The Comma

This last week I spent most of my time at Seabeck, at our church’s week long family camp. Almost two hundred of us gathered in this Pacific Northwest slice of paradise on the Hood Canal. First let me say how amazed I have been ever since I came to this church that so many people make it a priority to take a week out of their summer and gather with others to play, laugh, learn and just be together. What a gift they are giving to themselves and to one another. Then, beyond that, I am constantly impressed by the caliber of leaders we have had at this camp over the years. Marcus Borg has been here. Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker have been here. Rabbi Ted Falcon and Sheik Jamal Rahman came a few years back with Don Mackenzie. Betsy Rose is our camp musician year after year. If you don’t recognize these names, go ahead and Google any of them. Wow!

This year we (the adults) heard from David Domke and Corey Schlosser Hall (Google ‘em) about faith, citizenship, and the future of our planet. We considered the differences between a “dutiful” citizen and a “relational” one, we learned a variety of handshakes, we wrestled with Big Ideas about what it means to be a faithful Christian on this warming Earth. On Thursday, Corey and David challenged us to do something about what we had been hearing through week. They also challenged us to do it relationally (tell someone about what you are going to do, invite them into some action with you.) And finally, they challenged us to reach out to someone we know who might have a different perspective (one with which we don’t necessarily agree) and have a conversation about the environment.

Well, I didn’t need to go to Seabeck to learn that our planet is in trouble, and that the trouble has a lot to do with how we have been living on it, and that a lot of how we have been living on it has to do with our faith. I already knew that. But I have a habit of saying that at this point in my life I need much more reminding about what I already know about living my life (and my faith) than I need new information about those same topics. Maybe it’s the same for you. Maybe we didn’t learn everything we need to know in kindergarten, but we sure learned a lot of it. And I go to Seabeck to be reminded (and this is also an important part of why I go to church) of the very thing Corey and David kept emphasizing- that we are in this together. This journey of faith (and of life) that we are on is as much about relationships as it is about anything else. So I am writing about it to remind you too. If you were at Seabeck this week, let this be a reminder not only of the commitment you made, but of the connections that were a part of it. If you did not go to Seabeck this week, let me invite you on in to this congregation-wide effort to make a difference, together.