“I just didn’t like church. I didn’t like the pomposity of it, the rigidity of it...," Hanger says.

Jubilee! is not your typical church. It's an inclusive community that celebrates life.

Hanger's final celebration will be Aug. 11. Amy Steinberg takes the helm in September.

A banana shirt. A banana phone case. A pair of mismatched socks — one festooned with bananas.

That’s the kind of attire you’ll catch Howard Hanger in when he welcomes you to his eclectic mansion in Asheville's Chicken Hill neighborhood.

“It just feels like fun,” Hanger says, grinning when asked about his generous assortment of banana clothes. “And there’s so many fun things in this world!”

If you’ve met Howard Hanger — musician-turned-Methodist leader-turned-founder of Jubilee! Community — then you know his world is full of fun. Each Sunday, Hanger dances, sings and laughs his way through the morning at Jubilee!, his eclectic faith community, with arms perpetually spread wide for hugs.

“I’m a hugger,” Hanger admits.

Now, 30 years after founding Jubilee!, Hanger, 75, will lead his last rollicking celebration at the church Aug. 11.

“I know it’s time,” Hanger says. “It’s just time for me to stir things up a bit at Jubilee!”

A place to experiment

Hanger is no stranger to stirring things up.

“I come from a wonderful history of rebels,” he says with a smile.

His grandfather was ousted from his position as a Methodist minister for his pacifist beliefs during World War I, and his father — also a Methodist minister — refused to serve at any church that was segregated.

“Then I came along and started doing gay weddings,” Hanger laughs. “And I got the boot!”

But even before Hanger annulled his membership in the Methodist church, he was dreaming up new ways to shake up the religion of his youth.

After graduating from the Candler School of Theology at Emory, Hanger put his new theology degree right to use: by hitting the road on tour with his band. The band played nationally, then internationally through a U.S. State Department program.

After a hit children’s album, Hanger found himself playing music in Detroit.

But upon going through his first divorce at 29, Hanger felt he had to leave the Motor City. So he picked up and moved his band to Asheville, where he stumbled into a staff job at Central United Methodist Church downtown.

“I just didn’t like church,” Hanger admits. “I didn’t like the pomposity of it, the rigidity of it, the 'we’re-right-and-you’re-wrong' kind of thing. It didn’t click with me.”

So when he started his new job at — that’s right, a church — Hanger didn’t waste time sowing the seeds of something different. During the summer of 1984, he began tinkering with new forms of faith — what would later become the free-wheeling, nondenominational Jubilee! — in the basement of Central Methodist.

“I wanted some place to do ritual, some place to experiment,” Hanger said. “So we called it 'experimental ministries.'”

With each summer, Hanger’s project grew, until "experimental ministries" stretched over six months of the year. But when a new minister at Central Methodist took a dislike to the ceremonies, Hanger had a decision to make: venture out on his own and start something new, or stay put in his “heavily endowed” church?

“My sister helped me out,” Hanger says. “She said, ‘Imagine that you’re on your death bed, and you’re looking back on this period. How would it feel to have not chosen to do it?'”

He shakes his head. “I thought, 'I just gotta do it. I can’t be comfortable. I really gotta try this thing.'”

Church in a nightclub

Jubilee! had its first Sunday celebration in 1989 — “illegally, of course,” according to Hanger.

“We found this place, it used to be a nightclub,” Hanger remembers of the old Asheville Music Hall at 46 Wall St. The group didn’t have permission from the city to use the dilapidated building, but Hanger was itching to start the celebration.

“Somebody knew how to hook up the electricity in there, so we went ahead and had our first deal! Then the city called and said, ‘Nuh-uh. You are out!’” Hanger said.

It didn’t matter that the right paperwork wasn’t quite filed — Hanger held Jubilee! in a courtyard on Wall Street anyway.

Almost 30 years later, on a sunny Sunday in July, worshippers — Jubilants, as they call themselves — mill about in the homey building at 46 Wall St., waiting for Jubilee!’s celebration to begin. A bongo player in the corner is warming up, and some admirers of the lively beat shout, “Oh, yeah!” and begin to sway to the rhythm.

A dog or two welcome pats from fellow Jubilants, and a few babies babble as they crawl across the floor. Kisses, hugs and smiles abound. There’s not a phone in sight.

A poster that reads “Laughter is carbonated holiness” hangs on the wall, and when the celebration starts, that quote seems just about right. Hanger weaves together thoughtful reflection — about security, about family, about love — with a giggle-filled diatribe on what he calls the “squashini” (a cross between a squash and a zucchini) recently found in his garden.

“This is what it’s all about!” he grins, holding up the squashini like a prize-winner as the room explodes with laughter. “Evolution!”

His motto is 'fun, fun, fun'

From the squashini to the bongo beats and wild dancing, Jubilee! isn’t your parents' church. In fact, Hanger wouldn’t even call it a church at all.

“We call ourselves a community,” Hanger says, rocking in a chair on his mansion's porch. “I think it’s a spiritual grounding for many people.”

“The goal is to ask better questions,” he adds. “To remind ourselves that there’s more going on than we can ever possibly imagine. We think we’ve got it figured out, but we don’t even know what the next moment’s gonna bring! To open people to that awareness — to me, that’s a sense of the holy.”

Hanger’s younger of two daughters, Kelsey Hanger, 28, has the same idea.

“I’d call it inclusive — it’s a community for people from all backgrounds to come and celebrate life," she says. "That is definitely not your typical church.”

When Piret Karma, Hanger’s girlfriend of over three years, first walked through the doors of Jubilee! seven years ago, she quickly realized the same thing.

“I’d never really gone to church before I met Howard,” Karma admits. “But I first went to Jubilee! with a friend, and I took my two kids. We were inside the building, and it was raining out, and suddenly my 8-year-old son left — he just walked out! Next thing you know, he comes back inside with our little pug, Tula.”

Karma laughs as she remembers the goofy moment.

“Howard came and picked up our pug, and lifted her above the podium like it was the Lion King!" Karma says. "That got everybody laughing. And that’s when I decided — wow, this is a pretty cool place.”

To Karma, Jubilee! is just another extension of Howard’s life motto: fun, fun, fun.

“Not a day goes by that we don’t laugh together,” she says. “I’ve never had this much fun in my whole life!"

"He full of life," Kelsey Hanger says, laughing. "Going to the doctor's office growing up, he'd be digging through the doctor's drawers, playing with the tongue depressors — he'd always make it fun."

A kind of magic

After 30 years filled with holding hands, lifting up pups Lion King-style and belting Zac Brown Band at the top of his lungs, Hanger is heading toward his final Jubilee! celebration.

"I've gone through a lot of feelings over the last year," Hanger says. "Late at night, I get the willy-nillys. Like, 'You love this, why are you walking away?' But during the day, I'm convinced. It's time."

Don't close the book yet, though: Jubilee! isn't the last you'll hear from Hanger.

"He's probably going to be twice as busy as he is now," Kelsey Hanger says, laughing. "He's going to have a lot more time to think — he gets his mind going, and suddenly he has all these ideas."

After a year of searching, the Jubilee! Board of Directors recently announced Amy Steinberg as the community's new minister. She'll move to Asheville from San Diego, and lead her first Jubilee! celebration on Sept. 22.

"Man, she just gets it!" Hanger gushed of Steinberg at a recent Jubilee! celebration. When Steinberg joked, "Well, I definitely don't get it," Hanger laughed, "And that's exactly why she gets it! Isn't she phenomenal?"

In true Jubilee! style, the community is throwing an unorthodox celebration for its leader's retirement: a roast of Hanger (see below).

What's next? Who knows?

What will he do next? The people closest to him aren't sure — and neither is he. But Hanger's not one to fear the unknown.

After a life spent diving headfirst into the uncharted — touring the world with his band, founding a middle school for girls in Asheville that is still going strong, transforming a decrepit Asheville mansion into a 14-person communal home — Hanger could do just about anything.

But wherever he goes, he'll carry along the quirky, earnest, exuberant faith of Jubilee! And his insistence on asking better questions.

"I have the big questions — you know, 'What's God?'" Hanger offers, sweeping his arms through the space beyond him. "But just as important is, 'What's going on right here?' And, 'What kind of magic can happen right now?'"

“And you know what?” Hanger asks, grinning and leaning forward in his wooden rocking chair. “I believe in magic. I really do.”

Howard Hanger roast

The Jubilee! community will throw a farewell party — actually a lampoon roast — for longtime minister Howard Hanger at 7 p.m. Aug. 10 at Jubilee, 46 Wall St. Those attending are encouraged to bring their most embarrassing Howard Hanger stories. Aug. 11 will mark Hanger's last celebration at the helm of Jubilee!