Our 2024 Summer Diocesan Weeks at Camp Nazareth
Saturday, December 28, 2024
During the course of the summer, one of the CN Staff members mentioned that they wanted to come away from Camp with good memories. It was apparent that the good memories hoped for were (already) precious to them. It was one of those conversations that left a deep impression because you got to see Camp from yet another person’s perspective and there was something in their desire that made you pay attention to what they were saying even more. Why would they stress those good memories? Did they have bad memories elsewhere? Why would they consider those good memories more important than other things to them at Camp? Was Camp the one place, or one of the few places, they found good memories? We never quite got to the “Why”, but the message was clear from the Staff member…don’t just make Camp fun, but rather give me something good to hold onto, give me something that when I remember it, it lifts me up all over again.
Well, one would hope each year that Camp Nazareth, and its summer experience, would give campers and staff, clergy and volunteers alike, some good memory or memories to go home with, something that would “feed” them in time to come. Of course, there are good things that happen at Camp. There’s fun stuff that goes on all the time. That was not the type of memory the staff member was talking about, however. There was something else they were referring to and it’s that “something else” that Camp itself, through its staff and summer program, is trying to (hoping to) provide to everyone who comes the mile-and-a-half down Pew Road and the half-a-mile up the Camp driveway.
As basic and simple as it may sound, that “something else” needs to be good. Not good in the sense of quality (like good, better, best), but good in the sense of wholesome. Camp is trying to give those who come something that is wholesome, maybe even pure, if we could achieve it; something that isn’t “tainted”. When campers and staff alike say that the summer experience at Camp was the best week of their year, or the best week of their summer, that’s not just because they’ve done fun stuff, not just because they’ve helped give kids a great time, not just because we’ve “had church”, not just because each night there’s something new to do, not just because they’ve been with their (Camp) friends again and grown closer together. Yes, it’s all of that, but in all of that there is that “something else” that is given and that each of us wants to hold onto. That staff member touched on what that “something else” is. It’s the memory of all of that together, or it’s the memory of a single event, or a single moment, that IS good (wholesome, pure, beautiful, godly), and after Camp is over that memory doesn’t reside in the mind, but it rests in the heart. It STAYS there. And a good memory in the heart produces fruit long after the memory is made. Memory, in that way, is its own form of completely sustainable “energy”, capable of “producing” every day, at any moment, without any further input, investment or “fuel”. It is totally renewable and it renews the person who is blessed with it.
A Camp memory though is not just a potentially good memory. Camp memory is also SHARED memory; shared not with internet space, but with people who were PRESENT, who were THERE with each other, and this is a totally essential component of Camp, that doesn’t happen in many places anymore. It is the component that brings people TOGETHER, where they can have a SHARED experience in which memories are created TOGETHER, with and for each other; not memories of any kind, but memories with a church in the center of them, literally and figuratively. If the Camp program wasn’t Christ-centered and Camper-focused (which it is), you still can’t walk anywhere at Camp without seeing the Camp church, Sts. Cyril and Methodios. You can see it from the softball field, from the pool, when you’re walking to the Pavilion, when you’re walking to sports, when you come out of the Rec Room, when you’re driving up the Camp driveway, when you’re coming out of the Ark, etc., etc., etc. As a matter of fact, as this article is being written, from the writer’s seat, you can see the church’s tallest dome and cross above the roof line of the Lodge, almost as if it is standing not atop the church, but almost like it’s part of the Lodge. So even if the Camp program wasn’t Christ-centered, you still can’t forget Him at Camp because the church building itself is reminds us of Him. How many of us, still from a distance away, are looking to see our parish’s domes/cupolas and their crosses as we are driving to church or driving near the church? We all do! Each time we see them, we remember God. They are a reminder to us of “Christ is Among Us!”, of the Kingdom of God in our lives. At Camp, we are always either headed to church, or coming out of church, in a certain sense, just like we are always either leaving church on Sunday or are then headed towards the next Sunday’s liturgy. Time is always bringing us towards next Sunday’s Liturgy. We get that reminder all the time at Camp, seeing the church from every direction. Where else can you say that about our lives, where we get that constant reminder. Not all of us live near our respective churches, but at Camp we do, at least for a week. And that’s the point…SHARED memory with people who were PRESENT, with CHRIST at the center of the whole experience.
That experience is unique and it can be powerful. We do “squeeze” a lot into that experience, and yet there are periods of rest and relaxation which punctuate each Camp day. While the Camp day is full and once it has begun it moves quickly, nevertheless those times of rest (this year called prestavka, instead of siesta) punctuate the day, and together with periods of just transitioning (walking together from one thing to the next), they allow for things to “sink in”, for memories made to find rest in the heart, and to do what God intended memory to do for man…to allow him to recount the goodness of God through it. As a quick aside, to illustrate this for us, it might be helpful to talk about the Friday Divine Liturgy at Camp.
Liturgy at Camp is tremendously beautiful…campers in their “Friday best”, Seniors serving and leading the cantoring, all of us in line to receive Communion, priests from around the deaneries together with Metropolitan Gregory at the altar, the counselors in the side aisles watching their campers and singing, as many of the rest of the staff as can be there (except for some of the Kitchen Staff), volunteers there in the back, campers singing. It’s beautiful in so many ways. And then the campers linger. There’s cabin pictures to take, some before liturgy, maybe some after. There’s a whole group photo to take. There’s Senior pictures to take in the church. Then there’s parish pictures to take up on the veranda. We all have brunch together and linger for as long as we can. A certain part of me wishes we could just end Camp right then, because it’s there that our hearts are so ready to recount God’s goodness.
You find this in many places of Scripture, but especially the Psalms. The Psalmist is always ready to remember the goodness of God, through memory giving praise to Him. Why is a good memory so important? It brings life to the one to whom it is given, especially when it is coupled with gratitude to God. “I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.” (Psalm 118:17) A good memory is a gift from God, and, coupled with gratitude to Him, that memory rests in the heart and “feeds” a person again and again and again. It brings life with it each time it is recalled. Just think about your own memories (of your family, of your friends) and how many times over the years a single memory has brought goodness again to your heart, and probably a warm smile to your face. I say heart because while the mind is used to remember, memory’s real work is in the heart of a person. I say goodness because at the beginning we talked about what good meant…that good memory is wholesome, pure, beautiful, godly, and, because it is those things, its power doesn’t diminish with time. The moment itself that creates a memory, and the memory of that moment, don’t diminish in strength or effect no matter the years that go by.
Why desire a good memory, or good memories, from Camp? Because somewhere in that staff member that mentioned this, they know the power of a good memory.
The desire for good memories from Camp, the desire for good memories in general, is a deep desire, and it is something that Camp tries to fulfill, whether or not it speaks in those terms. It’s summer program, it’s activities and events, are designed keeping in mind lots of different aspects of a child’s wellbeing. Menus are looked at, parents are contacted, and staff are assigned in the kitchen to ensure Camp serves not only nutritious meals but meals that reflect the food allergies/dietary needs of individual campers. Doesn’t the good memory of a great meal with our families at holiday time “feed” us each time we recall the holiday? A swim test is administered the first day of Camp to ensure the safety of all campers who look forward to using the swimming pool. A good memory of a fun-filled night Pool Party having fun swimming and playing games with the Staff in the pool will stay in the heart of a camper for a long time. First-night Cabin talks are stressed again and again to the Camp Counselors and so they prepare them beforehand to make sure the campers understand the do’s and don’ts, the rules and expectations, and their own hopes in their cabin families for the week to come. If the campers remember those expectations and their own hopes and those of their cabin family, the week can be so blessedly memorable that Camp becomes a place they return to for the next dozen years as campers, and hopefully for a few more after that as Staff! The Diocesan Clergy are sent the Faith Enrichment curriculum in advance of their week of chaplaining, so the curriculum is taught well and the campers get the most out of it. If the clergy teach it well, with passion in their hearts and in the manner of their delivery, campers will remember, maybe not the details of the curriculum, but the passion of the priests and that memory will inspire them in their own life of faith. The entirety of the Camp trails are raked, weed-trimmed, and leaf-blown to ensure safe trails to hike on. If you find the pictures of the Camp’s hiking activity in the summer program, you’ll find a very memorable portion of each Camp day. Programs are developed by staff with an “eye” on their variety hopefully ensuring that there is “something for everyone” at each portion of the program. If you talk with different campers, you’ll find that while there is “cross-over” in their memories, each will take away something different and remember different things about the program events.
There are outdoor activities, indoor activities, sports, crafts, singing, time for quiet reflection, church services, fun evening events, time to hang out, rest and relax, there’s free-time, structured time, unstructured time, time for prayer at night, the sacraments of Communion and Confession are part of the camping week, meals are taken indoors but sometimes outdoors, there are themed events and events that campers get to choose what activities they participate in, learning is a part of the program, service to others is part of the program, so is creativity in the form of dances and performances and crafts, there’s just plain old fun and then there’s the sometimes zany fun of Camp, there are sermons and stories, games and cabin clean-up times; but ALL of this is dedicated to our children being given the opportunity in and through it all to draw closer to Christ, to deepen their faith, to open their eyes to the presence of Christ in themselves and each other.
You can liken all of this to Christ’s Parable of the Sower. Camp is trying at each moment to sow the good seed, or at least to clear some of the way so Christ can sow the good seed, the Gospel of the Kingdom, in the hearts of His kids. The memory of goodness at Camp can then water that seed. Maybe better put, it is the good memories from Camp that help water what Christ has sown in our hearts long after the campers have returned home.
Camp “works” in that way. It’s not a trick. We come back, again and again, to prayer, to worshipping God in Church, to talks about the faith, to sermons and reflections, to Confession and Communion, and while there’s a lot of other stuff going on, it’s that coming back again and again to our faith in God, that provides the meaning and the memory of God’s goodness to campers, staff, volunteers and clergy alike. Again, at Camp we are always either headed to church or are coming out of it, so to speak. The day is punctuated with time to remember God and worship Him. Campers experience God’s goodness precisely because we keep coming back to it again and again in different ways, and that provides goodness in everything we do. Everything becomes something more, more than it usually is, at Camp. Sports without prayer is just sports, but sports with prayer has the potential to become a way to glorify God and celebrate one another’s achievements. Camp without prayer is just Camp, but Camp with prayer has the potential to be a time and place where all of us can commune with God in a way we haven’t before.
You would have been in awe during our Diocesan weeks if you had seen how the campers and staff cheered for each other and celebrated each other on Friday nights during the Awards time. Sometimes it was literally deafening in the pavilion as they cheered. We have awards for Cleanest Cabin (youngers and olders – youngers are age 8-12, olders are age 13-18), Sports (youngers and olders), and then Camper-of-the-Week (younger and older), Most Outstanding Camper (younger and older) and then Staff of the Week (and then Staff of the Summer during the 3rd and final week of Camp). Each camper, each cabin, each sports team, each staff member, might as well have been receiving the awards the way everyone cheered for each other. It really was incredible, even humbling, to see everyone celebrating each other the way they did. During one of the weeks, a couple volunteers approached us and said they couldn’t believe how everyone cheered for one another. A little explanation about what is behind those awards will help you understand why the cheering on those Friday nights was so incredible.
Cabins work hard each day hoping to win Cleanest Cabin at the end of the week. Cabins are graded each day (usually by the Volunteers) on how well they did and they are given those scores to see how they’re doing and where they need to improve. We’re not just talking about straigtening up. Sinks, showers, toilets, floors, and porches are all cleaned. Lawns have to be free of any wrappers. Towels have to be on the clothes lines, not on the ground beneath them. Beds have to be made. All luggage must be neat and stored under the beds. This is EVERYDAY! So, having invested all that time and energy each day, cabins want to win the award for Cleanest Cabin at the end of the week. It’s a healthy competition. Sports are also competitive at Camp, to say the least. Campers (AND Staff) are not immune to the “ups and downs” of emotions when playing sports at Camp, and the Staff work hard to help campers (and each other!) manage them as the teams compete with one another each day. (I love it when Staff members who are coaches, really “get into” their role as coaches dressing the part in suits – even on hot summer days – or totally “decking” themselves out in the colors of their team!) So again, having invested the time and effort in sports each day, the different sports teams want to win the Championship and receive that award on Friday night in front of their peers and the other teams. Each day the Counselors have a Staff meeting and talk in that meeting about the campers and the good things they’ve seen. It’s a great moment each day at those meetings as the Staff celebrates the campers, and it’s those daily celebrations that determine who receives the Camper-of-the-Week and the Most Outstanding Camper Awards at the end of the week. The Staff also make recommendations to the Director during the week about which Staff member(s) should receive Staff-of-the-Week. Those recommendations are considered when determining who receives that award (a choice between a Sheetz or DQ Gift Card!). It’s always gratifying when Staff see and report on each others’ great work in addition to celebrating the campers’ exemplary efforts.
Despite all that hard work from everyone, only a couple teams, a couple cabins, and only a few individuals will receive awards in front of their peers at the end of the week. Again, as each team, cabin and individual received their awards this past summer, it was like EVERYONE was receiving them, the way everybody cheered for one another. Kids celebrating each other’s achievements?! Staff doing the same?! Teams and cabins cheering heartily for each other?! What is going on?!!!! And again, I have to say that I’ve never really seen or heard it at Camp quite like I did this past summer. It was so much fun to see and hear it happening, but more than that it was uplifting. As the cheering and celebrating was happening, you could see how it affected everyone, Staff included. You could see how the Staff were smiling as the campers celebrated one another. You could see how the they were looking at each other with the same question on all their faces, “What is going on?!”, but at the same time saying “This is so much fun! This is awesome!”
In part, maybe in large part, this was actually happening BECAUSE of the Staff. We’ll get into that in a minute, but wanted to say first that our memory of those Friday Awards is what the Staff member was hoping to get from Camp during the summer. Even now that good memory of those Friday evening moments brings a smile to our faces and joy to our hearts. And it wasn’t like WE were doing anything, but were just there, caught in the moment, but that moment was a good one, fun, wholesome, beautiful, even pure and godly because it was selfless on the part of the campers (and staff) as they celebrated and cheered for each other. That’s a GOOD memory, and as it comes back, it lifts us up again, it lightens the heart, it “feeds” us again and again, because it WAS good and IS good.
Camp’s culture is different in that way. At the very least Camp’s culture has the potential to be different in that way. With the right teaching, with the right coaching, with people whose hearts are “in the right place”, when the message of Camp is “sinking in”, Camp’s culture IS different in that way. Somehow, then, cheering for the OTHER team, the OTHER cabin, ANOTHER camper or staff member who isn’t you, is not just ok, but somehow it becomes the way it HAS to be for Camp to be Camp. We HAVE to celebrate each other. We HAVE to cheer for each other. Otherwise, Camp isn’t Camp anymore, and somehow the message is lost.
What’s the message Camp is trying to get across? Well, without ever saying it in so many words, the message is that Christ is for us, that we are for Christ, and that because of that, we are FOR each other. The message is that not only is it ok to lift someone else up, but we actually find out who God made us to be when we do lift someone else up. The message is that it’s ok to celebrate each other and each other’s achievements because I know God loves me just as much as He loves everyone else AND I know the Staff love me just as much as they love everyone else. The message is that Christ was selfless, and I become more like Him when I am selfless. The message is that when we are together, truly together, it doesn’t matter who among us is honored, because as it goes with one, it goes with all. The message is that when we are truly together, we actually love building each other up…in Christ. Again, never said in so many words, but always taught in some fashion.
I am not sure if you hear what this echoes. No, it’s not the Three Musketeers’ “All for one, and one for all”, although that would certainly fit here. No, I believe what happened in those Friday moments, as the message of Camp had sunk in during the week, was the fulfillment of St. Paul’s vision of God’s people as the Body of Christ, as the Church. St. Paul speaks about the life in the Body of Christ in many of his letters, but listen to what he writes to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 12.25-26):
“…that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
If I were to pinpoint why it is important to spend so much time thinking about (and writing about) the “little” details of our Diocesan Camp and its summer experience for our kids, it would be because of things like this. Without realizing it, Staff and campers alike, fulfilled part of what it means to be the Body of Christ on those Friday evenings: when one member was honored, ALL rejoiced together. The fulfillment of that Scriptural command created good memories. And the desire for a good memory or good memories of and from Camp, what does that echo? Again St. Paul’s words come to us: “Hold fast to what is good”, he says in two places (Romans 12:9 and 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Isn’t the desire to hold onto a good memory (from Camp) the fulfillment of St. Paul’s command to hold fast to what is good if that memory is of Christ? I believe it is, whether or not we realize it. And if we hadn’t spent so much time together already in this article, I would show you many other ways the campers and staff fulfilled St. Paul’s commands/commandments about how to be the Body of Christ at Camp this summer.
We SAY Camp is Christ-centered and Camper-focused, but how do we as a Staff SHOW it? We TALK a lot about it, but how do we DO it/LIVE it as an ENTIRE Staff? That was the earlier point we said we would return to: the Staff have a lot to do with that message sinking in. If the Staff “get it”, then the campers have a greater chance of “getting it”. If the Staff don’t “get it”, then the campers don’t stand much of a chance to “get it”. But that’s one of those good memories from the 2024 summer: the closeness of the Staff as a whole, their commitment to each other, their willingness to help each other, their selflessness when it came to supporting and celebrating each other and the campers. That’s what the campers picked up on without the Staff ever having to talk about it. They just modeled it. They just lived it. That was its beauty and its power. The campers were then free to do the very same thing, because it seemed so normal, so usual, for the Staff. We talk to the Staff about being role models for the campers and how their own actions/behaviors will teach/influence the campers far more than their words. I believe this was one of the greatest gifts the 2024 Staff as a WHOLE gave to the campers this summer. They gave the campers the ability to come together as an ENTIRE Camp (each week) and to know what it means to be totally FOR one another, in Christ. They did this by the way they lived it and it helped the campers to realize they could be this way with each other. The 2024 Camp Staff may never know it or even realize it, but that’s what they did, and the Camp itself, and everyone around them (including and especially the campers), were lifted up by them.
That’s a good memory. It’s one that lifts up the heart and brings a warm smile to the face. It is the good memory (or memories) that staff member was asking for from the summer at Camp. Thank you, Staff! Thank you, Campers! Thank you, Clergy and Volunteers alike! Thank you, founders, benefactors and builders of the Camp! Thank you, good Lord for all of them and for our Camp! Any memory worth remembering brings us to the same “place”, so to speak. It brings us to the place of the Psalmist: ”…I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord.” Memory at work in our hearts, recognizing and praising God for His good work among His people. In this case, at Camp among His children.