Theme: “In the Wilderness”
Preached Thursday, July 22, 2026
I want to start tonight by telling you a story of a man in the Bible named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and his group that he was a part of wasn’t supposed to like Jesus very much. But Nicodemus had a lot of questions about Jesus and what Jesus was teaching. So in the middle of the night, Nicodemus snuck out and came and asked Jesus a lot of questions - questions about God and about belief and about Jesus.
A lot of people wondered why Nicodemus came to find Jesus at night. Do you have any ideas?
(Solicit responses)
Yeah, I think he could easily sneak around at night. And I also think sometimes our questions, our doubts, our wonderings - are harder to ignore at night time. During the day we are busy and can be distracted by a lot of things. But sometimes, when we can’t fall asleep at night, all these thoughts race through our heads. All these questions, and all these emotions…
That can be like a wilderness. Have you guys…talked about wilderness at all this week? What do you think, is nighttime its own special kind of wilderness? Anyone do a night hike this week? Yeah? It totally changes your perspective.
So nighttime in this story with Nicodemus it’s like two wildernesses. There is the physical wilderness of night time. Or like, we experience the physical wilderness here. Or the physical wilderness of the jungle or a desert… But there is also a metaphorical wilderness, a wilderness of the heart and mind, and that’s that wilderness when you have lots of questions or are unsure or feeling a lot of emotions.
So I want to read this poem to you - I didn’t write it. It’s by The Rev. Sarah Speed Are:
“It’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
That’s what city living has taught me.
We can shine a light on the things we want to see—
Fluorescent and bright, lighting up dark alleys.
However, it’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
And it’s only in the dark of night that the questions come.
What is my purpose here? What does God have to say to me?
What does God have to say to suffering?
The sun falls and my doubt rises,
For it’s only in the dark that the questions come.
So like Nicodemus in the night,
I will throw my big questions at the sky.
And my voice will reverberate among the stars,
And my questions will echo throughout the dark.
For there in the night, my words form constellations.
And there in the wilderness, my prayers form galaxies.
So even there in the unknown, I trust that I am found.
A light shines in the darkness, friend.
So if ever you’re in the wilderness,
Look up and find the stars.”
Have any of you seen the stars at camp this week? I know it’s been a pretty cloudy week. It’s amazing how many more stars you can see here than where a lot of us live. And here’s the thing right - you can’t see the stars unless you go out in the wilderness, where there isn’t a lot of light, in nature, and at night - and look up.
Nicodemus wouldn’t have gotten to know Jesus, wouldn’t have gotten the answers he was looking for, if he didn’t go to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask his questions.
Just as we can see the stars in the night, especially in the night of the wilderness, we can encounter the light of Jesus in the midst of our wilderness experiences.
I want to briefly tell you about two wilderness experiences I’ve had.
One was being a camper and working right here at camp. A lot of this wilderness was the literal wilderness - the physical forest and landscape around us. But it was also the other type of wilderness too because it pushed me to grow - as a person and in my relationship with God. My time here at Camp was a beautiful, if also exhausting and hard, wilderness. Full of friendships and self-discovery - and falling in love with God. Especially falling in love with coming up to this hill every Thursday night, and finding God here, in the bread and the cup. Just as I also found God in the trees, and waters, and campers, and staff at camp. In a time of “wilderness” - I found God everywhere.
Where have you all seen God at camp this week or this summer?
(Answers)
Now my second wilderness experience was actually when I was studying abroad in Japan - I was homesick - a feeling I know some at camp have. Now, I was in a city of one and a half million people (that’s a lot of people!!), but I was still in a wilderness. It wasn’t a wilderness of place like a forest or a desert or a jungle or a camp…it was a wilderness of my heart. And it was there I learned that God can be found anywhere. If we just look, if we just ask, if we just pray for it - we can see signs of God anywhere. So I found a small English speaking church where we weekly broke bread, had Communion, worshiped, and shared together. God was found. And in that wilderness, I found God and learned a lot about myself.
This week (and summer) at camp
Maybe like Nicodemus, you’ve had questions about God - did you find answers? Did you find Jesus? If you did, that’s wonderful. If not, keep searching and keep asking.
Maybe you felt homesick and learned you need Jesus and others to support you and carry you through.
Maybe in the wilderness, you encountered God and God’s love in so many ways - in both the natural world and each other.
Maybe as you leave camp you will go back into a “wilderness” of your everyday life - issues you’re dealing with at home or in your family or friends…
Whatever wilderness you are in,whether it’s physical or metaphorical, know that God is there - and that God is always with you.
And so tonight, you are all invited to come and share in the bread and the cup - share in Holy Communion together. For this is a beautiful way that we encounter God, in this bread and this cup. In the beautiful wilderness of camp. In each other, Around your campfire tonight. When you look up and see the stars. Because wherever you find yourself, even in the wilderness, God is there.
Amen.
(Solicit responses)
Yeah, I think he could easily sneak around at night. And I also think sometimes our questions, our doubts, our wonderings - are harder to ignore at night time. During the day we are busy and can be distracted by a lot of things. But sometimes, when we can’t fall asleep at night, all these thoughts race through our heads. All these questions, and all these emotions…
That can be like a wilderness. Have you guys…talked about wilderness at all this week? What do you think, is nighttime its own special kind of wilderness? Anyone do a night hike this week? Yeah? It totally changes your perspective.
So nighttime in this story with Nicodemus it’s like two wildernesses. There is the physical wilderness of night time. Or like, we experience the physical wilderness here. Or the physical wilderness of the jungle or a desert… But there is also a metaphorical wilderness, a wilderness of the heart and mind, and that’s that wilderness when you have lots of questions or are unsure or feeling a lot of emotions.
So I want to read this poem to you - I didn’t write it. It’s by The Rev. Sarah Speed Are:
“It’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
That’s what city living has taught me.
We can shine a light on the things we want to see—
Fluorescent and bright, lighting up dark alleys.
However, it’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
And it’s only in the dark of night that the questions come.
What is my purpose here? What does God have to say to me?
What does God have to say to suffering?
The sun falls and my doubt rises,
For it’s only in the dark that the questions come.
So like Nicodemus in the night,
I will throw my big questions at the sky.
And my voice will reverberate among the stars,
And my questions will echo throughout the dark.
For there in the night, my words form constellations.
And there in the wilderness, my prayers form galaxies.
So even there in the unknown, I trust that I am found.
A light shines in the darkness, friend.
So if ever you’re in the wilderness,
Look up and find the stars.”
Have any of you seen the stars at camp this week? I know it’s been a pretty cloudy week. It’s amazing how many more stars you can see here than where a lot of us live. And here’s the thing right - you can’t see the stars unless you go out in the wilderness, where there isn’t a lot of light, in nature, and at night - and look up.
Nicodemus wouldn’t have gotten to know Jesus, wouldn’t have gotten the answers he was looking for, if he didn’t go to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask his questions.
Just as we can see the stars in the night, especially in the night of the wilderness, we can encounter the light of Jesus in the midst of our wilderness experiences.
I want to briefly tell you about two wilderness experiences I’ve had.
One was being a camper and working right here at camp. A lot of this wilderness was the literal wilderness - the physical forest and landscape around us. But it was also the other type of wilderness too because it pushed me to grow - as a person and in my relationship with God. My time here at Camp was a beautiful, if also exhausting and hard, wilderness. Full of friendships and self-discovery - and falling in love with God. Especially falling in love with coming up to this hill every Thursday night, and finding God here, in the bread and the cup. Just as I also found God in the trees, and waters, and campers, and staff at camp. In a time of “wilderness” - I found God everywhere.
Where have you all seen God at camp this week or this summer?
(Answers)
Now my second wilderness experience was actually when I was studying abroad in Japan - I was homesick - a feeling I know some at camp have. Now, I was in a city of one and a half million people (that’s a lot of people!!), but I was still in a wilderness. It wasn’t a wilderness of place like a forest or a desert or a jungle or a camp…it was a wilderness of my heart. And it was there I learned that God can be found anywhere. If we just look, if we just ask, if we just pray for it - we can see signs of God anywhere. So I found a small English speaking church where we weekly broke bread, had Communion, worshiped, and shared together. God was found. And in that wilderness, I found God and learned a lot about myself.
This week (and summer) at camp
Maybe like Nicodemus, you’ve had questions about God - did you find answers? Did you find Jesus? If you did, that’s wonderful. If not, keep searching and keep asking.
Maybe you felt homesick and learned you need Jesus and others to support you and carry you through.
Maybe in the wilderness, you encountered God and God’s love in so many ways - in both the natural world and each other.
Maybe as you leave camp you will go back into a “wilderness” of your everyday life - issues you’re dealing with at home or in your family or friends…
Whatever wilderness you are in,whether it’s physical or metaphorical, know that God is there - and that God is always with you.
And so tonight, you are all invited to come and share in the bread and the cup - share in Holy Communion together. For this is a beautiful way that we encounter God, in this bread and this cup. In the beautiful wilderness of camp. In each other, Around your campfire tonight. When you look up and see the stars. Because wherever you find yourself, even in the wilderness, God is there.
Amen.
