Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Your Present is Sacred

Most campers who attend Tall Oaks Camp and Conference Center will tell you: It is my favorite place on earth. 


Having grown up going to camp there and now counseling, I whole heartedly agree. I most recently counseled a camp for 14 year olds called "Eighters." It uses a curriculum designed by CLER Ministries and it centers around spirituality and sexuality. Seeing as the motto for CLER is "just say know" they value education and reasoning skills and put a lot of faith in high schoolers and their ability to make good decisions based on good knowledge and research. 


Eighters Camp imparts helpful knowledge about the Bible, spirituality, sexuality, puberty, arousal, dating pitfalls, controlling and abusive relationships, contraceptives, and sexually transmitted infections. Campers are encouraged to call body parts and sexual activities by their proper names. Over the course of the week I can see and observe campers gaining more confidence in their knowledge of their own bodies and processes, in their value and worth as human beings, and gaining more respect for each other. 


As a counselor, I have the privilege of having tough conversations, trying to answer tough questions, and being God's hands and feet with the campers. I am continually amazed by the campers I talk with; their vulnerability, honesty, care, wisdom, and spirit is often overwhelming. That's right... I said wisdom. When you give them a chance, 14 year olds will surprise you with their spiritual wisdom, kindness, and reasoning skills. 


To me, that's what Eighters Camp is all about: giving them a chance. We give them the chance to see themselves as creatures created by God, to ask questions and get honest answers, to hear the truth about God's gift of sexuality and how precious it is and finally, to hear the truth about how precious they are.


As wonderful as all of this sounds, people - including teenagers - make mistakes. We treat each other poorly. We take advantage of the gifts given to us (like sex) and use them inappropriately. We bully others and even ourselves into believing that we are less than children of God. In order to deal with this, we have a worship service centered around forgiveness. 


At the beginning, each camper is given a small ball of clay and during the service they are invited to mold that clay into whatever shape they think represents their own self. Here's mine. I spread it all out in a long strip and rolled it up because I often feel that I am too self-centered and me-focused. 

The campers are then invited to come forward with the clay representation of their soul to meet two counselors. The first counselor takes the clay and rolls it back into a smooth ball saying, "Your past is forgiven." The second counselor then takes the clay in her hand and presses the camper's thumb into it, creating a thumbprint saying, "Your present is sacred."


I remember thinking to myself, "If God can transform my self-centered soul into an individual piece of art, God can really do anything. My past is forgiven; I don't have to dwell. My present is sacred; I can truly live." And that's the point: even with you, even a 14 year old whose hormones are out of control, even with someone who has really screwed up, God can make you whole again. God can make your life worth living. 

That is the message our young people need to hear. It's so much more than "Don't have sex." Instead, it gives them a reason to wait and consider it carefully. Because they are holy, smart, worthy, and beloved. 

At the end of camp the same words are given as the benediction, with something more added: 

Your past is forgiven. 
Your present is sacred. 
Your future is safe in the hands of God. 

And the people of God said, "Amen."