The Season: Be Wilder

The word “bewildered” means completely confused or lost.

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Its root, the rare verb be-wilder, means to lead astray or cause someone to lose their way in a wild, trackless place. It’s used today when your brain feels lost, like being stuck in a maze of hard choices or complex information. Even looking at driving directions on your phone can be bewildering, which is ironic because that is the precise moment you are trying to find your way.

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The connection between the words “bewilder” and “wilder” comes from the noun wild. But as an old verb, “wild” means to wander or lose your path in the woods. Adding the prefix be- turns it into an intensifier. Bewilder literally means to be thoroughly lost in the wilderness.

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Jesus knew the wilderness as a physical place of extreme physical deprivation, solitude, and testing, enduring forty days of fasting among wild animals while being tempted by Satan. Theologically, he understood it as a place to depend completely on God rather than as a place of self-sufficiency. He did a better job of it than the Israelites did in their 40 years wandering in the desert.

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There is another irony here as well: being lost in the wilderness, being bewildered, can be a place of connection with God, which is most certainly the ultimate way-finding goal.

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For many of us, that connection to God in the wilderness is a part of our spiritual life, even if we do not endure significant deprivation and testing. Solitude, quiet, and the witness of water, of trees, wildlife and high plateau views reminds us we are part and parcel of God’s creation.

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This service is meant to call us into nature, to be wilder, and perhaps to become bewildered in order to find what is sacred all around us.

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News

Homesteader Days

Powell became home to one of the earliest Bureau of Reclamation Projects in the United States, known as the Shoshone Reclamation Project of 1904. It was a large federally funded irrigation and homesteading project in the Rocky Mountain West.

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When early homesteaders and pioneers were establishing towns like Powell, the Episcopal Church was right there alongside them. St. John’s and Powell were both officially established in 1909. Our original building was on the west side of Bent St., which is now part of the Catholic Church’s parking lot.

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This weekend, to celebrate the heritage of homesteading and the tasks of our farming roots, the Homesteader Museum has put together a day of family-friendly events. St. John’s will offer, as is our custom, free face painting for kids. Hearty thanks to Jane Woods for managing this outreach ministry, including recruiting face painters from the community.

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Friday, September 11: Farm to Table Dinner Fundraiser at the Park County Fairgrounds from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

September 12 Main festival grounds open at 324 E. 1st Street.

10:00 AM – 3:00 PM: Steam tractors, antique machinery displays, artisan vendors, food trucks, and music by the Rewinders.

10:00 AM – 2:30 PM: Silent auction inside the museum.

12:30 PM – 1:15 PM: Free root beer floats served.

1:30 PM: Ruby Hopkin Commemorative Pie Auction.

 

Come From Away

This Broadway show honors the 25th anniversary of 9/11, telling the true story of the stranded international flights diverted to Gander, Newfoundland. The Cody Community Theatre, including John Walsh and Miranda Marks is staging the musical at the Wynona Thompson Auditorium in Cody, Wyoming. Only three shows left: 11–13, 2026. Ticket Prices: $30 (available at The Thistle or from John), $35 at the door, and $15 for kids 12 and under.

 

From Here to There

Martin Garhart's exhibit hangs in the gallery at Plaza Diane until October 10, Tuesday-Thursday, 3:00-6:00 P.M.

 

Small Groups

How to Read the Bible begins this week:

• Sundays at 12:00 noon Sept 13, 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18 Full

• Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21 Full

• Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21 Full

 

Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred by Victoria Loorz begins this week:

Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. Sept 17, 24, Oct 1, 8, 15, 22   Full

 

Stay Connected

Here’s a link to the Sunday schedule for servers: https://www.powellepiscopal.com/resources

Questions or suggestions for next week? Contact weekly words at stjohnspowellwy@gmail.com.

Follow us on Facebook: stjohnspowell

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Almanac

September 19 is the birthday of author Sir William Golding. Born in 1911 in Cornwall, England, he served in World War II in the Royal Navy, and became deeply troubled by what he saw in the there.

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For example, he faced a gut-wrenching quandary when he learned that a ship under his command would have to cross a minefield in order to arrive in time for the D-Day operations. He couldn’t decide whether to risk the lives of his own crew in the minefield, or the lives of all those participating in D-Day who needed their help. In the end he decided to risk the journey — and only later learned that the minefield was fictional, put on a map to fool the Germans, so his moral dilemma had no basis in reality.

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He found this experience, and many others like it, profoundly disorienting. Informed by his wartime experiences, and also by his later work as a schoolteacher, he wrote a novel that became a classic of English literature, exploring the shadow side of fallen human nature. Translating the Hebrew name, “Beelzebub,” into its literal English equivalent, he titled his novel, Lord of the Flies.

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Instead of romanticizing isolation on a tropical island like traditional adventure stories, it turns the "innocent British schoolboy" trope upside down to show how fast anyone can descend into brutality. At an allegorical level, a central theme is how the desire for civilization conflicts with the desire for power.

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Lord of the Flies also portrays the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. The book forces readers to question how they would behave without rules, making it a timeless tool for discussing ethics, psychology, and sociology in classrooms worldwide.

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Golding’s work is heavily saturated with biblical imagery and themes of human depravity and sin. Of note is the figure of Simon. The gentle character understands the truth about the boys' nature, confronts temptation, and dies a violent death at the hands of the others, echoing aspects of Christ's passion and crucifixion.

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Three film adaptations were based on the book in 1963, 1975, and 1990. A fourth adaptation, to feature an all-female cast, was announced by Warner Bros. in August 2017. Subsequently abandoned, it inspired the 2021 television series Yellowjackets.

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A British, four-episode television adaptation came out this year and is available on Netflix.

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The book has been read by millions and has influenced pop culture, with ties to reality TV shows like Survivor, the show Lost, and episodes of The Simpsons, South Park and SpongeBob Squarepants.