Spirituality

Telluride's Christ Church opens contemplative garden, August 21

Once upon a lifetime ago, Telluride Inside…and Out visited the Ryoan-Ji Zen Garden in Kyoto, Japan. The mystical place consists of raked gravel and 15 moss-covered boulders, arranged so that when viewed from any angle other than above, just 14 of the boulders are visible at one time. The big idea: only when we achieve enlightenment can we see all 15 at once.

Now let's take that idea home to Telluride, where Reverend Pat Bailey and Christ Church have created a variation on the theme of Ryoan-Ji. In the church's brand new contemplation garden, grass replaces gravel and stones are for sitting as we look up at our "boulders," the giant peaks that surround our box canyon. A Celtic cross, a Buddha and a cairn are set among the flowers, inviting everyone into the spiritual world of his choice.

Telluride's Christ Church: May Day!

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Rev. Pat Bailey]     kicker: Potluck luncheon features regional produce and meats Telluride's Christ Presbyterian Church is shouting "May Day." No, not a cry of distress. A cry of joy.Reverend Pat Bailey has...

Telluride's Christ Church: Lent

[click "Play" to hear Susan speaking with Rev. Pat Bailey about Easter and Lent]   Reverend Pat Bailey of Telluride's Christ Church poses a question: What comes to mind when you hear the the term “Lent?”...

Telluride's Christ Church: "A Charter for Compassion"

[click "Play", Rev. Pat Bailey speaks with Susan about Charter for Compassion]

The answer my friend is blowing in the winds of change: Two different and highly respected institutions in Telluride are talking about the same thing more or less at the same time. And it's a good thing.

On March 7, the Telluride Institute blogged about its upcoming Second Annual Compassion Festival, scheduled for this summer, July 8 – July 10. (The Institute announced early because it is looking for volunteers.) The unique event and the newest festival on Telluride's cultural calendar is dedicated to exploring compassion for a world in crisis. It is byproduct of last year's Language of Mental Life conference, also hosted by the Telluride Institute.

Then as now, while some people appear ready to storm the barricades, others are turning inward in an attempt to find ways to play nice in not so nice times: Compassion as an antidote for overheated passions.

During the period of self reflection known as Lent, Reverend Pat Bailey of Telluride's Christ Church plans to offer a study of Karen Armstrong's "A Charter for Compassion" and her book Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. The study takes place right after the Sunday service, starting this Sunday, March 3 through April 17 (11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) or on consecutive Wednesdays, March 16 – April 20, 12 – 1 p.m.

Reverend Doug leads meditation class at Christ Church, 2/17

Thanks to its Reverend, Pat Bailey, Telluride's Christ Church is becoming much more than a house of worship in the conventional sense of sheep gathering around a shepherd to pray and heal. Christ Church is becoming a change-maker in the Telluride community, from a place to study world religion to how to live a more sustainable life in concert with the environment. Next up: altering our internal landscape through meditation.

Thursday evening, February 17, 7:30 p.m., Reverend Doug Bottorff teaches a class on meditation. The evening is part of Christ Church's ongoing silent meditation program held every Thursday night.

Telluride's Christ Church launches "Renewal," 1/19

Telluride is not just any resort and its local institutions are equally unique and unconventional.

For example, our five-star Wilkinson Public Library is not your mother's book repository. The Telluride Historical Museum is no dusty storehouse of treasures from someone's attic. Even one of our houses of worship, Christ Presbyterian Church, is fast becoming much more than a place for contemplation and prayer. Under the director of Reverend Pat Bailey, a scholar of world religion, Christ Church is fast becoming a change agent within our community, with a brand new focus on the current environmental crisis.

On Wednesday, January 19, at noon, Christ Presbyterian Church launches a five-week program to view and discuss the documentary "Renewal" and how to put its message of sustainability into action. The documentary describes the responses of eight different religious communities – Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and interfaith – to the global issue of climate change and its effects.

Reverend Pat Bailey: the deeper meaning of the holiday, part 3 of series

kicker: Final interview of series on Christmas Eve. Merry holiday.

Telluride Inside... and Out continues with its mini-series about Christmas, interviewing Reverend Pat Bailey of Telluride's Christ Church on the subject of the holiday that's becoming a hot potato, from its name to its meaning.

Despite the beliefs about Christ that relate to the birth stories – although, as Pat pointed out earlier, the earliest writings of the New Testament are the letters of Paul, and Paul seems to have no knowledge of a virgin birth – the church did not observe a festival for the celebration of Christmas until the 4th century, a date chosen to counter the pagan festivities connected with the winter solstice. In fact, the birth of Christ coincides with Saturnalia, a pagan winter solstice ritual. Solstice marks the sun's descent into darkness, heralding the start of winter. Days later, the sun starts ascending in the heavens again, where it resides for another year. In its simplest expression, Christmas is about light, whether it is the natural light of the sun that nourishes from without or the metaphorical Holy Light – or holy light –  that nourishes and heals from within. Ot is it?

Reverend Pat Bailey: The "war" on Christmas, part 2 of series

In his first post/interview Reverend Pat Bailey of Telluride's Christ Presbyterian Church talked about the myth and magic of Christmas. In the second of his three-part series parsing the holiday, the focus is on the "war" on Christmas, which has a lot to do with the different perceptions Bailey addressed in his first interview.

The news last week was chockablock with scary, seemingly insurmountable challenges to our country, one of which hit Tulsa hard: Could its Christmas parade be saved despite protests against the disappearance of the word "Christmas" from its title. (The name had been changed to The Holiday of Lights parade, which outraged the righteous state senator, James Imhofe for one.) The good news: the parade would go on, albeit without Imhofe on his high horse – at least not the carrot-chomping version.

Reverend Pat Bailey: The real "magic" of Christmas, a short series

Rev. Pat Bailey

Since Thanksgiving, Christmas has been top of mind, top of media, injecting mistletoe (and for some, holiday misgivings) into the bubble we call Telluride.

Turn on any TV and holiday chestnuts such as "It's a Wonderful Life" light up the screen. (And give the cynics in the crowd a seasonal toothache.) The glossies are packed with gift ideas, recipes for the holidays, what to wear, some intrepid souls even tackling what to believe about Christmas. Several years ago, both Newsweek and Time featured cover stories about the First Noel, articles that raised controversial questions about the Nativity: Who were the Wise Men? What about the star? Is it possible Jesus was born in Nazareth? Who exactly were the two Marys?

Christmas is surely a good deal more than buy, cry, fry, wonder what and why.

Telluride Inside... and Out has asked local religious leader, Reverend Pat Bailey, of Telluride's Christ Presbyterian Church, to shed some light on the subject of Christmas, it's meaning and real magic.