Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)

The following are passages and questions posed to campers each day this past week as our campers @ Shores of St Andrew & Green Lake Bible Camp (both part of Green Lake Lutheran Ministries) explored what it means to ‘get lost’ followed by my own brief reflection on the passage(s) & questions:

Getting lost in God’s love: 1 John 4:7-21
How can we immerse ourselves in God’s love? How is our life different because of that love? How do we respond to God’s love? How is God’s love alive in us?

Lutherans like to talk about ‘proclaiming Christ in Word and Deed’. That is a description of how we immerse one another in God’s love.
God’s Word – the incarnate Word (aka Jesus), the spoken Word (aka preaching), and the written Word (aka Scripture) – immerses us in God’s love. We share the message of the Gospel in words and deeds in our daily lives. We hear and experience the message of the Gospel in our daily lives as we interact with others.
Jesus shows us His love in the words and actions of the people around us. We see Jesus in them. They see Jesus in us.
Knowing God loves us impacts us and our lives. The confidence that God is with us changes us. We can take more risks. We can love others because we are sure of God’s love.

Getting lost in prayer: Jeremiah 29:12 – God is always listening
The campers attended prayer stations focused on the following passages, experiencing several different ways and times to pray.
Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord’s Prayer)
James 5:13 & Psalm 150 (praying when we are happy, excited)
Matthew 26:36-46 (praying when we are sad, scared, need help)
Jonah (God listens even when we don’t obey)
Colossians 4:2 (quiet prayer time)

There are nearly countless methods and opportunities for us to ‘Get Lost’ in prayer. Prayer is communicating with God. Just as the conversation with one another vary, so do our conversations with God. There is no right or wrong way to pray. Prayer is a gift to us. Think about how exciting it really is – we get to talk to God – and God listens to us!
The Lord’s Prayer is an excellent summary of all those things for which God would have us pray. Luther expounds upon each petition of the prayer in the Small Catechism, detailing the many and various layers of content contained in this all-inclusive prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is awesome for communal prayer, those times when we are not sure what to pray, and as a closing prayer. Jesus covered all the bases with this one.
We also ‘Get Lost’ in prayer in other ways. Praying when we are scared or need assistance tends to be the most frequent prayer for most people. There is also a time to pray when we are joyful and excited. We can thank God. We can praise God. We can tell God our problems and confess our mistakes.
We can pray out loud. We can pray silently. We can pray together. We can pray alone. We can pray with music or art. We can even pray with or without words. No matter how or when or for what we pray, God is always listening. Amen.

Getting lost in service: sharing God’s love by serving others
John 13:1-20
Luke 10:25-37

We love others because God first loved us. Our service is an extension of God’s love. It is a way to proclaim Christ in deed. Our actions of loving service demonstrate to the world who this Jesus is. Unfortunately, sometimes our preconceived notions and inclinations can get in the way.
A huge challenge to service is motivation. Human nature wants to glory in recognition for service. What gets the most publicity becomes more important than what is most needed. Human sin wants to be the focus of the attention. People do things that are not necessary for the recipients in order to attain a sense of satisfaction for themselves. Rather than focusing upon the recipient and their needs, it can easily become about the internal needs or wants of the server.
Another major obstacle to service is the age-old question, “who is my neighbor?” We know we are to serve our neighbor, but our sinful selves want a little more clarity and definition as to who they are expected to help. Most people prefer to serve either those who are just like them or people who are so different from them they will never have to interact with them. We like to serve either very close or very far. The most difficult lesson for most people in the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ is that we do not get to pick and choose who our neighbor is. Our neighbor is whomever God places in our path who needs help.

Getting lost in Sabbath: what might you find if you set aside time for Sabbath (set time aside for God) What are some ways you can set aside time for Sabbath at home?
Deuteronomy 5:6-7, 12-15
Matthew 11:28-30

We often hear the call to Sabbath as Law rather than Gospel. We hear the accusation that we are not taking enough time for God. Many of us remember ‘blue laws’ and think it was so much easier to rest on Sundays back then. Sabbath is more complex than simply a day. It is more complex than the ‘blue laws’ led us to believe. It is not as simple as just not going to work one day a week.
Sabbath is time to rest in God. Time for God is a gift and a blessing. Sabbath is the gift of that time. The peace that comes only from God fills our hearts and minds during times of Sabbath. It is time being with God.
In a culture that ties busyness to worthiness, it can be difficult to find rest. It can even be difficult to value rest. Yet God created us to find rest in Him and rest is exactly what Christ gives us. Our other vocations and responsibilities slip away as we take time to simply be children of God, loved and protected. It is a break from the busyness and time to commune with the Lord and other believers.
For these youth, camp is a time of Sabbath. They get to leave the stresses and schedules from home behind; they had the opportunity to spend a week focusing just on being beloved children of God. Hopefully this time of Sabbath renews them in spirit. As they return home, we pray they can draw on the moments that gave them rest in Christ and continue to find moments of Sabbath. We want them to share their times of Sabbath with us in worship, prayer, Sunday School, youth activities, and daily life. All of us need the gift of Sabbath built into our everyday lives. All of us need and yearn to rest securely and bask in God’s amazing love. Christ gives us that gift in Sabbath.