Samuel 3:1-10

Mark 1:16-20

NUCC

March 13, 2005

            God’s calling.  That is the theme for our Wisconsin UCC camps this summer.  When I think of church camp I think of how God has often called people right there.  Some ministers I know first heard God’s call to fulltime ministry at church camp.  Somehow the more intense surroundings at camp have made people more sensitive and open to hearing God’s still speaking voice.  The combination of a week apart, challenging leaders, and the holy atmosphere of camp has been potent.  Gathering around the campfire or watching the cross lighted with candles floating out into the lake somehow makes us more open to hearing God’s call.

            This year our camp curriculum features a series of stories about people whom God has called.  Today we have heard the stories of three people:

1. The boy Samuel in the temple hearing God’s call at night.
2. The boy Jesus, also in the temple, sensing God’s call as he talks with the elders.
3. The disciples literally hearing Jesus’ call to follow them.

There were other stories we didn’t hear this morning:

1. A seeker named Lydia listened to that great missionary Paul and asked to be baptized.  She was one of the women leaders of the early church.
2. An older woman named Anna saw Jesus when he was brought to the Temple as a baby.  She had been waiting many years, and now she said she saw the savior!
3. An unnamed boy was sitting on a hillside and heard Jesus preach.  He volunteered his five loaves of bread and two fish to feed all of the hungry people.  Amazingly, there was more than enough!

As I think of these Bible stories and others I cannot help but make some connections to the various kinds of camps that our church offers.  Let me try to share some of those connections with you.

1.      There are camps for all ages ---- even for the youngest who can attend a Mom and Me, Dad and Me, or Grandparent and Me three-day event.  I think of God’s call especially to an elderly couple named Abraham and Sarah, who raised children in their old age.  Today some of us are past our child-bearing years, but we are still pitching in there as grandparents and even as parents.  I’m grateful for opportunities when all of us involved in parenting can deepen our skills and relationships with our children at camp.

2.      Among other shorter-term camps is a “Fishing Camp” in May.  Of course I cannot help but remember how Jesus called some fishermen as his very first disciples.  Or the “Single Parent Family Camp”.  I immediately think of the Bible story how the prophet Elisha helped a widow and her two children pay their debts and stay together as a family.  (2 Kings 4)  The Fall Quilting retreat reminds me of how all of us are “quilted” together, sometimes in a “crazy quilt” ----- but all connected in some amazing patterns.  Or I think of the article Pat Wall showed me about how quilts were made and used as part of the Underground Railroad back in the bad old days of slavery ---- and how God used crafty women to make quilts and display them with signs showing the escaped slaves the way to freedom.  And I think of God’s call to Moses to be a freer of slaves in the great Biblical exodus.

3.      When I read that story of the elderly Anna in the temple I have to turn to a page in the camp brochure where there is a picture of Karen and me.  The folks that put the brochure together must think we are a good advertisement for another series of camps ------ camps for those of us who are, shall we say, more “mature.”  Indeed you could go to and “empty nesters week or a fifties plus event, or an elderhostel    ----- all of them in September at Moon Beach.

4.      Among the special camps for youth are a MADD Camp ------ Music, Art, Drama, and Dance.  God calls us to creativity.  I’ve known some young people who especially come alive during this week.  Just as David danced before the Lord.

5.      One of our members who heard a call at camp was Paul Elmhorst.  He attended the Men’s Retreat a couple of years ago and saw that it could do a better job of meeting the needs of laymen.  Paul heard the call to help organize such an improved weekend.  And that’s what he did this year.

6.      Of course there are all of the more traditional camps.  This summer many of our youth will be going to camps at Pilgrim Center, where they stay in a cabin, go for nature hikes, swim in the lake, and have morning watch while reading their Bibles.  In July some of the families in our church will join Karen and me for a relaxing yet stimulating week of Family Camp, where were read these “God Calls” Bible stories and think about how God is still speaking to each of us.  In old ways and new ways we will be listening for God’s call.

I hope that you will join us and check out the brochure for this wonderful variety of experiences we call church camp.  God calls.  Let us listen.