Vacation Bible Camp Sermon - July 3

After another great week of Vacation Bible Camp, here's what Lisa Brown had to say in a sermon shared on Sunday, July 3...

So this morning, you get to hear from me. As you may know, we just wrapped up our annual Vacation Bible Camp week. And a lot of times when I mention Vacation Bible Camp, I get comment, “Oh, that sounds so cute.”

I hate the word cute. It sounds so insignificant, so topical, so superficial. It’s coloring-book Jesus theology. It’s a tidy moral ending tacked on a simplified scripture verse. And that’s not really what we do at Vacation Bible Camp. There’s a deep theology to what we do, and make no mistake, we are engaged in authentic ministry.

So. What do we do? Let’s start with theme. A good VBS theme is one that is derived organically from the mission and ministry of the congregation. It’s an extension and a reflection of what is currently going on in the church, the community and the world. Right now, more than ever, with all the negative rhetoric out there, I believe we are called to try to build the City of God.

Secondly, a good theme is one that transforms or evolves over the course of the week. We finish in a different place from where we started.

Finally, a good theme is experiential. I often describe myself as a storyteller.You may have heard me explain that I tell stories at three levels: the foundational stories of our faith, i.e., scripture; the stories of our denomination and how we live into that scripture; and the stories of who we are at St. Paul’s, Mt. Lebanon in this particular moment in time. But a good storyteller doesn’t present a story as a done deal, but rather a good storyteller invites people to not just listen but to live into the story. To share in the telling of it. To shape the path of where it goes.

So what was our story this past week? We started by dismantling the idea that the City of God was about the buildings, about the structure. We talked about the tower of Babel and how when it became more about the building and less about the relationships, that it was no longer being done for God. We re-enacted the battle of Jericho when God helped his chosen people dismantle a city - we built a tower of blocks and then we marched around and brought it down with kazoos and a little help from Kate Lamendola.

If our City of God wasn’t about the buildings, then what was it about? After we checked out the physical cornerstone of St. Paul’s, we decided that the cornerstone of our city, the foundation on which our city depends, is love. Jesus established this cornerstone when he shared that the most important of the commandments - the laws on which all civilization is built - are those that call us to love God and our neighbor. Love. That’s our foundation.

But then we wondered about obstacles. Here in Pittsburgh we have lots of geographic obstacles when it comes to getting into our city. Even God can’t do much about the traffic, but we talked about mountains and rivers - and the tunnels and bridges we need to get through and over. What are the obstacles that prevent us from entering the City of God? Fear, anger, sadness, mistrust… we all experience these obstacles at times, and yet God helps us build bridges. Think of the beatitudes - we talked about how for each obstacle, disappointment or persecution, God is there with us and for us, building a bridge to get us into the other side, to get us into fullness with God. We built marshmallow bridges over blue jello, just as a reminder.

Then we talked about keys. What does a key do? It unlocks a room or a building. It opens a door. We’ve been given the keys to the kingdom. God calls us to unlock the doors. Who should we unlock the doors for? Everyone. We are called to fling wide the doors to the kingdom for everyone. Not just the people who look like us, think like us, talk like us or live like us, but everyone. Everyone is welcome in the City of God. At snack, we ate dips from around the world to remind us of all the different kinds of people who are welcome in the City of God.

Finally, we talked about the disciples, locked in a room, facing the obstacle of fear and confusion after the death of Jesus. It took the Holy Spirit to blow through the room, to blow open the doors, to blow away their perceived obstacles, and to blow them forward. They went forth and did what they might have previously thought impossible. They built the City of God. That’s what we invited our children to do; that’s what we are all called to do by today’s gospel. And just to remind us that every time we go out into the world, we are called to build the City of God, we created our own interpretation of a mezuzah, a Jewish tradition of placing a small scroll of scripture on the doorframe of the home.

We acknowledged that this calling to build the City of God is intimidating. If our children were, like the disciples, worried that they were somehow unequipped for such a daunting undertaking, I reminded them that they had great role models to show them how it should be done. The 30 tweens and teens who had spent the week shepherding kids from place to place, leading crafts, leading games, serving snacks and making glorious music, are all fantastic examples of how to build the City of God, how to serve everyone with love.

On the last day, in what was one of the most powerful parts of the program, Michelle anointed each child who wished it with sweet smelling oil, reminding them that they received the Holy Spirit at baptism; and that they had what it takes to go into the world and build the City of God.

Trust me when I tell you that young people know a sacramental moment when they experience it. I watched their faces, children, tweens, teens and adults, as they were being anointed on their hands or foreheads. There is no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit was upon them at that moment and they felt it to the depths of their souls.

So that’s what we did last week at Vacation Bible Camp. You may not have taken part in the program, so I would remind you that these lessons can apply to you, too. The cornerstone of the city you are called to build is a foundation of love. God is there to help you overcome the obstacles in your path. You, too, have been given the keys to the kingdom and are called to unlock the doors. Consider my words an invitation, a verbal anointing - won’t you, too, help us build the City of God? And if you aren’t quite sure to begin, just watch your children. They are already doing it. Amen.

Lisa Brown