Embracing Creation and Community

Summary:

Pastor Jonathan from Journey shares insights from Steam Camp, emphasizing the importance of community, faith, and the wonders of creation. At Steam Camp, participants engage with nature, study scriptures, and focus on being good neighbors. Through activities like observing insects and exploring the outdoors, they learn about God’s creations in tangible ways. The camp fosters a spirit of kindness, cooperation, and selfless giving, reflecting Jesus’s teachings. By blending fun, education, and spirituality, Journey aims to inspire attendees to appreciate the world and act as positive influences in their communities.

Transcript:

My name is Camp Zilla. My name is Jonathan and I get to be a pastor here at Journey and we are so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate Steam Camp. We want to take this time to welcome everyone who is here today. We realize that on a Sunday morning you could be just about anywhere, but by you choosing to be here, it's something that we do not take for granted. And we want to make sure everyone knows that we are greatly appreciative of your presence here today and that we wanted to extend a welcome to you all. We had a great week at camp and we're going to kind of do a recap of that this morning. And before we get to that, I want to offer a prayer for us to get started. God, we are so very grateful for the community that we experience with one another for the way in which you have modeled to us a community where we love one another, celebrate one another and are kind to one another in order to enjoy this beautiful world and to be good neighbors.

So God, we pray that in these moments you would capture our attention and we join in with the ancient prayer, simply come Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen. So one of the big reason why we put on Steam camp each year is because at Journey one of our desires is to be good neighbors. We take Jesus seriously. When he was asked what is the greatest commandment, his response was to love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, am I and love your neighbor as yourself. And so we operate from a mentality that what we have, our resources, our abilities, our influence should be utilized in order to be present in our neighborhood and to bless our neighbors. And so that's what the purpose of Steam Camp is. We want people as they explore the creation of this world, that to experience the God who created and who loves us.

And while it is important for us to study the scriptures, we value the scriptures here. We believe in the scriptures. What we know, what actually the scriptures say about God is that all creation reveals the glory of the Creator. And so when we are checking out tarantulas and inventing gadgets and learning the patterns of bumblebees and playing games about acorns and deer, hiding the acorns away from the wolves and all of those things, we are learning about the world that God created in very tangible ways. And that is why Steam camp is set up The way that it is, is so that we can enjoy this world together. And of course, as with everything that we do here at Journey, we operate in a banquet minded mentality, meaning that we're not just putting things together and showing up when it's time, but we want to roll out the red carpet so that everyone who participates feels valued and is able to enjoy.

And so as we gathered together and explored creation, we wanted to also inspire our campers to be little humans of love and peace and kindness. There is so much volatility and divisiveness in our world. People are divided by all sorts of different things and it seems like when it can't get any worse that it just continues to unravel. But the beauty of what we are called to as followers of Jesus is that we are called to a way of life that is extravagant and love loving not to get anything from anyone, but to give what we have to them and without expectation of return. A radical hospitality where we say everyone is welcome and a peaceful orientation. Now, the church has not always lived up to these standards and we also struggle from time to time with this, but one of the things about Jesus is that he was very dedicated to a peaceful orientation in the most difficult of circumstances when it would have been, when everyone would have joined in and support of Jesus bringing out an understanding of redemptive violence or acting out and treating his neighbors with violence.

He refused to do that. He forbade his disciples from doing that and called us towards peace. And that is, again, not always something that the church has lived up to, but that is our role in society, never fighting with swords, but loving and being kind and supporting one another as we go about our lives being that we are a church, we, as I said, have a very high view of scripture as the ancient people of God lived their lives, God inspired them to record the faithfulness that God showed them in order to pass along from generation to generation to reveal God as a consistent, faithful and loving creator. These words aren't simply knowledge for us to tuck away in our mind, but they teach us lives to live. And as has been said, we believe the journey that the future is actually ancient. The way forward in peace isn't through the lordship of Google or Apple.

It's not through the election of the correct politicians, but through faithful and careful devotion to the kingdom of God and the practices thereof. And if we can live up to those standards, then we will do our part in loving our neighbor as ourselves. As such, we looked to these ancient words at camp to learn lessons of love and kindness, and we've got to share those with you. So if you were a kid at camp, you will remember that we had a special guest that came and visited us and showed us his superpower. The special guest was everybody's favorite superhero paw Paws, man. That's right. P man p man's superpower is to utilize his P brick. This is a pause brick that is indestructible and it will forever allow us to have the opportunity to pause. The lesson that Poz Man teaches is actually a very simple prayer.

If you're familiar with the traditions of the church outside of the Lord's Prayer and maybe a few other written prayers that are very valuable to us, this particular prayer is one of the most important prayers that we can pray and it's very simple. It goes like this, God, grant me pause, impulse and action between impulse and action. Great job, grant me pause between impulse and action. Now, I realize that there are some big words in that sentence and the concept is super profound, but it is worthy of all of us, no matter our age to consider these words and this prayer. And if kids are able to learn this as they are young, they will have a much better go at it. As adults. Think of all the times this past week where if you would have just had the pause brick and you could have pushed pause when your impulses came up and there was a moment of pause between your impulse and action, think of all of the things that would have been different.

I know for myself, I am an introvert at heart. I love people dearly, but I also love to be alone and by myself. When weeks of camp come around, you don't get very much alone time. And so it rattles my senses, it phrase my nerves. And so there are moments where in those situations I am not at my best and if I could just hit the pause button, it would save me from having to spend time and apology and I would treat others in the right way with a pause button, you could have said the right thing instead of the wrong thing. You could have acted in the appropriate way instead of in the wrong way. And while none of us are ever perfect, perfection is way too high of a standard for any of us to aspire to. Our spiritual muscles need exercise just like all of the other muscles in our body.

So here is how we put all of this into practice this week at camp. So day one, we referenced the verse that we read previously from Psalm 1 39. Verse 14 says, I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know them full well. That is fantastic. Monday was art day, and the main idea for us is that as kids and as people, we all have the ability to produce art no matter how great the art might be. It may never be at the Louvre or at the Dallas Museum of Art, but it is a beautiful work, however it turns out, and sometimes as we put ourselves out there and we make whatever artistic expression that we go for, we can be disappointed with the result and the way that it turns out. And so that's where the pods brick comes into play.

We push pause and instead of being too down on ourselves or instead of being critical of ourselves or suggesting that we are no longer artists, that we don't have the ability to do it, we remember that no, what is most true is that we are wonderfully made. The second day went in reverse. We went to verse 13 just above verse 14. It says, this are created for you, created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother's womb. Great job. So that was also Lego Day and we were building and creating, making a bunch of different things, making little maze, gadgets and boats. We tried to make them float or not float, right? We didn't have any that sank. They either floated or they didn't float, and we had so much fun building those things. But sometimes what we set out to do doesn't come into fruition.

Like we said, we are not perfect and sometimes things don't work out the way that we want them to. We also had a special guest that day. It was Bill the Builder, not to be confused with Bob the builder, but Bill the builder, our favorite builder here at Journey. He has made many things for us and made many things for his family and for others to enjoy. And he talked about his creative process and the way in which he goes about inventing and making and building things. And one of the things we talked about is that when things don't go the way that we want them to, the pause button, pause between impulse and action, we might want to give up. We might want to not ever build again. We might want to go the opposite direction, but we keep going. We do. As one of my youngest, one of my children said when they were young, we do the persevere in life.

We keep going and keep building. Day three, Psalm 19 was the verse that we looked at. It says, the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaimed the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forward speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge. This was my favorite day. We had the Dallas arboretum join us and got to explore some creepy crawlers and some wolf skulls and all kinds of different and fun things revealing how diverse and beautiful and wonderful the creation is. But out of all of that, the most magnificent work of the creator is human beings. It's people and all people, not just the people we like, not just the people we agree with, not just the people who like us, but all people. And as such, it is our duty to treat each other as magnificent works of art. And so we pause in order to be able to be loving and kind to everyone that we meet.

Finally, day four, we went to the New Testament. In Romans chapter eight, it says this, for creation waits an eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. This was our invention day. We spent time making fish chuckers and taking recyclable materials and repurposing them and making them into things new. Some of our fish chuckers chucked fish so far you couldn't even hardly see it when it landed. Some of our fish chuckers didn't chuck the fish any further than the feet that were on the ground during the chucking, but all of them were great inventions and beautiful contraptions that were made with care and love, and we realize that we aren't perfect. We are not perfect. None of us are perfect. So the superpower that day was to pause. When we make mistakes to apologize and move forward and to remember that God will always accept our apology, so we should be quick to apologize and we should accept apologies when they come from others. The whole idea at camp, the undergirding of it all, is that we are uniquely wired to face whatever situation comes our way. Dallas Willard, who is or was a professor of philosophy for many years at University of Southern California wrote this, there is no problem in the human life that apprenticeship to Jesus cannot solve.

God has gifted each of us with the ability to face whatever circumstances and situations come our way and has promised that he is always with us. Here at Journey all the way back since Easter, we have been praying for a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit, an awakening of sorts, where lives are changed, where hearts are hardened, where those that are caught up in patterns of addiction and suffering would be set free, where situations that seemed hopeless would be filled with the hope of God. A moment in time where our reality would be defined by the kingdom of God rather than the patterns of brokenness where love, grace, peace, and joy will be realized and envy and bitterness and anxiety and frustration will be diminished throughout history as these times have happened for the church and for the neighborhoods, these profound moments have popped up.

They have always been a byproduct of humans trusting God to deliver on his promises and faithfully living out the way of Jesus. And so moments where Christian communities can be empowered by the Holy Spirit and seek to love their enemy as Jesus taught to forgive those who wrong them, to fight actively against materialism and the God of money to fight off worry in an attempt to release attachments and release them to God and to attempt to trust God deeply, not to judge or show contempt with those who we disagree with or are different from us, to remain faithful in our commitments to our families, to our neighbors, to fight off anger in our hearts and work towards pure and uplifting speech, all the while aiming to be the people of God and following in his footsteps. That is who the church is called to be and when the Holy Spirit moves and works, that is the work that the Holy Spirit does in us.

As we wrap up this time together, I wanted to share this last Psalm with you from Psalm chapter one. It says, blessed is the one who does not walk and step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on it day and night. Here is the promise that person will be like a tree planted by streams of living water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prospers. This is our desire as a church that we will individually as people living in our neighborhoods and collectively as the church be like a tree planted by water which yields fruit and that fruit is nourishment to the all who would be our neighbors and that the love of God prospers in us all for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven right here in our neighborhood for East Dallas

And East Dallas. The truth is that all of us, no matter what the specific way is, we are following some kind of way or some kind of truth. We are living by some set of values and the question that we all have to consider is, does the way that I am following have the ability to deliver on its promises? What I know to be true and what many people here know to be true is that God will always deliver on whatever promises God makes, and it is my sincere desire that everyone would know that same trust as well. But you pray with me, God, we are so very grateful for this opportunity to celebrate together, to be inspired towards what is to come. We pray, God, that you would inspire each of us to love and kindness of neighbor, that instead of contributing to the frustration that each of us young and old would contribute to the beauty of this good world, that we would be beacons of love, joy, and peace as often as possible. We ask these things, Jesus, in your name and for your sake, amen.

At journey on each Sunday when we gather, we conclude our gathering by doing what Jesus instructed us to do and that is gathering around the table. The difference between Jesus's table and every other table that is ever set in the world is that every other table set has a set amount of seats, right? If you were to come over to my house and you have more than one person, you better bring a chair because our dining room only has six chairs and we have five people and a dog who will sit in the chair if you don't sit there first. My table has a finite seat, amount of chairs at it. God's table always has one more. There are plenty of, there's plenty of room at the table of God for everyone. Here at Journey, we celebrate an open table, which means that you do not have to be a member of our church.

You do not have to be a regular attender. This is an invitation that we are extending that comes from Jesus to each and every one of us. And so whosoever will come is welcome Here. On the night before Jesus was betrayed, he gathered his friends in a room and around the table he paused the meal. He didn't have the pause button. He just told everyone to stop. When Jesus said something, they listened and he picked up a piece of bread and he gave thanks for it. He broke it. He passed it around to each person. He said, this bread represents my body, which is given for you every time you eat this. Do it in remembrance of me. And the same way he picked up a cup of wine, we serve juice here, and he gave thanks for it. He passed it around the room and he said, this cup represents the sacrifice, which I am about to perform on your behalf.

And so whenever you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. A couple of instructions for us as we prepare to receive the Lord's suffer today. Over here to my left will be a person holding a plate and a cup that is full of juice. You can pick up a piece of bread, dip it into the cup, and receive communion that way. Also, over here to my right are pre-packaged cups with the wafer and the juice. If that is a better option for you, we have a corner back here, which is named our prayer corner. We like appropriate names here. So if you need a moment to spend some time in prayer, you need a time to take a pause. We want to encourage you to do that back there, but come today and feast on the fair of the Kingdom of God together.