Currently attending the annual conference of the Pastor-Theologian Program of the Center of Theological Inquiry, this year held in Sedona. Sedona is supposed to be the New Age capital of the U.S., but since I"m staying at the Hilton, and have mostly only seen the main streets and very little of the outskirts of town (because the forests are closed as a result of the fires), I see more signs of this being a posh retirement community than anything else. There certainly are a lot of churches, of basically ever stripe. Including the relatively famous Chapel of the Holy Cross.
For theology nerds like me, there is nothing better than lectures all morning, then the opportunity to take a sauna and hike in the afternoon. It's a good place for a conference. Unfortunately, like many of these desert towns, I don't know how sustainable it is long-term, water use, etc.
As a true midwesterner, I've always thought that mountains were for people who lacked imagination. They're beautiful, of course, but they're the kind of beauty that hits you upside the face and says, "Notice me!" I so much enjoy the beauty of Wisconsin, of the plains, of wooded and rolling hills, that mountains take second fiddle.
For a sample of Sedona red rocks, though, click.
Odd that the chapel is closed on Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter.
ReplyDeleteWell, remember that it is a chapel, not a church. The Catholic church is down the hill from the chapel.
ReplyDeleteI for one prefer mountains to plains or the ocean. Give me mountains and a nice river any day.
ReplyDeleteI'd argue that the forests of Wisconsin outdo mountains and rivers. Although it needn't be a contest. I just get tired of the seeming assumption that mountains are more beautiful, just because they are grand. there are other kinds of beauty than granduer and magnitude.
ReplyDeletehttp://forest.wisc.edu/