Lutheran church’s hiking program connects members with outdoors

Everyone stood in a circle in the Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church parking lot, just off bustling Mill Plain Boulevard in Vancouver. They wore their Saturday finest: hiking boots, flannel and baseball caps. The morning was cool and overcast — ideal conditions for a moving Bible study in the Columbia River Gorge.

The Rev. Chris Manisto read from the book of Job: “But ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky and they will tell you, or speak to the Earth and it will teach you or let the fish inform you. Which, of all these things, does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

The passage was meant to give the group something to contemplate while hiking Angel’s Rest Trail in Bridal Veil, Ore. The hike was the church’s second in a series called Faith on Foot. When Manisto thought about setting up a summer Bible study group, sitting inside during those precious few months of Pacific Northwest sunshine didn’t seem right. Church already involves a lot of sitting and listening.

Instead, she revived the Faith on Foot concept she previously used at a church in Minnesota. The premise: Be active and mindful while enjoying God’s creation with fellow church members.

“Let us pray,” Manisto said. “Holy God, as we embark on yet another adventure, let us notice. Let us remember who created it all. Let us pay attention. Give us space to feel the breeze on our faces, see the blue sky, see the birds and the trees and be mindful if only for a moment.”

Walking mindfully

Longtime church member Don Houck led the three-car caravan to the Angel’s Rest trailhead. The outdoorsman toted extra hiking poles and earmarked books about hikes near Portland. May’s hike was Dog Mountain off state Highway 14, a difficult first hike in less-than-perfect weather.

He imagines they’ll alternate between longer and shorter hikes. Manisto also leads walks in Vancouver, along the flat and paved Waterfront Renaissance Trail among others, for church members who can’t go hiking. While being in nature is important, so is being mindful.

Maybe, moments spent mindfully walking outside offer time to be calm and talk to God, or maybe not, she said.

“Sometimes, it’s just a place where you can find peace,” Manisto said.

Being in the middle of nowhere, with few distractions, can encourage introspection, and studies have hailed the health benefits of being outdoors. Manisto treasures her memories of canoeing and camping in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, where “it’s just you and nature and that’s about it.”

Lutherans use what’s called the wholeness or wellness wheel, a guide to healthy living developed by the InterLutheran Coordinating Committee on Ministerial Health and Wellness. The concept came about so that busy, stressed-out church workers could get healthier and better serve their congregations, Manisto said. Multiple spokes make up the wheel, which is all wrapped around spiritual well-being.

The Faith on Foot hikes tap into most of those spokes: Social, emotional, physical and spiritual. With Houck helping to identify wildflowers and woodland creatures, it could also build intellectual well-being.

‘People of the earth’

Manisto has stacks of Living Lutheran magazines in her office at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church. The April cover features a hiker standing beneath the popular Skógafoss, a 200-foot waterfall in southern Iceland.

As members of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church trekked through the wilderness, conversations weaved in and out of varying topics. Health, work, travel, kids going to college.

When people reached the northern edge of the Angel’s Rest summit, with its plunging view into the forest and Gorge below, the talkative group got quiet. The silence was underscored by the rumblings coming from Interstate 84 and the railway below. Seconds later, the chatter resumed as people pulled out snacks and snapped photos.

Be mindful if only for a moment.