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The Real World

If you've never been to an Orthodox summer camp, the enthusiasm and deep feelings they inspire may be a little hard to understand.  At the close of a session, you often see both campers and counsellors in tears, wishing to stay a little while longer.  They don't want to go back to their cities and towns (what we sometimes call the real world) because they experience something very real at camp. 
 
The program schedule also may be a little hard to understand.  You mean kids sign up to go away for a week or two or three, leave their cell phones behind, and attend Church services twice a day?  Pray before and after every meal?  Attend up to four sessions on the Faith every day?
There's no way a youth would sign up for that! 
 
Right?
 
Well, our expectations don't always fit with reality.  Sure enough, sessions are bursting at the seams with campers.  And, sure enough, at the end of every session, the tears start flowing and no one wants to leave. 
 
But what are we returning to when we leave camp?
 
If you're a kid, maybe you're bullied at school: you see how unkind the world can be when we're more concerned with our status than with God's glory.  If you're an adult, maybe you're tired of your job: you see how empty and meaningless the world can be when we're more concerned with filling our wallets than with filling our heart with God's grace.
 
But even if everything is going wonderfully in your life, there's something truly magnificent about being able to see, no matter where you look, the Light of Christ shining forth.  Whether in chapel or at the waterfront, whether in Orthodox Life or in the cafeteria, it's humbling and inspiring to be surrounded by people who are trying their very best to love God and love neighbor. 
 
Sure, no camp is perfect.  Campers sometimes misbehave, and counsellors sometimes don't get along.  But we do our best to keep our eyes on Christ, to get up when we stumble, to forgive each other as we gather for worship, to support each other as we gather for nightly devotionals. 
 
We do our best to be the Church
 
Camp is a glimpse of the world as God created it to be.  And the only reason it works is because Christ is at the center of everything we say and do there. 
 
The world needs more love, more prayer, more laughter, more compassion.  The world needs to find itself and be what God made it to be. 
 
Maybe the real world isn't so real after all. 
 
And maybe camp has a lesson to teach us all.
 
Orinally posted at http://orthodoxyouthministry.blogspot.com/.