Alexander Joseph, Ward. In the city it is easy to stave off the greater questions of life. One is surrounded by buildings that have sprung up in the last decade or so. When passing the ever-changing store fronts and restaurants’ flashing neon signs, there is never a moment of pause. Not a time when you are left alone with the natural world in which you would have the opportunity to think about where everything, where all this comes from. 

In direct contrast to the above described city life, up in the mountains it is different. At night there is no light but the moon and the stars and the occasional glow fire through the windows of the house. Here one can start to wonder where it all came from. In the middle of the woods flanked by snow caps so gargantuan that they sort of boggle the mind and make all the big things of the city look small and new and very human. The big questions come up and one has to face them. Here with moose and elk and the mountain lions and the freshest air on the wind and the whitest snow glowing even in the night, one’s uninterrupted thoughts may turn to God or creation or religion. This is simply because of the vastness of the raw natural wonder in which those of us who are lucky to live up here are constantly in the absolute midst of. 

These thoughts of higher powers, of holiness, of the sacrality of the world inspired by the true awe of a non-human centered space, is what can be thought of as the impetus for the building of the Union Congregational Church of Ward. This Church, which was, as its website details “formed in 1894, and the building built in 1896 ... is still used and loved by the whole community as both a church, operating in the United Church of Christ tradition, and as a community gathering place, hosting meetings, parties, weddings, community celebrations and memorials, and just people wanting to sing in its awesome acoustics.” As of the writing of this article, the Union Congregational Church of Ward is 127 years old and counting, a container for so much community over so many generations of mountain folk and snowdrifts. 

And like all that exists in and at the whim of our nature and ongoing climate crisis, this church has had its recent share of catastrophe. This includes being badly damaged by a rockslide caused by the great, almost Biblical, floods of years past. Luckily the church and those who take care of it, “in 2017 received a grant from the State Historical Society to assess our building and begin planning for its renovation.” Then again, “In 2018 (the church) received a grant to accomplish three structural goals – to remove the rock debris from behind the building and build a retaining wall, to pull the slightly bowed walls of the church back into vertical alignment, and to shore up the foundation at the front, where it was sagging. These goals have been accomplished.” Their next goal is to replace some of the rotting siding on the front of the building around the windows and the bell tower, which they are currently raising funds for. Despite all the various disasters, fires, droughts, government corruption, pandemics, upheaval and so on, this place is still standing. 

Now imagine, if you will, all that has occurred in the last 127 years. Two world wars and many other wars. Two global pandemics (the second of which we will hopefully be out of soon). The civil rights movement, the woman’s suffrage movement, the beginning of the destruction of the climate by corporate interests. The invention of computers and cell phones and solar panels and nuclear bombs, the rise and fall of empires. All the while, up here in the wild, windy hills, The Union Congregational Church of Ward has stood, providing in part a space for community. Despite any religious affiliation or not, community is more necessary than ever now in this divided, paused and drying up world. 

Perhaps we can find some hope in the fact that one of the oldest buildings in our area is one which in part devotes itself to gathering. To help us think about our making, to our prayer, and hopefully gratitude for all that we are. And how lucky it is to be stewards of a high alpine population. 

The Union Congregational Church of Ward is located at 20 Modoc Street, Ward, Colorado 80481. For more information go to unioncongregationalchurchofward.org.