Valley spiritual center makes community
debut
By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
What does one have to do to start a
church? For small congregations like Light on the Mountains, which practices
Religious Science, it meant years of renting one small venue after another in
the Wood River Valley. And in these varied locales, the Rev. John Moreland and
the church’s music director, R.L. Rowsey, kept the members focused while they
waited for a home church to be approved for purchase.
The Rev. John Moreland of Light on the
Mountains visits with his pooch Max in the facility that now permanently
houses the church. Express photo by Dana DuGan
On Dec. 22, 2002, the church’s new and
permanent home, located near Gimlet on Highway 75, was finally ready for use.
Moreland said the sanctuary hall’s chairs were still being delivered and
installed at 10 p.m. the eve of the first service.
"On the first day it was overwhelming to
be in our first church," Moreland remembered. "People were weeping as R.L.
played the piano and sang. Readers were weeping, I was weeping."
Light on the Mountains is a family church
that had a dream. The members all pitched in with every aspect of the purchase,
the remodel and the outfitting of the church.
"I personally helped lay the slate floor
in the foyer," Moreland said as he showed off the church for a visitor.
"Everyone had their hand in the building."
The house was in escrow from mid-2001
until Aug. 29, 2002, when Light on the Mountains closed on the deal.
Fortunately, the three months of remodel on the 3,200 square foot house was
minimal, Moreland said. They eliminated some walls, widened the two bathrooms,
and had to get P & Z approval for an enhanced entry and approach from Highway
75.
Moreland, who spends his days at the
church working on church business accompanied by his golden retriever Max, is
like a proud Papa with the clean and airy space.
"It was as though it was made to be a
church. There was not as much work as you’d think."
The church is located just north of the
Sawtooth Botanical Garden. A natural spring burbles outside the sanctuary
windows and behind the altar there’s a view of the Sawtooth Mountains to the
north.
The church next plans on turning the large
two-car garage into a social hall. The building also has offices, a kitchen and
a classroom currently used for coffee hour and classes.
Last Sunday, Light on the Mountains
initiated its first series of connected sermons, discussion groups and workshops
to recognize the "Season of Nonviolence," which runs from Jan. 30 through April
4.
The memorial anniversaries of Mahatma
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassinations inspire the annual event.
Light on the Mountains will also host
guest speakers with experience dealing in nonviolence and weekly discussion
groups meeting in private homes. All are welcome to participate in these groups.
"This is the first year we’ve taken hold
of something and taken it out into the community," Moreland said. "Of course,
having our own facility makes it easier."
Religious Science was founded by Ernest
Holmes, whose 1926 tome "The Science of Mind," became the textbook of the
church’s philosophy.
The Holmes Institute of Religious Science
and School of Philosophy was incorporated in 1927. In 1967, the Church of
Religious Science became the United Church of Religious Science with member
churches throughout the world.