Some people talk about “The Summer Camp High” as if it’s not real. I have to admit, I did too. It’s an easy target: people come back buzzing with energy and excitement and ready to be really spiritual and maybe even change the world. But by the time school starts again, where has all that energy and optimism gone? One could almost wonder, if things go back to normal, is Camp (or the retreat or the special event) even worth it?
But that line of thinking confuses the sign and the destination. A sign is something that gets attention and directs people in a certain direction. By definition it’s loud and temporary and it’s not the fullness or the reality of the destination. Camp is a sign of the destination of the Kingdom of God – a taste and a sample of the transforming power of fellowship and daily focus on faith in Jesus. It speaks to what’s possible so that when we go home and back to school, our eyes will be able to recognize Kingdom reality when it shows up in the nitty-gritty of the here-and-now, and our feet will already know the path.
When Jesus presents us to the Father at the End, he says, “Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols…” (Hebrews 2:13; Isaiah 8:18). This means we’re a family of living signs that point to a coming and ultimate reality. When we loose sight of this, we’re unable to gratefully and joyously celebrate signs of Spirit when they appear. Instead, we start to get entangled in a Savior complex and we commit ourselves to the foolish and vain project of creating Paradise on Earth. There will be paradise some day, when Jesus returns, and it’s our job to create preview experiences of it at home, at work, at school, and at Camp. This empowers his people big and small to be signs nudging the world to a destination with God.
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You Can Always Come Home
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