VBC: Day 2

Howdy, partners!  "Farmer" Trista here!

Welcome back to another day of Vacation Bible Camp where we Taste and See that God is good!  Today we learned how we share with others, even when they are strangers.

Beginning our time together with gigantic voices declaring that "This is the Day that the Lord has Made", we brought several dozen pounds of food to the altar and danced our way back into our seats.  Lifting our hands way over our heads to form a banner, we sang that Jesus' "Banner Over me is Love".  Brian directed our eyes to the breadbasket chart that several of our youth made, and we celebrated the clear visual representation of our gifts of food.  After a prayer of invocation led by "Farmer" Trista, Rev. Karen blessed us and sent us out towards our rotation stations.

For arts and crafts, we encountered fruits and vegetables cut in half and stuck with a fork.  These were sitting in paints of all kinds of different colors.  We were very excited!  White canvas bags with our names already on them were neatly laid out on the table and our craft helpers were delighted to show us what we were to do.  Grabbing one of the forked veggies, we stamped onto our canvas bags and danced around when we saw the lovely prints they made.  Onions, apples, bell peppers and beets all make such different impressions!  What fun!

In recreation time, we divided into two teams - fruits and  vegetables. We held playground balls between our knees and made our way across the field, trying not to drop our precious cargo of "fruits" and "vegetables" while racing against the other team.  It was quite a challenge, but we really enjoyed it!  We also played a game called "grab the loaf".  A squishy ball representing a loaf of bread was in the middle of the field and we were lined up on either side.  When a particular number was called, the person from either team who had received that number raced towards the "loaf" and tried to bring it back to their team before the other team's person tagged them.  We sure do love running games!!!

After some stretching and vocal warm ups in music time, we continued to work on our "Call of Love" for Sunday's Mass on the Grass.  We're learning how to sing it in a round with the help of dear Jessica.  We can't wait to show you what we've learned!  We also sang a song that has become a favorite at St Thomas VBC over the years: Wendeyaho.  Translated it says, "I am of the Great Spirit, it is so".  Truly we are all born from one Creator God and all connected to the rest of creation by God's Breath, the Holy Spirit, who enters us anew each day, helping us to grow in Jesus' name!

Our story time today was about Elijah and the Widow of Zerepath.  Our fantastic teens acted out the story for us.  We were amazed by the way God provided for the widow and her son when she offered the very little that she had to live on!  When the little sack of flour and the jar of oil were suddenly found to be filled when they had been nearly empty before, we gasped in wonder and surprise.  Elijah had promised that the widow and her son would not go hungry because they had given so generously out of their poverty.  The man of God really spoke the truth!

In service and outreach time, we remembered our connection to the children, women and men all around us who do not have the food, clothing and shelter that we all have access to.  After Tami led us in discussion and reflection about what it might be like for the children in our communities who struggle to find food each day, we talked about what kinds of food we might be able to share with them.   

Filling the bags that we created yesterday in craft time was our task during the service rotation.  Each group had a different task.  Some made sandwiches, others packed grapes or cheese slices, and others put in water bottles and decorated cards.  At the end of the day we had many, many lunches to give to the Salvation Army kids camp.  We certainly do share what we have with others, even when they are strangers!  Today's focus became very tangible in these activities.

In chapel time, "Baker" Rev. Karen showed us pictures from a book called What the World Eats.  This book is filled with pictures of what a typical family looks like in different countries throughout the world.  We noticed all kinds of things in the picture, from the size of the family to the kinds of food they have on their tables to the amounts of food that they each had.   

We wondered together about what we eat in a given week and if our food looks like the fresh fruits and vegetables in India, the rice and beans and grains of Mali, or the pre-packaged supermarket food of England.   We consider what we have and who we can share with, and we were all very moved by the pictures in this book and the questions it raises for us and for our families.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."  How might your light shine today?  Who might you share with, and what might you choose to share?  We invite you to consider these things as we prepare for another new day together.

We also extend a warm invitation to you.  Please join us tomorrow for the Great Feast of the Eucharist at 10:00 a.m. in the nave.  This will be a wonderful service!  All are welcome!

VBC Day 1

Howdy partners! "Farmer" Trista here, your friendly summer seminary intern.

We had a great morning with eighty-one children and several dozen VBC ministers to care for them!  This week we're looking at food through the eyes of faith.  The nave has been transformed into the Great Farmhouse, and we are offering thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest season we are in the midst of.  We are delighted to welcome children in Jesus' name and to share our stories of faith with them.  May we all taste and see that God is good!

Today we have been exploring the wonder of seeds, and our theme for the day has been: when we are growing, God provides.  We learned that God provides food for us to eat and cares for all of our needs.  In chapel we planted pumpkin seeds and remembered that we each have been given seeds of faith in the soil of our hearts.  In story time, several of our youth performed a drama based on the parable of the sower.

One of the ways we say thank you to God for our food is by sharing what we have with others.  So, for our service project today, we made pumpkin muffins for the Salvation Army summer children's camp.  Continuing the theme of love and service, in music today we sang "Call to Love".  We remember that we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves because God loves all.

Mid-morning, we all gathered together for snacks in the Great Hall which has been transformed into The Paradise Cafe.  After Brian and the youth led us all in rhythm-filled doxology, we refueled our bodies with the grapes, sesame crisps and string cheese.  Then we were ready for more exciting activities!

In crafts today we decorated lunch bags for the Salvation Army children's camp in preparation for the sandwiches we will make and give to them tomorrow.  We also made sidewalk chalk to remember that God writes God's words upon our hearts, and when we had a little time, we played "apple, apple, banana" (a form of "duck, duck, goose").  We all sure love to run around!  And in our recreation time, we had seed relays and running races in Medina park.

Our day opened and closed in the nave with worship time.  We sang "This is the Day that the Lord has Made", "His Banner over me is Love" and "This Little Light of Mine" with joyful motions.  The children are also learning a new song, "God is Good" written by me especially for our time together at VBC. 


As we prepare for our upcoming day, we thank you for continuing to lift all of the children and the VBC ministers in your prayers.  And we invite you to reflect on our call and response liturgy which will be a part of each day's opening worship:

When we are hungry, God provides.

When we are thirsty, God provides.

When we are tired, God provides.

When we are lonely, God provides.

When we are growing, God provides.

Whatever our need, God provides.

Taste and see that God is good!

Skagit Mission Trip - Wrap Up

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers while our youth were on our mission trip.  We made it home safely on Friday afternoon after a hard but incredibly meaningful week of work, new relationships, and deep community.  Altogether, our youth and adult leaders worked for 480 hours in the raspberry fields and at Viva Farms.  The work was eye-opening for our group as we saw how hard, and for how little pay, farm laborers work.  We have a new understanding and appreciation for the food we find on our tables and will never again eat raspberries without thinking of the amazing people we met in the fields.  While we certainly grew though our labor, perhaps the most meaningful result of our work in the fields was our experience of, and witness to, the Body of Christ.  We were told that after we left the raspberry fields each day, other farm workers would approach the Paz family and ask who we were and why we were working with them.  Mr. Paz’s response profoundly sums up all that our mission trip was about.  He would tell the other farm workers, “They are from our church and we help each other at our church.”

The scene at VBS on Thursday was remarkably different than when we first arrived on Monday afternoon.  On Monday, children scattered and ran into their homes as we arrived at Raspberry Ridge.  On Friday, a group was gathered before we arrived, ran to our cars when we pulled up, and greeted us by name as we got out of our cars.  Deep relationships formed throughout the week and we hope that though sharing our lives with the children, the Bible stories they heard will take root and the love of God would grow in their lives.  Our time on Thursday ended with an epic water fight that brought smiles to everyone's face.

Although we gave a lot of ourselves throughout the week, we felt like we were leaving with much more than we came with.  We received so much love, hospitality, kindness, and care from the Resurreccion community.  Our understanding of community and the Body of Christ was forever enlarged as we both gave and received during our time.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with La Iglesia de la Resurreccion in the months and years to come.  There are countless ways that we can continue to serve one another.  Praying for one another, learning about one another’s lives and communities, and collecting school supplies and diapers for the families of Resurreccion are just a few ways that we can continue our partnership.

As we packed up our campsite during a thunderstorm on Friday morning, we had one last time together as a group to pray and share the ways in which we were changed by our mission trip.  As we had prayed for before our trip, our youth have a new understanding of the world, themselves, and the God we love and serve.  Rather than write all the ways they were changed here, I encourage everyone reading this to ask a youth what they learned and how they were changed by their experience.

We will be sharing more about our trip during a dessert for the St. Thomas community in the evening on Sunday, September 2.  All are invited so mark your calendars! 

Skagit Mission Trip - Day 4

Wow!  Our trip has been amazing.  We had a very full day today of work in the morning – same 4am wake up call for half the group – VBS after lunch, a tour of the Skagit Valley and a migrant farmworker camp, and time with some of the Resurreccion community this evening.  We closed our trip the same way we began; by sharing a meal with our hosts.  But instead of being at the church, we hosted them at our campsite for dinner.  It was a time of fellowship, conversation, and recognizing the richness of the Body of Christ.  Although we have given a lot of ourselves and are exhausted from the work we have done, we are leaving with more than we came with in our hearts.  We truly have been blessed by the community we served with and look forward to continuing partnership with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are packing up and heading home in the morning, but are bringing the memories and experiences of this place home with us.  Check back in a few days for more pictures and a full update about our trip.  (Sorry about the lack of pictures in this post.  It was a such a great day that we took over 900 pictures and haven't had a chance to get them off cameras yet!)

Skagit Mission Trip - Day 3

Our group had another amazing day of hard work and relationships today on our mission trip.  The early mornings are becoming part of our routine, although there were plenty of heavy eye lids this morning after two days of hard work under our belts.  The groups returned to the work locations from the first day which meant we already knew a bit about our jobs.  The group in the raspberry fields picked a mix of berries for the cannery and for the market.  The market berries that we picked today made their way to local grocery stores this afternoon.  One of the surprising things that we discovered is that the berries are packed in clamshell containers by the workers in the fields.  That means that the only hands and touch the berries we find on grocery store shelves are the hands that picked them.  After working with the pickers in the field, we can tell you that they are picked and packed with a great deal of care!  The group at Viva Farms continued tending Salvador’s vegetable plot, weeding rows of green onions and lettuce.  They also learned more about Viva Farms from Chris, one of the managers of the farm.  Viva is a farming cooperative that leases land to farmers and provides education on agricultural techniques, marketing instruction to help them sell their produce, and financial support through CSA (community supported agriculture).  All of this means that the Viva farmers can grow to be self-supporting and manage their own brand of produce.

VBS continues to be a success and strong relationships are forming between our youth and the children who attend.  We had 43 children with us today to hear the story of the feeding of the 5,000.  They learned that God invites us to share what we have and that God takes what we give and multiplies it…it is always enough.

Our day ended once again with journal time, small group discussion, and Compline.  We have been very impressed by the thoughtfulness of the youth as they process all that they have seen and experienced.  We truly are encountering God all around us: in each other as we serve, in the people we work with in the fields, and in the generosity of the community hosting us this week.  Our lives have been deeply enriched by our work and the relationships that have formed.

Unlikely Prophets: Sermon by Brian Gregory

Sermon preached at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, WA, by the Associate for Youth Ministries, Brian Gregory, on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 15, 2012.

Skagit Mission Trip - Day 2

It has been a great day, filled with hard labor, new relationships, and sweet berries. Our groups again rolled out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to go to the raspberry fields and Viva farms. For the first-time berry pickers, it was a learning curve to pick quickly, carefully and find berries that fit the standards required (not too ripe, no blemishes). We learned our berries might be destined for Costco and Safeway, and we gained physical knowledge of what it feels like to pick all morning and only bring in $4 per large flat. The group at Viva Farms weeded for hours and made amazing progress weeding lettuce crops for Salvador and his church. Tomorrow we switch again and the group that originally visited the raspberry fields will again be up before dawn.

Vacation Bible Camp was a blast today and approximately 30 kids and parents joined us to watch our youth skit of the Noah story, sing the “Arky” song, and make a beautiful rainbow prism mobile. When we pulled up to the park, there were kids waiting for us, wearing the shirts they made yesterday. It was so evident how much our youth have already invested of themselves in the kids of this community as they waved out the window and yelled greetings to individual kids by name. Later this afternoon, some of the kids happened to be near our camp and several of our youth invited these young neighbors to play “Duck, Duck, Goose” and freeze tag during our limited and sacred free-time. Our youth have demonstrated Christ-like love in giving of themselves freely throughout the week.

We ended the evening with small group time, journal/alone space, and Compline. Many youth are tired  (and so are the adults!) but we are all energized by the opportunity to serve and the relationships that are being built. The St. Thomas and St. Margaret’s youth groups have merged seamlessly and there are great bonds being formed that will last a long time.  We look forward to more adventures tomorrow as we follow our normal routine and notice how God is at work everywhere, in all kinds of bushes (raspberry or otherwise)…not just flaming ones.

 - Kate Rickard, Saint Margaret's Director of Youth Ministries

Skagit Mission Trip - Day 1

We made it to the Skagit Valley safely and had a great first day!  Thank you for your prayers for safe travel and the work we are doing.

Upon arrival on Sunday afternoon, we set up camp.  With 25 people, this was no small undertaking.  The youth all pitched in to get the tents and kitchen area set up.  All 10 of our tents survived the brief rain shower last night with no leaks! After we organized our campsite, we headed over to La Iglesia de la Resurreccion for Misa (Eucharist) and dinner with the Resurreccion community.  Even though very few of us speak Spanish well, we did our best to follow along during the Spanish language service.  Emilio, the pastor of Resurreccion, graciously translated his sermon into English for us as well.  It was fun to see the youth trying to say all of the prayers in Spanish!  Several of the Reusurreccion families prepared an amazing soup dinner for us, which was a great time of conversation and fellowship with our host community.

Our daily routine of work and VBS started this morning…with a 4am wake up call!  Half of our group headed out to the raspberry fields at 5am to work alongside the Paz family.  Mr. and Mrs. Paz, along with three of their children as young as 12, work 7 days a week in the fields to support their family.  It was a great opportunity for our youth to experience a way of life that is very different than theirs.  Although we only worked until 11am, the Paz family often works until 9pm.  If you do the math, that is a 16 hour day.  We were tired after only 6 hours.  The other half of our group started work at 7am at Viva Farms.  Salvador – one of the parishioners at Resurreccion – leases an acre of land at Viva Farms and produces organic vegetables that end up in several restaurants and retail locations around the Northwest.  Our youth helped Salvador care for his farm by weeding row upon row of vegetables.

Today was also our first day of Vacation Bible Camp.  We went to the Raspberry Ridge apartment complex, a subsidized housing project for Hispanic farmworkers.  We rounded up around 30 children to play games, eat some snacks, hear a Bible story, and work on a craft.  Today’s Bible story was the story of creation.  The children heard how God created everything they see – including themselves – out of love.  It is all good!  To bring out their own creative abilities, we decorated t-shirts together with paint and stamps of animals and plants.  We hope that when the children wear their t-shirts in the future, they remember that God loves them deeply and thinks they are very good.

Our day ended with some time to reflect on all that we have experienced so far.  We took some quiet time by ourselves to journal and reflect on questions of how the relationships that are forming with the community and our work in the fields connect with our faith and what we believe about God. After that we prayed Compline together. The people we have met have a very different way of life than we do, but hopefully throughout the week we will discover that we are not so different after all.  We hope that our understandings of community, ourselves, and God are enlarged so that we can embrace all of God’s children with love and compassion.