Summer comes to a close

It has been a busy summer up here in Cooke City and at Mt. Republic Chapel of Peace. Weddings, baptisms, two church services on Sundays, picnics, gatherings and many a traveler to the Park. Then, on Tuesday, I woke up and it was 29 degrees with light frost on everything. I drove through town and, in part because of constant and relentless road construction, there was hardly anyone in town. Slowly, the summer residents are trickling away. In a few weeks, there will be a few die-hard summer residents and locals left. And, more than likely, our first snow-fall will be in the next few weeks as well.

Over the summer, I did several outdoor weddings. The most exciting was down in Crandall, Wyoming, just east then south of Cooke City, over on the Chief Joseph Highway. The wedding was to be at 2:00 and everything was set up beautifully. It was sunny and a light breeze blew over the mountains.

The clouds began to build and then a large black cloud surfaced over Hunter's Peak. I thought it would blow to the north of us. And I was right, except for a weird effect that comes off the mountain. Hunter's Peak is a large cliff face facing the east. My theory is that it creates downdrafts when the wind and pressure is just right. This day, it was just right. 10 minutes before the wedding, the eastern moving winds suddenly reversed direction and in a moment I was trying to stand up in a 90 mile an hour straight-line wind heading west. It knocked down two very tall and very beautiful pine trees.

Amazingly, the fallen trees just missed the wedding chairs and setup. Even more importantly, they just missed the guests who had just started to seat themselves. Even the CD player, bent and beat up from the fallen tree, still worked. God must have been looking out for the couple, though the groom had some momentary second thoughts. The bride was bound and determined to have an outdoor wedding.

As I led the service, I kept listening to the creaking of cracked tree tops and broken branches slipping and falling through the trees. It was a little nerve-wracking, but the couple said "I do" and were married happily.

Fall is in the air now and the calls for weddings have stopped. The moose have come down out of the high country, at least a couple times. And last night, the wolf pack was howling by the stream behind our house. All of these are signs that the weather has changed. It happened overnight and we can smell it in the air. The great thing about living up in Cooke City, the highest town in Montana at about 7700 feet above sea level, is how sensitive we become to the changes in the weather. It is 70 degrees today, just like it has been for the past 4 or 5 weeks. But it is different now.

It is a subtle sensibility, and as a pastor, I always have to think about the spiritual implications of such things. Our faith life is a sensibility as well. We do not just agree in our minds to a thing and then it is done. We develop a sensitivity to the invisible things of the spirit and hopefully seek to increase our sense of those subtle movements of God in our lives. It is not easy and there are many things we can do to mask what some deeper part of ourselves already sense. But sometimes the greatest act of faith is to simply stand there and feel the changes in the weather, however subtle they may be.
Peace to all,
Pastor Seth

The Busy Season

For most pastors, the summer is the slow time. Clergy groups don't meet. Staff take long vacations. Worship relaxes a bit. But up here in the mountains, everything is in reverse. Summer is the busy time up here and can be a lot of fun.


Last week we had our Outback Express Vacation Bible School, with 13 kids. We had a great time and the kids all learned a lot about Australia and about Jesus, though not necessarily in that order. They had hikes, a cookout, lots of crafts and Bible stories. Peter was the focus of the week and as a pastor, I can't think of a better person to learn about Jesus through than Peter. He was impulsive, made a lot of mistakes, never thought things through and mostly just made a nuisance of himself as a disciple. A lot like my relationship with God.


We also had our annual Memorial Service for those people who died during the past year. This past year, we celebrated the lives of many long-time residents and "people of influence" up in these here parts. It was a beautiful day, filled with music and remembrance.

Coming up, we have "Christmas in August", a legendary event in Yellowstone National Park. It was started (according to one version of the story) by some Christian Ministry in the National Parks participants who were trapped here in August during a snowstorm. We have a Christmas service in the morning and a dinner in the afternoon. It is quite the event, but as a pastor, few things are more strange than trying to preach the Christmas story in the middle of summer. As a theologian and student of the Bible, however, it is probably the most likely time of Jesus' birth - the middle of the summer.

Summer moves fast up here. Weddings, renewal of vows, baptisms and special services are all packed into about 4 months. Then, in the space of a couple weeks, all the people who spend their summers here go home for the winter. In those couple of weeks, the church goes from worshiping almost 100 or more on any given Sunday morning to as few as 10. There are a few weeks of adjustment, and then everything normalizes to a small, intimate and devoted Sunday group that live here year-round.


My wife, Kate, and daughter, Rhiannon, have been traveling for 3 weeks and have not been around. A fast summer without my family around is a bitter-sweet experience. The other day, I was walking the dogs on Lulu Pass. The flowers are all in bloom up there and it is a riot of yellow, purple, red and green. I think they may all be gone by the time my family returns on Friday and that is a little sad. But the dogs love it and so do I. I am trying to take some pictures to remember it by.


Peace to all!
Pastor Seth

The blessing of Pride

For me, it is always a challenge to keep something like a blog up to date. I suppose once one has some readership, one is obligated to at least make the effort to update it regularly. I will try to do better with the upkeep of this blog.

Last week, I was in the great city of Milwaukee for my denomination/association's annual meeting. (My association is the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches). It was great fun to be with fellow pastors and to see old friends. My denomination (there are many who hate it being called that) is really an association of congregational churches who consider themselves, piously and with great pride, "the continuing congregationalists". The title is probably correct, given how much the UCC sacrificed in terms of congregational church governance when they formed in the 1950s. The NACCC are the churches that didn't go with that merger. Like other groups who splintered and split (the Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, etc. etc. ad infinitum), we have no association with the other congregational bodies in the nation, which is ashame and a testament to the very human quality of churches in general. Nonetheless, I take pride in my Congregational history and in the history of my denomination.

Normally, we consider pride to be the root of all evil, but I think it has a lot to do with priorities. If we know the source of that which we take pride in, we can avoid the pitfalls of self-aggrandizement that occurs when we claim the thing we take pride in for ourselves. As a monotheist and a Christian, the source of all which I take pride in ideally is centrally located in God and Jesus Christ. So when I say I am very proud of Mount Republic Chapel of Peace, that is what I mean to say. The reason I am proud of the church I pastor is because while I was in Milwaukee, the congregation ran the service. One person even said, "I guess we don't need a guest pastor to come in every time the pastor leaves on a trip. We can do this ourselves." That is exactly right.

In the corporate world, since I always worked in lowly customer service positions, I was very aware that there is no position in the company that can't be done by someone else. In church, it is a little different. God uses those things that make us uniquely individuals to do God's work in the world, so it can be likely that there are things to be done that no other person can do. Likewise, every church is unique and unusual and cannot be replaced. And so when the congregation steps up to lead services when the pastor is gone, it is a time to rejoice and be proud that the unique individuals that make up a church can make the time of worship a unique experience for everyone present.

Of course, if I say that it means the pastor is always replaceable (s/he is, in many ways) because the congregation can do the service without his/her presence, it would mean a lot of pastors would lose their work. But it brings up an important point - what is the purpose of a pastor? If the congregation can do the service on their own (most can), and the services provided by the church can be done by leaders in the congregation (there are many), then why have a clergy? Some groups don't - the Quakers, many Anabaptists, the Amish, some emergent/house movement churches. Most do, however, and that is a good and holy thing. I won't answer the question, but I think it is valuable for a congregation to reflect why they have a pastor and what the pastor does that they either cannot or will not do for themselves.

In the meantime, as a pastor, I feel blessed to have a congregation that is willing to step up and lead worship for each other. And that seems worthy of a certain amount of God-centered pride.

Peace to all!
Pastor Seth

Is It Really June 7th?

Yesterday, we went to Bozeman to celebrate Kate's birthday. It was a beautiful drive, as always, through the park. On our way home, it was raining. Then the clouds broke about 20 miles outside Cooke City. The clouds floated low on the mountains and the rain made the colors of spring stand out. We unloaded all our supplies that we picked up from Costco just before the rains started again. After about 20 minutes of rain, it changed over to snow. I thought, fortunately, it is not sticking on the ground. And as we walked the dogs, we pointed out to our daughter that it could always be worse - you could be the guy on the motorcycle who just drove by in the driving snow. It is always an adventure weather-wise up here. Many people, though, who live here year-round have had enough of the snow and winter. I told my daughter, 'At least you will have bragging rights wherever you live from now on. Besides, it will all melt...someday?'

I am aware my last several posts have been about the weather. I don't mean to be discouraging. I actually find it to be an adventure and a little crazy. I mean, you would have to be a little crazy to live up here anyway, so why wouldn't the weather reflect that? For the past several weeks, it has been beautiful up here - high 60s, rain in the afternoon, everything turning green. I just also know that for a lot of people, our unusual weather is unusual everywhere. So we all talk about it...but as my friend Jeff said the other day, "no one ever does anything about it."

We had a "Hymn Sunday" in church this morning, which went very well. We sang some old favorite hymns and talked about the history behind the songs. It was very interesting, and it is always surprising how many hymns are born from adversity and difficulty and God's transformation of that trouble into assurance, hope and trust. And, the guy on the motorcycle who drove by last night was there this morning.

This Friday, we are hosting the girl's choir from the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Billings, Montana. They will perform a concert for us and we are hoping for a large turnout. I think it will be great fun.

Peace!
Pastor Seth

Spring Is Here (?)

Keeping up a blog is a little like caring for some small furry creature, except that the small furry creature is within you. In the night sometimes, it calls out to you and maybe you are able to awaken to its call. I have started about 6 blogs and all of them wilt from neglect and disuse. Part of the reason for not fulfilling the obligations of maintaining a blog is, out here, winter is just ending. Today, it is almost 60 degrees and it actually smells and feels like spring. Last week, there was a day when it was pretty warm, but it was really just a warning for a coming snowstorm. We got 5 inches of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. 20 miles out, to the south and east, it was 70 degrees and sunny. Such is the weather of the high mountains.

As spring comes upon us, our home has been blessed by a new black lab puppy named Xena. She is 10 weeks old, extremely cute, happy and growing fast. We are glad to have her and our other dog, Marla, who is 6 years old, is getting used to having another 4-legged critter in her midst. They are learning to play together and even share. For a few days Marla was put out by the whole thing, but she is rapidly recovering her sense of self and, in the fashion of divas everywhere, entitlement to attention and being first in everything.

Be that as it may, spring also means that the people who leave for the winter are returning slowly but surely for the summer. Our little cadre of locals welcome them back gladly. One of the locals told me this past week, after the snowstorm, that your spouse could have become pregnant at the beginning of winter and when she had her baby there would still be snow on the ground. There may be no other place in America where that analogy is so accurate, or likely to be said. I laughed hard when I heard him say it.

Worship at Mount Republic Chapel of Peace during the winter becomes an intimate and welcome gathering, reminding us that "wherever two or three are gathered, Jesus is with us". That is a blessing and provides an ember of strength to light the fires of spring and summer here. We have just started a Wednesday night Bible study on the Lord's Prayer, which has created lively and intense discussions about what Jesus' prayer means for us and what God intends in our lives together. On May 31st, Pentecost Sunday, rather than a sermon and on the recommendation of a close friend in Minnesota, I thought we might have an "Ask the Pastor Sunday". On June 7th, we will have a Hymn Sunday and will talk about the theology and history of the hymns we sing. On Friday, June 12th, the Girl's Choir from the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd will be here to perform for our community and church.

We are looking forward to the activities of spring and summer here and we await to find out what the Lord has in store for us. May our church and our community be a blessing to all who visit us.
Peace of Christ to you!

Pastor Seth

Wedding in the Mountains

(picture is from Donna Rowland's FaceBook site)
On Saturday, I did a wedding for a couple from northern Minnesota. They came out to Cooke City with family and friends...and about 15 snowmobiles. The groom proposed to his fiance after he was dug out from an avalanche on Lulu Pass. Of course, the plan was to propose in a more appropriate place. When I met with them in the summer I thought they wanted to be married in Mount Republic Chapel, given that it would still be winter and all, but they said they wanted to be married at the top of Daisy Pass. I said OK to it, never having been up there and never having been on a snowmobile. But by the time they got here, I had been up to Daisy Pass numerous times and have been on a snowmobile more than I would have imagined.

So on Saturday morning at about 10:45, I got on the Yamaha Mountain Max 600 I am borrowing and rode up to Daisy Pass with about 30 other people to do a wedding on the mountain. Once up there, they decided to line up the snowmobiles facing one another, forming an aisle. The bride and groom rode down the aisle on a hyped up Polaris snowmobile and we did the ceremony right at the edge of the Daisy Pass hill. The weather was spectacular - clear, 50 degrees and hot in the sun. At 9300 feet, we are closer to the sun and the atmosphere is thinner. My friend Jeff took this picture. I will have more pictures of the event soon.

I write this on the evening of Easter Sunday. Again, we had beautiful weather up here in Cooke City. The church was full and children sang as we prayed. When we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ we are celebrating an historical event that is astonishing and crazy and wonderful. But that is the way God is with us - in our spiritual lives, in our shared history and in our experience here on this lonely planet. May the resurrection live in your hearts, minds and souls. May it be as true for you as it was for the disciples who witnessed it all those many years ago.
Peace!
Pastor Seth

When does it end?

Snowing again in Cooke City? Who would have believed it...?

(the truck is supposed to be white-where the paint is not peeling-but has been given a Cooke City paint job)

Being from Minnesota, I know well the trajectory of winter. In Minnesota, about 3 weeks ago, everybody would be ornery, frustrated and tired. Why? Because it just won't stop being cold and snowy. Here, in Cooke City, the trajectory is the same. With a big exception. About 4 times more snow and another month of variable winter weather. Spring lurks in Minnesota, threatening to rush forth at any moment, at this time of year. Here, spring hides and peers out, meekly sticking a robin in a tree, suggesting a migration of a moose or buffalo to lower ground. I haven't been out here long enough to know how spring appears, so I have to have some confidence that, if it is appearing elsewhere, it must show up here...someday? I had a teacher once who said, "Well, there must be something more important to you than the weather, otherwise why would you stay?" Indeed, the church, the people and the amazing creation that surrounds us goes far toward lessening the worok of constantly renewing my hope for spring.

Regardless, whether or not spring comes sooner or later, my primary life is governed by the church calendar, not the seasonal calendar. We have just finished a series of sermons on Spiritual Disciplines at Mount Republic Chapel and we are entering Easter Week with Palm Sunday this Sunday. Easter is my favorite holiday. Celebrating the reason we believe is what we do every Sunday, but how much more so on the day we honor as the day Christ rose from the dead. (For those who wonder when that is calculated to be, just find the date of the Spring Equinox, then find out when the next full moon is, then count 3 Sundays following that...I think).
(this wolf was on the Lamar River, just inside Yellowstone Park, only about 15 miles from our home. He was huge.)