(for The North Huron Citizen clergy column)
It was a real delight for me this past week (as I sat in the Audio-Visual booth at the back of the sanctuary) to watch a hundred children enthusiastically jump up and down and pump their arms as they sang along to the songs that were part of the assembly at Vacation Bible Camp hosted jointly by Huron Chapel and Blyth Christian Reformed Church. Their voices echoed loudly off the ceiling while their faces radiated youthful energy. But what was the main message that could have been prompting such “joie de vivre”?
Such enthusiasm is in stark contrast to the mental health issues, self-harm, and depression that plague many young people today. Post-modernism has eroded acceptance of traditional worldviews that formed the basis for meaning and purpose in life. “Truth” for many has become relative, subjective – whatever you make it. There is widespread suspicion of, if not outright mistrust of, authority. Multiple media sources and social media influencers vie for our attention, each promoting their own slant on what’s supposedly real. It seems even education systems and government can become captive to particular ideologies. How is a young person supposed to know who can be trusted, or what’s “really real”? The moral failure of once-trusted spiritual leaders, and abuse such as that which occurred in the residential school system, compound the issue. Absent a trustworthy system of values, is there nothing more about life than to “live for the moment”, immerse oneself in the latest virtual reality video game, or experiment with psychedelics that alter our conscious to create vivid realities in our own mind?
This year’s Vacation Bible Camp attempted to present children with the narrative that has historically undergirded the cultural, scientific, and economic development of our society, namely the Bible. Each of the five days featured stages in the narrative that encapsulates Judeo-Christian values, and gives meaning and purpose to life as our country understood it through our initial century. The basic story of Scripture was summed up in 7 C’s: Creation; Corruption and Catastrophe; Confusion; Christ and Cross; and Consummation. Together these 7 C’s address the four basic questions any significant worldview must answer with some degree of satisfaction: Origin - Where did we come from? Destiny - Where are we going? Morality - What’s right and wrong? And, Meaning - Why are we here?
The first day focused on Creation. We examined how it all began, how God created the universe, and so many different forms of animal and insect life. Each day featured a different creature, such as a frog, or butterfly, or gorilla, or parrot, or dolphin - each designed by its Creator with very different form and abilities. The memory verse was Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The second day focused on Corruption and Catastrophe. We learned about Adam and Eve’s yielding to temptation and eating forbidden fruit; Cain’s murder of Abel; and increasing wickedness among people, which culminated in God’s flooding the earth and saving just a few people in Noah’s Ark, along with pairs of animals, to make a fresh start. As Psalm 14(3) sums it up, “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
The third day looked at Confusion. After the Flood, people joined together at Babel in an attempt to build a tower that would reach to the heavens. Just as the serpent in the garden hinted that “You will be like God” – that we don’t need to obey God’s directions, instead we can make up our own ‘truth’ as we go along – the tower became a symbol of human arrogance and pride, that we ourselves are almighty and can dispense with divine guidance and accountability. In a way, each person becomes their own god – but as soon as we dispense with God’s law, ‘might makes right’ and individuals begin to exploit and take advantage of those they view as weaker or vulnerable. Conflict, mistrust, and hatred ensue. At Babel, God confused people’s languages so they scattered out over the earth into different people-groups and nations.
The fourth day, we learned about Christ and the Cross. The colours associated with this day were white and red. White because Jesus was born of a virgin, born as God in-the-flesh, totally sinless and innocent, able to perform supernatural miracles and teach God’s truth about the importance of loving God and loving others as we love ourselves. To become truly human is not to bow to subjective relativism and suppose we can “become our own god”, but instead choose to deny ourselves and receive Jesus as Lord, directing and informing our actions, so God’s Spirit can perform a “metamorphosis” (like caterpillar to butterfly) and cause us to genuinely love our neighbour, thus getting beyond ourself, transcending the confining walls of selfishness and prejudice. We need the Cross (with the colour red reminding us of Jesus’ blood) to forgive our past sins – not on the basis of good works we may have done, but on the basis the infinitely precious and pure life of God’s own Son offered up in our place. This day the children’s memory verse was, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
The final (fifth) day focused on Consummation. We looked at the picture the last book in the Bible (Revelation) paints of the future God has prepared for those who love Him. It’s not about playing harps or streets of gold (as some have comically caricatured it) but about being forever in the presence of Jesus, being privileged to admire and worship and get to know God in His infinite love and goodness and beauty – while having meaningful activities to pursue, free from the former sin-nature that plagues us in our current life. A place without sickness or pain or death. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
These 7 C’s become coathooks for a worldview that does not leave one sinking in a moral quagmire of relativism and subjectivity, but a worldview that instead provides helpful answers to life’s biggest questions, and prompts a very real sense of meaning and purpose and hope for the future… To realize God has made it possible through Jesus for us to become His own dear children forever causes us to want to jump and sing joyfully!
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