Diagnosis: Journey Beyond Camp and VBS
Symptoms:
Symptoms:
·
A big emotional experience once or twice a year.
·
Feeling like you can hear God’s voice clearly at
camp, but cannot hear Him the rest of the year.
·
During Camp or VBS you make a commitment to read
your Bible more every year but "fall off the wagon" by the time
school starts.
·
Making close friends with the people in your
youth group during the summer months but returning to friendships where you are
less challenged during the school year.
·
A desire to serve God that does not last.
·
Committing to love your neighbors better and
then getting into a huge fight with your parents approximately 1.6 seconds
after getting off the church bus.
I was writing from a college campus
this week where a student camp was going on. As I sat in the student union, I
kept one eye on my laptop and one eye on the end of camp festivities. Girls
were braiding each other’s hair. Fellow campers were signing each other’s camp
shirts. I witnessed a couple of long and tearful goodbyes from camp couples who
had clearly met and fallen hard for each other in the past week (sigh).
It brought back a flood of memories
from my own camp experiences. (I heart church camp 4-ever!) I accepted Jesus as
my Savior at camp when I was fifteen. I looked forward to camp all year long
for every summer after that. After college I married a youth pastor, and we
took students to camp eleven years in a row. I loved watching how God could
work when we retreated from normal life.
But I often got
mountaintop syndrome. It’s a common condition. It happens when we gorge
ourselves on Jesus/the Bible/worship/Christian fellowship once or twice a year
and then starve ourselves of those things during the fifty-one weeks between
camp experiences. God seems so close to use during camp, but we just can’t seem
to keep it that way.
It’s not a new phenomenon.
In fact Peter had a bit of a church camp moment in Luke 9:28–35. Jesus took Peter, James,
and John on a mountain retreat. While they were there, Jesus was transfigured
before their very eyes. (Oh and Moses and Elijah showed up from the dead to
chat with Him.) Talk about a God encounter!
Peter didn’t want it to
end, so he said, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three
tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah."
Peter was saying,
"Let’s stay on this mountain, Jesus. I always want it to be this
way." He even offered to pitch tents for Moses and Elijah. I doubt they
would want to trade heaven for an all dude campout, but it was a nice thought.
We often feel like Peter
after mountaintop experiences in our faith. We want to stay where Jesus is easy
to see and God’s voice seems loud. We want to live where the heroes of our
faith such as our youth pastors, our camp counselors, or our small group
leaders are right there with us to keep us from falling short. We want to live
in little tents where we are protected from the pressures that make being a
Christian hard. But we cannot stay on the mountain.
Jesus didn’t take Peter up
on his offer to pitch a tent. He and Peter walked back down the mountain that
day because Jesus had work to do—kingdom work that could not be done from the
safety of a mountain tent.
Mark 8:1-20
During those days another large crowd
gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and
said, "I have compassion for these people; they
have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them
home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a
long distance."
His disciples answered, "But where in
this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?"
"How many loaves do you have?"
Jesus asked.
"Seven," they replied.
He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the
seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to
set before the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he
gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. The people
ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of
broken pieces that were left over. About four thousand men were present. And
having sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the
region of Dalmanutha.
The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed
deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for
a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it." Then he left them, got back into the boat and
crossed to the other side.
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they
had with them in the boat. "Be careful,"
Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the
Pharisees and that of Herod."
They discussed this with one another and said, "It is because we
have no bread."
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not
see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see,
and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves
for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
"Twelve," they replied.”
"And when I broke the seven loaves for the
four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven."
Last Supper worship – to denial the next day
Passover / Last
Supper / First Communion – went out singing in worship – went to a garden for
prayer – Right after worship and prayer Peter is cutting someone’s ear off,
Judas is betraying Jesus, Jesus is being arrested and all the disciples are
scattering – the commitments made at camp didn’t last long, even a few hours
later, Peter who was ready to die with Jesus was denying that he even knew him.
Words to leave Camp by
Proverbs 3:1-4My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
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