So Much Sweetness
/by Rev. Kay Ash
Despite the hot weather, we finished our last children’s camp of the summer entitled “Be A Force For Good: People Camp.” Our goal for this camp was to visit with and love the people of this church. Each day went like this: in the morning we played outside (which is the only time of day cool enough to do so); next, we gathered in the kitchen and made sweets from scratch; while our creations cooled, we told Bible stories, put on costumes and acted them out; after lunch, we went visiting; at the end of the day, we returned to church for parent pick-up.
On Monday we planned to make snickerdoodle cookies but ran into a challenge. The gas line inspector was in the building that day, so, all the gas was turned off in the kitchen. Special thanks to Ken Kelley and Mary Ann Climer for coming to our rescue and baking our cookies. After lunch, we drove to the Villages of Dallas to visit Eugenia Williams. We had such a wonderful time! At first we met in the chapel and shared our story of “The Good Shepherd” which is based on Psalm 23, then, we sang some songs. Finally, we shared our snickerdoodles with everybody and talked. Interestingly, we discovered that Eugenia attended Rosemont Elementary when she was a young girl and most of our camp students currently attend Rosemont Elementary. The kids were a bit confused, however, that Eugenia’s teachers are no longer teaching!
On Tuesday, we wised up and made no bake chocolate and oatmeal cookies since the gas was still off. As the cookies cooled in the refrigerator, we learned and acted out the story of the Prodigal Son. The youth room was decorated in two halves: one side contained crepe paper straw to represent the farm and the other side had streamers for a party. As expected, our re-enactment dissolved into silliness as some of the pigs from the farm wandered into the party scene creating chaos! Our plan was to take our skit to the local Fire Department, but the Chief called and said it was not a good day for a visit, so we ate our own chocolate oatmeal cookies and had extra play time.
On Wednesday the gas came back on (yay!) so we made strawberry shortcake. While the shortcake cooled, we learned and acted out the story of the Good Samaritan. The robbers seemed to take their job very seriously and the Priest and Levite were extremely pious. After lunch we drove over by Methodist Hospital to visit with Dwight Lind. We had such a delightful time doing our skit, eating strawberry shortcake with too much whipped cream and learning about Dwight’s ancestors through the pictures on his wall. Nobody wanted to leave because we were having such a good time.
On Thursday the kids requested that we make brownies and at the last minute, decided our brownies needed rainbow sprinkles. Wow, those brownies had LOTS of sprinkles! The story was a summary of the other stories we told throughout the week with a focus on loving and serving others. As the now crunchy and heavily sprinkled brownies cooled, we decorated the youth room for a party. Battery operated candles set a festive mood and streamers brought color to the walls. After lunch, many of our church seniors arrived for the party. What we did not know at the beginning was that they had not been together in person for several years because of the pandemic. What a great way to celebrate and come back together! To begin, a few of the campers read Psalm 23; we acted out “The Good Shepherd,” and finished with a few songs. Afterwards, the kids did a great job serving the brownies and ice cream and when everybody had their fill, we played games together. What a magical afternoon!
People Camp was so very sweet. The kids, the seniors, the hugs and the ever present Holy Spirit, all of it filled with sweetness. What a perfect end to a perfect first summer of camps.
