Each morning at large group we started out with a dance to get everyone awake. It was pretty fantastic. The first one was to Istanbul (Not Constantinople)by They Might Be Giants, then there was 500 Miles by the Proclaimers, Walk the Dinosaur, and Star Trekkin'. The last night at camp was a mini-dance party, with all those songs plus Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down. There wasn't a dance for this song, but Sweet Caroline quickly became the theme of camp. Tim played it while we were walking in for large group one night, and after that it was being sung all over camp. You could at any point sing out "Sweet Caroline..." and be answered with "bah bah bahhhh."
The afternoon game on Tuesday was a crazy match of Capture the Flag; I got a little beat up but our team did awesome. That night's activity was a giant slip'n'slide.
The teaching Tuesday evening was based on I John 1:5-10: "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." The emphasis was on practicing the truth: what does that mean and what does it look like? Pastor Welzien then went back to Genesis 1-3. This coincided with Dan's seminar teaching from the morning on creation. Those first few chapters are necessary to explain our plight and purpose. He also emphasized that God is reality, and we need to recognize what He says about us. I thought that perspective was so convicting: what better source to search for what humanity is about than what the Author of life gave us? How often do I try to muddle through on my own instead of running to God's Word?
Then we looked at Ephesians 2:1ff, (go read it!) and Ephesians 4:17-18 which states "Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." The application was to have teachable hearts, and to question ourselves if we were really serious about walking uprightly, participating in spiritual warfare, having a prayer life.
To close, we looked at Romans 1:18ff (read it!). V. 25 especially, which says "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." is a challenge not to put our own abilities, ideas, philosophies, above what God Himself has given to us in His Word. God give us the truth; why would we give it back? One of the last thoughts I wrote down from what Pastor Welzien said was that God's word is always there for us to refresh ourselves with. It's what keeps us walking in His light.
The seminar my small group went to Wednesday morning was led by the OPC missionaries to Haiti, a family with 4 kids, talking about how they were called to Haiti, what they gave up to go there, what they gained in going, the challenges of their ministry there, and how God is at work in the church. The previous OP missionary to Haiti died in a motorcycle accident and there was an article about his ministry in the magazine the OPC publishes. They each read the article and individually they felt the call to go, and decided if at the next GA (I think... it might have just been a presbytery meeting) someone asked him specifically to go to Haiti, they would say yes. Someone did. They went. During the seminar we saw some videos of what life and ministry is like for them in Haiti. It was a neat opportunity to get a better glimpse of what the OPC is doing around the globe in His name.
The next day's seminar, taught by my hubby, was on loving Christ and the Church and the importance of observing the Sabbath in attending church. The main texts for this were Ephesians 2 and Hebrews 12,emphasizing that we are saved into the kingdom and family of God, to be a part of His church. Ignoring corporate life is to ignore what we are saved to. The means of grace given to us, the preaching of the word and the sacraments, are only legitimately available in the church.
Coming up: spiritual warfare.
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