Mission Monthly – September 2003

“Do not hold the commandment to love in contempt, for through it you will become a son of God The kingdom of God is characterized by humility and gentleness.”

St. Maximus the Confessor

August was a month to remember though at this moment it seems a blur! The faces of children fill my God's eyes, especially the children of Camp St. George, where I was wonderfully connected to the spiritual joy and “mountain top” experience of summer church camp. From the beginning of staff training to our final goodbyes at camp's end, we succeeded by the grace of God to present a vision of community as the basis for camp life. What happened was nothing short of miraculous. One hundred or so relative strangers became a family. There was an amazing spirit of cooperation and freedom that exists when boundaries are defined and maintained and when people feel safe. In a place where rebellious behavior was rare and even frowned upon by the peer group itself, the atmosphere was free and friendly and God's love and joy was felt by all! I am very thankful!

My meditation comes from a comparison of this experience to that of our vacation in the life of our 2-1/2 year old son, Anthony. P.K.s (t's kids) like Anthony who have the opportunity to be associated with summer camp at this young age often take on the unofficial role of “camp mascot.” By the end of camp Anthony was either being invited or inviting himself to the dinner tables of the different cabin groupings. Sometimes we wouldn't see him for entire meals. In other settings, where it was safe for him, the older children were always welcoming him with hugs and little conversations. This friendly and welcoming spirit was the norm for Anthony and we were very pleased to see him respond warmly to this very natural human exchange.

By contrast, Anthony had a very different experience while we were camping up in Door County. Vanessa shared with me a recurring observation she made on the occasions when she was out with Anthony at the campground or when she took Anthony into town on the day I played golf. She observed Anthony being naturally friendly with other children, usually by offering a kind “Hello” and, with very few exceptions, the responses ranged from aloof silence to outright hostile facial and body language. At first I reduced Vanessa's reports to over-protective mothering until I saw it for myself when Anthony tried to say hello to another child at a restaurant. I still find it hard to believe that people, especially children, can be so exaggeratedly unfriendly!

I am not going to over-analyze these behaviors. Thankfully there were a few “normal” responses to y's friendliness which gave us a break from having to affirm or encourage him (I don't think he was deterred in his interest in others and we hope he never will be!). Is simple neighborly kindness, like many other human pleasantries, eroding from our social landscape? If so, why? Considering this, it made me even that much more thankful for Anthony's Camp St. George experience. It also made me lament the many forms of violence which are seemingly imploding two of the most basic of freedoms that this country once afforded her citizens—the freedom to feel safe and the freedom to be kind to our neighbor. This erosion is not just from the aggression of international terror or ongoing national crime, there is also a violence that comes from a self-centered and self-satisfied materialism which I believe desensitizes men (and especially children) to the basic virtue of appreciation for one's neighbor.

The miracle of Camp St. George was that in the presence of a Godly vision, with prayer and fasting in preparation for the Feast of Holy Dormition, with clearly defined expectations and a safe environment and in the absence of television, computers, cell phones and strip malls, we were given a gift to experience life free from terror and materialism and full of Godly fraternity and kindness. My hope for Anthony, and all of us, is that we can build upon this warmth to the glory of God and resist the heart-hardening, love-diminishing realities that the passions of this world can bring.