These two memories symbolize for me, not only the joy of community camp, but the joy of Christian community. We come together to teach one another how to crawl, how to walk, how to grow as Christian people. We teach one another the words of scripture, the songs of faith, the way to pray, the path of service, the ways of love. But we also catch one another when we fall. We are there to shoulder one another through grief, to lift each other up after failure, to support each other when one’s faith is fractured.
Paul wrote to the church in Rome saying, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God… we who are many, are one body in Christ and individually we are members one of another.” (Romans 12: 1, 5) When we teach each other the ways of faith and when we support one another through life’s challenges we are becoming the body of Christ here on earth. Some days we may feel like we aren’t very good at the Christian walk and the best we can do is crawl. The family of faith cheers us on. Some days we do not have the strength to finish a hike down life’s mountain but the arms of God carry us home.
Grace and Peace,