Sunday's adventure began with a reader's e-mail question — "Ever heard of the Anthroposophical Society?" The trail led to a handsome cedar-wood haven, ringed by trees. Though it has the aura of a snug, backwoods log cabin, it's at 2180 S. Madison St., the center of the stately University Hills neighborhood.

Like any adventure, surprise nipped at every step. Who would guess one couple's faith led them into something called biodynamic farming? Or that the pastor, the Rev. Jim Hindes, officiated at the funeral of the 20th century's most famous "baby doctor" — Dr. Benjamin Spock?

Or that, while the church is commonly called The Christian Community, it incorporates beliefs in reincarnation and communication with spirit worlds?

"We are New Age," Hindes admits cheerfully. "But we're also very conventional. People say, 'Oh wow, I can pray here.'"

The sanctuary — cozily womblike and vaguely reminiscent of a geodesic dome — is like walking into a Rubik's cube. Candles glitter on the altar and 18 worshippers are in deep meditation. Hindes glides in, wearing vestments. The 45-minute liturgy is centered on a communion of bread and wine.

"Let us worthily fulfill the act of the consecration of man, in mindfulness of Christ's being," Hindes, 61, intones.

The author of all this is Rudolf Steiner, born in 1861, a German philosopher who postulated that Christianity had to be renewed by an "evolution of consciousness." (Anthroposophy, from the Greek, means the study of human wisdom.)

Unlike Steiner, Hindes doesn't claim to be an occultist or a clairvoyant. His interest was intellectual: "I wanted to know things," he says. "I found (Steiner) had the answers to questions, while other people couldn't even understand the questions."

Hindes was studying physics and mathematics at Berkeley in the 1960s when he found Steiner. Years later, in Los Angeles, he pastored Spock's sister, who asked him to officiate at her brother's funeral. He says the eulogists included the flamboyant activist William Sloane Coffin and the motivational guru Deepak Chopra.

Denver's 70 members include a horticulturalist for a golf course, a social worker and a small-business owner. "I'm not aware of a pattern," Hindes says, "except they are all very bright."

Steiner applied his ideas to an array of disciplines such as education (The Waldorf Schools) medicine, architecture and farming.

In Loveland, Lawrence and Ursula Holmes practice biodynamic farming, an approach that used holistic and organic ideas before most of us had ever heard the words.

"Steiner connected the spirit to everything," Lawrence Holmes explains. "The farm is part of our (spirituality)."

Is there more to learn?

Well, Steiner wrote 300 books. Hindes, a translator of some of them, marvels at the scope: "There are oceans of interesting things."

Jean Torkelson can be reached at 303-954-5055 or torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com