Sometimes in the Bible, heaven is compared to a big, beautiful city.  I think that might be what the reading from Isaiah is saying this morning, that the beautiful city of Jerusalem, and beautiful it is, is just a tiny glimpse of what heaven might be like. 

Here is the reading: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her.  You shall be comforted in Jerusalem.  You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice.  Your bodies shall flourish like the grass.  It shall be known that the hand of the Lord is with his servants.”  Isaiah 66

This week both Barabas and Elizabeth went to Camp Nawakwa for the week.  They had a wonderful time! And they saw some of their friends from Trinity there too.  Olivia was there and so was Kate and Sarah and Kristen!   Here is a picture of Elizabeth with her new friend Sally in front of their cabin.  They were in giraffe camp.

And here is a picture of Barabas with all his new friends!  He went to puppet camp.

The food at camp is really good.  Mmm,  mmmm French Toast, sprinkled with lots of white powered sugar and a generous pouring of maple syrup.  And the turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy and corn is Barabas’s favorite.

There are so many neat crafts you can do.  Elizabeth made her necklace, isn’t it pretty!  And the songs are the best.  But even more than the food and the crafts and the songs and the Bible Study, what makes camp fun, even if it rains, are the counselors.  They are just like disciples.  I don’t know if Marianne would agree with me, but Barabas and Elizabeth sure think so!  They teach us about God and they shelter us from the rain and they take us on overnight sleep-outs in the Athletic Field.  They comfort us if we cry because we were a little bit homesick.  The counselors are great.

I think that, in a way, Camp Nawakwa is a bit like heaven.  It is a place apart from the rest of the world.  It is a place that is beautiful with a big blue pool of water and paths into deep dark woods for hiking.  It is a place with sun drenched hill tops.  It is a place where God is worshiped every day. 

I think that I might change the words just a little in the reading from Isaiah today to be about Camp Nawakwa.  It would go like this:

REJOICE WITH CAMP NAWAKWA AND BE GLAD FOR HER, ALL YOU WHO LOVE HER.  YOU SHALL BE COMFORTED AT CAMP IF YOU ARE HOMESICK.  YOU SHALL SING SILLY CAMP SONGS AND YOUR HEART SHALL REJOICE.  YOUR BODIES SHALL FLOURISH AT THE DINING HALL.  IT SHALL BE KNOW THAT THE HAND OF THE LORD IS WITH THE COUNSELORS  AND THE CAMP DIRECTOR.

“Yep!” say Elizabeth and Barabas.  “If you want to know a little bit of what heaven is like, go to Camp for a week!”  Because there, you are close to the kingdom of God!

THE END

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