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Reflections with Camp & Retreat Ministries
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Christian Hospitality
Last week I shared that those of us in Camp and Retreat Ministries are committed to creating Sacred Spaces of Christian hospitality and learning, with a focus on Sacred spaces. This week I would like to share about Christian hospitality.
The rabbis said, “Hospitality is one form of worship.”
One of my favorite biblical examples of hospitality is found in Genesis 18, where Abraham is sitting in the shade of some trees and God stops by for a visit, in the form of three visitors. Provisions beyond what was promised are made and brought to the visitors. It is about meeting the needs of those we encounter in the name of the God we worship; in so doing we proclaim the goodness of God with our genuine acts of care and concern for the well-being of others.
“Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space
where change can take place.” (Henri Nouwen)
There is something profound that happens to us when we encounter a space that is prepared and designed to allow us to be who we are. In these spaces we can remove our social mask(s) and experience our authentic selves. And when we do that our entire lives are changed because we caught a glimpse of ourselves and of what the Kindom of God is like.
For those of us in Camp and Retreat Ministries this kind of hospitality is grounded in spiritual practices: prayer, presence, and proclamation. Each group of guests is held in prayer as we anticipate their arrival, while they are present on site, and even following their time at our sites. We practice being present to and for groups through attending to dietary needs, overnight accommodations, groundskeeping, and programs, and by taking time to listen to campers and guests who are hungry for spiritual connection with another human being. We also proclaim the goodness of God through the work that we do to encourage spiritual growth, community-building, and interactions with God’s glorious Creation.
What makes this Christian hospitality is that we do these things because we are followers of Jesus who gave us a wonderful example of hospitality when he broke bread and shared it with his disciples and then took up the towel and basin and washed their feet.
I would like to leave you with one last quote about hospitality. Along with the Nouwen quote above, this has had profound impact on my understanding of hospitality. Abba James (a monastic Desert Father from the fourth or fifth century) said, “It is better to receive hospitality than to offer it.” Now to be fair, someone needs to offer it for it to be received, but in receiving hospitality we are forever different.
May you be blessed to receive hospitality and in turn to offer it, even in the midst of this pandemic.
See you on the adventure ahead,
Rev. Todd Bartlett
Executive Director of Camp and Retreat Ministries
*photo from Latgawa (photographer unknown)
Wallowa Lake Shower House is Ready!
Peggy Lovegren, one of our site directors currently on furlough, shares with us her excitement over the new development that guests at Wallowa Lake will experience when they are able to return to this amazing site:
Because of wonderful donors meeting Ray Johnson’s extremely generous matching donation challenge, Wallowa Lake Camp has a brand-new beautiful shower house! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Dave Cook and David Lovegren, with the help of devoted volunteers, built the new shower house with heated floors (to help dry rooms) and proper ventilation. It includes five toilet-sink rooms, five shower rooms with benches, an easy-to-reach utility room, and a handicapped-accessible/family shower-toilet room with plenty of space. The new building will meet the needs of diverse populations so much better than our old, aging, community shower house.
Volunteers are putting on the final touches and then all we need to do is a bit of landscaping around the building and we’ll be ready to welcome guests in 2021! Yay!
Because of YOU--our donors, volunteers, and staff--God’s ministry is happening every day at Wallowa Lake United Methodist Camp! --Peggy Lovegren
Blessings Report
- The blessing of "tree-conditioning" on a hot summer day at the Collins Retreat Center
- Furloughed directors at Suttle Lake report the blessing of the night sky, and more time to walk around the lake, seeing wildflowers, including buttercups
- At Latgawa, the blessing of cooperation with the US Forest Service (which owns the land on which the camp is located)
Please send your blessings to share in future issues of the e-news. Click on this link
Where have you experienced Christian hospitality?
Have you had an experience of Christian hospitality lately? That may be a tough question, given our pandemic-related isolation, but think about someone who may have created a space (perhaps a virtual space!) where the Holy Spirit could move in and do its transformative work. Or maybe you have a pre-pandemic story of Christian hospitality. Share your story with Todd! And as you reflect on the ways that camping and retreat ministry creates sacred spaces through hospitality, we hope you will feel moved to support that ministry with your financial gift. Thank you!
