Vacation Bible Camp: Day Four

Welcome:  Give and Receive 

God’s Great Love! 
St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp, Thursday, July 31, 2014

Today was a great day at St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp!  It was a day to learn about being peacemakers in the world.  The Bible story woven through our day today was a special story because it was an Old Testament story with a woman, Abigail as the main character!  That didn’t happen much in those old stories!  David (before he becomes King David) is living on the run, but when he finds himself in a wilderness filled with sheep and not enough shepherds (you might remember that David started out as a shepherd), he goes to work.  But Nabol is angry and stingy and refuses to pay or even feed David and his men.  David becomes very angry and wants to attack!  But Abigail gets wind of all this, gathers bread and meat, raisins and figs, and many other provisions for David and his men, and rides off to find him.  She offers him wonderful food and asks for forgiveness on behalf of her foolish husband.  David responds that he has met God in her.  Abigail put her own life at risk in order to keep the greater peace.  And while we don’t have to go to such extreme measures, we can find ways to make peace in our homes, our schools, and our communities.  When we’ve done something hurtful and ask for forgiveness, we are peacemakers. When we refuse to fight back, we are peacemakers.  When we forgive someone who has hurt us, we are peacemakers.  When we love instead of hate, we are peacemakers.  The story shows us that peacemaking begins inside each one of us and that when we are peacemakers, we make the world a better place.

VBC campers added to the peace on the planet today by sharing their own ideas about love
by making cards for the men from Congregations for the Homeless and designing quilt squares for the Love Quilt project.  There are more than 2 million AIDS orphans in South Africa, and the government there is working hard to build homes for these children so that they can live in family groups in their own towns with a house mother.  Love Quilt squares made by our VBC campers will be sewn into quilts by quilters at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia and hand carried to the children in South Africa.  To be wrapped in a Love Quilt is to be wrapped in God’s love and in the love of all the little hands that contributed.  If you are interested in learning more about the Love Quilt Project or the South African home-building project, we’ll be happy to talk further with you.  We’re still collecting food for Bellevue’s Renewal Food Bank, and we thank you for your generous donations.  The VBC campers are coming to understand that they really can make a difference in the world, and that they are doing precisely that!

Many thanks and blessings on you and yours, Karen †

Vacation Bible Camp: Day Three

Welcome:  Give and Receive God’s Great Love! 
St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp, Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Another fantastic day at St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp!  Today was a bit different from our other VBC days because we had a church service with Holy Communion.   

The youth Story-tellers told the story of Zacchaeus and his quest to see Jesus.  Zacchaeus was a first century tax-collector, and at the bottom of the barrel as far as nice guys go!  He stole from the people he collected taxes from and was a most notorious sinner!  But when Zacchaeus climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus, Jesus took notice, and invited himself to dinner at Zacchaeus’ home.  Can you imagine?  Knowing that you’re not actually a very good person and yet you’re the person God chooses to be with?  As it turns out, when we invite God to be with us, we are changed!  Zacchaeus became a kind and generous person after spending some time with Jesus… it’s what happens for us too.  The story shows us that there is goodness in all of us, that every single one of us precious to God, and that when we let God in, life can change pretty dramatically. 

Tomorrow is our last day to host Congregations for the Homeless as the men will be moving to another church on August 1.  The youth brought your donations of clothing and toiletries to the altar during our church service today, and all of those items, along with the breakfast muffins the children made yesterday, were blessed and sent on their way.  Thank you again for sharing what you have with those less fortunate.  Although our collections for CFH are over, we continue to collect food for Bellevue’s Renewal Food Bank.  Six hundred children need snacks during summer school and we can help!  Your gifts of food will help insure that children who often receive their most nutritious meal of the day through public school lunch programs, will have nourishing food during the summer months when school is not in session.

We are delighted to be sharing this time with your children… they are surely a blessing to us!  Many thanks and blessings on you and yours, Karen †

Vacation Bible Camp: Day Two

Welcome:  Give and Receive God’s Great Love! 
St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp, Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Greetings from Vacation Bible Camp!  We missed a blog post for our first day of camp but VBC is off to a great start!  Today was another great day at St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp!  Today the campers composed their own song and really learned their memory verse.  If you would like to memorize it with us, it’s 1 John 4:12.  Friendship bracelets were made, games were played, blueberry muffins were made for the men at Congregations for the Homeless and there was lots of connection with children happy to be back in their groups with old and new friends.  

Campers talked today about a time when they were hurt and someone helped them.  Through the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), they realized that even though they are little, they too can care for their neighbors.  When Jesus says we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, a lawyer asks him “Who is my neighbor?”  In answer to his question, Jesus tells a story about a man who is beaten and robbed on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  While we feel compassion for the injured man, the most important part of this story is not what happened to him (he IS cared for and gets well), but the reactions from the passers-by.  Two men passed the injured man, one a priest and one another respectable man from a neighboring town… and neither stopped to care for the injured man.  Then a man from an adversarial tribe saw the injured man and his heart filled with compassion.  He bound the injured man’s wounds and took him to an inn where he paid for the injured man’s stay.  Even though these men were from tribes of people who were adversaries, their very human connection was more important than their differences.  What a good and important reminder that we can all share God’s Great Love by showing compassion, and that God can use all of us – no matter how big or little we are – to help make the world a better place.  We also learned more about making the world a better place by bringing food for the Bellevue Renewal Foodbank, and bringing clothing and toiletries for the men at Congregations for the Homeless.  The campers have been incredibly generous!

We are delighted to be sharing this time with all the children… they are surely a blessing to us!  Many thanks and blessings to you and yours, Karen †