This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for our newsletter.
 
     Andrea Tanner’s first raft trip down The Canyon was in the spring of 2016 (the Grand Canyon). For 28 days in April and May, the Colorado River escorted her into the soul of the American West. It was a small group, three rafts and four people. She navigated solo in her 18 foot cataract. They put in at Lee’s Ferry, Lake Powell and would travel 282 miles to the take out at Pierce Landing, Lake Mead.
     The river meanders and surges through a desert landscape and ecosystem that will take your breath away. Remember to breathe. The phenomenon of heightened awareness is well known within the river-boating community. River tripping does strangely wonderful things to your mind. The river delivers a profound gift; it reaches into the heart of you, and all of your senses become more fully alive. This is what Andrea loves about her time on the river, how you travel back into another time, or more precisely, how you step out of time and into the present moment. The experience takes hold of you; it knocks you your knees in gratitude. Many in the rafting community refer to it simply as – “Church”.
     River tripping is about more than navigating a waterway. Each trip brings a different experience, often with a different group of people. The bonds that form along the river are strong. The group shares in the experience of heightened awareness, and soon begins to experience each another with this same sense of charmed awareness, creating an intimacy within the group that is not often found in everyday life. It starts to happen as life slows down and the river captures you, enthralled. Some in the boating community use the term river-listening. River listening – listening without judgment, criticism or advice, and attending so closely that you can repeat back in your own words what is said. Attentive, caring listening may be the greatest, most healing gift a human being can give another.
     This particular trip was unique because of its smaller size. Most of The Canyon rafting caravans are larger, to provide a higher level of safety. Many of the mighty Colorado’s rapids are very challenging and require scouting – where the rafters go to shore and plot the best line through the rapid before continuing. Experienced boaters call it “big water”. Andrea was fortunate in that her three companions were experienced Canyoneers, each with over 10 previous trips down The Canyon.
     Andrea particularly enjoyed boating (and hiking) alongside Joe, the geologist. It was like having a personal tour guide. He provided information on the history, the fauna and the flora, as well as the geology of the Canyon. As you gaze upward at the canyon walls, at the layers of Old Earth marked as if by crayons, each strata represents millions of years in the history of the earth. Who could dream up such a thing as The Great Unconformity, a layer of strata where no rock is preserved and no one can explain why, dated back to the time of the earliest life on earth?
     And, because the river flows through a deep-walled desert landscape, an uncommon variety of wildlife abounds on and near the water. You, the blessed witness, float silently by. Snakes! And behold the plant-life, showing-off, with the thirstier flowers on the verdant shore and the spring-time blooming cacti thriving out beyond the reach of the River. Suddenly, the strangest creature appears before your bewildered eyes – a blooming Ocotillo cactus – the flaming-fingertipped/sun-worshiping octopus of the desert.
     And, a rich human history dating back to the ice age is interwoven among the vertical walls and projecting plateaus of the Canyon and the series of interconnecting side canyons. With the eerie echoes reverberating off the Canyon walls it’s as if the Ancient’s conjured ghosts walk alongside you, as you make your way amongst the ruins, absorbing the significance of the petroglyphs and the pictographs.
     The bizarre, abstract elemental rock sculptures, and the waterfall that disappears into the gravel, wild orchids flourishing, in the desert. So many sights to behold! So many trails to explore! For the first 14 days of the “raft” trip, the group hiked more miles than they floated. All in all, two hundred and eighty-two miles of river, and the surrounding countryside. A fierce and challenging watercourse, and an otherworldly beauty. Impossibly improbable, mysterious, miraculous, magical. Snakes!
     Andrea was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. She grew up outside – out-of-doors, sort of like a slightly more civilized Tarzan. The family lived in a cabin in Sunshine Canyon during the summer, only going to town when it was time to visit the dentist. There was no electricity. They had a water tank that filled from a nearby spring. She and her two older brothers had the run of the land.
     During her teenage years, Andrea spent six weeks every summer at the Anderson Camp on the Sweetwater Ranch, horseback riding, backpacking and of course rafting, which was her favorite. It is located on the Colorado River, where the River bends away from the interstate, 7 miles North of Dotsero. (All of Andrea’s children would attend the Anderson Camp in the coming years.) Andrea’s afterschool activities were ski racing and showing quarter horses. Andrea also grew up in the ritualized, sacramental Episcopal Church.
     After high school Andrea went to Europe for a year. She stayed in Vienna, Austria for a while, and then worked and ruminated at the L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. L’Abri is an evangelical Christian organization founded by Francis Schaeffer. He emphasized the humanness of the spiritual experience. It was very practical and down to earth, grounded and real. He believed that true spirituality is lived with a grace that is free to be fully human, as opposed to trying to live on a higher spiritual plane. Andrea let go of the evangelical dogma, yet many of the principles she learned at L’Abri remain an important part of her faith.
     After returning stateside, Andrea enrolled at Covenant College, which is located in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. As it turned out, the school was simply a passage to her destiny. The nearby Hills began calling. She began to seek out the inscrutable rockface at Lookout Mountain Park, just across the border in Tennessee. Once Andrea got a toehold, the rock’s challenge could not be denied. More and more she began to pack up her ropes and pulleys, and embark to face the challenge of the rock.
     She moved to Iowa City to be near her brother – and took up sailing. Learned to use the wind to propel her boat. Then, at the age of 19, she met Hal, and a few years later (1982) they moved to Grand Junction. Always, always the outdoors calling. Andrea would continue her excursions into the sacred elements, where life was simplified, where she could live in the present moment like a prayer. She would become a rockclimbing guide, while continuing her other various outdoor activities.
     At 24, Andrea became a mother. She had three kids in four years – Jessica, Nick, and Stacy. Her principal focus in life became loving her children. Still, a homebody she is not. As the children grew she soon realized that getting outside was actually a good child-rearing strategy. At home the children often seemed to be in one another’s way – fighting and arguing. Camping in the great outdoors, the children were a team. They were more helpful, entertaining and kind. Andrea and three little ducklings, seeking a natural high.
     At 30, Andrea became a single mother. She took the children out among the rocks, along the trails and into the forest. They went camping, hiking, biking, boating, and they skied a lot. At 36, Andrea met James, and he joined in their excursions. As the children got older, they started to get into sports. Ski racing of course, most winter weekends were spent at Powderhorn; but, they also chose some of the more traditional sports. This kept Andrea and James hopping, yet she knew that the key to everyone’s sanity was keeping the children busy. And she loved this time with her children.
     At 36, Fiona was born. Fiona’s post-formative years were experienced more like a single child. Andrea and Fiona continued to pursue the various outdoor activities that the older siblings had participated in, but Fiona never got into sports. Andrea and Fiona spent a lot of time on the river. When Fiona was 12 years old, the two of them spent an entire summer on the river, leapfrogging from one river to another. They were only home for three days that summer.
     It was about this time that Andrea discovered the UUCGV. She’d been attending the Koinonia Church when she found out about the children’s coming-of-age program at the UUCGV. She introduced Fiona to that group and began attending Sunday services. Mother and daughter both connected with the UU culture, and gradually became more and more involved. Andrea appreciates how our Congregation challenges her thinking, how it sparks her curiosity. In recent years she has begun to volunteer more and more, and has jumped into leadership positions. Fiona is still very close to the group of kids that she met in Religious Education.
     It was also about this time that Andrea enrolled at Colorado Mesa University to finish her degree – Business Administration, with an emphasis in Human Resources.
     Andrea has been single for several years now and seems to have found her groove. She has six grandkids. She has a (big) boatload of friends. She has the Great Outdoors. Lately, she’s been getting into technical Canyoneering, which combines hiking off trail through slot canyons, and rock climbing. When a rock wall blocks your progress, no problem, you simply scale it and proceed. And she’s been boating to beat the band. She was thrilled to be invited by Dennis Myers to join the group on his yearly trip down the Salmon River. This expedition is unique because most of the river-trippers are gifted musicians. Bluegrass music echoes through the canyon – every night at camp, a concert.
     Dennis has an unfathomable wealth of experience immersing the oars. He is The Old Man of the River, having alighted, delighted, upon a multitude of rivers; rounding the rivers so many times that they now recognize his turtle-essence and call out to him by name. His blood is in the river; the river is in his blood. Andrea met Dennis and Mary McCutchan on the San Juan River in 2010. They were attending a women’s rafting/writing retreat put on by Sandy Dorr, writing down the river.
     A year ago, Andrea went through a traumatic, life altering experience. On her second trip down the Grand Canyon, a member of her group died on the river. He had 30 years of experience, yet inexplicably forgot to put on his personal flotation device after scouting a challenging rapid. It is not that uncommon for a raft to capsize, but a death on the river is very rare. Death is a part of life, but to witness it firsthand, to pull the body from the river and attempt resuscitation is almost unthinkable. Needless to say, this really shook Andrea up. She could not continue the trip and flew home with the help of the Park Service. She is grateful for the incredible support provided by the Park Service, and by her friends and family.
     This trauma shook her to the core. It shook up her belief system, her thinking about the river. She felt the need to get back on the water, so in the following months she took as many river trips as possible. She is coming to terms with the experience. She is beginning to think that perhaps the river simply is. The river flows within the contour of the land, the water’s friction and torrent shaping and reshaping the contour of the land. The river swirls and whirls, turns and tumbles, crashes and roils and surges and floods. It gurgles and burbles and babbles and ripples, trickles and clatters and plunks, splashes, pours and gushes, drips and laps, gurgles and seeps. It flows into a pool, the surface smooth as glass, reflecting yourself back as you are.
     This very moment Andrea is loading her boat and gear. By the time you read this article Andrea will be on The River again. She was lucky to receive an invitation to join the notorious Hilty gang for their raft trip through the Grand Canyon. Permits are hard to come by. Andrea’s hope is to experience ten trips down the Grand Canyon, sitting atop her 16 foot boat, conducting, One with the oars and the sound of the river. Singing...
My life flows on        in endless song      
despite life’s lamentations…
 
*Dennis Myers, Mary McCutchan, Sandy Dorr and the Hilty’s are all UUCGV members.

Hello friends,
Our annual congregational meeting is coming up on Sunday June 3rd after church, and I hope you will join us! This is a chance for our board and TLC leaders to share what we've been working on behind the scenes. The board is working on implementing an "action plan" of how to move forward with recommendations from the impressive long-range planning team report that was done this year. One section of that report covers better definition of our staff roles and responsibilities, and finding ways we can use our volunteers as effectively as possible. We'll also be voting on the slate of new leaders for next year proposed by the Leadership Development Team. It's our annual business meeting, but hopefully a good time of sharing and community building too. And I bet there will be a potluck, so hope to see you there!
~​Janet Cummings

NOTE: This was submitted to UU World in November, 2016 along with photos, but wasn’t published in the magazine. It’s hard to imagine that it’s been almost four years since we moved into our new home!

     The Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of the Grand Valley (Grand Junction, Colorado) finally has its own home. Now sun filters through shade trees and our big potted plants, flooding the warm-toned sanctuary and backlighting our wonderful choir. Natural wood paneling provides a pleasing backdrop for the chancel. Our called minister, Rev. Wendy Jones, delivers another thought provoking sermon over an excellent sound system.  Children play downstairs or attend RE. The basement provides a large dining area and commercial kitchen. Members and guests mingle after service over coffee, enjoying conversation with kindred spirits.

     After meeting in homes and rented space since 1955, enduring cycles of economic boom and bust, community contraction pains, and way too much turbulence between ministers and congregation, we have a home and we love it! How did this come to be?

     Grand Junction is located in western Colorado. With a population of 60,000 (county is double that), it is the largest town between Denver and Salt Lake City. Agriculture and a gyrating  energy industry dominate the economy.  Although Grand Junction enjoys a university, community college, arts and music, and a regional medical hub, it is as conservative as the west gets. And we are the largest UU congregation in this region between Denver and Salt Lake.

     With a bit of irony, the congregation was founded by geologists and engineers in the 1950s uranium boom that supplied Cold War atomic bombs. As transition led from an unstable uranium economy to unstable oil, gas, and coal industries, the community suffered booms and busts and population growth and loss. The fledgling UU fellowship had its own years of boom and bust. There were several false steps with contract ministers and congregation out of synch and no ministers lasting over three years. The congregation almost winked out in the 1980s when a new young couple breathed life into it with help by several tenacious older members.

     For years, longer than Moses wandered in the desert, we moved around meeting in homes, a picnic site, rented office space and several churches. Membership at best seemed stuck at around 70, enough to survive but not thrive. Rented buildings never suited our needs. One site was gloomy. At the last site, services had to be in late afternoon. The building seemed attractive but the late afternoon lighting made a somber ambiance. Timing was awful for RE families and attendance dribbled down. Our small group seemed lost in a sanctuary that could seat 250. Hosting special groups, whether just music or anyone hinting of controversy, was a problem for the landlord. Such is the life of a renter. Things were getting dire.

     At the same time with the recession on, a drop in real estate values seemed to provide buying opportunities. Two offers were made but with no success. We considered designing our own building but land and construction costs were too much.
     A generous anonymous offer by a congregant reinvigorated the search and we took a serious look at a 1970s credit union building. The location was good, across from the town's central library in the leafy historic district. But it was hard to visualize re-working it into a church home. The interior was a warren of small rooms (think loan paperwork), and what about the drive-up window? Drive-through prayers? Fortunately one of our congregants was a contractor who visualized what our repurposed bank would look like. And you know, in seven months after making an offer we had our opening service on a beautiful early June day.

     Well, that's understating things a bit. Money poured into contractor work to comply with current fire safety and other codes, without even buying things we see and use. We needed an elevator to comply with ADA code. Luckily members contributed specialized skill for lighting and audio system design. Not to mention a few stalwart grunts with time and a bit of energy to whack out old walls, pound nails, bust concrete, climb up scaffolding, rip out old carpet, set tile, debate colors, bring refreshments, and finally, paint. Volunteers contributed over 3000 hours of dirty, exhausting work. Green design features were used as much as possible, besides repurposing an older building.

     But we finally arrived, and it is ours, really ours after loads of sweat equity. And what a difference it makes! Now we have a sacred home of warmth and tranquility. Guests wander in and like what they see. Sales people know the value of the first impression, and they have it right. We host whoever we want, drawing the general public into our home. Music groups grace evenings and afternoons. But the old vault with foot-thick concrete walls still remains. Makes a good crying room or meditation place, though not at the same time! An Hispanic legal aid group actually uses the vault for office space.

     One year after our first service in the new sacred space, we voted to call our contract minister, Reverend Wendy Jones. Rev. Wendy is still part time but that works with her full-time children and husband. This called for celebration, with a dual ceremony for Rev. Wendy's formal calling and dedication of our new building in August 2015.
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     After wandering over 60 years, we now have a place of our own. We're happy, and we're growing. We have a home that is beautiful and serene, and we have a minister we’ve called. Looking back, it is just amazing how fast things went from dismal, near-crisis low attendance services in rented space to cheerful growth and vigor in less than one year. Sometimes, things just seem to fall into place.