Prayer based on Camp Luz’s “Statement of Faith”

We believe that…

·         God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things and is revealed to us through His Son Jesus Christ.

     Creator and Sustainer, you breathed life into creation; each part intricately designed by you from nothing. You continue to breathe life as you sustain creation, flawed as it is by sin. However old the earth is, this particular plot of land known as Camp Luz was seen by you at creation; known by you as a place where thousands would come to know Jesus Christ! Fifty-six years is just a blip on the heavenly timeline.

            Thank you for sustaining this ministry and thank you for allowing us to partner with you.

                        Please, have mercy on us!

·         Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, the Savior and Lord of all.  He bore our sins on the cross, was resurrected from the dead and sent His Spirit so that we might have new life in Him.

     In the beginning grand design you set apart small sacred spaces where people would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord. This is one of those sacred spaces. If we only knew the global reach of this place; the people who heard and committed their lives to Jesus and then committed to carry the Good News out to the world! Only you can see the far-reaching fingers across continents and generations! This place is a sacred blip on the heavenly landscape!

            Thank you for allowing us to partner with you!

                        Please, have mercy on us!

·         The Holy Spirit of God empowers and directs Christ’s followers and His Church.

     Your Spirit hovered over the chaos before you created. You breathed life; Creating Breather, Divine Respirator. You knew that the only way we humans could live was for you to continue to breathe. This ministry is a divine expiration of your supernatural power. Only your Spirit empowers and directs your children whom you allow to work alongside you. You continue to breathe on, in, and through this ministry and through your children!

                        Please, have mercy on us!

·         Salvation is received by faith in Jesus Christ who reconciles us to God.

     Celebrate! This place is a place of celebration! For here people have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ! Dance, sing, shout, run, and worship for salvation is near, salvation is here! Come and drink, breathe, and receive eternal life! Go and invite others to the party!

                        Please, have mercy on us!

·         The Bible is the inspired word of God and is central to understanding God’s will.        

     You gave us words, you gave us the Word. We proclaim it, we stand on it! The Bible is the sacred text for this sacred space; it is what we point to, read, preach, pray, and give away. Come and hear the Word; the Way, the Truth and the Life!

                        Please, have mercy on us!

·         A person must voluntarily choose to be a follower of Jesus Christ by surrendering to and accepting His Lordship; by becoming a part of a community of believers for worship, prayer, teaching, fellowship, and mutual accountability; and by seeking to grow into His likeness, reaching out to others and living out the Kingdom of God.

     We believe this! We exist to offer the invitation to choose to follow Jesus! You knew that each generation would need to hear the invitation—here we are, existing to proclaim, existing to invite, existing by your power. We worship, pray, teach, fellowship, and strive to grow in Christ’s likeness. You continue to invite us to this work!

                        Please, have mercy on us!

·         As disciples of Jesus Christ, we seek to live the life of love that He taught us, working for peace and reconciliation with God, with one another, and with the world.

Creator, Sustainer, Breather, Savior, we are your children. As disciples, we seek to continue your work! What would Jesus do in this camp? Love, laugh, worship, teach, invite, and experience the power of the Spirit! And we get to join right in!

                        Please, have mercy on us!

Amen.

Everybody dance now!

I pulled into the gas station this morning to refill the tank (on the car, not me), and when I opened the car door I was greeted by the disco sound of “K.C. and the Sunshine Band” 1979 classic, “Shake, shake, shake…(ba-da-da-da-da)… shake, shake, shake, …(ba-da-da-da-da)… shake your boo-tay, shake your boo-tay!”

Now I was 14 when this song hit the number one spot on the airwaves. I was a bit sheltered at that time(being a Mennonite child who was not allowed to attend school dances or boy-girl par-tays--although, once I lied to my mom so I could go to my friends party, but that’s a story for another time) and really wasn’t sure what a “boo-tay” was, but it didn’t take too long for my friends, who weren’t as sheltered (meaning they weren’t Mennonite and could go to school dances and boy-girl par-tays) to inform me—“Shake your booty” means “shake your backside,” or “get up and dance” as the first line of the song says, “Everybody, get on the floor, let’s dance!”  

Having grown up without the benefit of learning to dance (I did love watching Soul Train as a kid but never learned the moves, my mother would have been horrified had I even tried, but there was a short period of time when I would wear my black shiny go-go boots and "tap dance" on the fireplace hearth), I had, and still don’t have, any idea how to shake my booty, not do I want to learn at the age of 45. I’d probably hurt myself or someone would think I was having a seizure and call 9-1-1.

Anyway, the gas station was blasting that song and, as I was washing the windshield, I glanced at all the other drivers who were similarly engaged, and had a brief and hilarious vision of everyone suddenly dropping window washing wands and letting go of pump handles, to participate in an extemporaneous, yet miraculously choreographed, dance number, all of us shaking our boo-tays (which may or may not be the same as a “groove thing”)! I saw it in my mind, similar to dance scenes from movies like Oklahoma, West Side Story, and The Home Improvement Show when Tim completes his hot-rod and everyone dances to Greased Lightening. People just going about their normal daily routines, when suddenly music starts playing, people drop what they’re doing, and everybody starts dancin’!

Can you imagine this?! It made me LOL!

“Is there a sermon in this, Deb?” you may be asking. Probably, but I can’t think of one right now. I’m too busy looking up songs from the 70’s and wishing I knew how to dance…

Praying for Camp Luz

“ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ ” Mt 6:9-10

          Recently, I bought a little book called, “The 21 Most Effective Prayers in the Bible.” While I personally balked a bit at the words “most effective,” I decided to use the book as a devotional for the next twenty-one days. The first three prayers are Eliezer Gn 21:12, Jacob Gn 32:26, and Moses Ex 33:15, which is what I read this morning. I am very careful about these types of books because they lean heavily towards “prosperity theology,” and that is not the direction I lean at all! The danger is that these prayers could become all about me; Give me success, Bless me, Go with me. Really, in context, these prayers are about GOD. All three of these men realized their inability and inadequacy to achieve, accomplish, or acquire anything that God was asking of, or from, them. It was in those moments of sudden realization that they cried out to God for help. In the process of discerning a vision for camp, I have had many such moments!

          This new thing that God is revealing is not about me or about us (camp leaders); it is firmly about what He wants to do in, through, and in spite of, us! I continually go back to Tillie Yoder Nauraine’s words from the late 1940’s:

         

          “I honestly believe that the greatest thing we can possibly visualize for the future of this work is a mere glimpse of what God will actually do for us if we place ourselves and our resources at His disposal.”

          This morning I prayed that God would protect me from trying to accomplish the vision by choosing solutions and methods that are within my grasp; I can be near-sighted when it comes to this vision stuff! I need God to correct my near-sightedness so I can see heavenly solutions and methods. And right then the prayer of Jesus popped into my head, “…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

          And I asked myself, “How does camp-on-earth reflect camp-in-heaven?” Am I/are we, lifting our eyes above and beyond the earthly paradigms for camp, to focus on God’s Kingdom ideal for this ministry? A profound question that certainly echoes Tillie’s quote!

          We have two sayings that we use for Camp Luz; “Another Place God Is” and “God’s Living Room.” We toss these phrases around casually, but if we really believe that God is present, alive, and active in and through these fifty acres, than we need to PRAY….

         

"'Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored! May your kingdom come! May what you want to happen be done in this camp as it is done in heaven!’”

Amen and Amen.



Little legs + short stride x (45 years + 9 months + 12 days) = S.L.O.W. (Serious Lack Of Wind).

     Along about mid-March of this year I decided to start running to train for the Camp Luz 5K which was in June. I was painfully slow at first (I caught a breeze from a passing tortoise). Five weeks of training and I ran my first cross country 5K in a little more than 12 minutes a mile. Not fast by any means. But I beat the guy pushing his daughter and tiny dog in a stroller.

     Over the summer I ran at 6 am; wearing my bright yellow safety vest, carrying a spray bottle of pepper spray, and with a couple of dog biscuits in my pocket for the neighbor’s dog. And there was that triathlon I did in July (ran 5 miles, biked 10, splash boated a ways) to raise money for my kids’ mission trip (see their blog on the right side). I don’t particularly like running and I’m not training for any races. But its exercise and it gets me outside. And my chiropractor is proud of me. I keep waiting for something called a runner’s high; the only time I’ve experienced it is when I set foot on my driveway and stop running.

     But I’ve never gotten any faster (the formula in the title is my excuse). I have some Facebook friends who are runners. They post their run length and time…and it all taunts me because I am so much slower than EVERYONE. (Except that tortoise; I have passed it by.) It’s downright depressing. Then I remind myself that I need to stop comparing myself to other people.

     There will always be someone taller, stronger, prettier, smarter, faster, wealthier, more clever, more artistic, with more/less stuff, happier, better at math, better at remembering song lyrics, etc., etc. That is a partial list of comparisons I have made in my life. I’m sure there have been more, but I can’t remember them…

     I am God’s work(wo)manship, and He don’t make no junk. So, my little legs and slow running time are of no consequence. “I yam what I yam.” Popeye (possibly quoting Paul of Tarsus…look it up, 1 Cor 15:10).

At least I’m moving.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Acts 20:24

A Prayer for Living Water

Heavenly Father,

Giver of Peace, Giver of Living Water that gushes forth from the soul

filled from the river that flows forth from

 the throne of God and of the Lamb. . . .

We worship You!

We confess that we do not always remember

that Your river does not divide two places,

but gives an invitation to all to;

“Come!  Drink from the water and be restored to God and to each other!” 

Forgive us and remind us that by the shores of Your river

we find healing, hope and peace.

We thank You!

Having dived and swum and drunk and splashed in Your river,

we emerge, drenched with Your Presence! 

We have responded to the call to

“Come” and we now respond to the call to

“Go!  Invite others” -

“Go!  Make others thirsty for the pure and holy Water of Life”!

We praise You!

We go out with joy and are led forth with peace;

singing and clapping our hands,

for we shall never thirst again

 through Jesus our Lord,

 AMEN.

What is something that everyone has, no one can take away, and would equalize everyone on the planet?”

Sometimes people remind me of things that I’ve said….things that I don’t remember saying. This happened recently when a summer staff person and I had the following conversation on my Facebook wall:

“Boss Mom, So, you know how you always like to talk about how we should have a berry system rather than money? I have been thinking about that, and I'm wondering: wouldn't that make people with berry bushes millionaires versus the people in the city who are berry-less? Or is it all incentive to grow gardens and other pleasant things like that?”

(Me) “Well, I seriously don't remember saying that but it does indeed sound like something I would say! And, you are correct that it would make people with berry bushes "millionaires" and those without would be "poor." Sad, isn't it? I can't think of anything that would work as money. For Pete's sake, even water has been privatized and monopolized! What is something that everyone has, no one can take away, and would equalize everyone on the planet?”

(Friend) “Let's see, something like carbon monoxide might work, or something disgusting like fingernail clippings. Again, disgusting, but it'd still work. And I believe you said the berry system in '07, the last summer that I worked. Which would be why it sticks out to me and not to you.”

(Another friend) “Blood. Use blood.”

(Me) “Yes, that is something everyone has but then it would bring back bloodletting. And some people have blood borne diseases. Sooooooo, no.”

(1st friend) “I also think blood would be a bad idea. Because then someone would decide that certain types of blood were more valuable than others—plus, what would hospitals do? No one would be willing to donate blood anymore! I don’t see that one going anywhere pleasant.”

I sort of remember making the berry-system comment while munching on a handful of just-picked-still-warm-raspberries, brought to me by the above 1st Friend. But since she reminded me of that moment, I’ve been pondering the “what can we use in place of money” concept. I don’t understand the world economy, but I do understand that it is on shaky ground (or built on sand).

However, there is an economic system that has proven effective, is quite radical, and is built on Rock;

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Mt 22:36-40.

Jesus taught, modeled, and commanded this radical local and global concept; the economy in the Kingdom of heaven is built on LOVE. Sorry friends, but 1 Corinthians 13 was not originally written for weddings! Paul was writing about how the citizens of God’s Kingdom are to LIVE. Economies that are based upon something that one can possess and hoard only furthers the gap between the haves and have nots. The Kingdom of God is based upon something that comes from God and which alters the character of the recipient so that nothing and everything have the same definition.

The Voice of Love calls, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Is 55:1-2.

Not money, carbon monoxide, or fingernail clippings--but there was blood involved. The shed blood of Jesus Christ creates a new people and a new government!

Ponder this radical economic concept: LOVE plants berry bushes just to give the berries away.

Peace.

I sat in a seminar all day

     I sat in a seminar from 9 am - 5 pm today. The speaker said that every Executive Director of a nonprofit should have a blog. Well, that intrigued me. As soon as I got home I went running and while doing so, the name of this blog came to me (breathing heavily provided my brain with more oxygen, I guess). This is a phrase I've said for 10 years; some people call it "teachable moments." It involves being aware of every thing that one experiences with one's senses, including the "spiritual sense," which is sensitivity to the activity of the Holy Spirit. There are spiritual lessons all around us if we just pay attention.
     So here is my first thought. Recently, friends of mine had a beautiful baby girl. They had some wonderful pictures taken of their new family and in one photo alll you see are the arms and hands of the new dad holding a mostly naked and crying baby. I immediately thought of the following verse:

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Is 41:10 NIV

     Through the Bible, the "right hand" of God offers images of power, righteousness, strength, victory, and salvation. But here in Is 41 the image is of tenderness, care, and mercy. Wonderful compassion and gentleness from an Omnipotent God!
     I hear these words echoed in Jesus' words in John 14:27:

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

     The image of my friend holding his crying newborn instantly caused me to reflect on this astounding truth. I've been that crying infant--but no matter how much I cried, God continued to hold me in His loving embrace; with both strength and tenderness. Be encouraged by this image and, like an infant, rest in the loving arms of your Heavenly Father.

Peace.