The human circle was formed, each person holding the hands of the other and then as every morning during the week, we give praise to God……”Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and Holy tried and true. With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary for you.” And just like that, the sanctuary known as Salkehatchie Foothills Camp came to an end. There were hugs, handshakes, tears and laughter. New friendships forged and old friendships rekindled. Most importantly, a new family realized and a sanctuary renewed.
The week began with a Saturday send off of our Salkehatchie team from Virginia Wingard Memorial UMC in Columbia. The team headed to Pendleton, SC to the Foothills Camp. I watched the team leave knowing that I would soon join them. My task at hand, as a pastor, was to lead worship on Sunday morning then travel to Pendleton. On Saturday evening I received a text from my daughter Kate, a member of our church Salkehatchie team. She said she prayed at supper…..for the entire camp! She jumped right into serving. This was a proud parent moment.
When I arrived on Sunday afternoon at the Foothills Camp, I was greeted by Kate who was attending her first Salkehatchie. I walked passed the shower trailers and unloaded my bags in my home for the week, an elementary school gymnasium. There were cots and sleeping bags, suitcases and air mattresses scattered around the perimeter of the basketball court. I thank God for good friends because over near a corner of the room was a space saved just for me. Home sweet home.
I was attending my first Salkehatchie as an adult. In the early 80’s I attended Salkehatchie in Elloree, SC. Well, as you can guess, much has changed in the world since then. I am not as young as I once was but my passion to serve Christ is still strong. Back in the day at Salkehatchie, we dug outhouses, put tin on roofs, and added sheetrock to walls that had no walls. What I remember most is how the Salkehatchie experience changed my life and put me on the trajectory to becoming an Elder in The United Methodist Church.
Flash forward to 2018, my daughter Kate is 14, a second generation camper, and eligible to attend her first Salkehatchie camp. For one reason or another ministry kept getting in my way and I was unable to attend Salkehatchie with our church team. This year was different.
It was not long after arriving in Pendleton that I learned of the team I was going to serve with. What a wonderful and faithful team. And the bonus was Kate and I were going to serve together. The house we were assigned to was the house of Ms. Ruby Lee. The construction tasks included installing gutters, putting in a French drain in the front of the house, installing doors and shelving, scraping popcorn ceiling, patching some holes in the ceiling then painting, and adding ceiling fans in the kitchen. This work kept us busy the entire week. Our site finished the work on time and Ms. Ruby was overjoyed. We actually finished the work a little early on Friday afternoon and the team was able to enjoy ice cream in the Pendleton town square. And Ms. Ruby Lee joined us for ice cream too.
The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the church at Corinth, “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19). Our bodies are temples, sanctuaries of the Holy Spirit. So, you get a bunch of bodies together, then you have one big Sanctuary working together with the power of the Holy Spirt dwelling in each of us. With a hammer in one hand and the Bible in the other, we are sent.
Salkehatchie is more than painting, hammering, sawing, and digging. The experience is going from anywhere to everywhere to serve in the name of Jesus the Christ and being open to the leading of the Spirit. I’ve made new friends, have a new family, and experienced a daddy/daughter moment that I’ll never forget. Go make disciples. Don’t just sit in the sanctuary, go be the sanctuary and allow the Holy Spirit to work through you. Blessings on your journey.