I stepped out into the soft green grass on the front lawn of the church so I could see the faces of the kids as they sang. Dressed in their brightly colored tie dyed t-shirts, dozens of kids and youth rocked Ward Parkway as they sang, complete with hand motions: “I’ll give a little kindness, give a little love away”. But what really got to me during last week’s 9:01 service, was what Charlie said as he passed me on the way back to his seat with his family near the back row. Charlie is the oldest of 4 kids in his family. He will be a second grader this fall. His two younger siblings were with him singing. But his baby sister, “Katherine, who goes by Kit,” was only 10 days old Sunday and was tucked in her car seat on the front lawn next to her mom, grandmom, and great-grandmom. So Charlie leans over and whispers to me, “When she is a little bit older Kit will be up here with us.” That made my day! Knowing Charlie felt included in church and saw himself that day as a leader in our church, and knowing that Charlie delights in dreaming of the day that his sister, as soon as she can walk and talk, will also become a leader here.

Every kid needs to know that he or she belongs in this world and her/his voice is critically important. And Compassion Camp did that. Compassion Camp is something the whole world needs. But our kids (62 of them) went home every day knowing that compassion is something real. “I feel it, hear it, see it and live it.”

One little girl cried on the last day of Compassion Camp because she learned it was the end of Compassion Camp. She thought it was over forever. But her older sister assured her that it was only over for this year and would be back next summer. And so her tears dried up. She was calmed when we realized that she could come back. And a grandmother wrote to say that her grandkids went to lots of camps all summer, but this was the kids’ very favorite camp. A father told me that his son was excited to be a teen helper. The teenage boy even requested his family adjust the summer schedule, freeing him of other obligations so that he could be available to be a Counselor at Compassion Camp.

Compassion is one of the most beautiful words in the Bible. What a great title for a camp! The word for compassion in the Hebrew Bible is “hesed which can also be interpreted as “loving kindness.” In English, compassion is the combination of two words. “Com” means with and “passion” means suffer. So when we are compassionate, we are suffering with another person. I bet you already did that today, came alongside someone – friend or stranger – in compassion or loving kindness. And if not, there is still time today to reveal the compassion of our divine and loving God, to a person in your own life.

Grace and Peace,
Carla