A Personal Hope...for all of us.

(image from http://pennsylvaniaflyfishing.blogspot.com/2007/11/beartooth-mountain-serenade.html)

On Friday, I had the great honor of being invited to speak at Travis Engstrom's funeral. He is the man who died at Crown Butte (pictured above) last weekend. Kelly, his lovely wife, and his 5-month old son, Kaden, were at Hope Lutheran Church in Bozeman, MT. Surrounding them were friends, in-laws, family and acquaintances. It was a great and comforting thing to see. During the service, several people got up and commented on what a giving and loving person Travis was. I have never met Travis, but as I looked around that room, I saw over 350 people there for one person. Most of them were around 35 years old and almost all of them considered Travis a good friend. In the center of all of this sat Kelly with Kaden. My hope and wish as I sat there would be that all of us could have that kind of impact and support in a tragic situation. Better, after having lived a full and fulfilled life, that all of us would have 350 people at our funeral or memorial service. I was touched and moved deeply. Even though I have never met Travis, through him I got to know his wonderful family and was able to see a powerful example of what it means to be loved and loving in this world. May peace be with Travis and may blessings and peace surround his family and friends.
Peace!
Pastor Seth

PS: Comments have been fixed to allow anyone to comment. Sorry for any confusion!

Wild Week In Cooke City

Our little town had a crazy week that unfortunately ended in tragedy.
On Wednesday night, the house at Elkhorn Lodge blew up. You read that right. There was a propane leak and something triggered an explosion that several people in town thought was an earthquake. The explosion pushed out the floor and the bottom of the house, moving the whole thing off its foundation. Jan and I went into town after hearing about it. The woman who was in the house, by the grace of God, had only a bruised hip...after being thrown across the living room into the opposite wall. She walked out of the house. That was a good ending to what could have been a horrifying accident.
The horrifying accident happened on Saturday night when the Crown Butte avalanched. It was a huge break and it took a new father with it as his wife watched from below. It took several hours of searching to find him. 35 people were on the mountain - everyone who could in Cooke City went out to help. I was deeply moved by how willing people were to help out. A few people even came in on Saturday asking if there was any way they could help. The wife had friends and family here and I stayed with them until they left town. It was a very sad, very troubling situation, particularly since the snowmobilers were highly experienced and well-trained.
So if you are reading this, please include our little town in your prayers - prayers of thanks for protecting those who work here and prayers of healing and comfort to those who lost a loved one this weekend.
Peace!
Pastor Seth

-27 And Sunny

We have had several snowstorms over the past 2 weeks. The clearer photograph is from a week and a half ago. The fuzzy picture is a picture of Cooke City during the storm on New Years Eve. We went to Buns n' Beds for their delicious New Years Eve dinner. It was crowded and fun. Jan and Leo made an excellent dinner of prime rib, potatoes, salad, bread and cheesecake. It was a fun way to ride out a powerful winter storm. The winds picked up to about 45 mph sustained with gusts of 65-75 mph. Rhiannon was a little frightened by it all, but I went out into the adventure to snowshoe on New Years Day.

This morning, it was -27 when I woke up. The dog would have nothing to do with it and she went back to bed, probably the smartest one in the family. I was impressed though, that the Cooke Pass contingent braved the cold for church this morning. They had to snowmobile into town, then they all climbed into one truck. It was the only one that would start.

But the sun was bright and the skies were clear, so it seemed warmer than it was and it made everything look sharp and beautiful.

This morning we talked about God's will and intent for us in our lives. We can only understand this when we understand Jesus as God incarnate and what that means for us. First and foremost, it doesn't mean a bunch of rules, a perfect doctrine, the right church or a really good preacher. It means a relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God - directly.

I try to update the website with the sermon text and announcements every week. If you see something that needs to be changed or you would like to see something else over at www.mountrepublicchapel.org, just let me know.
Peace!
Pastor Seth

Bible Study online, more snow and avalanches

Greetings from the high country!
We have had snow almost everyday for two weeks. Yesterday, the sun finally came out for the first time in a long, long time. The reason I was aware of it was because we went out snowshoeing and as I returned from the falls behind the Oldemeyer's cabin, I noticed the snowfields high up on Sheep Mountain to the north and Republic to the south. Much of the face of Republic had been swept clean by 45-55 mph winds, with gusts up to 75-85 mph the day and night before. But many of the southern facing slopes have wind-swept snow piled on them, which means the avalanche danger is extremely high right now. Fortunately Cooke City has not had any Search and Rescue calls yet this year, which means the snowmobilers are being reasonably careful...or I am assuming that is what it means.

I hope everyone had an excellent holiday season. I was aware, even as a pastor who talks about Jesus and the focus of the season on a weekly basis, how hard it is to remain in tune with the fact of Jesus Christ, rather than the worries and desires of the consumer culture we live in right now.

My notes from our Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark are now online at our website: www.mountrepublicchapel.org. Please check it out. Since I follow the lectionary, this year (Year B in the lectionary readings) focuses on Mark, so you will be able to follow what I said earlier to see if I am consistent or not.

No picture for this week. However, it has been pretty spectacular with the snow swirling and rising off the mountains. In protected areas surrounded by trees, there is probably about 4 1/2 feet of snow on the ground.
Peace to all!
Pastor Seth

Moose and Haircuts

Finally, the moose are back in the meadow on a regular basis. 2 bull moose are visiting almost everyday. I realized that I missed them over the summer. When they returned, it was like old friends visiting, except I couldn't invite them in for coffee or dinner.

Kate and Rhiannon spent a girl's weekend in Billings. They got great haircuts and Rhiannon visited Santa. And they got caught in the snowstorm that hit on Sunday. Winds, -25 temperatures and blowing snow kept them there until Tuesday. It got a little lonely for me.

I have posted a new monthly letter on the website @ www.mountrepublicchapel.org. Read it and let me know your thoughts.
Have a great Advent and Christmas. May the Lord bless and keep you!
Pastor Seth

We decorated the chapel on Saturday afternoon. Kate, Rhiannon and I simply asked what we could do, while several couples who know the routine went to work. In 2 hours, we created a beautiful Christmas church. I have included a picture of the church at night. I will take one of the interior soon.

There is about a foot or more of snow on the ground now, so I snowshoed to the falls behind the Oldemeyer's cabin Sunday afternoon. It was beautiful and a reminder of our impermanence and dependence on God. The sky was blue and huge ("Sure is a big sky out here!"), and the mountains stood out even more, white as they were.

Sunday was the second week of Advent and we lit the candle of Peace to honor the day. Check out the website - www.mountrepublicchapel.org - if you want to read the sermon for the week. The readings spoke of John the Baptist. He was weird. Really weird. He ate bugs and honey and wore uncomfortable and scratchy camel hair. He carried on about the coming of the Lord and called the Pharisees a "brood of vipers." He was a strange man. But I have begun to think this strangeness is useful to God. More than likely, where we are weird and strange is where we are most in touch with the movement of the Spirit in our lives. Can we all imagine becoming weird and strange for Christ?
Peace to all!
Pastor Seth

Finally...

I am not completely unfamiliar with computers, but I had all kinds of problems setting up a blog for the website. Anyway, here is our first entry and I think I will simply put a picture of our beautiful church up for now. We are receiving about 1-2 inches of snow every other day. It is staying on the ground, so hopefully there will be a whole lot more soon.

Today (11/30/08) is the first Sunday of Advent and we sang several new hymns and songs today during the service. Our guitarist, Jeff, is gone for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I had to get creative...even though I play the guitar. Last week, I practiced hard and sounded great in front of an empty church. Then, when I got up in front of the congregation, well, it didn't go nearly as well as it did when no one was there.
Peace of Christ to all!
Pastor Seth