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Aspen Chapel
Origin of the Purpose and Architecture of the Aspen Chapel

By Gregg Anderson

February 24, 2019

Bishop E. M. (Earvey Megli) Yost was the first founder of the Aspen Chapel of the Prince of Peace.  He was a Mennonite Minister, but he had a vision for establishing an independent chapel which would be universally open to all people of many faiths.  He was born in Nebraska in 1902 and he died in Colorado in 1983.

In 1920, at the age of 19, Earvey Yost experienced a call to ministry within a conservative sect of the Mennonite Church in Kansas called the Holdeman Church.   According to Mennonite historical records, however, it is stated “Soon after 1928 Yost found himself in tension with some of the doctrines and traditions of the Holdeman Church.  He wanted greater freedom to enhance his preaching with study and preparation in contrast to the Holdeman’s spontaneous Spirit-led sermon approach. He also questioned the theological position that the Church of God in Christ Mennonite (Holdeman) was the only true church.  Because of his concerns, he was asked to stop preaching within that particular sect or denomination of the Mennonite Church.”  Yost then transferred to the more accepting and general Mennonite Church in which he later became a Bishop in Colorado.

Toward the end of his ministry, Yost attended both a world Mennonite conference in France and a World Council of Churches conference in Switzerland.  It has been imagined by his family that such meetings further influenced him to establish an ecumenical chapel beyond any one church or faith.  As a Bishop in Colorado, Yost chose Aspen knowing that it attracts people
from all over the country and world.  He wanted the Chapel to be universal and common in structure. 
Bishop Yost’s vision was further influenced by his visitation to renovated mills in France that had been transformed to “Mills of Peace” and Wayfarer’s Chapels.  They were simply old wheat mills in a plain rectangular stone building with a pitched shake roof and a subsequent addition of a steeple. A French artist Jean Jacques Duval designed the stained glass windows which surround the Chapel and depict the Beatitudes.  As a pacifistic Mennonite the purpose of peace was foremost.  

Although the Aspen Chapel does not have a directly related statement  from Bishop Yost, it is highly speculated that his early and personal conflict with anyone church being the “only true church” coupled with the influence of two world conferences later in his ministry significantly contributed and gave birth to his universal vision of a chapel of global peace.
 

 

Aspen Chapel | A Spiritual Home for Everyone, 2/11/2019
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Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Planning your Visit

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We are Nicholas and Heather Vesey
We lead the services here at the Aspen Chapel most Sundays.
Have a look around our site. There are plenty of fee courses to watch from our 'Wisdom from the Top of the World' page. Click here to go to it

If you are planning on a visit, here is some information as to what to expect:

When: We meet every Sunday at 9.30am for about an hour. If you cannot make it in person, you can live stream the event by clicking here.

Where: We are the chapel by the roundabout as you come into aspen. Specifically here.

What: We (Heather and Nicholas) come from a Christian Episcopal background, however our community draws from all the world’s wisdom traditions with the aim of learning together to live our lives more skillfully.

Every week we will focus on a topic within a theme.

GuernicaAt the moment we are looking at what the topic of 'Being at Peace'
How do we experience being at peace, and what is the connection to the nature of our 'being'.
When our 'being' is at peace, are we at peace?


We will have a musician who will set the mood for the event. That might be guitar, piano, or any other instrument. They will generally play 4 pieces throughout the service.

There will also be prayer and meditation, generally led by Heather, and Nicholas will give a talk on the topic for the day.

Finally, there is an opportunity for discussion and feedback as we pass the microphone around for everyone to join in.

Kids? We also offer childcare with younger children being looked after and given creative ways to look at a topic for the day.

Coffee and Yummies. After the service there is a food and drink reception for everyone to get to know each other a bit more.