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Images in my mind from the first week of St. Stephen’s Summer Camp
Image one—the beauty of God’s creation—a beautiful sunrise over the lake, with campers sitting on the dock and on the
hillside overlooking the water. It is time for “Alone with
God,” a fifteen minute period of silent prayer the campers
have every morning. The only sounds are of the birds and the
ducks, the sounds of nature. It is a reminder not only of
the beauty of God’s creation, but a reminder that we need to
spend more time enjoying the majesty of God’s handiwork and
to spend more time in silent devotion to God.
Image Two—Prayer—Prayer is not only part of each camp session, it is the theme of the week. Campers
gather twice a day for worship in our chapel, a tent that is
simply appointed with all the traditional appointments of an
Orthodox Church. The choir is not a few members standing in
the back of the church but rather it is all the campers singing
together all the responses. Meals begin and end with prayer,
as do all the other activities. By the end of the week, campers
have learned the Jesus Prayer and are wearing prayer bracelets.
Image three—Creativity of the campers—throughout the day, the campers have opportunities to show off their talents
and develop new ones. Whether it is painting in the art room,
singing during the campfire, learning to play a new instrument
in music class, paddling a canoe, a game of beach volleyball,
or at the dodge ball tournament, the creative and competitive
energies of the campers are put into action all day long. Laughter
abounds on skit night, as each cabin puts on a humorous performance.
Image Four—Rain—The first session of camp was filled with rain. This challenged everyone to
adapt. Whether it was mud volleyball, soccer in a rainstorm,
or everyone running from place to place in order to stay dry,
it certainly did not put a damper on anyone’s camp experience.
A new song had even been written by the end of the week: “Welcome
to St. Stephen’s Camp, I heard that it might rain. Maybe we
should change the name, to Camp Hurricane.”
Image five—challenging our comfort zone—we are at our best as far as learning goes when we stretch ourselves to places
where perhaps we are not comfortable. It is in this stretching
that we grow. Campers are challenged to work together as a
team all week long. Eighteen strangers bond in each cabin.
A ropes course challenges them to thing creatively and to
work together. Campers are challenged to open up and think
about their Orthodox Christian lives during daily catechism
sessions called Orthodox Life and nightly devotionals called
Hang time. These are led by the priests of our Metropolis,
many of whom go to camp each summer. Campers are also challenged
to look inwardly and examine their spiritual lives as well
as their lives in general. Most of them take advantage of
the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Confession and
make a renewed start in their journey to salvation.
Image Six—Getting down to what is real—Lots of times we judge people on first impressions. Perhaps the most powerful
image from the first week of camp is from a camper who sat
down for confession with me. By the time we finished, this
person was crying, tears of repentance. My first impression
of this person was that this person was superficial. I told
this person that now I was seeing what I believed was their
real self—kind, gentle, not afraid to admit mistakes. And
for me, perhaps this is the best and most rewarding aspect
of our camping program. For teenagers whose lives often resemble soap operas, filled with peer pressure and superficiality, camp allows
them, if only for a week, to get back to their true selves,
to get down to what is real—recognizing that they are children
of God. This comes with both great personal responsibility
but also great privilege for each of them.
This is St. Stephen’s Summer Camp—it’s real. It’s powerful. It’s great! And
I feel so blessed and privileged to be part of it.
Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis has served as the Camp Director since 2001 and is
the Proistamenos of St. John Greek Orthodox Church in Tampa, Florida.
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