“Somethings Never Change”
Preached Thursday, July 21st at Camp Asbury
So I wanted to start by introducing myself. My name is Allison and you can call me Pastor Allison. My mom was a camper at Camp Asbury and then my older brother and sister and I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to be a camper - so I was a camper for the first time at Camp for family camp when I was 5 years old and every summer between 5 years old and 18 years old - minus one - I was a camper here. And then I worked here for 3 years through college and volunteered here a couple summers after that. Now I’m an ordained minister in The United Methodist Church and I still love camp. I still consider camp like a second home.
From the time I started coming to camp to now, so much has changed and still some things haven’t changed. We’ll come back to this.
First, you all have been at camp a week now, longer if you are a counselor or staff member - so what things have changed from Sunday to today? Or what things have changed from staff training until now? (Ask/Respond to answers)
And what hasn’t changed? Either this week or since the start of the summer? (Ask/Respond to answers)
For me a lot has changed since I first came to camp. And you’d expect it to - literally 26 years later. There are some new buildings and improvements on existing buildings, the ropes course has expanded, the staff and director have changed, the mudslide - there is a different mudslide now than when I first started…lots of little things have changed. The world outside camp has changed in the last 20 some years, a lot…for better or worse. And I have certainly changed - I went from being a kid to a high schooler and college student…to me today, older - but not that old - a pastor, a wife, a mom…
And at the same time - some things haven’t changed. Lake Hibbard hasn’t changed. Asbury Lodge remains standing. And the cabins. I swear the cabins have never changed…but also the feeling that I get when I’m here…the feeling of God’s presence that I begin to sense a soon as I pull into the driveway and see Asbury lodge and see the hills, see Lake Hibbard, and see this space, Communion Hill, off in the distance. This hasn’t changed. Neither has the feelings of being closer to nature, the sense of a tight-knit community, and that deep feeling of God’s love. Of being on sacred and holy ground - do you ever feel that? Do you feel that right now? Go ahead and touch the ground. You are standing on sacred and holy ground. Some things have changed…but what hasn’t changed is the feeling that I get at camp. The feeling of being with God, the feeling of being home…
So I mentioned briefly that I’m a mom. I have a young daughter and she’s almost 2 years old and we just started watching some movies with her. So this past week we watched Frozen 2 - has anyone seen it? So the opening song in Frozen 2 is called “Somethings Never Change.”
Yes, some things never change
Like the feel of your hand in mine
Some things stay the same
Like how we get along just fine
Like an old stone wall that'll never fall
Some things are always true
Some things never change
Like how I'm holding on tight to you
Now on Sunday when you all arrived at camp and gathered for the Opening Campfire, you probably heard - if you were listening - a reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. I read it right before I started preaching too. “There is a time for everything” - remember that? “A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;” - that whole shindig? And one of the staff - was it Leslie? Anyway, one of the staff talked about the seasons and how God is in each one. Now, the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible that this Scripture comes from is generally about how nothing on this earth lasts - and that’s kind of a depressing thought if taken just by itself. But the book of Ecclesisates says that nothing in this life lasts so we should enjoy it while we can, do the best we can while we can, and just…live our lives KNOWING that God is in it all. That our lives are a gift from God and God is in all of it. The God who created us, the God who created everything on earth and everything in the universe - that God is ALWAYS there.
Everything may change AND also, some things never change. Everything that is of God, that IS God, the love of God - that never changes.
And there are tons of Scripture in the Bible about this. Here are just a few:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
“The grass withers; the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” - (Isaiah 40:8)
“Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” - (Psalm 90:2)
And many more…and although it's not Scripture we can also say “Some things never change…like God’s love.” - Paraphrased and adapted from Frozen 2
God’s love never changes. And neither does this meal that we’re about to share, Holy Communion. The words said over it may slightly change and you may take it in different places or have different kinds of bread or different ways of taking the cup…but those are just the little things. The BIG thing that never changes is that God is always in this meal. Always.
Now, we can encounter God, run into God, experience God in all sorts of places. In church or at camp. At school or at home. In the woods. In the sunset. In Lake Hibbard. In other people like the friends we make at camp…God is everywhere so it makes sense that we can experience God everywhere.
AND, what makes this meal is special is, well, we’re not always looking for God in those other places. So we often miss God. But in this meal, we promise to show up and God promises to always show up - for the bread and cup to BE Jesus for us. God is always here, waiting for us to come forward, to take bread and juice, and realize that God is here with us.
No matter where we are, no matter what we’ve done, no matter what has happened in our lives since the last time we took Communion - no matter what - there is nothing we could do or nothing that could happen, for God to not be here with us in this meal.
Sometimes it may feel like everything changes….and it’s true, everything does change. There is a time for everything…but God and God’s infinite love for us NEVER changes. And we can always find it in this meal. So let us come and experience the never changing, always loving God in the bread and cup.
Cause some things never change…And God’s holding on tight to youuuuuu.
Amen.
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