This MLK weekend is our Senior Winter Retreat at Camp of the Woods (COTW), in Speculator NY.  If you have never been to COTW, it’s quite the place – half camp – half resort.  It’s sorta like a mega-church for church camps.

This trip to this venue was foreordained  by decades of  life-long devotees.  We have several members of our congregation that have homes here and  many more that plan on retiring here and then there is the countless population that vacation here.  Add to it that many of our youth group students work here for the summer, and you have legend almost as big as Narnia.  I like to joke that for all their vision, imagination, fundraising, and preaching, it is unbearable to live with its completely unoriginal name – “Camp of the Woods”??  Was “Camp by the Lake” already taken?  Aside from that, it’s a nice place, with a great staff, and though a tad pricey, it’s been the venue of some of our better memories.

Each year, we put on our own winter retreat program.  We use our own worship band, I speak, etc.  Sound boring?  Shut up, that’s what we do Wednesday nights too.  In order for it not to look like Wednesday nights, we go skiing, have a talent show, play games, bring the Xbox and embarrass ourselves to Rock Band and overall, we do our best to create the fun.  It helps that we have a solid core group that get into whatever we’re doing.  Regarding the lesson theme, we’ve used movies. It’s been tough brainstorming movies that will work for an entire weekend.

My first year at this church we did a safe movie – a little, independent feature, called “The Matrix”.   Yeah, it was the “Garden State of ’99″.   It was easy,  the points connected well, we got a solid response, and for some, it was the first thing I did right.  Last year, we weren’t safe and we did the satire, “Saved!” and we themed it around hypocrisy and unconditional love.  The discussion groups were excellent.  The movie offends, at least mildly, to most people, (as is the point of good satire) but I was impressed that no one thought we should not have shown it.  For this and other reasons, last year was probably the best retreat that I had been a part of. 

So, as we were leaving for this retreat, I welcomed them to the second-best retreat ever (since we didn’t want to put any undue pressure on ourselves).  We’ve changed a few things, trying a different ski resort, implementing some new rules to balance sociability and technology (I don’t ban ipods, but free reign has kept a small minority disengaged), and showing another great movie.

We’re showing “Crash”.  It’s an edited version (some parts maybe a bit too much but I suppose the envelope should only be pushed so far) from one of those companies that stay in business for a few months and get shut down.  

Our themes will be Justice, Racism, Providence and Redemption and I am excited for this discussion this MLK Weekend.  I am using more Scripture than I normally do and am hoping that I am using the language of movies to connect with them, that the language of Scripture will translate too.  We’ll see what happens.

As a youth group, each year we do a Christmas party in our beloved youth room affectionately called The Fireside Room (it has a fireplace and it it’s a room and since I’m not extreme youth pastor, I have no plans to rename to rename it to the “Inferno Room” or “House Ablaze” … anyway).   In previous years, we had the coffee bar going, the carols, I would give a brief Christmas reflection, we may tell a story, and then of course, the White Elephant exchange.   Well I Well, I love Silent Night, and Rudolph and I pretty much like all the Christmas traditions (sacred and secular) including the White Elephant thing as much as the next guy but it was time to do something different.

I tried to volunteer our group to throw a Christmas party at either a children’s hospital or an assisted living/nursing home.  No one wanted us.  We may have a terrible reputation that I am unaware of or it points to groups and individuals focus on this time of year more than other times. 

In keeping with our “you can’t ruin Christmas theme”, I had asked them to bring $5 Starbucks money and our evening began at a outdoor nativity at a nearby Catholic church.  Reminding them of the infamous Talladega Nights scene where Ricky Bobby prays to baby Jesus, I shared with our students that this was how we usually picture Jesus, laying asleep in the manger.  The meaning of Christmas is so much bigger and everywhere. 

After breaking up into our small groups, their assignment was to find moments of Christmas and to find ways how they could be bring a moment of its meaning to others in the mall.  The rules were simple, they could not spend any of the money on themselves or on anyone on their Christmas list.  We were here for to experience God and the “other”.

It was great; two groups got together and bought several coats and donated them to a coat drive.  Some even gave their own coats.  One girl tried to give her money to one who sold trinkets and cheap jewelry from one of those little stands that are outside bigger retailers.  The lady gave her 5 sets of earrings that her group got wrapped by those who were raising money for cancer research and then gave the 5 gift wrappers the earrings they just wrapped.  They were several other stories but it was evident from the stories like that, they were catching the point. 

The meaning of Christmas is captured in many places including at the mall watching families and people shopping for others.  Not everyone is giving out of formality, some will actually be a blessing.  Some are making gifts that will do a similar thing. Many are donating their time, their coats, their resources.  It’s my opinion that we tend to look to much to the negative and annoying aspects of the holiday and overlook moments like these.  Even in the den of commercialization and materialism, we can remember the love of Christ.  No one may have gotten saved (or saved again) but all of us were encouraged, strangers were blessed and I believe God was glorified more by this than another party in our beloved Fireside Room.  

After we exchanged our stories, I told them the legend-story of the candy cane.  You probably heard it or something like it.  A candy maker some 300 years ago gave out these shepherd-shaped sugar sticks to children who behaved during the church Christmas concert that had a Jesus the Great Shepherd theme.  Later the story evolved to the shape is a “J” theme for the baby Jesus and the red stripe was symbolic of his blood.  Yes, even candy can be redeemed and for those who are searching and celebrating Christmas, nothing can ruin its meaning.  

From this USA Today article:  “Students Cheat, Steal, but Say They’re Good”

“In the past year, 30% of U.S. high school students have stolen from a store and 64% have cheated on a test, according to a new, large-scale survey suggesting that Americans are too apathetic about ethical standards.

Cheating in school is rampant and getting worse. Sixty-four percent of students cheated on a test in the past year and 38% did so two or more times, up from 60% and 35% in a 2006 survey.”

Other findings:

• Thirty-six percent said they used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, up from 33% in 2004.

• Forty-two percent said they sometimes lie to save money — 49% of the boys and 36% of the girls.

Despite such responses, 93% of the students said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character, and 77% affirmed that “when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.”

Why and how can this be?  Well the answer is Marylyn Manson of course!  Since his career faded out of the popular eye, this world has gotten a lot safer hasn’t it?  Kidding, my point is that you can’t blame pop-culture for the primary reason for these sorts of issues. 

Whose fault it is?  Everybody’s.  From parents, to teachers, to youth pastors, to marketers, to toll-both collectors to the students themselves. 

We create this incredible pressure on our students that they have to win at any cost, make money at any cost, look great at any cost, live the American dream at any cost.  Cheating, lying, stealing becomes part of the pragmatism to achieve that.

We create this huge pressure and then celebrate the brief positive moments that result.  All the while they stress out, cry themselves to sleep, tear ACL’s, go through eating, sleeping, and emotional disorders so we can clap proudly at graduation. 

Also, some of this is the human sinful condition.  (So to the person who might comment, “People are sinful.  Read Romans 3:23, it’s that simple…”) – yes, I understand that but I think it’s even deeper and more complicated. 

What’s the solution?  Sorry this is a blog so there aren’t too many solutions on these types of posts but I’d like to throw this out there. What if did our part to help get rid of competition?   Aren’t pick-up games more fun when you don’t really keep score?  Professional games that keep score are only fun for the winning team and its fans, right?  Is there a Cubs fan here that can yell a tearful “amen”?  (Until last month, Phillis fans were too depressed to even get on the internet, now they’re the most joyful people I know.)

As a youth pastor, I tell our students that I won’t pray for their grades or their class rankings (or that they get the lead in a play or the solo in elite choir), but will pray for their work ethic, stress, and time management skills.  As others have, I try to expose the “straight A” student as not the ideal life.  Nor is it the gamer or the first chair cello player.  What good is it for a person to graduate Valedictorian but lose his/her soul?

I want to be careful here and not be responsible for encouraging a generation of underachieving Bart Simpsons but a show full of Lisa’s is quite boring and not well-lived from my perspective.  Back to the point, we must do our part to discourage the succeed at any cost, competitive game that we seem to be caught up in.  More to say, but thoughts?