The 20th anniversary of my ordination into the Christian ministry is coming up in a couple of weeks. And for as long as I have been in the ministry I have been working with summer church camp. I have spent at least a week of my life in camp every summer for the past 20 years. It represents a huge commitment of time and energy and resources for the church as a whole, for individual congregations, and for countless individuals like me who invest themselves in the process. But I remain convinced that it is a commitment worth making. The experience I had this past week only served to confirm that conviction. The lives of 24 high school youth and 4 adults were profoundly impacted in significantly positive ways. This was true because Church camp is Church in a compressed and concentrated form.

The process of camp is in itself a miracle which is always amazing to watch and to be a part of. Strangers, acquaintances and friends come together on Sunday afternoon, each with their own agenda for being there. Some have been coming for so long they simply can’t imagine a summer without it. Others are there for the first time because someone in their church encouraged them. Still others are there for no other reason than that their parents thought it would be a good idea and forced them to come. But together we gather and together we begin the process of allowing the Spirit of God to move in us and through us, forming Community.

Some years this process is slow and barely happens at all by the end of the week. This year things began to move more quickly. Perhaps it was because we were relatively small in number. Perhaps it was because we were willing to give ourselves to the process. I don’t always understand how and why it happens. I only know that by Tuesday the bond which was binding us together was already strong enough to notice. We were becoming a group of people who genuinely cared for each other and were intent on supporting each other, no matter what.

At its best (and this year’s camp falls into this category) camp is genuine community -- a safe place for individuals to explore their lives and their faith and to be affirmed as worthwhile human beings who are loved by God and by other people. Part of the impact which the camp experience has on people comes from this reality. There are those who find their way to camp who do not have the opportunity to be loved in this kind of way in any other part of their lives. It is a rare and transforming experience. More than one camper was crying on the last day because they knew at some deep level what a gift it was to have been a part of this kind of “no matter what” community.

But camp is also a kind of laboratory or rehearsal hall -- a place to practice being community. In our small group discussions, in our all-camp activities, in all of the various things we do together, we are experimenting, discovering and developing the gifts and skills which will facilitate living in genuine and meaningful faith communities when we return home at the end of camp. We are practicing for the long haul of living.

This year I had a unique opportunity to experience two communities who care about me and value me as a person -- camp and this congregation. As many of you know, I had to leave camp for a while on Friday to return here to Moscow to participate in Mabel Walter’s memorial service. I got up early on Friday morning and left before anyone else was even awake. I was leaving a community whom I had grown very fond of and who had demonstrated their love and support for me and my gifts in very tangible ways. What I found when I arrived here at the church was another community of people whom I have grown very fond of and who demonstrate their love and support for me and my gifts in very tangible ways. A number of people made it a point to ask how camp was going and express how much they appreciated the fact that I was able to be here for Mabel’s service. Then, following the service and the reception I returned to camp, where I was warmly and enthusiastically greeted by a group of people who were genuinely glad I was back among them. It is good to be a part of the Church, in all of it’s various forms.

This year’s camp was also a reminder for me that the Church is a community with connections which stretch beyond any single congregation and beyond just our daily experience. I had the privilege and the joy of being with people from the three congregations I have most recently served. One of the other counselors was Jennifer Paget, who was in my youth group when I was at Bellevue Christian Church. What a wonderful gift it was to be able to reconnect with her in a different kind of relationship. One of the directors was Karen Shreve, who, along with her son JaKe, was in my congregation in Ephrata. And from this congregation, Jeremy Eaton and Jeremy Terry were at camp for the very first time. It gave us the opportunity to share more deeply in each others lives than we had before. It is good to be a part of the Church which stretches out beyond our horizons.

This past week at camp we were Church, in the very best sense of that word. We laughed, we cried, we played, we studied, we worshiped and we sang -- oh how we sang! One of the experiences I will most cherish about this year’s camp was the singing. I was the song leader for the camp, and I readily admit that it is not my strongest gift. But in the past few years I have grown more confident in my abilities and this has allowed me to at least approach it with enthusiasm. What I experienced in the process was a community that didn’t care about my flaws and limitations. They simply received what I had to offer and responded with enthusiasm of their own. The result was a week filled with music which was at times wildly rowdy and at times beautifully sweet. It moved my soul. In all of the ways in which we were together this past week, we opened ourselves to each other and to the presence of God among us. As a result our lives were forever changed.

Is it worth doing camp? Is it worth spending the money required and committing the human resources necessary? Is it worth giving up a week of your life and coming home exhausted and barely able to talk? Ask the 28 of us who were privileged to share a week together and whose lives were profoundly touched by God. The answer you receive will be quick and it will be strong. It is absolutely worth it. Thank you for the part you play in this vital ministry. It makes a difference.