Pastor Sue's Camp Diary
Day 1 Gathering
Everyone checked into their cabins, named for the seven churches in Revelation. The lodge is the New Jerusalem, and then there’s Sardis, Pergamum, Thiatyra, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Philadelphia. The bathhouse is Laodocia, the city that is neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm! We sing, we eat (nothing is as good as camp food…God Bless the Cooks!), we begin our Bible study…Behold! I am making all things new! Revelation sure has a lot of exclamation points in it!!! We prepare for a week of being new creations…new friends, new experiences, new songs, new stories of faith…!!!!!!!
Day 2
A day of figuring things out, and so kind of a bumpy day for everyone. The first wave of homesick campers, some confusion about who was supposed to be where when, a general sense of being overwhelmed and grumpy. Trying to adjust to new rhythms, new routines…in our midst, Behold! The Bride of Christ…promises of love, support, and trust… vows, covenants…the difficulties of the day fade into understanding and harmony...!!!!!!
Day 3
Behold! The Lamb of God…bringing weapons of peace and forgiveness and love to the battle. And the battle includes dragons! How cool to read stories in the Bible that sound like videogame scenarios…angels against dragons! And through it all, so many words of life…crown of life, tree of life, book of life, spirit of life, river of life! We celebrate the life around us, feasting on pancakes with fresh picked blueberries and chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and salmonberries…!!!!!!!
Day 4
Mud baths and spiritual baths! Behold! The Day of Judgment and a picnic on the beach.
I guess after getting squirmy with coming face-to-face with being held accountable for our sin, and celebrating the gift of confessions and forgiveness, sharing a banquet of roasted hot dogs, beans and s’mores was pretty fitting! We launched rockets, played Calvinball, strolled the shore…and got really, really really muddy!!!!!
Day 5
Hike day! We tramped out the Cowee Creek trail to behold what we could behold…wildflowers, horses, bear scat on the trail...some hiked out past the cabin to the shore, and saw seals…we ate bag lunches and had worship in the open air…a day to ponder the New Jerusalem with its many gates, to talk about death and life and heaven and hope and God’s invitation to “Come!” We sang “Our hearts respond to your revelation…God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse…the glory of you, the glory of you…God, open our eyes.”
Day 6
Time to pack up and clean up and get everyone on the ferry and back home, already? Wait, there’s time for our last worship service, time to offer our Gifts of the Spirit. We give thanks for the ones who built the altar, created our banner, baked the communion bread. Musicians played songs on the guitar they’d been learning all week. The message, highlighting the saving work of the Lamb of God, was presented by the drama group, and another group helped us prepare for communion with Now the Feast and Celebration in sign language. It was a really special time.
And then….things began to move so fast! Games and crafts and cabin themes and campfires and songs and highs and lows and where did I see God today? and KP and Capture the Flag…and for the high school camp: low ropes and kayaking and jumping off a 30 foot pole and backpacking and metalsmithing and photography…and now all those memories and stories and connections were being rolled up in sleeping bags and stuffed into suitcases…and over and over, the call to each other…see you next year!! See you next year!!
With joy,
Pastor Sue !!!!!!!!
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