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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
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For the week of February 5 - 11, 2003

Features

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.

 

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The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.