Sunday morning worship
By Sara Hebenstreit
A wise woman, named Carol Lavery,
once told me if I wrote my thoughts and prayers down and read them, I
wouldn’t cry. I’ve proved her wrong so many times. But here goes…
As I lay sleepless for another night
at Camp Christian, I remembered why I’m not at camp as much any more – I
don’t know if “Dem Bones . . .” will be able to “Rise Again.” The Bible
tells us that God makes a habit of speaking or calling in the night –
perhaps it’s because that’s the only time we stop long enough to
listen. Last night as I listened to the “life breath” (and snoring) of
the girls in my room, I reflected on this weekend.
As the oldest member of the
award winning “Don’t Swim in the Lake” team (and I’m still
unsure of what the award is), I proclaimed myself spokesperson of the
team. Katie (Hawkins), Bryant (Gibson), Matt (Hawkins), Melissa (Hebenstreit)
and I proved ourselves to be The Experts! We knew well-known
facts as well as some obscure or little-known ones. And, we are
PROUD today to be known as experts – experts, knowing the
most about trivial things.
During this “Reunion” weekend we’ve
spent a great deal of time remembering. As Jan (Witherington) and I
searched the pictures yesterday trying to put some names with the faces,
we were thrilled every now and then that we actually found one we
remembered in that sea of unremembered faces. If you look through the
stack of pictures you’ll see that we were able to label maybe a dozen.
Friday evening Marilyn (Parks), Carol (Lavery) and I spent some time
remembering folks like Lloyd Balfore, Harry Berry, Del Von Almen, W.O.
Thompson, George Bishop and Charlie McAfee (not necessarily in that
particular order). These people realized the value of this place we
call Camp Christian as did folks like Dave Alexander, Carol Lavery,
Michael Weeks and many, many others. We’ve remembered many great and
wonderful times and we’ve remembered some dark and troubled times.
We’ve remembered the possible threats of closing or even selling this
place.
I hope each of you has found some
time this weekend to look through all the pictures and have found images
of yourself, or a family member, or some friends. And, I hope you have
remembered many precious moments, traditions, legends, stories, songs
and scriptures as you looked at that sea of smiling faces.
My “Ah Ha” moment last night was
when I realized that the sacred traditions of Camp
Christian aren’t really all that sacred after all. Oh, we hold them up
there as “sacred” and become angry whenever they are threatened. But,
the real tradition of camp is that traditions will come and go as often
as the faces in the pictures change. And, the faces in the pictures
change with each and every event that is held here – no two events have
or will ever have all the same faces. Just look at the pictures of all
those unknown or un-named faces. But, there’s the proof in those
pictures that whoever they were or are, THEY WERE HERE! And the truth,
not some trivial fact, is that we each know more about God and God’s
nature because of them – because of spending time together here, sharing
our stories, exploring our faith, giving and receiving love. Each one
of us is a single fiber that helps make up the thread that is woven in
the tapestry of this place we call Camp Christian. And, this tapestry,
that was begun long ago, is not yet complete. We continue and will
continue weaving the tapestry of this place: this beloved place.
That’s how our team knew the answers
– WE HAD BEEN HERE! Maybe our team’s members had been here more often
or maybe over more different time spans than the other teams. But, it’s
just that we have been here – touched by counselors and campers -- the
other Christians we’ve encountered here; working through the many
struggles and triumphs of this place; coming together again and again to
learn more about God and God’s unbounded and unconditional love for each
of us – for each of the named and un-named faces in that sea of smiling
faces.
We love this place. But, it’s not just this place. It’s
the many lives this place has brought and continues to bring together to
meet, learn about, and know God.
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