light for the path BY NATALIE DUCHESNE
North Island Camps Facilitator, SUNZ
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FINDING DEPTH TOGETHER
’m all for immersion. Sink me deep to help my experience be a rich one. But a lot of us have lost sight of this depth–depth of community and depth of relationship with God. Despite holding the value of these things so closely, I’m a frustrating product of this world. I want to experience it all. I hop from one shiny opportunity to another and I’ve witnessed it doing damage to relationships in my life and my relationship with God. Thankfully, though, God continues to provide me with reminders to sink deep into communion with Him. Something that I find so beautiful about communion with God is that it is both personal and something we are required to do together with others–the Body of Christ, the Church. "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." –Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)
I regularly turn to Jesus as an example of depth. Jesus, like us, lived within the relational fabric of community AND prioritised intimate time with the Father. Camps, in particular, have the potential to reflect a similar approach to that of Jesus– intensive time in community and intensive time alone with God. I’m particularly fond of how Joseph Ratzinger in his book Jesus of Nazareth talks about Jesus who "has eternally opened up within God a space for humanity" and "now calls the whole world into this open space in God, so that in the end God may be in all and the Son may hand over to the Father the whole world gathered in Him." When I stop and take a step back to reflect on God’s radical inclusiveness, I’m humbled by the fact we’re invited into such depth. When we intentionally choose to go deep and commit to being in right relationship with others and the Father–whether that is on a camp, during our every day, or while spending time in the Word–that’s when we experience a turning point and our faith realigns. Let’s do this together. NOVEMBER 2019 25
