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 †