6/13/2017 2 Comments Music Camp Community (part 1)This week was crazy busy. But I enjoyed it a lot, since I spent it at a music camp. It was hosted at a Christian university just three hours away. We played our instruments together, learned music theory, tested the waters of a composition program called Finale, and sang together as a choir. One of the songs we sang was an upbeat, Latin-American piece called “La Música” by Jay Althouse. The first line is: “La música nos une por todo el mundo.” Translated, that means “the music unites us all over the world." This fit our experience at camp well – many of the kids in the group lived much further than three hours from the university, and we found that we loved singing and playing together in the practice rooms whenever we had the chance. Yet I found that the community we had there grew out of something more than a love for music. I believe most of us would have identified as Christian, but it wasn’t a name or movement that united us.
It was a love for Christ and for each other as brothers and sisters. This is the reason I would have stayed another week if I could have. In all my years of public school and church, I felt that I was finally experiencing the kind of community God always wanted for us. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). Okay, it probably helped that we could all relate to each other in two ways – music and Jesus – but I was seeing this kind of love playing out before my eyes. In general, the guys were gentlemen, kind to each other and especially to the girls. Everyone was encouraging and uplifting to one another, trying their best to find the good in every other person. I saw he benefits of being with other Christian girls, too. My roommate invoked a kind of positive peer pressure when she silently read her Bible before we left for breakfast. I was convicted, and suddenly, I wasn’t fine with skipping my quiet time! The night we invited the other girls to our dorm room for a “party” (which was basically talking until 2am), we had a great discussion about what we thought heaven was like. Since we agreed that we probably couldn’t imagine exactly what heaven would be like, no one judged the other on her perception. With the entire group, during devotionals, we read my favorite Bible Verse, John 15:5. Once the point was made, I asked (out of a genuine need for application, but also out of curiosity for the responses), “how do we always pray, like Paul says, and stay connected to Jesus?” The answers astonished me. This was when I realized how many of those teenagers were also seeking God, the ones who had personal methods for praying, the ones who memorized scripture – and I didn’t question their talk because their walk was good, at least from what I could see. There was also quite a bit of honesty. The guys apparently had a great time bonding, and I know that my roommate and I were honest with each other about our fears, concerns and insecurities. Then we encouraged and prayed for each other. Oh, and of course – prayer. Our counselors led the way, and we followed in their footsteps. Everything was covered in prayer. I was amazed. It brought God into every little part of the day and refocused our minds to His purpose. It was insanely refreshing. As we finished out the week, we began praying for God to help us remember what we learned, and to allow this week to be a launching pad rather than just a spiritual high. I learned some remarkable things, and they will show up in future blog posts. But for now, I want to focus on the community we experienced. I would love to copy and paste camp into my everyday life, where everyone was kind and encouraging to everyone else, where the Word of God and prayer were highly regarded, and Jesus was at the center of it all. But I can’t. No two groups of people can ever be the same. They will always be as different as individuals themselves. What I can do, however, is start with me. I began listing some traits of the people I met at camp, and – I had the fruit of the Spirit! Love. Joy. Peace. Longsuffering (Patience). Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-Control. Against such there is no law. God was in that place, as we walked from one activity to another, as I chatted with my roommate late at night, as we practiced and performed our music. We saw the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit in each of us grew stronger the more we were together. I can’t help thinking that this is the key. Working with God to produce fruit in ourselves is important if we ever want to cultivate relationships and grow a community. We must start with ourselves.
2 Comments
Altobits46
6/13/2017 12:01:50 pm
Wow, it sounds like you had a great experience! :) the closest I ever had to that was in my section in band because I have a couple of great friends that were friendly rivals and they are now good friends of mine :). I'm glad that you had fun at camp lol
Reply
Lily Calico
6/13/2017 02:46:27 pm
Yes, it was an amazing experience. It was great to know that there are other Christian teenagers out there who are seeking God.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Lily Calicois an aspiring composer, writer, artist and musician. Archives
March 2018
CategoriesAll Arty Thoughts Book Reviews Monthly Updates Music Narrative Writing Notes To Self Poetry Writing Rambling About Writing Stories Theological |