Almost Heaven...

Campbell Mansion

Disclaimer: I had every intent to write this blog post all about the hills of West Virginia and a small town steeped in Disciples history. So much so that I took a plethora of pictures (some of which I am still sharing with you here) of Bethany, West Virginia in hopes to show you a small sampling of all this town has to offer. However, something else was brought to my attention that I feel is much more insightful, a much better display of the wonderful week I had with the people of the West Virginia CYF Conference.

Campbell Historic Marker

A minister and fellow counselor showed me a Facebook post from one of our conferees about an hour before our conference was over. The conferee expressed how much he enjoyed camp and the post closed with a simple and profound reasoning as to why camp is so great - "there is no hate here." It seems obvious that at a church camp there would be an absence of hate, but I had never seen someone list it as the reason they love church camp. Some people will tell you they love the songs and others love the food, the swimming, the counselors, the friendship bracelets, or the community built. But never before I heard an affinity for the absence of hate. The constant struggle of editing yourself and your beliefs while constantly maintaining a poker face in order to avoid the daily hatred that is everywhere is dismissed for one week of every year. There is no hate here.

Campbell Mansion

My fellow counselors and I discussed the simplicity and profundity of the post. We discussed how it is so much easier to be nice to those around you, particularly when they are nice in return. We discussed how this community without hate was cultivated. We discussed how to take this absence of hatred with us as we left camp and went back to the other 51 weeks of the year. We discussed the kindom (not a typo) of God. There is no hate there.

Alexander Campbell's Study

While I enjoy word play, puns, and John Denver as much as the next guy and it is rather convenient that this happened in West Virginia, 'Almost Heaven' is not Country Roads. 'Almost Heaven' is the absence of pressure. 'Almost Heaven' is a place of welcome. 'Almost Heaven' is a radical peace. 'Almost Heaven' is an extremely successful CYF conference, for there is no hate there.

All Things New

So this week was one for the books! We started out on Sunday, expecting to welcome campers to CYF 1 but were surprised with two separate fires close to the camp that closed the roads and made it unsafe for travel. So the directors, staff, and counselors came together to make sure every camper had a place to sleep, since many were already close to camp anyways, and delayed starting camp until Monday afternoon.We sadly lost a day, but quickly made up for it by literally hitting the ground running! This week was a whirlwind of new things and experiences for me. We did counselor bonding by climbing a tree, no really! This was awesome!

We were harnessed to ropes and repelled up and down a tree named Mr. Majestic. We also did a whole group hike on Wednesday, eating a picnic lunch at the top and venturing to see a waterfall. There was a log roll in the pool, which was super hard! It’s a log in the water that you can stand on and run on to move it (kinda like a cartoon) and it was really tough! We went on an optional sunrise hike Friday morning to Sam’s Peak, and it was pretty strenuous! I was really scared of falling off the side of the mountain at some parts, but we all made it up and down in one piece, and the view at the top was so beautiful! Finally, we did a wall climb. This wall was 12 feet tall and we had to get all of the campers, some of the staff, and counselors over it! Good gracious it was hard!

This week was so physically taxing and I have so many new bumps and bruises, but I also have so many amazing memories!So why do all these crazy things you may ask? Well, the theme of the week was “All Things New”, so how perfect was it that almost everything about the activities and the schedule was new?! This was a learning experience for everyone and the two directors of the camp, Sloan and Matt did a great job at incorporating the theme and making sure everyone was taken care of. The keynoter, Rev. BJ Barlow also had some fantastic keynotes and brought up many new ideas that I know I am still mulling over! 

I led a workshop on what DPF is and then we discussed what Human Rights are. This was a great activity and the campers were really engaged and interested in the topics that were brought up. Many questions were answered, but some were left unanswered for the campers to continue to think about. We discussed why human rights are violated and what they, as young adults, can do in their school and communities to promote the things they find important or to address the injustices they see. Overall, the activity was received very well and I loved talking about these issues with the campers.

Loch Leven is a beautiful camp, filled with such a strong community, and I am so glad I was able to be a part of this family for a week! I made some new friends, learned a lot of new things about myself and where I feel pulled, and the new experiences I now have sure outnumber the mosquito bites, bruises and scrapes I have! Thanks Loch Leven for restoring my faith in my journey and for opening new doors to all the possibilities that lay before me.

God is LOVE.

Camp Christian is located under an hour outside of Columbus and is run and maintained by wonderful staff. My flight landed in OH a little after midnight on the 4th of July and three wonderful Ministry Associates volunteered to pick me up and help get me settled. The Camp director was also a wonderful resource throughout the week and always checked in to make sure I had everything I needed.There are probably 10 or more church camps held throughout the summer and I am amazed at how smoothly every thing ran! Our camp, CYF Week 2 (two-two-cachooo) had a little over 50 campers, relatively small for their standards, but my biggest camp yet this summer. The Director and Assistant Directors did a great job at making sure everything went well and were so welcoming to me! 

I was continually impressed with the level of involvement and interest the campers showed about our curriculum and in my Peace and Justice workshops. There were two classes, The Will of God and a Study of the Book of Job. I helped to lead a class on the Will of God and I was a little nervous about that because I am not a biblical scholar. I don’t know God’s will, so how was I supposed to teach it?! But, it went so well! I was able to learn right alongside the campers and it was very interesting to hear and learn about other perspectives in regards to why things happen and if God has a hand in those events.

I also had the pleasure to lead a workshop to the same group of campers each day about different peace and justice issues. We made a labyrinth and talked about finding inner peace, we discussed topics about finding peace in our immediate world and finally, more broad topics of peace and justice. We also made Peace Cranes (paper cranes) that I get to take to General Assembly for Disciples Women, who will be collecting these birds with prayer requests and concerns on them. 

Finally, I led a whole group workshop on Hunger and Poverty and had the help of the wonderful Chrissy Stonebraker-Martinez and Blaine Kuss to explain advocacy and solidarity. Their help and former peace intern experience was invaluable and I am so glad that I was able to work with them and learn about their experiences!This was a very moving week for me and it was amazing to be surrounded by so many interesting, involved, and motivated Disciples. All of the counselors and staff were terrific leaders and I had a very memorable week at Camp Christian!

Peace by Piece

Puzzle Pieces

There is no rainy day activity quite like sitting in a circle around a table staring at puzzle pieces. Apparently those among us with normal color vision do something with the pieces, I however am often relegated to staring and witty banter. The weather at The Disciples Center at Tawakoni this past week allowed for quite a bit of community building to take place around a rather elaborate puzzle complete with a sunset over the ocean and a particularly vibrant array of sea creatures.

Devotion Station Instructions

This puzzle became the height of tension this week as those most committed to it raced the clock and a few ne'er-do-wells intent on making off with a few crucial pieces. (It must be noted that if a puzzle is the height of tension at a camp, it had to have been a fantastic week.) As the week progressed the handful of puzzle fanatics became increasingly focused on the task at hand, to the point where there had to be specific rules about when it was acceptable to work on the puzzle. The puzzle imagery even spilled over into the devotion station organized by the small group I had the pleasure of working with this  week.

The Finished Product

This extreme focus on a task that is seemingly insignificant and short lived made me wonder if this mentality could be transferred to issues of peace and social justice and what that might look like. I have no concrete answer but I'd like to think that this style of group oriented effort could reap benefits greater than any individual could hope to achieve. In the age of social media activism where liking something on Facebook is thought to be sufficient engagement by most, a group working in community, face-to-face, towards a single specific goal has become its own form of radical action. I like to think that a faith based on this principle would allow for each community - from a single block to an entire planet - to incite positive change. Each group could find where they mesh with those around them and reveal a greater picture.

All Shall Know the Wonder of Purple Summer

This past week I had the pleasure of attending the very, very cold Dunkirk Camp and Conference Center. For the southern girl I am, every time I said it was cold they all laughed at me and said, “You should be back in December.” The campers also spent about 15 minutes asking me to say different words so that they could hear my accent, which is not very strong, compared to others. Despite the cold weather I must say there is something truly special about this camp. The campers feel completely safe to share with each other and with counselors things that they may not be ready to share in the real world.

While at camp I was able to participate in an emotional activity presented by another counselor. Posted around the room were signs labeled; “sexual orientation”, “race”, “physical appearance”, “family”, “friendships/relationships”, “religion”, “economic status”, and “personal experiences”. The counselor asked us several questions such as, “ What attribute has given you the most joy?” or  “What attribute is the least known by other people?” To answer these questions we had to walk in silence to the sign that we felt best answered the question and then take a moment to look around the room at how others answered.

During the debriefing of this activity I realized how special Dunkirk is to these campers. One camper (who gave me permission to share this experience in my blog), after the exercise, told us this was the right time to come out to the group. The camper said “I cannot leave Dunkirk in a good consciousness without sharing this  with my family.” This was not the first or last time the word family was used while at camp, the worship service that night was about sharing our insecurities with the whole camp. Many campers were brave and shared insecurities that broke my heart to listen to how they see themselves or how they believe others see them. After sharing we were then asked to write the insecurity on our foot and someone would come wash away the writing.

The title of this blog is from Song of Purple Summer which is the closing song of the broadway musical Spring Awakening. I heard the song in the airport while traveling to my next camp and I originally thought of it because of the beautiful purple sunset I saw while at Dunkirk, but when I looked up the meaning behind the lyrics in the show I thought it was a perfect fit for the Dunkirk experience. The lyricist writes, “Purple summer represents the time of maturation, a time when the fields will yield crops, and the horses bear foals again. It is the time when the painful spring of adolescence reaches the maturity of summer.” I think that Dunkirk really helps its campers get through the tough years of adolescence and creates a safe place for them to call home, where family is always waiting for them year after year. I hope that I can one day go back again to help create this safe place for other campers. Now I am headed to Oklahoma for camp and I am ready for warmer weather! Till next time y’all!

A Breath of Fresh Air

After a great week in Arkansas, reaffirmed that I was on the correct path, I headed across the country to The Community of the Great Commission camp, outside of the little town of Foresthill, California. This little northern camp was quite literally, a breath of fresh air! I was instantly engulfed in the mountain life! The dry air, the gentle breeze, the smell of pines and campfire, and mosquitos… So. Many. Mosquitos.

The students that came to this camp were equally fresh; their forward thinks ideals, ability to adapt to uncomfortable situations, and the challenging questions they had to answer proved that they were open, accepting, and willing to try new things. Many activities that the Keynoter, Rev. Michael Hamm, presented to us was uncomfortable at first but challenged us in so many ways to be more open. One such activity consisted of everyone standing in two circles facing each other, and staring into the person’s across from us’ eyes. For 45 seconds! At first time seemed to drag on and it was weird to stare at people, but once we got used to the activity, we learned to see God in the people we were looking at.

We were challenged to label ourselves, then to strip those labels off so that we could start fresh and be open to learning more about ourselves. This activity required us to think deeply about ourselves. At the end of the week, we labeled ourselves again to see how we had changed. It was incredible to see how people saw themselves differently at the end of the week and it was equally exciting to see the people who were new to camp grow and open up to the group in just one short week. I did a presentation on the Disciples Peace Fellowship and what my purpose was at their camp, and I was welcomed in with open arms. The campers asked great questions and many told me that being a DPF Intern is something they would be interested in when they get older! This was highly encouraging and I received a lot of praise for what I was doing from the directors, staff, and the campers. I am humbled by these affirmations and once again feel confident that this is what I am supposed to be doing.

My workshops were received well and the campers that attended were involved, interested, and excited to learn about the issues that plague the world. During my second workshop, we discussed issues that the campers wanted too. This was much less formal and it gave us the opportunity to discuss our thoughts on many problems.

The Community of the Great Commission is a home to many, from all walks of life, and I was so blessed to be a part of such a great family. I met amazing people and couldn’t have asked for a more refreshing camp to visit. Thank you so very much to the wonderful directors Jesse and Rachelle for welcoming me with open arms and to the staff for being so supportive and kind to me. I never felt like an outsider and am excited to see where these campers go in life, and hopefully share the DPF bond with some in the future!

A Letter to Me

Fruits of the Spirit

I just passed the halfway point of my intern Summer with the wonderful community at Tall Oaks Conference Center in Linwood, Kansas. over the past few weeks, and hopefully moving forward, I have become increasingly comfortable with my role and adapting to how different camps operate. This comfort has allowed me to step beyond being worried about the ins and outs of daily life at camp and allows me to work on what I've been called to do. In doing so I've reached a spiritual high. If I were to relate where I am right now in the summer to the ordinary week at camp it is almost Thursday. Thursday is when communities come together, everyone feels safe sharing, and the tears start flowing. To put it simply - I love Thursdays!

Sidewalk Chalk Art

Sidewalk Chalk Inspiration

What I want from this moment is to be able to bottle it, to be able to take a small sip of this fabulous spiritual Felix Felicis and pull it out whenever I need it. Sadly, this is not an option. What I have done instead is an activity that I have seen at a number of camps this Summer, I wrote myself a letter. This letter will be sent to me in about 6 months, when I am as far away from church camps as I can be. I will get one little envelope of peace, kindness, and joy to brighten what will most likely be a gloomy Winter day in western New York.I'm writing to encourage you to do the same. Find a spiritual or emotional high and write about. write what you feel called to do, how you've never been as happy before, where you want to be when you get this letter, and a word of encouragement. Create a way to get future you out of a slump!

Sidewalk Chalk Art

My favorite Tall Oaks twist to this activity was the notes that were also included from others. Everyone in your small group wrote you a few sentences to help you recall your own spiritual high and how you've helped them. The kicker is, I haven't seen those yet and won't see them until they arrive keeping my personal letter company. They've created an ongoing sense of excitement for what I'll get to see when I need it the most.

Sidewalk Chalk Art

Sidewalk Chalk Art

Small But Mighty

Barbee Community

After spending two weeks at camps with over 90 campers each, I got the chance to slow down a little at Barbee Christian Camp (pronounced Bar-Bee) in Northern Indiana. CYF at Camp Barbee had 12 campers. Due to the uniquely small size of the community, community building became the central focus of nearly each and every element of camp. While there are downsides to having such a small camp, it fostered an element of creativity unlike I have ever seen. This creativity was particularly refreshing with regard to  worship and spiritual disciplines.

Finger painting from "Praying in Color" vespers.

Everyday we took an hour to explore a new spiritual discipline. Different counselors each had the opportunity to teach and practice varying styles of prayer, reflection, and meditation. During the course of the week we covered labyrinths, lexio divina, journaling, prayer beads, praying in color, and meditation in silence. After learning about and practicing each of these disciplines the campers would plan that evening's vespers service around the spiritual practice of the day. This allowed for unique worship experiences that would likely not be possible outside of a small camp setting. One of my personal favorites for the week involved using the concepts of praying in color and finger paint during vespers to create a series of images and prayers of and about the holy spirit.  

Home Sweet Home

Last week I had the opportunity to go back to my home region, Alabama Northwest Florida. I also got the opportunity to serve as the Peace Intern to my mom who was the director of our CYF camp this year. It was strange being back at camp after three summers away, and even stranger to see the little kids I had babysat at some point in my life all grown up as CYF campers.

This week was my smallest camp so far. We had 30 campers, which meant that we only had three small groups.  The tradition in ALNWFL is to have the small groups rotate and lead a part of worship each night - this year vespers was divided into music, message and meal. However with only three small groups and four nights of worship we needed to do something different for Thursday night worship. My mom decided that the counselors would come up with the ideas for our last worship and I asked if we could do prayer stations. Side note: it is also tradition in ALNWFL to take a vow of silence on Thursday night after worship but I thought it would be great to do all the prayer stations in silence too (and because I know you are wondering, YES, the campers take it very seriously!).

Prayer station 1 was something I like to call prayer bubbles, which Will O’Brian,a fellow peace intern, introduced to us at training. During this prayer you start with a something or someone who you would like to pray for and then from there you just make more bubbles. I think of it like a prayer that shows the flow of your thoughts.

I led prayer station 2. When campers came close to the lake, I read Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” and I asked the campers to reflect on something that was holding them back from living out this verse outside of camp. Each camper was given a rock and invited to write that thing on it. From there they went down to the dock to say a prayer and throw the rock  into the lake representing God's desire to take away whatever it was holding them back.

At prayer station 3 the campers helped make a banner for a special Disciples church in our region. At Grateful Life Community Church in Huntsville, AL most of the members are homeless and each week Grateful Life provides a hot meal before worship and a sack lunch afterward. Since our CYF theme this week was Building Faith Around Tables we decided to make them a banner that will be placed on their serving table during both meals and worship. At the prayer station campers traced and cut out handprints to be placed on the banner and also wrote prayer notes to the Grateful Life members.

Our communion for the service was led by a group of campers who, with the help of one counselor, choreographed a liturgical movement to Table of Love by Andra Moran. After the table was set our counselors led us with a silent invitation for communion. It was a moving worship service and I hope that our campers got as much out of it as I did.I had a wonderful, great, fantastic and fun-filled week being back in my home region and it was nice to see all my old counselors and camp friends. Now I am off to Dunkirk, New York!

Till next time y’all!

Finding My Place...

 How can I compare camps? All of them are amazing in their own ways and by only being there for a week, I get a very limited, yet unique view of these DOC church camps. But to ask me, which camp I like best? Well that is a nearly impossible question to answer.

This past week, I have had the opportunity to visit Camp Couchdale in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I needed this camp. I had a rough weekend of travel getting to Little Rock, AR, and doubted myself and was worried I wasn’t making the impact I had hoped. If anyone knows me, you know that I want to save the world. I want to be the advocate for the rights of humans everywhere and I want to find where I fit in in this world. I know that’s a very utopian idea, but it’s my passion. I like sharing my passion with High School students and I love the DPF Internship because I can do what I love to do and discuss the issues I want others to know about. This is an amazing opportunity and each camp brings me new experiences and closer to where I think God wants me to be.

But this week, I really felt that I was right on track. This was the most restorative and rejuvenating week of my summer. I felt closer to God than I think I have in the past 4-5 years and I saw Him in every person I met. These people; in a state I rarely think about, with weird bugs that I learned to despise, who sing and dance and praise God uninhibited, were the kindest and most inspirational group of Disciples. They all had their own stories of how they got to where they are today and even though many are still searching for their place, they inspired me to do, and be better.The theme of the week was “What Do You Think?” and everything focused on developing our own opinions and thoughts about our beliefs and faith. This theme coupled with my topic of the week went together flawlessly as I challenged the campers to think critically about Hunger and Poverty.

I led a workshop on Hunger and Poverty to the whole group and many of the facts I shared surprised a few of the campers. As we discussed all of the obstacles people face around the world and in our own country, these smart young adults came up with solutions that could easily be implemented in their homes. I was so proud of the group for taking these issues seriously and for their interest in making a change, even a small one in their own communities.

By understanding the challenges that plague the world, we are able to make real changes. Everything starts small but by speaking with so many youth about these social justice issues, I am confident that this generation will be the drivers of change and acceptance in our communities.

Thank you Arkansas for helping me to find a place where I could be me, and for challenging me to look at my faith and figure out what I think. 

What Is Your Calling?

stole

This week I was still in Texas but this time I was in Athens, TX at Disciples Crossing at Niner’s. Niner’s is exactly what it sounds like, a camp for youth who have just finished ninth grade. During this camp we spent time learning about different ways to pray such as labyrinth, journaling, and many others. We also spent time hearing the counselors’ call stories each day. As I reflected on my own call story I realized I do not know my calling. I shared that information with the Director and he asked me to share my story on Friday, which was the day that the campers become more aware of discernment and their call stories.

So on Friday night I shared my call story: I was born in September 1992 and when I was three years old my mom decided to go to seminary to become a minister, which means I grew up in the church, was consistently there and my mom was my youth minister. But my story really begins when I was in seventh grade; when a cool and very popular eighth grader at my school was sexually harassing my best friend. I waited and tried to convince her to tell someone but when I realized that she may never be ready I went ahead a told on the young man. After it came out, most people hated me or said what he was doing wasn’t a big deal and I ended up losing most of my friends because of this issue. Fast forward to the end of my eighth grade year my parents decided not to send me to the same high school as the young man which meant I needed new plans that did not include visual art or choir which is what I had been focusing on for the last three years. I decided to apply to New Century Technology High School (NCTHS) and was accepted. At NCTHS we were required to pick a strand (kind of like a major) and I chose the medical strand with the plan to become a nurse. Most of my extra curriculars were medical classes such as Medical C++, Forensics, Human BioChem, and shadowing at the local hospital. I made good grades in all my medical classes but Junior year realized I was not called to be a nurse. I started looking at Education Programs at different Disciples of Christ colleges. I ended up falling in love with Texas Christian University where I have been attending for the last four years and plan on graduating in May 2016. While at TCU I have been heavily involved in Alpha Phi Omega, a national co-ed service fraternity and during the summers I have been working at Camp Lakey Gap, a camp for people with Austim, at Christmount in North Carolina. With all of these activities in mind I honestly have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, I feel like I am being pulled in so many different directions. I might want to teach Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd grade, I have thought about becoming a school or family counselor, I have also considered working specifically with individuals on the Autism spectrum, I have also thought about children, youth and young adult ministry, and then even thought maybe I will open a nonprofit. But really, I have no idea where God is calling me to go. A significant part of my story is this journey as a peace intern, which is an opportunity to discern about my calling.

After sharing my story at camp I received lots of positive feedback from counselors and campers. On Saturday I had to leave camp early, but before I left they gave me a stole and blessed me as I continued on my journey. During the blessing the director prayed “God, be with Celia as she continues on her journey of discernment that she will hear your calling.” As I leave Disciples Oaks and head out for CYF Conference in Alabama I feel blessed by the prayers of so many ninth graders lifting me up.

Till next time y’all!

Beneath the Elms...

Candles following Serenade Across the Lake

I spent the past week at the beautiful, all be it soggy, Camp Christian in Marysville, Ohio. My fellow counselors, the camp staff, and the campers welcomed me with open arms. The highlight of my week was having the opportunity to lead a daily workshop – Peace & Justice. For an hour each day I met with six campers to discuss how faith and social justice can be tied together in their daily lives. Our workshop took advantage of working with the same group everyday by building on concepts from the day before and tailoring discussion to individuals’ interests.

Liquid Sunshine at Camp Christian

The focus of our first two workshops was getting to know everyone in the group and learning what peace and social justice issues everyone was most passionate about. On Monday we made a labyrinth for our workshop and for other classes to use as they reflected on the topics for the week – The Book of Job and The Will of God. Tuesday we did one of my personal favorite activities, which I like to call Coloring & Questions. Everyone writes down questions and conversation starters about issues they are curious about and then we proceed to draw them out of a bowl and discuss while we color. It was an excellent forum to learn where everyone stands on different topics and helps guide conversation for the rest of the week.

Peace & Justice Workshop Creating a Labyrinth

Each of our workshops for the remainder of the week focused on a specific topic that was brought up during Coloring & Questions. Topics included racism and reconciliation, environmental justice, and faith and sexuality. Each of these topics spurred good discussion, however the most impactful part of each discussion for me was the group’s desire to take action towards progress and justice on each of these issues. We ended each workshop brainstorming how these topics could be addressed in their home congregations, youth groups, and even their schools. The motivation to use their faith to help better their world was truly inspiring.

Labyrinth Being used by a Book of Job Class