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Lent Devotions
March 17
Mary Carlson serves as a spiritual director for some of Camp Fowler’s contemplative retreats.
Psalm 51:1-12
David’s prayer for cleansing and pardon reminds me of words from modern day psalmist/songwriter Bruce Cockburn. Here are words from Cockburn’s song “Southland of the Heart,” interspersed with David’s psalm.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. (v. 3)
When thoughts you’ve tried to leave behind
keep sniping from the dark (B.C.)
Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight, (v. 4a)
When the fire burns inside you but
you jump from every spark (B.C.)
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment. (v. 4b)
When your heart’s beset by memories
you wish you’d never made (B.C.)
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me. (v. 5)
When the sun comes up an enemy
and nothing gives you shade (B.C.)
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me (v. 10)
In the southland of the heart, everyone was always free
Lie down, Take your rest with me (B.C.)
In my work as a spiritual director, I sit with people seeking cleansing and pardon, though they may not use those words. They, like David and Bruce, are looking for healing and wholeness. Their path is our Lenten path; the process of seeing ourselves in all our ugliness and glory, repenting for what separates us from God, allowing ourselves to be pardoned, and returning to right relationship with God. Imagine God inviting you home: Lie down; take your rest with Me.
Prayer: Have mercy on me, O God, blot out my transgressions. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. (verses 1, 12)
The 2015 Lenten reflections were submitted by staff, volunteers, board members, campers, and friends who have spent time at Camp Fowler in New York.
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 16
John Paarlberg serves as a volunteer and retreat leader for Camp Fowler. John is pastor at First Church in Albany, New York.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
How is your heart?
In biblical thought the heart is not just the source of our emotions, nor only the seat of memory, but the center of our being. Located midway between your head and your gut, your heart is the meeting place where mind and feelings combine to form convictions, where thoughts and desires are merged into purposes. Your heart is your emotional, volitional, and moral center. It is what you decide in your heart that determines your actions.
Hearts can be hardened, rebellious, deceitful. Jeremiah was not at all encouraging about the proclivities of the human heart in chapter 17, verse 9: “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?”
Apparently God can. And God does not give up on the heart. The people of Israel had broken the covenant and turned from God in their hearts. And that is precisely where God goes to work—on the heart.
All of the action here is God’s: God will make a new covenant. God will put his law within them. God will write it on their hearts. God will forgive.
Is there hope for the human heart? Not if left to our own devices. But we are not left to fix our own hearts. God does that. Therein lies our hope, “and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).
Prayer: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord. (From the Book of Common Prayer)
The 2015 Lenten reflections were submitted by staff, volunteers, board members, campers, and friends who have spent time at Camp Fowler in New York.
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.
Visit from Rutgers University
20 students and professors are on St Croix to study our environment. We had the pleasure to meet them Sunday at our worship service.
Our growing Choir sounds amazing!
Sounding amazing singing “As the Deer” and “Because He Lives”
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives
Lent Devotions
March 14
Kent Busman serves as the executive director for Camp Fowler.
John 3:14-21
In the middle of our Lenten journey, this passage finds us spending a night with Nicodemus, resting with Jesus. What’s interesting is that he is the one who is present with Jesus: sitting in the literal darkness being illuminated by the figurative light of the world.
As one who works to preserve the natural world, it is good to be reminded that God loves the world beyond just people, and that Christ has come not to condemn the world, but that the world through him may be saved.
Perhaps we, like Nicodemus, should pause on our journey to be present for a moment in the world that Jesus came to save. Perhaps in our presence we will still see the light shining in the darkness that is not overcome.
It is this vision we may need when we rise in the morning to continue our journey.
Prayer: Lord, give us eyes to see the light not quite hidden by the darkness around us and within us.
The 2015 Lenten reflections were submitted by staff, volunteers, board members, campers, and friends who have spent time at Camp Fowler in New York.
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
March 13
Nate Hileman serves as a wilderness guide at Camp Fowler.
Ephesians 2:8-10
When I went to church when I was little, I had a mental image of a “Good Christian” in my head the whole time. The “Good Christian” was a pretty cool dude. He had five kids, and two used cars, and he wore snazzy shirts, and he tithed, and he read his Bible, and never got angry, and prayed every night, and things were never hard for him. Unfortunately, I never felt like that guy. I thought I was supposed to be like that “Good Christian” when I grew up. I carried a picture of him in my head for years. To be fair, that guy has a pretty sweet life, and I’d be lucky to end up like him. But when it comes down to it, I’m not that guy. No one is that guy, because no one is perfect.
As I was growing up, one of the most discouraging things about my faith was the idea that I had to be this perfect, snazzy, “Good Christian.”
But as we read in this passage: “For by grace you have been saved through faith”…
…if you ask me, the most important word in that sentence is “you.”
God Incarnate did not enter this world to make sure that the “Good Christian” was doing well. Jesus did not come here for the perfect people. Jesus came here for you. You don’t have to be perfect. That’s the beauty of the thing. You just have to be you. No one’s perfect, but that’s okay. We’ve already been saved.
(In an effort to be inclusive, if you do happen to run across a perfect person, you should invite that person to your church’s next ice cream social. It’s polite.)
So, give yourself a break. You don’t have to impress Jesus. He’s already taken care of everything. What a gift! By his grace, you have been saved through faith.
You have been saved.
Prayer: Dear God, thanks for loving me even though I don’t have it all together. It means a lot to me. I’ll try my best to be the “Good Christian.” I probably will fall short, but I’ll do my best. Thanks for having my back. I love you, God. Amen.
The 2015 Lenten reflections were submitted by staff, volunteers, board members, campers, and friends who have spent time at Camp Fowler in New York.
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 12
Sarah Flinker has served as waterfront director, SWiM coordinator, and summer assistant director at Camp Fowler. Sarah is currently working for Audubon in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Ephesians 2:1-7
The ways of this world are hard to avoid. They surround our very existence—the angry honks from cars at an intersection, the grumbles in long lines at the post office, encouragement on every corner to splurge on unnecessary luxuries.
The ways of this world, splattered across the Internet, say that you can and should be true to yourself, do what feels good, and don’t let anyone tell you that there’s anything wrong with it. It is not surprising to me that Paul says when we followed the ways of the world we were dead.
You needn’t worry that you are alone in this problem. Paul says “all of us also lived among them at one time.” You are not the first, nor the last, to get sucked in by a world that can be very appealing. But everything Paul says about that is in the past tense. “You were dead.”
God loves us. It is by grace you have been saved.
The ways of this world aren’t going away any time soon, but with God’s grace we can move beyond them. We might still be tempted to gratify the cravings of our flesh, but now we are made alive through grace. And when we see the incomparable riches of that grace, it will give us the strength to stand up against the ways of the world.
Prayer: God, thank you for saving us with your grace. Help us to challenge the ways of this world with our actions. Amen.
The 2015 Lenten reflections were submitted by staff, volunteers, board members, campers, and friends who have spent time at Camp Fowler in New York.
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 11
Jan Hoffman served one summer as the interim director at Camp Fowler. Jan currently co-pastors First Reformed Church of Scotia with her husband and helps lead some of Fowler’s contemplative spiritual retreats.
Psalm 107:17-22
The Psalmist describes sickness, even unto death, but the Lord gave forgiveness and healing. The context isn’t one of thanksgiving, it’s one of wandering in the desert, and God’s people are whining more than thanking! Sometimes we forget that the antidote to grumbling is gratitude (so writes a favorite author, Jan L. Richardson). How do we give gratitude in the Lenten desert?
I have been a part of Camp Fowler most of my life: as a child at summer camp, as a chaplain leading kids at summer camp, and as a retreat leader and participant. I go to the camp by the mountain lake to get redirected and realigned, for rest, for a time to remember where I am and whose I am. When I’m wandering in the desert, it’s easy to whine; I often forget to thank God for the many blessings of healing and forgiveness in my own life. When I spend time at camp, in any season, it’s easy to remember to give thanks. I hope you have a similar place in your life.
As the Psalmist here reminds us, may this time of Lent be one of gratitude as we look for the one who came with healing in his wings.
Prayer: Lord, in all the seasons of my life, may I offer thanksgiving with songs of joy. Amen.
The 2015 Lenten reflections were submitted by staff, volunteers, board members, campers, and friends who have spent time at Camp Fowler in New York.
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 10
Annie Reilly is a former summer staff member and camp volunteer. Annie is currently serving as an ordained minister at State Street Presbyterian Church in Schenectady, New York.
Psalm 107:1-3
In this short selection from Psalm 107, we are admonished to give thanks to the Lord. The NIV translation is ambiguous, though; are we giving thanks because the Lord is good, or are we giving thanks because the Lord has redeemed us from the hand of the foe and gathered us from the lands? The simple answer is: yes.
We give thanks to the Lord just for being good. So many blessings are poured out upon us, simply because we worship a benevolent God. This blue and green ball known as Earth keeps spinning. The sun rises. The seasons ebb and flow. Our existence is generally blessed because God is who God is.
We give thanks to the Lord for redeeming us from our specific foes. The Lord is attentive to our individual needs and blesses us accordingly. We are not just anonymous humans lost in a sea of creation, but God’s children gathered in and known, down to the very hair on our heads.
Prayer: O Lord, I am ever grateful for all the ways, big and small, general and specific, in which you bless me. Help me to see your blessings and turn to praise your name. Amen.
The 2015 Lenten reflections were submitted by staff, volunteers, board members, campers, and friends who have spent time at Camp Fowler in New York.
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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