Where? When? Who? Why? What?
/by Rev. Kay Ash
Look at all the empty boxes in the picture; where are all the children? No matter how you might guess, please know that children’s ministries in the North Texas Conference are alive and well! Somehow, by the grace of God, lots of children from churches all over our Conference have gotten together this week for a Bridgeport virtual camp experience!
As you may remember, several months ago the difficult decision was made by our beloved Bridgeport Camp and Conference Center to cancel all in-person camping for the summer of 2020. As you might imagine, this was no small decision; each summer Bridgeport Camp serves approximately 1,200 campers, facilitates leadership opportunities to high school and college students, and provides breath-taking views for large group gatherings who drive in from far and wide. However, when I began reading news reports of other campsites that briefly opened, then closed again due to the virus, I knew that the right decision had been made. Folks got busy and re-tooled everything for a virtual environment.
Last month, we had a great children’s camp where we explored ‘where, when, who, why and what’ questions about God through the Hebrew scriptures. Somehow, this week we have twice as many campers than the first week (wow!) and we are exploring the same questions through the lens of New Testament stories. For example, on Monday we discussed the speech Paul made in Athens where Paul says “In God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28a). On Tuesday we discussed Matthew 25 where Jesus tells the bags of gold parable: the hungry are fed and the thirsty are given water. On Wednesday we wrestled with the ‘Laborers in the Vineyard’ parable (Matthew 20:1-16) and tried to understand that God loves everybody with the same extravagant love. This led us into Thursday where we learned of God’s love from 1 John because “God is love” (4:8). And finally, on Friday we looked at multiple scriptures throughout the New Testament that describe God as creative, caring, seeing, pursuing, listening, transforming and ultimately, loving.
I am not confident that I have the right words to describe to you how camp is going but I will try. The children are so excited, and our conversations are sometimes so deep. The youth and adult counsellors share stories about how the children surprise them with moments of divinely inspired conversation. My wonderful co-director, Karen Ewing (Custer Road UMC) and I are so grateful for the leadership of Joseph Bradley at the North Texas Conference Office and for all the adults, youth and children that come together each morning. How is it possible that even on a flat computer screen the magic that is Bridgeport Camp is still present when we cannot even get all the boxes of children on one screen? Maybe this will help explain how camp is going: remember the picture at the top of this article, the picture with lots of empty zoom boxes? The reason that almost all of the boxes are empty is because the kids at that moment were running around their houses on a scavenger hunt. We found dogs, cats, right shoes, pictures of our families, single squares of toilet paper (clean), fruit, something green and so much more! Try to imagine just a few minutes after this picture was taken when all the boxes are filled with children who want to share a story – that’s how camp is going!
In the wonderful sermons that Pastor Eric has gifted us over the last few weeks we have looked at Matthew 13 and the three parables in a row that focus on seeds and planting. Those verses have never made more sense to me than they do this week. Surely, many of you who have taught a classroom of children might relate to planting seeds. We know that when we teach children it may be many, many years before we see the fruit of that planting. What we cannot forget, however, is that planting seeds of faith with children really matters. Tidbits of what our campers take away from this week will stay with them, and maybe, just maybe, when we will get to be together in person next year the kids will share stories that begin: “Remember when we did Bridgeport Camp on line last year and remember when we did that scavenger hunt?”
Please know that children’s ministries in the North Texas Conference are alive and well. And just so you can join in the fun, here are the questions we are exploring this week. I wonder how you would answer.
Where is God?
When has God shown up?
Who is God?
Why does God love us?
What is God to you?