps this will be the only question we will have to answer:

“What can you tell me about September?"

-By Burton D. Carley

Shared at our Wild Church on Whidbey Island, September 22, 2023