Mark 9:36-37He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.’
‘Van’ and his brother were the first to arrive at Grace Camp, dropped off an hour and a half early by a relative – cute little boys, nine and ten, with closely cropped hair and bright eyes. The children who are invited to come to a week of carefree summer fun are children from families shattered by incarceration. The Grace Camp staff rarely knows the back story of any child, only that Daddy or Mama or maybe brother is in prison, and things at home and school are very sad and difficult.
As soon as the other campers began to arrive, Van began acting out in very aggressive ways. He looked for opportunities to shove another child or jump ahead in line. The energy he poured into antagonizing his fellow campers was profound, and in the cabin at night it seemed that he was playing the starring role in his own personal nightmare. Reasoning and reprimanding had no effect on Van. His errant behavior indicated deep-seated troubles.
The staff was totally perplexed as to how to help Van adjust to and enjoy the week of fun that had been so carefully and prayerfully planned for him and the others. One of the support staffers, a child herself, a child who has suffered the deprivations of love and security for many years, led the way.
Macie took Van into her lap, held him tight against his desperate struggles, and gently ran her fingers through his short hair over and over.
Van surely sensed through those gentle strokes the love and compassion for a fellow sufferer that Macie offered. He also began – very slowly- to recognize the understanding and acceptance in the faces of both staff and fellow campers.
Van enjoyed his week of swimming and games and singing. It wasn’t always smooth. There were renewed instances of shoving and hitting, but Macie stood in the gap each time and showed him the way back to peace and calm.
When his relative loaded Van and his brother into the truck to drive away that last morning, the Grace Camp staffers waved until the truck was out of sight. Five minutes later, however, the truck roared back down the camp’s gravel road. The driver jumped out, and with a bit of hostility approached the director asking what terrible thing had happened to Van at this camp. He said that the little boy who NEVER cries was weeping inconsolably. After a brief conversation, everybody realized that Van simply didn’t want to leave camp. Little Van, wounded in ways we will never know, had felt his heart opened by the love of Jesus shown to him at Grace Camp.
Prayer: Loving Abba, father of all, at this special time of the year, as we anticipate the joy of family gatherings filled with love and mutual support, fill our hearts with concern and compassion for the children of our community and the world who long so desperately for love and stability in their lives. Amen.
Betty Schroeder