Don’t be fooled
So I was in my local grocery store recently, and I saw a sign advertising, “this week’s feature … pretzel roll sandwiches.” Now I’m a Delanco Camp enthusiast, so of course to me “pretzel roll sandwich” means a certain thing, foil wrapped pretzeliciousness. Whatever it is that the grocery store is offering is clearly not the real thing. It’s a fake. How do I know that? It’s because I have personal experience with the real thing.
There are a lot of things out there that are fake. Companies are telling us that if we buy their product it will satisfy us, but this is a false promise. We won’t find real satisfaction from buying something. Candidates are telling us that if we vote the right way we will be taken care of, but this is a another false promise, no elected official can protect us from the dangers of life. Our culture tells us that money and prestige bring lasting happiness, but this is false. All those things will be gone soon enough, and while they are here they will just bring people trouble.
The scriptures say:
Blessed is the one
who trusts in the LORD,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
Many, LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done,
the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
they would be too many to declare.
-Psalm 40:4-5
There are two very different ways of understanding this Christmas season. One way is the way of the proud, the way of the false gods of more stuff, more lights, bigger shows, moneymoneymoney, and the joy of excess. The other way is the way of the true God who was born as one of the homeless, and who’s life took him to death row. Many are the wonders he has done. None can compare with him.
If you can have personal experience with the real thing, you won’t be fooled by the fakes.
Dave Brown is a former camper, summer staff member and has served in various administrative and volunteer capacities at the camp for many years.
Beyond the Trappings
The smell of palm flowers in the air. Hot, sultry days giving way to breezy cool nights full of the sound of exploding fireworks. Piles of juicy watermelons for sale along the side of the highway. The clay ovens being heated with wood fires to bake delicious pans full of bread made with cornmeal and manioc flour. Yup, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Doesn’t sound like Christmas to you? Well, what do you associate with Christmas? The smell of cinnamon, pine, and spices? Cold, crisp days promising snow? Quiet, peaceful nights and the possibility of carolers at the door? Delicious Christmas cookies and pies being baked in the oven and filling the house with sweet smells?
When I think about the sights, sensations, fragrances, and sounds of Christmas in the northern hemisphere and those of my adopted home, Paraguay, I realize they could hardly be more different. Gradually I’m learning to replace in my mind the American ones with the Paraguayan ones, but it’s a long process—these are emotional associations at a deep level!
But all of this has forced me to think about what are the important aspects of Christmas and which elements are really dispensable. It turns out that many of the aspects of Christmas that I have been so attached to are not in fact vital to the celebration at all! I’m obliged to return to Scripture once again and try to imagine what it must have been like for Mary when the angel said to her, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus … for nothing is impossible with God!” (Luke 1:31, 37) Very few of her sensations in the moments and months following that announcement can have been pleasant or agreeable. There was rejection, discomfort, confusion, and loneliness. There was the understanding that her obedience to God’s plans would not be easy or convenient. But finally there was the calm and deep security: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38)
Tonight I will interpret into Guarani for my dad, who will preach a Christmas message to a house church in our rural, poor community in Paraguay. There will be very few of the trappings of Christmas in evidence in the simple gathering. But the heart of Christmas remains and, perhaps, shouts louder for the lack of adornment: “Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!” (Psalm 66:5) “We wait for the blessed hope– the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:13-14)
Today’s readings: Psalm 66, 67, 116, 117; 1 Sam 2:1b-10; Titus 2:1-10; Luke 1:26-38
Andy Bowen is a longtime friend of the camp who serves as a missionary in Paraguay.
More than warm fuzzies
As a child neither my family nor my church family celebrated the season of Advent. We did not light an Advent candle for each of the four Sundays prior to Christmas. We did not have a Christmas Eve worship service. Since my arrival to New Jersey, however, I have adopted and embraced the traditions of the Advent season with a deeper appreciation of the larger Christmas event. When our children were young, Sharon and I established a family advent wreath, daily gathering for family worship before bedtime. The churches I pastored also emphasized the season of Advent and held meaningful and beautiful Christmas Eve worship services.
All of these traditions point to the coming of the Christ, God’s Messiah, in the stable in Bethlehem. That is what Advent is and does. And so we wait for the Messiah and Christmas Day!
The reality is that our Messiah has come. Jesus is God’s Gift and Light to the world. But we still wait–for His Second Coming! Jesus Himself said, “I will come again.” A pastor friend of mine told me that he would rather his flock would understand the impact of Jesus’ first coming before they become so enamored with Jesus’ second coming!
Our Scripture readings for today remind us of the breadth and totality of the Christmas event at Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus is more than a simple, momentary blip in human history, and definitely far more than the ‘warm fuzzies’ most people ascribe to the Christmas ‘holidays.’
Christmas is about the reality of Satan and evil. It is about Jesus being both Savior and Judge. Christmas is about transformation and new life. Christmas is about Jesus’ second advent who sits on the eternal throne while we cast our crowns at His feet and declare, “Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” Christmas is about being faithful even in the midst of tough times when we ‘walk the walk, and talk the talk.’
The Christmas message is simple and it is pervasive! It is known and unknowable! It is earthly and it is heavenly! It is simple and it is complicated! It is safe and it is dangerous!
Christmas is wonderful! Jesus is coming…….
Today’s Readings – Psalm 119:49-72, 49, 53, Zech 3:1-10, Rev 4:1-8, Matt 24:45-51
Jerry Ruff is a longtime friend of the camp who is the pastor of Sharptown North, a congregation in Woolwich Township that was planted by Sharptown Church.
Keep the long view in mind
“But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.” -Psalm 41
I went for a walk with my brother on Thanksgiving Day. He was late getting to the family gathering because his 3-week-old daughter had been sick the night before. They ended up taking her into the hospital because she wasn’t breathing right. When I saw him, he was fine. His daughter wasn’t sick anymore and everything was going to be alright. These are the stories we like. These are the ones we want for ourselves. The resolution. The healing. The grace of God obviously at work in our lives.
But as we walked around the block that day my brother told me about something else, something hidden away in his heart. Years earlier my brother’s wife had two successive miscarriages. These had devastated him. He was elated at the possibility of fatherhood and crushed when he heard the doctor’s diagnosis. My brother had a flood of emotions – hatred, anger, frustration, sadness. He told me that day that he didn’t know how to understand God. Once he was certain that God’s love meant he could be dependent on a result. He knew he had favor from God because he was a Christian and he trusted God. But now he doesn’t know. Now he is marred with the loss of two children and unsure of whether he can trust in a God that doesn’t give him favorable results. Even today my brother can’t talk about these losses for more than 30 seconds without getting angry all over again.
Psalm 41 talks about enemies that hate us and best friends that betray us. By the end of the Psalm, though, it’s about triumphing over the enemy and being in God’s presence. How are these things compatible? How do we have both horrible defeat in our lives and triumph in God’s presence? I offer up two thoughts: 1. Evil springs from sin, Satan and free will. How can we blame God when bad things happen in our lives? We freely choose where we go, who we interact with, how much debt we get into buying Christmas presents. The results of these actions are on us, not God. Faithful living and integrity will get us a long way, but even that won’t lead to a perfect life. The enemy is at war with God so there will always be pain in this world. 2. Keep the long view in mind. This world is not the end. Our current pain is not the final story. Advent is such a beautiful season because we are reminded over and over again that Jesus will come again. When the Lord returns we will win! God doesn’t promise a perfect life with the results we want, but instead offers an eternity in the Lord’s presence. I will gladly bear the pain of this world for the promise of eternity. Will you do the same this advent season? Trust in the Lord. Live a life of integrity, devoted to God. Things may not always go your way, but you are guaranteed the final victory.
Enjoy the Advent season and Merry Christmas!
Brian Neville is an assistant pastor at First UMC in Toms River and a native of Buffalo who has been a speaker, counselor, teacher and team leader out at camp.
Seeking a closer walk
When David composed the ancient hymn found in Psalm 63, he was not in a temple or worshipful tabernacle; rather, he was in the Desert of Judah. There in the desert he was alone, removed and separated from every comfort and friend. There he suffered thirst, hunger, pain, loneliness, and exhaustion. There in the desert David had many needs, yet David lets us know that none of these are his biggest need.
David tells us what is his greatest need is when he states in Psalm 63:1:
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Right away we see that David is not first of all seeking food, water, comfort, or rest even though he is in the desert and badly needs all of these things. What David hungers and thirsts for above anything else is God. David is searching for a deep communion with the Lord. David, we could say, wants to have a closer and dearer walk with God.”
Why is David seeking God? David mentions a “dry and weary land.” As far as his relationship with God is concerned, David has reached or had reached a dry spell. He wasn’t as close to God as, for instance, when he was a shepherd boy. At that time he played his harp while he sang God’s praises and at night he marveled over all the stars God had put in the night sky.
The “dry and weary land” mentioned by David is also a picture of much of the church today. Very few believers seem to seek God above anything else. So many are caught up in seeking the “stuff” of this world. As a result, their souls are empty and barren. So what we need today are Christian men and women and young people and children who desire God, men and women and young people and children who want and seek a closer walk with God.
In his ancient song David tells us five elements to a closer walk with God. David knew what he had to do and what we have to do to have a closer walk with God.
In verse 2 David says I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. David longs for a closer walk with God. David reminds us of why we go to church.
We come to church to be in the presence of God.
A David’s second way for a closer walk with God is found in verses 3-5: (Ps 63:3-5) “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. (4) I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. (5) My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”
David mentions glory and praise. And, he also tells us how and when to do this: with lips, mouth, and hands as long as we live. To have a closer walk with God one of the things we have to do is always praise and glorify Him with all of our being and in all of life.
A David’s third way to achieve a closer walk with God is found in verse 6:(Ps 63:6) “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.”
To have a closer walk with God one of the things we have to do is meditate upon God and the things of God. To have a closer walk with God it is important that we fill our mind and our thoughts with the right things. David’s suggestion: meditate upon the Lord and the things of the Lord. Think about God. Or, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2). Those who want a closer walk with God make a point to seek him and him only. If you want a closer walk with God even in difficult situations you are to “rejoice in the Lord.”
Today’s Readings – Psalm 63, 98, 103, Amos 9:11-15, 2 Thess 2:1-3, 13-17, John 5:30-47
Robert Ralph is the pastor of New Brooklyn UMC, teaches at Camden County College and collects stadium seats.
No greater story of hope
If this is the season in which we celebrate that God comes to us, then we must take some time to reflect upon the nature of such a revelation. Who is this one then that comes with the ultimate purpose to save? What was it like for Him to become one of us in order to redeem us?
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! -Philippians 2: 5 -8
The omnipotent became fragile; the omniscient one didn’t even know the “day or the hour;” the omnipresent one became a temporal being in history, time, space, and in a human body. This is living and stepping into mystery.
Dietrich Bonheoffer says, “The child in the manger is none other than God himself. Nothing greater can be said: God became a child. In the Jesus child of Mary lives the almighty God. Wait a minute! Don’t speak; stop thinking! Stand still before this statement! God became a child! Here he is, poor like us, miserable and helpless like us, a person of flesh and blood like us, our brother. And yet he is God; he is might. Where is the divinity, where is the might of the child? In the divine love in which he became like us.”
Indeed, God knows what it is like to go through struggle, pain, separation, and hurt. He feels our joys and sorrows for He became one of us in order to save us. There is no greater story of hope for us than this. Live in this reality, that God decided to save us by entering our world. Tell God what you feel and what you are thinking, for He not only knows, He understands. This is the message of Christmas.
Michael Smith is a camp alum who has worked on staff and served on the board at camp. He is the pastor of Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Erma.
Welcome to the blog for Delanco Camp, an inter-denominational Christian camp in Tabernacle, N.J. If you have questions, would like to contribute, advertise or want to share a story, memory, old photos or testimony of your time at camp, contact Blog Editor Matt Ralph at matt.ralph@delanco.org. Upcoming Events
Your purchases using this link support Delanco Camp
Top Commenters - February
