Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. – Psalm 51:10

I remember when I was little I spent all winter and spring yearning for the day when I could go barefoot in the yard. For some reason, I always looked forward to Easter as a time when it would be warm enough. (Being too stubborn to admit I was wrong, I have memories of hunting for Easter eggs with very cold feet.) For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the Christian calendar brings our spiritual lives into harmony with the rhythm of the seasons. During Lent, our growing anticipation for the light and warmth of spring reminds us of the longing we have for new life in Christ, and for the joy we share at Easter.

By February (my least favorite month) I am ready for a new season… but there are still at least another couple months of cold weather. At Pecometh winter guest groups come in to enjoy the peace and beauty here, but it’s very quiet. There are no campers or canoe programs or groups at the pool. The bustle and noise that most people associate with Camp is still a few months away. It’s time to start preparing for the busy season, but summer is still so far away. Even though many of us would like to fast-forward through this time of year, in Lent put the time to good use. We set aside 40 days to repent and reorder our spiritual lives. I’ve sometimes heard it described as spiritual spring-cleaning.

Come April, my life will be joyfully chaotic, so now is the time to spiritually prepare for all that ministry. In the coming weeks, some of our staff will be sharing Lenten reflections with you on the Pecometh blog as we move toward Easter – and prepare for another busy summer welcoming guests and campers! We invite you to join us in observing a holy Lent, and hope that you will share your reflections with us as well.

Lent begins tomorrow, and to get kick of the Lenten season we are sharing the following excerpt is written by Rev. Katie Bishop, and is from the Shift Lenten Devotional from the Baltimore-Washington Young Adult Council.  The full Devotional can be found here.

My three year old daughter Eden is a fan of sweets. She is a snacker. But I can’t really blame her because she comes by it genetically. We are a family of snackers.

Needless to say, I am not surprised that it is ten minutes before dinner and she is asking for a snack. I try to convince her that the spaghetti and meatballs will just take another minute, but she is not listening. She doesn’t really care because she wants a snack. Eden simply needs a snack.

“Ok, only if you pick one sweet treat and one healthy treat,” I give in.

And she does. Eden picks a fun size bag of M&M’s and a pack of cheese crackers. But before I can even open one of the wrappers my husband walks through the door.

He is carrying cupcakes. And the air is thick.

I look at my husband. I look at the cupcakes. I look at Eden.

She is looking longingly at the cupcakes. Then Eden looks down at her hands. Already full with snacks, Eden takes a deep breath. Then she reasons,“I guess I could put my healthy thing down…”

We ride together, and sometimes, we take our two young boys with their tag-along bikes attached to ours. When we take the boys we stop at the park along the way to play. It’s a great way to have family time, exercise, and have fun all at the same time. It’s our way of adding that one more activity in to keep everyone healthy and active.

Last summer (after camp was over!) my husband and I rode our bikes from Chestertown to Bethany Beach, Delaware to meet our children for the start of our week long vacation. We left at 5:30am and arrived in Bethany Beach about 2:00pm (after stopping for lunch… I deserved it!). Let me tell you, the feeling of accomplishment is tremendous! I patted myself on the back for days after that one!

Why the Pecometh Upper Shore Century Bike Ride? Well, Wayne and I really thought this would be an awesome fundraiser for Pecometh. He has ridden in a few events, and the beauty of a ride is that riders will come for the experience, fall in love with Pecometh, and be connected and awed by our Eastern Shore hospitality. The route is also relatively flat (a must for riders like me!). The people at the Lions Club in Chestertown have been wonderful about sharing their experience in running a ride, so we aren’t even starting at ground zero. Pretty cool!

With even a little bit of training, anyone can ride in the Pecometh Upper Shore Century. We have mapped out 4 routes…. 12 miles, 33 miles, 72 miles, and 100 miles, with food and rest stops along the way.

If you went through Confirmation as a youth, what comes to mind about that process? I’ll admit, I hear plenty of people talk about how boring it was. And I’ll never forget the first day of confirmation class when I had to explain to a student that we were not talking about conforming them. Of course I also remember how empowering it was to me as a student, being asked to make my own decision and my own commitment to God and to the church. I know that many people share that experience. (And I’m actually really glad they made me memorize the Apostle’s Creed).

And if you’ve taught confirmation, you’re probably remembering the wonderful ways that you experienced God through and with youth… and you may also vaguely remember that feeling of “oh my gosh how am I supposed to fit all of this information into few enough classes that I can get all of the kids to come and also include some worship and service and missions and teach about the sacraments and grace and the trinity and have everyone sit still long enough and understand it all and not be too bored???” Or was that just me? When I was teaching confirmation it was sometimes challenging for me to let go of the logistics and content and really be present with my students and with God.

But I’ll confess that I love teaching confirmation. It is a chance for us to show young people the best of what God and the Church have to offer them. It is a season when we encourage our students to reflect on their own experiences of God, and we give them the tools to discern how God is inviting them to live out their faith. That’s why I am so excited to invite small confirmation classes to participate in the Re:View Confirmation Retreat in March. I know all of the prayer and planning that go into a confirmation process, and how it can be especially challenging for smaller churches. I hope that confirmation leaders will be blessed by the chance to leave the logistics to us so that they can spend the weekend focused on their confirmands. Together we will re:view some of the ways that God is at work in the world. We’re going to learn, climb, share, star-gaze, pray, hayride, shoot arrows, worship, listen, and lots more. And there will be Peeps Smores. Let me know if you’re interested in joining us!

(In the picture: my last confirmation class on Confirmation Sunday)

What does this mean for a ministry such as Pecometh? More than you think. There are two main ways that people find out about us: search engine and word of mouth. In particular, there are three ways people can help:

1. Visit our blog regularly, as well as post comments in the discussion section. New content makes a difference to search engines and every comment on a blog post can be considered new content.

2. Put a link to Pecometh’s website on your church or organization’s website. One-way links are a sure way to improve search engine results. We’ve even provided the HTML code for your webmaster to add a picture link with the tagline “Pecometh-Our Camp & Retreat Center.” Go to the “Talk to Us” section of www.pecometh.org.

3. Share everything “Pecometh” with your online friends. Whenever you get an email from us, check out a blog post, or see something on Facebook, you can make sure all your online friends see it by liking, re-tweeting and sharing Pecometh content.

All of this may not seem to matter, but it does. We recently had someone spend 20 days on personal retreat in one of our cottages because we came up in a Google search. In some ways, camps and retreats are very traditional ways that people grow spiritually, but we need to use the latest means to spread the word.

P.S.  Mark Your Calendar:

• Volunteer Day: April 21, 2012
• Pecometh Day, April 28, 2012
• Pecometh Dinner Auction, July 14, 2012
• Pecometh Upper Shore Century Bike Ride, September 15, 2012

What a joy it was to attend the Prayer Shawl Ministry Workshop at the new Pecometh Riverview Retreat Center on Saturday, January 14th! It was hosted by four wonderful ladies from Mariners Bethel United Methodist Church, Ocean View, DE., and about 30 ladies from other churches attended.

The atmosphere was filled with enthusiasm and excitement as we entered the conference room, when we saw the oodles of gorgeous prayer shawls that were so neatly arranged and displayed on tables for everyone to enjoy. And we were doubly excited when we discovered that free patterns were available for each design, along with a table full of free needles, hooks, and cute little bundles of yarn tied with netting. How wonderful! We all looked forward to the day with anxious anticipation.

Our hosts, Marty, Deb, Nell, and Sharon had prepared a well-organized program, which, of course, started with prayer. The presentation included helpful suggestions, ideas, materials, and websites to aid other churches in starting their own prayer shawl ministry. As we went around the room introducing ourselves, it was interesting to see that each church was in a different stage with their prayer shawl ministry. Some had started their ministry several years ago, some just recently started theirs, and some were there to find out how to start one. We were also given an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with each other.

After lunch we reassembled in the talk room. We then heard a very emotional, personal testimony by a woman who shared how the prayer shawl ministry had helped to get her through a long, difficult battle, with what she was told was “terminal” cancer. She also shared how a small yellow prayer shawl had helped give her daughter the faith, hope, and support she so desperately needed, as she watched her tiny 1-pound premature son cling to life in the NICU day after day, and week after week. The prayer shawl was first tucked under the baby’s incubator bedding as a constant reminder that he was wrapped in prayer. After he got a little bigger, he was eventually able to be swaddled or wrapped in the shawl. At this moment in time, her grandson is home and enjoying the miracle of life. Of course, we all know that it’s not the shawls that made these miracles happen, but we know that God used the shawls as a tangible means of wrapping people in His protective and loving arms through the prayers of others.

Before the workshop ended, small groups were formed to give some of the ladies an opportunity to learn how to knit, crochet, or make fringe. The day was then ended with prayer. What a fun and glorious day it was!

I’m sure anyone who was at the 25th Pen-Del Youth Rally last weekend will agree that it was an awesome event!  Reggie Dabbs spoke (I think I saw him at the youth rally as a youth, but definitely as a youth leader!), Leeland did  a fantastic job of leading worship, and the Saturday afternoon session leaders had to compete with amazing weather for walking on the boardwalk.  Of course for me, the highlight is catching up with familiar faces around the Pecometh display.  Most of my former campers are too old to go to the youth rally now (I saw one of my 5-year-old day campers and she’s in 8th grade now!), but I still recognize plenty of faces from my time on summer leadership team (like the ladies in the picture).

In addition to campers, I always see a lot of current and former summer staff, and this year I noticed how many of my former co-workers at Pecometh are now adult chaperons, youth leaders, pastors and youth rally volunteers.  It was fun catching up with people and having conversations like the one I have with Brandon (’03, ’04), “You’re a math teacher now?  You’ve been teaching for 6 years!? We worked together 7 1/2 years ago?!?!”  It’s nice to see that for so many of our summer staffers, working with kids isn’t just something they do for a few summers.  Many of us become teachers, special educators, social workers, youth minsters and pastors, and many other staffers continue to work with youth and children on a volunteer basis.  Working at Pecometh is just one part of a life of sharing God’s love with young people.  Of course, one bonus of working at Pecometh is coming away with so many wonderful friends who bump into each other along the way as we all figure out how God is calling us to serve in the world.

Do you have a great story of friends you met at Camp?  Or of running into a Camp friend after a number of years?  (This South African guy Daniel, who worked here in 2006 showed up at Camp the other day to say hi… it’s never dull around here!)  And of course, if you are a young adult (age 18+) and you would like to have the experience of working at Pecometh Summer Camp, information is available!  Email me if you have a story to share, or Richelle if you want info about being on summer staff!

Does anyone have anymore info? We’d love to talk to someone who was part of the Hockessin MYF group at the time, and learn more about their visit!  If you know anything, please contact contact on Facebook or email me.

In other maintenance news, do you know someone who has a trailer to donate?  The maintenance team at Pecometh is in need of an enclosed trailer, 6×10′ or bigger.

If you or someone you know might be able to help us out, please email me.

Three fantastic, fun-filled fall days at Pecometh amid falling leaves, frosty mornings and fire lit evenings. This respite weekend is for campers over 16 who are mentally and/or physically challenged. Schedule your weekend now so you can reunite with summer camp friends and make new fall friends. $239/per camper. Space is limited. (Adults 16 and older).

Register online or download a registration form.

Date: August 24-25, 2012

Presented by: Rev. Karin Tunnell

Location: The Riverview Retreat Center

Fees: $225 (per person, double occupancy, includes program fees, overnight accommodations at the RRC & 5 meals – D, B, L, D, B)

Explore the value of art-making as a collaborative effort of the community of faith, especially by non-artists. Participants will learn how to incorporate collaborative art-making into the life of the church and in their worship for the liturgical year.

Online registration is now available.