{"id":1119,"date":"2018-08-01T11:11:30","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T17:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worship\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2018-08-24T08:22:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T14:22:38","slug":"worship-at-camp-mount-luther","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elcablogs.fairnorthdigital.com\/worship\/1119\/","title":{"rendered":"Worship at Camp Mount Luther"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s post is by Chad Hershberger, Executive Director of Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sitting along a lakeshore, enjoying the quiet breeze of summer, kids intently listen to a pastor talking about the reach of God’s love through Jesus Christ. The pastor tells them that sharing God\u2019s love will reach far, just like ripples when a stone is thrown into a body of water. Those words are not just spoken. After being told about how God\u2019s love extends beyond our reach, the kids throw a stone into the lake and watch as their ripples extend to the edges of the shore. The message of God\u2019s word comes alive as they commune with their Creator in this place set apart.\"\"<\/p>\n

Camp worship has been happening all over the country this summer in 126 Lutheran Outdoor Ministry sites. I am blessed to serve one of them and got to throw my own stone into our lake recently as part of this all-camp worship service. I\u2019ve been around my camp since I was nine years old and for me, camp worship is where God really comes alive and God\u2019s presence is truly felt as I\u2019m surrounded by the beauty of creation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When we gather together at camp as the people of God and invoke God\u2019s presence, we are an extension of congregational worship. We show campers the connections between camp worship and their home church\u2019s worship. Our staff who plans worship are taught the basic shape of Lutheran liturgy. What I think is a little different at camp is that campers are encouraged to be actively engaged. We don\u2019t treat worship as a spectator sport! It is participatory and God\u2019s message comes alive, through our singing, our moving around doing motions, and when throwing rocks into a lake.<\/p>\n

You may think from my description that worship at camp is always loud which is not the case! One of my favorite worship services is what we call \u201cfield worship.\u201d Campers and staff sit in our field, usually in the dark, looking up at the sky and listening to music and scripture as they spend some time reflecting on God and engaging in silent prayer. My favorite field worship is when Psalm 23 is recited as we lay in the field and listen to soft piano music. Hearing the words \u201clying down in green pastures\u201d while actually lying down in a green pasture is powerful. Field worship gives campers and staff time to enjoy creation and experience worship in a different way. Even in the silence, God hears our cries of thanksgiving and praise.<\/p>\n

\"\"It has been my experience that a camp worship service can be very powerful. But as I write this, describing these worship experiences, I recall the words of one of my predecessors here at Mount Luther. Early in my tenure as director, I sat in the kitchen of Don and Betty Mincemoyer who served here in the 1960s. They related the camp mission to their staff in this way: \u201cEvery thought a prayer; every action a worship experience.\u201d Having the chance to give expression to what the whole creation yearns to do\u2014praising God from whom all blessings flow\u2014is what we continually do every day as we swim, make crafts, eat meals, hike, and play games. Camp is a place where we continually make our thoughts a prayer and our actions a worship experience. And because of that worship, both on our lakeshores and in other spots of God\u2019s creation, lives are changed as Jesus Christ is encountered in new and exciting ways.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s post is by Chad Hershberger, Executive Director of Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania. Sitting along a lakeshore, enjoying the quiet breeze of summer, kids intently listen to a pastor talking about the reach of God’s love through Jesus Christ. The pastor tells them that sharing God\u2019s love will reach far, just like ripples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWorship at Camp Mount Luther - ELCA Worship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/elcablogs.fairnorthdigital.com\/worship\/1119\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worship at Camp Mount Luther - ELCA Worship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s post is by Chad Hershberger, Executive Director of Camp Mount Luther in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania. 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