I’ve been visiting Camp Cross for over 10 years. We attended a Labor Day Family Camp with our St. James’ (Pullman, WA) parishioners and I enjoyed the glorious natural beauty, but also the fellowship among the participants. Christian community in a non-parish setting is one feature of Camp Cross that has me reminding others to “keep comin’ back! “

While wading at Crescent Beach, my wife Alison relayed her metaphor for her relationship to God.  In the cool water, she floats effortlessly.  As she returns to the rocky shore, her body becomes heavy as she leaves the (holy) water and works to carry herself. It’s harder and harder to gain ones footing.  Yet, a loving arm reaches out to help her gain stability. This arm is God’s love in the form of your loving friend. Together, you can walk the journey on hot, dry land, until you once again return to refreshing water for relief.

Additionally, Camp Cross is a holy place where I have seen miracles happen.  Of course, miracles are in the eyes of the beholder and subject to perspective. This week I have seen the miracle of change. Mid-high campers arrived on Sunday, with anxiety, fears and few friends. In just a few days, I have seen them transformed. They’ve bonded with each other, shared intense experiences, been challenged in their views of faith and even improved their table manners (yes, a great miracle indeed!).  In all seriousness, the joy shared in a small group or gathered around a summer campfire is a holy miracle repeated again and again here.  I’ve noticed another transforming miracle recently.  As I look at this year’s staff members, several have spent many years coming to Camp Cross. They’ve loved being a camper with all the newness that experience brings. Camp Cross can be an intense emotional experience of faith on a young person’s own terms, far from their parish home.  It’s their mountaintop where they gain spiritual insight. Some grow into being a counselor, learning leadership skills shepherding a small group.  This is a critical stage in the faith formation of young people. Of that group, some continue serving as permanent staff members, gaining more leadership skills at the next level, long after coming to Camp Cross for the first time.  This chain of transformative experiences shapes the lifelong faith of many.

Wednesday night, we used a meditation from Taize to focus in the darkness of the cool evening, sitting on a floating dock.  Many relaxed on their backs, pondering the universe, gazing up into the vast expanse of stars. Some reported seeing up to five shooting stars and several orbiting satellites were visible.  Amid the cool breeze, surrounded by both intimate friends and endless cosmos, God is good; Very good; Always.

After stomping twice, over 200 leaders from around the Diocese chanted together, “I’m going to Camp Cross, and you’re coming too!” The next day, clergy and lay people from Grangeville to Oroville, from the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist to the Episcopal Churches of the Resurrection, wore badges to the closing Eucharist of Diocesan Convention stating the same, “you’re coming too!” Truly the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane is ready to welcome all the “yous” out there to Camp Cross in 2009, so, in our bold welcome, let’s remember what we’re welcoming people to.

First, we are welcoming everyone to an accepting and loving community that is an expression of the Anglican yearning to be in communion together. Camp Cross lives out this call to be in community and communion by asking people to come together to enjoy life, share a meal, and relax in a place where the beauty of creation transcends all the ideological debates that cloud our vision of what togetherness looks like. It is a place where our youth are asked to put aside the tools of judgment used in school, from clothes to class, and simply have fun together. It is a place where all, young and old, play together, creating a common experience that gives a common meaning to gathering around the Eucharistic table.

This community thrives in the midst of God’s creation; we are welcoming people to a home in nature. In our busy modern lives, there is likely no other place where cars are left behind, where we have to rely on other people to get us where we’re going, where we are forced, before coming or going, to look out on God’s creation and pause. It is easy to underestimate the value of this, but where else can you leave your watch behind, let someone else worry about the cooking, and leave your keys and wallet out of your pockets? We are welcoming people to be free of the tiny shackles of modern life and breathe nature in deeply.

Beyond the beautiful place that we as a diocese are blessed to be part of, we are welcoming our friends and families to a wonderfully Episcopal experience. Many camps ask youth to accept Christ as their savior, many camps are a place where youth are educated in the Gospel, but Camp Cross calls its campers and guests to experience Christ. We welcome all to live in a re-enchanted world, where the sacraments are something experienced, not just something done. This, not surprisingly, comes naturally to children, who see the mystery of faith all around them. And this is why we must be welcoming not just our children’s friends, but our own friends, to spend a day, weekend or week at Camp Cross, and let God deepen our experience of a sacramental life.

Camp Cross is our gift to share with the Inland Northwest. So I ask you to commit, with all those at Diocesan Convention, to coming to Camp Cross for one day next summer. Come share a meal with us. And, beyond that, commit to welcoming someone to share that experience with you. Even if Camp Cross opens its doors and puts up the sign “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You,” we will have very few drop in visitors on our little peninsula. We need our whole diocesan community to welcome children and adults to share this fun and loving community, this uniquely beautiful location, and wonderfully Episcopal vision of Christ. That is our New Year’s resolution. So, repeat after me, “I’m going to Camp Cross, and you’re coming too!”

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