Got Spirit?
By Pat Gibson
In last month’s From the Pastor’s Desk Leaves article, Pastor Pat was talking about the long stretch in the Christian calendar from Pentecost to Advent called ordinary time. She asked us to think of ordinary as "everyday"and she posed this question to us: Where will the listening, the learning, the connections (between Jesus’ story and our lives) take place?
It just so happened that even though our overall theme for Camp Rejoice this year was "Got Spirit?" , the everyday scriptures were centered around looking for God in the ordinary! Our focus scriptures and themes were these:
Sunday: the wonder of God in the every day (Psalm 8),
Monday: thanking and praising Jesus in daily events (Luke 17:11-19),
Tuesday: inviting Jesus in by giving, even with a stranger (Luke 24:13-35
Wednesday: working together and sharing the gifts God has given us (1 Corinthians 12:1-26)
Thursday: celebrating and worshiping God’s creation and glory (Psalm 96)
Friday: living in Christ’s love in all we say, think and do (John 15: 1-17)
Each day, our campers, Aaron, Kayla, Emma, Isabel, Mark and "tag" Molly talked through the scripture’s theme in their tent Bible study. Sometime during the day they then had an hour Bible study time with Pastor Pat and then during Vespers the scripture was presented in yet another way. It was revisited in crafts with Cindy S. and Pat G. and in music where Shannon was one of the leaders.
The campers, volunteer and paid staff were encouraged to look for God in the ordinary every day happenings by listening to the stories of where other’s have seen Jesus, by the examples given in the Bible of how people have recognized God’s presence and by praying that the eyes of their hearts would be open to the Lord’s presence.
May we each accept the challenge to intentionally seek God in the ordinary, to get excited about it and then to tell someone!! Here is all who attended this year: Emma Bosley-Smith, Isabel Bosley Smith, Molly Bosley-Smith, Pat Gibson, Kayla Gotha, Mark James, Rev. Pat Shafer, Cindy Smith, Shannon Smith, Aaron Winslow
It just so happened that even though our overall theme for Camp Rejoice this year was "Got Spirit?" , the everyday scriptures were centered around looking for God in the ordinary! Our focus scriptures and themes were these:
Sunday: the wonder of God in the every day (Psalm 8),
Monday: thanking and praising Jesus in daily events (Luke 17:11-19),
Tuesday: inviting Jesus in by giving, even with a stranger (Luke 24:13-35
Wednesday: working together and sharing the gifts God has given us (1 Corinthians 12:1-26)
Thursday: celebrating and worshiping God’s creation and glory (Psalm 96)
Friday: living in Christ’s love in all we say, think and do (John 15: 1-17)
Each day, our campers, Aaron, Kayla, Emma, Isabel, Mark and "tag" Molly talked through the scripture’s theme in their tent Bible study. Sometime during the day they then had an hour Bible study time with Pastor Pat and then during Vespers the scripture was presented in yet another way. It was revisited in crafts with Cindy S. and Pat G. and in music where Shannon was one of the leaders.
The campers, volunteer and paid staff were encouraged to look for God in the ordinary every day happenings by listening to the stories of where other’s have seen Jesus, by the examples given in the Bible of how people have recognized God’s presence and by praying that the eyes of their hearts would be open to the Lord’s presence.
May we each accept the challenge to intentionally seek God in the ordinary, to get excited about it and then to tell someone!! Here is all who attended this year: Emma Bosley-Smith, Isabel Bosley Smith, Molly Bosley-Smith, Pat Gibson, Kayla Gotha, Mark James, Rev. Pat Shafer, Cindy Smith, Shannon Smith, Aaron Winslow
