January 13, 2010
New priest casts wider net to powder hounds.
LEFT: Rev. Chris Roberts and the congregation at St. Francis of the Tetons in Alta invite you to Soul Powder Worship, a new service that hopes to accommodate skiers and snow enthusiasts coming in from a day on the mountains. Rev, Roberts as been serving at St. Francis’s since Oct. 2009. CITIZEN PHOTO / JEANNETTE BONERChris Roberts had always longed to head back to the mountains, to the west and (sometimes) to that wind.
The ordained Episcopal priest, with the blended accents mixed through the years from living, leading and studying from New England, to the coastal south, the Midwest and back to the mountains, has spent a little less than four months at Alta’s St. Francis of the Tetons, but he is a man that has settled comfortably into his new community.
Dressed in a wool sweater and a pair of gently worn, brown cowboy boots Rev. Roberts joins the small and ever growing community at St. Francis after the congregation’s search for church leadership. He considers himself retired, sort of, and currently commutes from Virginia City, Mont., spending time in the Tetons and time in the Ennis Valley with his wife, Linda and their more than a dozen terriers (he used to breed the dogs and can only bring two of the short-legged hunting breeds with him to the church at a time).
“This is a very diverse community,” Rev. Roberts said on Monday under picture perfect blue skies and a Grand Teton vista contrasting in brilliant white with snow. “We have a lot of different backgrounds and a huge number of gifted people.”
His style and easy conversation is reflective of the atmosphere at the church, warm, inviting, a community knit together through place and grace.
“This is a faith community, a safe place to explore your spiritual life. I would see us as inclusive. By no means is everyone here from an Episcopal background,” he said.
And once you’ve dropped your tele knee on the hill, St. Francis of the Tetons Episcopal Church is hoping you consider dropping a different kind of knee in their pews. The church is offering a second Sunday worship service to not only compliment the regular 10 a.m. service, but to give skiers and snow enthusiasts an option for worship after the lines have been carved. Soul Powder Worship Service will begin at 5 p.m. on Sundays with Rev. Roberts occasionally on guitar offering a contemporary and casual service.
And that is how we experience or encounter God,” Rev Roberts said, “though community. We will be focusing on informal singing and also trying to create a youth lead service.”
Come in your ski boots (because others have) after a day on the hill or a skate down Teton Canyon.
“We’re looking for more ways to respond to people lives,” Rev. Roberts added.
The church began studying William Young’s book The Shack and welcome you to join them as they explore the nature of God as presented in this best selling work of fiction.
St. Francis of the Tetons Episcopal Church is located in Alta on the Ski Hill Road across from the Alta Elementary School. For more information on the church and worship times, call 307-353- 8100.
