Life of Faith Archives - Bethany Birches Camp

Posts Tagged ‘Life of Faith’

Living Water

Thanks to Erin “Tye Dye” Dye for this guest post. Tye Die is the camp shepherd this summer:

Thursday evenings this summer have been an opportunity for holy moments. Counselors have gotten to know their campers really well by the 5th night, campers submerse in good vibes from the week and excitement to go home, and for our worship times, this evening is a chance to have an “a ha” moment with the theme and how it relates to their own lives. During our Thursdays the last four weeks, we have looked the story of the woman at the well and her unexpected conversation with Jesus. When Jesus offers her living water, he shows us that he cares for everyone, even the unlikely people (a woman frowned upon by society as well as a Samaritan). As refreshing as the idea of living water sounds, this is an abstract concept of cleansing aspects of ourselves that we can’t pinpoint or see. In efforts to visualize the invisible, campers and staff participated in a demonstration to see the implications of receiving Jesus’s living water. Participants had an opportunity to pour something into a communal cup of water to make it cloudy (ketchup, mustard, pepper, etc.), and share something that personally clouds or weighs down their own spirits. Then as a group we enjoyed the visual of pouring overwhelming amounts of clean water (representing Jesus’ living water), flooding the cup and pushing out all the junk that we put in and that weighs us down, leaving us refreshed and free of burden. Campers consistently reported enjoyment of this activity and deeper appreciation of God’s desire to help us carry and bring relief for our burdens. It’s been a beautiful catalyst moment for the spiritual component of camp.

Campers have shared experiencing God at many different points throughout the summer. One of those experiences I was fortunate enough to witness as God worked through our high school campers. After one of our small group times, the girls of this particular cabin had heavy hearts over the things they shared and put in the cup during the demonstration. In an effort to put their minds at rest before going to sleep, the cabin counselor opted to pray for each girl of the cabin out loud and proceeded to highlight the delightful characteristics and joys each girl brought to the cabin. At the end of the counselor’s prayer, I had planned to pray similar things for the counselor leading the prayer. However, I never got the chance because the moment she paused one of the campers jumped at the opportunity to pray and pour encouragement on their counselor, and when she finished another camper took a turn to pray for me! This moment was not only pleasant to be prayed for, but more so to witness campers receiving God’s love through our program all week and a strong desire to return the experience. This also meant our campers felt comfortable enough to pray out loud in front of their peers, unprompted, and live out the example Jesus calls us to in encouraging and building one another up in our faith. Although the work of camp is long and challenging at times, it is certainly not without reward!

~ Tye Dye

Fall Newsletter: Camp Agape Partners with BBC

Greetings! My name is Beth Ann Maier and I am Chairperson of the Board of Camp Agape Vermont. The single guiding mission of Camp Agape Vermont is for God’s totally accepting, unconditional love, to be experienced by children who have a parent in prison. These children have a 75% risk of being in prison someday themselves, and what better way is there to reduce that risk than for them to know that they are loved and valued by God? This summer, Camp Agape supported 55 campers in Bethany Birches Camp programs. I want to tell you a story that shares the wonder and hope that is fostered by the partnership of Bethany Birches and Camp Agape.

As the camp was gathering for the final Fireside of the Summit-Mid week, twelve year old Tom (all fictitious names) was all charged up, and shot a karate chop into the night that connected with thirteen year old Peter’s face. Now Peter had been dealing pretty well all week with the impulsive and irritating Tom. Usually he could laugh or turn away, but Peter was in pain, worn out, angry, and sad that camp would be ending the next day. He had reached his limit. He could screech out an obscenity, he could plant his fist in Tom’s face, or he could run. He chose to run – into the dark night. Christian, a sixteen year old BBC intern ran after him, and, because we are very serious about never having one camper alone with one staff person, I ran after them. I found them some distance away, sitting in the bushes, quietly talking. I stayed back, and heard Christian ask: “Do you mind if I pray for you?” Peter responded angrily: “I don’t need your sympathy. I don’t want your pity!” “That’s not what it’s about,” said Christian. “It’s about strength and courage, and I need it as much as you do.” And that is what they prayed for before they quietly got up and returned to Fireside.

May we continue to find strength and courage in our partnership as we accompany each other in God’s grace and love.

~ Beth Ann

Did you know that:

* 57.8% of VT inmates experienced the incarceration of a parent or loved one when they were a child.

* Over the course of a year, parental incarceration affects 6000 VT children.

Summer 2016 was the second summer in our partnership together and we hope the beginning of a long partnership together. Agape at BBC feels to us like an excellent fit. We believe deeply in the Camp Agape mission and want this shared program to succeed so many youngsters may consider alternatives to behavior that may continue the cycle of crime in their family system.

~ Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

Mt. Washington & The Life of Faith: Tuna Tuesday

So yesterday I hiked up the back side of Mt. Washington with some friends. We wanted to get some late season skiing in!

I have a cool GPS map but there’s an error with the file. If you could see the map you’d notice that we were all over the place! After hiking up, we walked to different areas of the mountain to see how the skiing was over there (and then over there… and over there). We did this because we didn’t know the mountain very well and wanted to find out where the sweet spots were.

This is not so different than the life of faith. For example, Jesus tells us in the Bible that he is “the way, the truth and the life…” For many years, it was hard for me to understand what that meant. I hadn’t experienced him enough to know that what he said is true or understand how it worked. I hadn’t found out where the good skiing was, yet, so to speak. In fact, yesterday I had to trust that there was good skiing up there somewhere. And I trusted that there was because many people have said so, and, I had been there a few times before.

When we got down, one friend mentioned that he feels like he knows the mountain much better now. (He’d better – we spent 10 hours walking around on top of it!) When following Jesus, in faith, it feels very much like this. A little like wondering around for a while on top of a mountain. And, we get to know him better after spending time with him or trying out something he said. Then we come to a knowledge of him. Knowledge of him (or of the mountain) is beyond faith in him (or trust that the mountain will have some sweet spots).

Just one of the many reasons I’m excited for Summer Camp 2013. Another chance to explore the life of faith and come to know Jesus. Please share if you too are excited for camp (or have been up Mt. Washington in the spring!).

What about you – what’s the life of faith like for you?

Tuna