Message Received: Hearing God's Call
St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp, Thursday, July 30, 2015
Today was a great
day at St Thomas Vacation Bible Camp! It
was a day to learn about the way God comes to us in the ordinariness of our
lives. The Bible story woven through our
day today was the story of Jesus calling the first disciples, the fishermen
Simon, Andrew, James and John (Matthew 4:18-22; Luke 5:1-11). Fishing was a very important job in first
century Palestine, and in the midst of a hard day of not-so-successful fishing,
Jesus called to the disciples, and because he did, their lives were changed.
When Jesus said “follow me, and I will make you fish for people,” the disciples
actually did that. They set down their
nets, left their boats and their family businesses and followed Jesus. It must have been quite something! Can you imagine being called so strongly to
something that you would actually be willing to change your entire life? It happens, even to people like you and
me. Following Jesus requires us to
change our priorities. And while we may
not be called to give up our jobs or our homes or our familiar family lives, we
are all called by Jesus, and responding to that call means giving up some of
the things that our world deems important.
I wonder what each of us might need to give up in order to more closely
follow Jesus and to more freely share God’s love with the world?
VBC
campers were surely “sharing the love” today as they made cards and notes for
the children of the Neuvo Creacion orphanage.
We learned of two new children there who need their own blankets, and
the campers will finish up the blanket making tomorrow and blankets will be
blessed at Mass on the Grass.. As the
children are wrapped in their blankets made by our campers, our prayer is that
they will know themselves to be wrapped in God’s love and in the love of all
the little (and big!) hands that contributed.
If you are interested in learning more about Nuevo Creacion, we’ll be happy
to talk further with you. You’ll have another opportunity to contribute to the
orphanage tomorrow – please bring your coins and help your children learn the
great joy of giving. The VBC campers are
coming to understand that they really can make a difference in the world, and that
they are doing precisely that! There was
more fun to be had in crafts today as children made their own “water sticks” to
remind them of the disciples coming to Jesus by the water. The snacks were awesome today too – ask your
campers! Fishing rod pretzels and gummy
worm bait… yummmm! The Sharks and Minnows
game in the park carried on the fishing theme, and the singing was once
again sublime! The children are very
excited about singing for our Mass on the Grass service on Sunday. Bring your campers (in their camp shirts) to
the park at 10 and find Tim for a little rehearsal. Then join us for a fun and festive family
picnic after the service!
It will
be sad to end Vacation Bible Camp tomorrow but we’ll hope to see you all on
Sunday. The children have been a joy,
and we’re so glad they’ve been here.
Many thanks
and blessings on you and yours, Karen †
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