Grace Church, Sandusky is built upon a tradition of community outreach. They expanded upon this tradition in 2000 when parishioners saw a need for the facilitation of familial connections in their community and founded KinShip, an organization that provides supervised visitation and exchange services for families and children who have been separated due to divorce, child custody issues, domestic violence, or other types of family trauma.

For eight days in July, we built a community of 15 young people and five adult leaders, supported in prayer and logistics by many more. We were from seven congregations in Ohio and three in Belize. We engaged in morning and evening worship; ate, played, and worked together; and engaged with the local community of Forest Home outside the city of Punta Gorda.

I found myself in a church in Belize surrounded by members of the Dioceses of Belize and Ohio sharing in each other’s understanding and love. We listened to other student leaders from Ohio and Belize give talks on prayer, the nature of reality, and Jesus Christ. We wrote positive notes to one another and placed them in personalized bags that surrounded the room. We sang and danced loud enough for the entire town to hear us. We broke bread and prayed together.

On June 17 through 22, nearly twenty 4th and 5th graders descended upon Bellwether Farm. They were here for St. Paul’s, Cleveland Heights’ Reading Camp. While the campers came to learn reading skills, they also experienced outdoor programs at the farm that provided context for the things they read throughout the week. I taught some of those programs, but in the end, the 4th and 5th graders taught me a lot. Here are a few things I learned at Reading Camp:

I think back to Bishop Curry’s homily at the Dedication for Bellwether Farm back in November last year, when he prayed that this place would be a “root factory” where we cultivate connectedness. “Pick Your Own Veggies” days at the Farm is just one way we are connecting to each other, our food, and the land.