Thursday Morning
Yesterday was a good day. This week I am camp chaplain - whatever that means. This was Wendy's idea to have one and I am the first one and so, I am literally figuring it out. It turns out that it means that I am going to camp three times this week to meet with the counselors. So far I was there Monday and yesterday. It is a 40 minutes drive each way and I am doing a lot of audible reading. More about that later.
It is a very small camp - 37 campers and 45 people altogether this week. It is much easier than the 75 she fed for grandparents camp and there is a greater sense of relaxation for Wendy and Ted. I came into the room Monday and was surprised to be greeted by a majority of the the very young counselors. Polly, who is the director, had served on the Camp Christian Committee with me in the 90's so I have known her a long time. At that time she was a very young woman who was a youth leader. Since then she married and has sons and has continued to serve.
I brought a wonderful prayer that has was prayed at Oscar Romero's funeral and some of the lines were these
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. (counselors and directors, not saviours)
We are prophets of a future not our own.
And we talked about the whole business of planting seeds and God's work with what seems like the little that we offer. And then I did a prayer of blessing for them as they begin their time together. It felt like a good beginning.
Yesterday I just came with two questions: what surprises? what struggles? And I heard about the surprise of how much brokenness there is for some campers and the struggles with certain campers and the way girls can be nice one minute and pretty the next. (this is junior high) But most of all I heard a lot of conversation and laughter. They are doing good work and having fun. I remember it so well as counselor and assistant director. I did speak about the grief that I heard from their stories of brokenness and reminded everyone that we cannot fix that - but we can listen. And I also talked about how much I don't like the word "nice" as much as kindness and compassion. Apparently some of their curriculum spoke to "fruits of the spirit" which are - in my experience - real and as we turn to God able to grow within us. Patience and kindness can do wonders.
All in all, this has been a good experience for me. I go back again tomorrow and I have a reading I will bring and also the question about - what have you learned?
Yesterday afternoon I was home alone and continued listening to a book - The Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. She is a actress and comedienne and has had a horrific childhood in which nobody cared for her - - often including the foster homes. She has a gift for comedy and real grit. It is a raw book but I felt like I spent the day with her and it was eye opening. That is the gift of reading.
I leave in a half hour to go to Akron and be with clergy colleagues. We began our group 5 years before I retired and I continue to meet with them. It is good to stay connected.
. I have a lot of things I could do around this house - especially down here in the basement sorting through Audrey stuff and Chuck stuff and redoing everything. But it will be there for me tomorrow. And nobody is here to notice. (blessing and curse.)
Still getting used to this solitary living.
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