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Aspen Chapel welcomes new leader, Nicholas Vesey

Staff report
Aubree Dallas The Aspen Times
Aubree Dallas |

The Aspen Chapel has a new spiritual leader.

Nicholas Vesey, of Norwich, England, has replaced the Rev. Gregg Anderson, who spent more than 35 years at the helm of the nondenominational church facility, which is located near the Highway 82 roundabout.

Anderson has retired, according to a statement from the chapel. He will continue to serve the 45-year-old Aspen Chapel as chaplain emeritus. He was hired as director in the spring of 1978.



Vesey was selected from a field of three finalists earlier this year. Members of the church community participated in a candidate survey during the spring to aid in the selection of Anderson’s successor.

Vesey and his family arrived in the upper Roaring Fork Valley 10 days ago and were informally welcomed by the chapel community Nov. 10 with a ceremonial lighting of candles. He was officially welcomed Sunday during a morning worship service that featured English music from George Handel, Henry Purcell and Vaughan Williams. The chapel’s music director, Susan Nicholson, oversaw the program, which was performed by the Aspen Chapel Choir with Rob Merritt on trumpet.




During Sunday services, Vesey offered a message about how the concept of “Jerusalem” is one that “applies in every person, in every time and in every place,” according to the chapel. A reception hosted by the Aspen Chapel and Aspen Jewish Congregation followed.

Vesey began his professional life in broadcasting and advertising, working with, among others, Saatchi and Saatchi, a global communications and advertising network. Following “a significant experience” while trekking in the Himalayas, he changed direction and embarked on a spiritual path, the chapel’s statement said.

For 35 years, Vesey has been involved in exploring the implications of that experience, the past 17 as a priest in the Church of England. Vesey’s book “Developing Consciousness: A Roadmap of the Journey to Enlightenment” was published in July 2011.

Vesey has a wife, Heather, and two children, Samuel and Jessica.

The mission of the Aspen Chapel is to promote open and progressive theology, spiritual enrichment and peace through interfaith engagement, the chapel’s statement said. For more information, call 970-925-7184 or visit http://www.aspen chapel.org.