Pilgrim Point

In honor of the fact that "Camp" and "Summer/Camp" are premiering on television this week (I'm not watching either of them), I'm breaking down and writing my first post about the camp I attended as a kid: Pilgrim Point Camp.  Pilgrim Point Camp is located on the east side of Lake Ida, just north of Alexandria, MN.  It is part of the Outdoor Ministries division of the Minnesota Conference UCC.

It is a church camp.  And I willingly went there.

I'm promise there will be other posts about Pilgrim Point; I don't have the energy tonight to write everything about it.... I'm not sure I have enough energy this year to write everything I have to say about camp... but I will start with this.

I first attended camp the summer after 6th grade.  A friend from my local church was going, and he invited me to go along with him.  It might have been a safety-in-numbers thing.  It was a new experience for him too.  I reluctantly agreed to go, but naturally I was sceptical.  I was taunted, teased and tormented through most of elementary school.  I wasn' the tallest or most athletic kid... on the playground, that meant I was fair game.  The rule of the game was that if you could pick on someone, you weren't the lowest on the totem pole in school.  I was pretty much the lowest on the pole.  I doubt my experience was uncommon.  I assumed that summer camp, even for a week, would be similar.

I was wrong. 

Maybe it was my first counselor (Neil), or my friend from church.  Maybe it was the communist/hippie/liberal atmosphere that was created around mealtime.  Maybe it was the cup game or the warm fuzzies at lunch.  Maybe it was as simple as God's love moving through that place.  Whatever it was, I felt accepted and loved for being nothing more than me.  It was a transformational feeling, one that boosted my self-confidence, and it was something I'll never forget.

The feeling was so wonderful I attended camp every year through high school.  I even counselled camp for a few summers after I graduated.  It is still the place I go to in my head when I need to feel okay, when I need to feel accepted.

I promise more about camp later.  For now, know that I'm excited for another summer, and I'm excited for all the kids who will feel loved for being themselves this year.

I'm singing "Spirit" in my head right now.