Youth News - March 2023

A Message from Renee Haney

I have asked some of our staff who serve each summer to share a little about what they do at our summer church camp and what it means to them. Please read our fourth “WHY article” by Brother Jimmy Haney, St. Paul’s Lubbock.  

The support of the diocese for our youth and the youth program is appreciated. Thank you!  It is a joy to work with the youth and members from our churches in the diocese.   

 

 

From Brother Jimmy Haney

I have had the great privilege of participating in Camp Quarterman for the past 15 years as a camper, junior counselor, counselor, and adult support staff. Working on the staff, among other duties I have served as the camp sacristan. In this role I have drafted the liturgies for camp together with the clergy, as well as serve as the altar guild for the week. As such, I would like to share just a few short reflections on the liturgical life of Camp Quarterman. 

At every camp we do celebrate the Eucharist and share communion at least twice that week. Now while the prayers we pray are the same as a traditional Sunday morning service, much is different. Our music uses electric guitars instead of pipe organs. We use PowerPoint slides instead of bulletins. And we set up a folding table to use as our altar and put a tie dye altar frontal on it. But, most importantly, God is present. Every time I have been at camp, and especially during communion, there has been a palpable sense of God’s love being present. Of course, God’s presence is not limited to this one week of the year, but it is tangibly there in these thin places at camp as we share the Bread and Wine together. 

One of the most emotional and moving services at the older camp is always the mid-week healing service. This service has been nicknamed, tongue-in-cheek, the Cry Fest. Campers, counselors, and staff all have stuff from our lives outside camp that in this service we are able to offer to God and also ask God for his healing grace in our lives both during camp, and outside camp. While the clergy administer holy unction to whomever desires this sacrament of healing, the rest of the camp community joins in laying on of hands. This service is deeply cathartic as we let God’s grace flow through our lives. One aspect of healing that is often noticeable is that at least many of the tensions had been brewing in the Quarterman community up to that point that arise just from imperfect people being in close are healed or at least calmed, so that everyone can have a great and fun end to camp. 

Each evening, the last thing we do before campers go back to their cabins for the night is pray Compline together. In the context of church camp, this service provides a much needed calming-down after the high-energy fun and games of the day and to start to get ready for the next day. The penultimate liturgical piece of this service is praying the Song of Simeon, “Lord, you now have set your servant free….” This short canticle talks about seeing God’s presence for his people already. This prayer each day for me at camp has served as a reminder to remember and recognize those special ways that God has been present with us that day through the fun games like Fun Noodle Hockey, or in the deep conversations of the Family Group discussions, and to cherish and celebrate that God has been in the midst of us throughout the day. 

The last thing we do as a community to close camp is celebrate the Eucharist one last time, and remember all the wonderful memories we had from that week. And, once the service is over, everyone packs up to head home. The Eucharistic vessels that we have used for communion are boxed up, To me there’s always been something unique and special about that last Eucharist. We have shared all of this time together, but once camp is over we take those experiences and what we have learned through the week back to our homes, parishes, and wider communities. The post-communion prayers that we pray (the same ones from the Book of Common Prayer) encapsulate this idea for me as we move from the liturgy and camp back home and to our communities: God, “send us out to do the work you have given us to do” (BCP p. 366).  

Summer Camp: Mark Your Calendars

Summer camp will be held July 16-22 for Camp Quarterman and July 23-28 for Camp Quarterman Jr., both at Ceta Glen (near Happy, TX)

 

Camp Quarterman for youth completing grades 7-12 in 2023 

Camp Quarterman Jr. for youth completing grades 2-5 in 2023

 

Youth in 6th grade may choose which camp to attend. We share a week together learning, worshiping, playing, and making friends.