Author Archives: smcalhoon
Lent Devotions
March 4
Maggie White is a former summer office staff member at Camp Fowler. She currently works at Union College in Schenectady, New York, and serves as youth director at First Reformed Church in Scotia, New York.
Psalm 19:7-14
For a long time now, I’ve given up sweets for Lent. It can be a challenge, coming right on the tails of the season of cookies, cakes, and treats. It’s amazing how accustomed you get to having something sweet after a meal, and to be honest, I usually fail at making it through the whole 40 days. What can I say—I like chocolate. As time has gone on, however, it’s become less effective. Not because it has gotten any easier—I still have a very hard time making it 40 days without chocolate—but because my views on it have changed. It’s become a diet of sorts; a physical cleanse after the heavy eating of Christmas. And that’s not what Lent is supposed to be about.
So last year I did something different. In addition to removing sweets, I added something. It was a huge revelation for me—nowhere does it say you have to solely deprive yourself of something during Lent. Why not add something that can help you reflect? This year, I plan to read a half hour every day during Lent. I know it doesn’t seem like much, especially for me. But while I love reading, too often I bypass it and go for the easy entertainment of television. Making time to read is going to remind me not to take the easy route; it will make me think and make me branch out. It will hopefully give me time to reflect this Lenten season. And that is what Lent is about.
So this year, instead of just removing something from your life, why not try adding something meaningful? (It’s not too late!) Maybe it will give you the chance you need to reflect as well.
Prayer: Lord, following you sometimes involves not giving up things, but taking up things that help us better serve and understand you. Help us find something that will center us this Lenten season.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Lent Devotions
March 3
Lindsay Close is former summer assistant director and wilderness guide at Camp Fowler.
Psalm 19:1-6
In a world that is filled with the constant chatter of messages, texts, tweets, posts, and pins, I find sweet relief in the image of God’s glory and magnificence spreading silently across the earth. With ever-increasing expectations to be constantly connected, we are called during this Lenten season to simply step back, be still, and be quietly filled with the wonder of God’s presence all around us.
It is often difficult to stop long enough to truly experience and acknowledge God’s presence, which is why it is necessary to seek out those elusive places where the mind, heart, body, and soul are all fully present at the same time. These are the “thin places”—the places where we are most aware of God’s presence, where the noisy distractions of our world drop away and we are able to fully appreciate the wonder of God’s amazing creation.
As the hectic pace of life and work looms this Lent, let us remember the grace that can be found in the “thin places” around us. Whether it is a weekend hike up north, an early morning paddle across a lake, or a stroll through the backyard, it is these bits of wilderness that connect us to God. They remind us to slow down, to look up, and to be humbled by the power, wonder, and grace of God that surround us.
Prayer: Creator God, help us to be still, to slow down, and to turn our eyes and ears to the heavens that quietly tell your glory and declare the works of your hands. Amen.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Lent Devotions
March 2
Hannah Shalom Busman is Camp Fowler’s former assistant director and currently serves as a covenanter with First Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York.
Exodus 20:1-17
In Exodus 20, God breaks one of the pivotal guidelines in telling people about rules: always stick to the positive. Don’t tell kids what they cannot do, but instead tell them what they can do. This is a lesson all people who ever spend time with a child learn early on. Perhaps in this passage God should have said, “You shall speak my name only in the correct context. You shall consider every life as valuable as your own. You shall honor your partner, and if you are feeling like you cannot do this then you shall talk to them about it. You shall consider that things owned by someone else are not yours to take. You shall always tell the truth, even if that means you will be in the wrong. You shall understand that the possessions of your neighbor have come to them by great effort and your possessions in turn have come to you by great effort, and you need to honor that.”
While these statements are not quite as pithy and might be harder to carve on a rock, you might not be quite as frightened of God and his retribution when you read them. Unfortunately for most of us, this was not how God worded these statements; instead, he made it quite clear the things he does not want you to do, without the slightest glimmer of forgiveness.
This segment in the Bible is centered around fear—fear for yourself and for the following generations. We are already full of fear in this world. Fear of the future, fear of disappointing someone, fear of failing, fear we will never find love, fear of the destruction of the Earth, fear of going to school or work or a movie theater and not making it home safe. Every night the news tells us something new to fear and another tragic story that ever increases our impending sense of doom. We have enough fear in our lives; I don’t like fearing God, too.
As humans we tend to do one of two things when it comes to fear: ignore it or face it head on. We either go about our day thinking that we will be safe and ignoring any evidence to the contrary, or we go bungee jumping and physically hurl ourselves into a pit of terror. Most people actually end up with a combination of these two approaches, but what do we do about the fear of God? How do we deal with that? Do we face it head on, knowing that we will inevitably fail to follow the Ten Commandments and cross our fingers that the good we do outweighs the bad, or do we keep our heads down and try to ignore the ever-present terror because acknowledging it means living in fear? What would God have us do?
Prayer: Lord have mercy upon us, for we are afraid this Lent.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Lent Devotions
February 28
Steven Bouma-Prediger is a professor of religion at Hope College, a Camp Fowler summer volunteer, and a camper/staff parent.
Mark 9:2-9
“This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
The day was cold and crystal clear. My students and I began our ascent early, and after a few hours came to the summit block. The trail, now above tree line, went straight up over grey granite, scraped clean by wind and rain. As we reached the summit of Mt. Marcy, the highest mountain in New York, we had a 360-degree view of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. We could see Algonquin to the west, Skylight to the south, Gothics to the east, and Lake Placid to the north. It seemed like we were in heaven.
In this famous passage in Mark, we read of Jesus and three of his disciples climbing a high mountain. Strange things can happen on mountains. In this case, Jesus is transfigured, bathed in white light, and the two greatest prophets in Jewish history appear with Jesus. Peter thinks he is in heaven and blurts out a half-baked idea about pitching tents and camping out. But a commanding voice—God’s voice—speaks and makes clear that the greatest prophet is Jesus, the Beloved Son. And this Jesus, the Word “tenting among us” (John 1:14), is the Messiah who aims to finish what Moses and Elijah started—the redemption of the world. So why wouldn’t we listen to him?
Prayer: O Lord, help us to listen to your Son, that we may do your will on earth.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to:
Read the passage.
Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Lent Devotions
February 27
Jason White is a former Fowler summer chaplain and volunteer. He currently works at Lynnwood Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York, and is enrolled at Western Seminary under the care of the Schenectady classis.
Mark 8:31-38 (CEB)
“All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”
We know the stories: the sea became calm, the demons lost their power, five loaves and two fish fed thousands, the waves became a walkway, sight and hearing were restored, little children were blessed, and we were taught how to pray. He died…so that we might have life!
Powerful stories move us, not only down the path, but emotionally and spiritually as well. Jesus not only tells great stories, but is a great story himself, a tale that we are invited to be a part of. Have you ever gone to the symphony? You might first hear a bassoon warming up, giving a hint of what unique melodies are just around the corner. Slowly other players gather and there is a swell of sound that isn’t quite music, yet artistry abounds. A tuning note is played and everyone joins in…pure unity, communion. The conductor strides to the center and cues this musical body—and we’re swept away into the composer’s story, swept away from being inside our own minds, swept away from our individual stories and into a greater collective.
Here in Mark 8, Jesus invites us to be part of the story—a story of communion and a story of unity. We are summoned to take up our crosses, take up our instruments. Even if the part we have to play is a difficult one, we are invited to work within this body of Christ, to be part of the adventure. In the center is our conductor, Jesus Christ, who says, “Follow me, let me lead the way…I am the way.” The foundation of the journey comes from our composer, God, whose grace and shalom flows within the pages of our lives. Abba, who breathed the Holy Spirit into us at the beginning, gives us life to continue unfolding the story.
It is here, in this space of unity, grace, and communion, where we can heed Christ’s appeal to say no to our own stories, and move into the reality of this heavenly drama.
Prayer: Lord, whatever it may be, help us to take up our cross, and follow you. Amen.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Lent Devotions
February 26
Rob Hileman is a former summer staff member and currently serves on the camp’s board of trustees. He is an elementary music teacher and youth minister at Bellevue Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York.
Romans 4:16-25
I’m not crazy about heights. There have been times when standing on a tall ladder or near the edge of a cliff has made me dizzy and short of breath. In spite of those experiences, I was excited about taking my youth group to a large high ropes course in the Adirondacks last fall. The course had several hours’ worth of challenges and zip-lines to conquer. To my surprise, many of the kids and adult volunteers in our group didn’t share my enthusiasm. When I announced the trip, most were willing to go and attempt the course, but some of them were anxious and fearful.
That day, as I watched both youth and adults anxiously struggling to move through the course, I had to wonder why my own response was so different. It occurred to me that despite the harnesses and cables attached to us, many members of our group did not trust this equipment. In contrast, I was certain I could not fall. My absolute confidence in the safety equipment made it possible for me to have a very different experience. Without a fear of falling, I was able to enjoy the challenges, the people, and the beautiful day.
I wish I could say I have trusted God in my life the same way I trusted my safety equipment that day. Instead I have faced many situations in much the same way my youth and volunteers faced the ropes course: focused on potential pain and loss. As a result of fear and anxiety, I have struggled through situations, made poor decisions, behaved badly, and learned very little. Even though I did not suffer any lasting harm in these situations, I wasn’t aware of God’s hold on me, and I missed out on the richness that would have come from living in reliance on him.
In a recent Bible study with some of my youth group guys, we learned about Abraham and his story. As we considered his responses to God’s promises we were impressed by his faith, but when we read his response to God’s instruction to sacrifice Isaac, we found it difficult to relate to him. How could anyone trust God that much? In order for God’s promises to be fulfilled, to become the father of many nations, Abraham must have known that Isaac was essential. Sacrificing him would seem to be the ultimate demise of God’s plan and promise. And as a father, I could not help but think this was too much to ask of anyone.
But then I remembered—it wasn’t more than God was willing to do himself.
In reading today’s Scripture passage, I was greatly moved by Paul’s words when he wrote, “He [Abraham] is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” Somehow Abraham must have been sure that God is the God of resurrection, and that no loss, no matter how great, is the end of the story.
I’m pretty sure that God will never test me like he tested Abraham. I hope I’ll never have to face any situation that has the potential for such loss or pain. I’m coming to realize that in comparison, my own challenges and trials are pretty insignificant. Nevertheless, I wonder how my daily life could be transformed by trusting God more completely, certain of his promises and confident that he will not let me fall.
Prayer: God, today may I remember that your ways are not my ways, and that your thoughts are higher than my own. In doing so, may my trust in you grow ever so slightly more.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Join us for Jazz Vespers on Sunday, March 1st at 5:30pm
Ronald Russell- Guitar
Daryl Tony Richards- Keyboard
Mario Thomas- Bass
Dimitri Copemann- Saxophone
Jeremy Jagrup- Drums
Lent Devotions
February 25
Kent Busman is Camp Fowler’s executive director.
Romans 4:13-15
This is a classic text that drives people crazy both inside and outside of the faith. Paul runs us through the hoops of “law” and “faith” and “wrath” and “promise.” He gets us all tangled up like some fifth grader’s fishing line. And we focus on untangling the line, while totally missing the beauty that surrounds us.
For me, the beauty slips in at the beginning of this text. “For the promise that he would inherit the world…” is Paul’s introduction. Camp Fowler is in part of the world where you can still see its inherent loveliness and integrity. It’s a world, in fact, that would be a wonderful inheritance.
As we struggle this Lent between law and its fear (you’ll catch that later in these devotions) and faith with its promises (also evident in these musings), let us not forget that God promises no far-away world, but one that is still beneath our feet. It would do us good to look up every now and then from trying to untangle our theologies and remember that.
Prayer: For Saint Abraham we give thanks, who looked up from his world and saw you, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Lent Devotions
February 24
Nicole Brace is Camp Fowler’s former cook and wilderness guide. She is currently studying massage therapy in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Psalm 22:23-31
In the northern Midwest, where I live, the end of February is still very much part of the long, cold winter that begins around November and often stays until late April. In the second week of Lent, the darkness falls before dinner and lingers past breakfast. The dawn “breaks” of course, but usually after many people are well into their day of work, and if you’re not outside or near a window to catch it, you won’t see it. You’ll only know it’s come by the fact that the day is no longer dark.
Today’s selection feels a little like that experience. In these verses, the Psalmist is confident, certain, prophetic. He’s speaking boldly into the future. The words are full of light. But now read the first two-thirds of Psalm 22—and hear the darkness that came before these words. You will hear some of the most affecting cries of fear and abandonment made in the human heart. They are the words cried out by Jesus on the cross as he was crucified (see Matthew 27:46): “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
What happened? How did the Psalmist change from cries of anguish to the certainty of prophecy and the excitement of hope? We don’t get to see it. But something happened. The Psalmist believes, “The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!”
If we don’t yet have the faith to believe what the Psalmist believes, perhaps today we might at least allow ourselves to wonder at what God could do in that place between darkness and dawn.
Prayer: God, today I choose to wonder what you are capable of.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
Lent Devotions
February 23
Pat Kinne previously served on summer camp staff and is currently principal at Bishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School in East Syracuse, New York. His children now attend summer camp.
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 (NIV)
“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, so let’s all praise the Lord.” The words of that traditional Sunday school tune that I learned as a child are at the core of today’s reading. In Genesis 17:7, God makes his covenant with Abram: “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God…” Re-read those words! “I will establish my covenant as an EVERLASTING COVENANT between me and you and your descendants after you…”
Now, I am no mathematician and logic puzzles confound me, but I remember this basic formula: If a then b, if b then c, so if a then c. Using that logic equation, according to the song I mentioned before, I am one of Father Abraham’s sons, so that makes me a descendant of Abraham, which means that I am a part of God’s everlasting covenant.
So, as we are on our Lenten walk to Good Friday and Easter Sunday, why is this Old Testament passage in our daily devotional reading? I think it calls us to pause and consider what it means to be in covenant with our Lord.
First, we must gain a clearer understanding that being in a covenant with God is drastically different than being in a contract with God. In a contract, if I do something in violation of the understood agreement, the contract is considered broken and becomes null and void. However, in a covenant, those involved agree to uphold their terms of the agreement regardless of whether or not the other parties do so. Far too often in society today people regard their relationship with God in terms of a contract, which from the beginning produces an air of futility. After all, who could ever successfully live up to the “terms” of a contract with God? To do so would mean perfection, and we know that we are a broken and sinful people who live in a broken and sinful world. Many Christians, therefore, live a life of guilt or even leave the church altogether because of the belief that they have failed God or cannot live up to their end of the bargain. Consequently many of these people also believe that God will not uphold his end of the contract due to their failures.
I pray for those individuals because they have missed the heart of the relationship that God calls us to. God does not want to enter into a contract with us, but rather he yearns for us to enter into covenant with God. God recognizes our frailty and brokenness but he still offers us his everlasting covenant. When we enter into covenant with God, he promises to be faithful even when we fall short—which will happen.
But we must also understand that this covenantal relationship is not a “free pass” to go and do whatever we want. Instead, we look to Genesis 17:5 and 17:15-16. Once we understand that we are in covenant with God, he gives us a new identity. Just as Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah, we too are called to become a new creation in covenant with God. We take on a new identity and a new way of thinking and doing things once we have entered into covenant with God. And we earnestly seek to try to honor the covenant we have entered into by living in such a way that we bring glory and honor to God’s name, so hopefully people notice that there is something different and almost counter-cultural in how we live and think.
This Lent, my prayer for you is that you will think about and nurture your covenantal relationship with God. I pray that you will embrace your “new self” and bask in the warmth of God’s loving embrace, knowing that he loves you so much that he will not back out of his everlasting covenant with you—for God has called you by name and you are his. I pray that you know God loves you so much and takes his covenantal promises so seriously that he sent his only son to pay the price for your sins through his crucifixion, and to give you hope for the future through his resurrection. In response to his love, as the final words to that old song about Father Abraham say, “Let’s all praise the Lord.” Amen!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for loving me and for entering into an eternal covenant with me. I pray that as I begin my Lenten journey that I might make a change in my life that will allow me to honor that covenantal bond a little more deeply than I may be accustomed to. Father, just as Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah, help me to undergo a transformation that will allow me to walk in a deeper relationship with you, and will allow me to grow and spread your love to future generations. Almighty God, I humbly ask this in the name of your son, my savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
For this year’s Lent devotions, the days follow the Common Lectionary texts. Each author was invited to: 1.Read the passage.
2.Read a couple passages before and after the assigned day.
3.Do something else for the day, keeping the passage in mind.
4.Find a word/phrase/concept that connects with your own experience. Reflect on that.
You are encouraged to do the same.
St Croix Reformed Church 
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