Pastor Pat Bailey: Insights, Exciting Times at Christ Church

11 Jan Pastor Pat Bailey: Insights, Exciting Times at Christ Church

Pastor Pat Bailey

These are exciting times at Christ Church. We had almost 500 people attend our two Christmas Eve services last week. I brought to my congregation a short message about the “Cosmic Face of Christ” that seemed to strike a chord with many who are yearning for a broader and deeper perspective of Christ and Christmas.

In our adult spiritual education program, we have been viewing and discussing a new video presentation, “Painting the Stars.” The video features prominent theologians, pastors, scientists, and authors discussing the impact of an evolutionary worldview on faith, church, culture, and spirituality,  themes that show up frequently in my preaching as well.

These are exciting times at Christ Church because we are seeing more and more people drawn and exposed to an evolving spiritual consciousness and to a community that values and supports one another in that process. I’ve said it before, Christ Church is a diverse gathering of spiritual experiences. We both respect and engage one another’s perspectives about God and self and community.

Not only have we seen an increase in the number of people involved in our worship and programs, we have also increased our online presence and participation. We have a new video system at the church and are recording the sermon and a portion of the service each Sunday. I am excited about what these opportunities might create in our future and how far reaching our influence might become.

You can view recent services on YouTube at the following links:

Sunday, December 15 (Children’s Christmas Pageant) http://youtu.be/q29Y-VNHr1A

Sunday, December 22 http://youtu.be/-16LUG-Ysg0

Christmas Eve Service http://youtu.be/J0si4lZbu5k

Sunday, December 29 http://youtu.be/k3stxn-ve20

Sunday, January 5 http://youtu.be/Q8AhEmd2zu4

What we are envisioning at Christ Church is a community deeply engaged in the Christian message in ways that span a spectrum of worldviews and encourage an evolution of spiritual consciousness.  That would be a community that also is in conversation with other faiths and their perspectives and practices.  It would be a community that provides safe-space for questions, doubts, and diversity but that also challenges one another to vertical transformation in understanding, wisdom, and compassion.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Pat Bailey of Telluride’s Christ Presbyterian Church, is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1987. For 16 years, Pat served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army. He is also an Iraq War veteran. Pastor Pat holds several degrees: a Master of Divinity from Columbia Seminary, a Master of Theology in comparative religion from Emory University, and (recently) a Doctor of Ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary. His primary professional interests are interfaith spirituality, evolutionary consciousness, nature spirituality – and accompanying others in spiritual community. To that end, Pastor Pat has been blogging on Telluride Inside… and Out for years. His new series, “Insights” (formerly View from the Pulpit) continues weekly. The blog (above) was actually Pastor Pat’s Christmas sermon, preached to about 500 people at two Christmas Eve services. That’s a whole lot of people he blessed with his words in the toy town of Telluride.