Ten-men weekend
by Andy Behrendt
My allergies and asthma held me back from overnight outdoor adventures when I was a kid. They kept me away from fireplaces, much less campfires. Needless to say, I was never big in the church-camp scene.Whereas I developed an interest in the outdoors over time (embarrassingly, thanks mostly to "Survivor," I suppose), it was just last weekend that I at last got my first real church-camp experience — with a bunch of guys mostly twice my age.
Each Master of Divinity student at Luther Seminary spends four semesters in partnership with a Twin Cities-area congregation, known until recently as a Contextual Leadership site and now called a Teaching Parish. My congregation is Galilee Lutheran Church in Roseville, Minn. I've had the chance to teach and preach there on several occasions, but the men's retreat last weekend was my first chance take part in any big event with the folks of the congregation.
Nine of us hit the road on Friday evening en route to Bay Lake Camp, a 72-acre island northeast of Brainerd. Strengthened by a heaping helping of Angus beef from an Embers restaurant along the way, we arrived shortly after sunset at the camp's dock, where a pontoon boat took us to the island, just as our 10th camper, Wayne, arrived in his fishing boat.
The island turned out to be a spectacular place, particularly once I was able to see it in daylight. As the camp staff told us, the island was donated to First Lutheran Church of St. Paul in 1908 but didn't become a camp until 1926. The island has provided First Lutheran with great opportunities for ministry over the years, particularly with youth programs. The congregation has determined to hold onto this unique blessing, even as the land is worth millions. Now, it's an exciting time of renewal, with a new lodging facility and expansion of the dining hall just around the corner, thanks in no small part to donations from more than half of the 600 households on Bay Lake.
The island proved to be a great place for Wayne and some other early risers to fish. They caught some nice bass and bluegill, but the real spectacle ended up being a swimming deer (they didn't try to hook the deer). There were plenty of spectacular views around the island, which the amazingly hospitable camp staff showed off during a sunset boat tour. It also proved to be a treacherous site for a disc-golf course. I not only finished dead last in our tournament on Saturday, but I also finished with a wood tick affixed to my shin — lucky for me, our Pastor Dick is a seasoned tick-remover.
In short, this was a great place to take in the splendor of God's creation, and it was a fitting venue for my Bible study on "Creation and the Green Church," considering creation in light of the environmental concerns facing the world today. I had never led a Bible study before, and I suppose it went pretty well, considering that pretty much any of these guys knew more than I did about at least some of this stuff. The only tense moment was when Pastor Dick lit a piece of newspaper on fire and waved it in the air as part of a dramatic portrayal of Genesis 1. I had a great time with these great guys all weekend, even as they teased me a bit for missing my wife so much. (It was the first time in our two-year marriage that we spent two whole nights apart!)
The real highlight, though, was Sunday morning's church service on the waterfront. I was pleased to take part by reading the lessons and, at the end of Pastor Dick's sermon, playing the part of a troubled passerby who is suddenly welcomed into a church community, played by the other Galilee men. A service in such a beautiful outdoor setting is something in itself, but the deep camaraderie of the entire weekend peaked amid the fellowship of the larger community of folks who bring their boats to the island each Sunday morning. I met a bunch of friendly lake-dwellers, one of whom confessed that she was fooled into thinking that our sermon skit was not a skit at all (I have to say, that group of guys has talent). The crowning moment of the weekend came just after the service, when one of our guys, Abraham, learned that his second grandchild had been born that morning (even out in nature, you gotta have cell phones these days).
What an adventure. What a way to catch up on all that church-camp fun I missed as a kid. Heck, we even sang campfire songs and made S'mores — granted it was indoors and around a fireplace, but even fireplaces are primitive and dangerous to me.
Nine of us hit the road on Friday evening en route to Bay Lake Camp, a 72-acre island northeast of Brainerd. Strengthened by a heaping helping of Angus beef from an Embers restaurant along the way, we arrived shortly after sunset at the camp's dock, where a pontoon boat took us to the island, just as our 10th camper, Wayne, arrived in his fishing boat.
The island turned out to be a spectacular place, particularly once I was able to see it in daylight. As the camp staff told us, the island was donated to First Lutheran Church of St. Paul in 1908 but didn't become a camp until 1926. The island has provided First Lutheran with great opportunities for ministry over the years, particularly with youth programs. The congregation has determined to hold onto this unique blessing, even as the land is worth millions. Now, it's an exciting time of renewal, with a new lodging facility and expansion of the dining hall just around the corner, thanks in no small part to donations from more than half of the 600 households on Bay Lake.
The island proved to be a great place for Wayne and some other early risers to fish. They caught some nice bass and bluegill, but the real spectacle ended up being a swimming deer (they didn't try to hook the deer). There were plenty of spectacular views around the island, which the amazingly hospitable camp staff showed off during a sunset boat tour. It also proved to be a treacherous site for a disc-golf course. I not only finished dead last in our tournament on Saturday, but I also finished with a wood tick affixed to my shin — lucky for me, our Pastor Dick is a seasoned tick-remover.
In short, this was a great place to take in the splendor of God's creation, and it was a fitting venue for my Bible study on "Creation and the Green Church," considering creation in light of the environmental concerns facing the world today. I had never led a Bible study before, and I suppose it went pretty well, considering that pretty much any of these guys knew more than I did about at least some of this stuff. The only tense moment was when Pastor Dick lit a piece of newspaper on fire and waved it in the air as part of a dramatic portrayal of Genesis 1. I had a great time with these great guys all weekend, even as they teased me a bit for missing my wife so much. (It was the first time in our two-year marriage that we spent two whole nights apart!)
The real highlight, though, was Sunday morning's church service on the waterfront. I was pleased to take part by reading the lessons and, at the end of Pastor Dick's sermon, playing the part of a troubled passerby who is suddenly welcomed into a church community, played by the other Galilee men. A service in such a beautiful outdoor setting is something in itself, but the deep camaraderie of the entire weekend peaked amid the fellowship of the larger community of folks who bring their boats to the island each Sunday morning. I met a bunch of friendly lake-dwellers, one of whom confessed that she was fooled into thinking that our sermon skit was not a skit at all (I have to say, that group of guys has talent). The crowning moment of the weekend came just after the service, when one of our guys, Abraham, learned that his second grandchild had been born that morning (even out in nature, you gotta have cell phones these days).
What an adventure. What a way to catch up on all that church-camp fun I missed as a kid. Heck, we even sang campfire songs and made S'mores — granted it was indoors and around a fireplace, but even fireplaces are primitive and dangerous to me.
posted by Andy Behrendt at 8:12 PM
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