Jessica Gates is the Communications Associate for the Diocese. She is spending the week up at the Episcopal Camp, her first visit to the property. This week is the Music and Creative Arts camp program. ECC is located in the northwest corner of the state, on 186 acres of land touching Echo Lake.
The final days of the Music and Fine Arts camp at Episcopal Conference Center (ECC) were filled with displays of amazing talent.
The talent show was held on Thursday night. Titled “ECC’s Got Talent” (a parody of a current TV talent show) the staff and camp all showed off a variety of skills. A panel of judges provided comic relief. We wrapped up Thursday evening with the final three desserts in the Staff dessert competition.
Friday was an absolutely beautiful day – not too hot, low humidity. We were all thrilled. It was a perfect morning to visit the Tower of Silence and hike down to the lake. The Tower of Silence is a raised cabin that serves as a quiet space. Nestled in the woods, it is a place to escape the bustle of the camp and reflect, meditate, pray or read. It is set beside a pond with a geyser pump in the middle that gurgles in the background.
My toddler had her first lake experience. A tentative toe-dip merged in to a brave few steps and then quickly turned in to a baby skinny dip. She was thrilled with the giant bathtub in the great outdoors. I am still berating myself for forgetting to take my camera down to the lake.
Friday evening was the accumulation of all the work at camp. Workshop presentations started at 7:30 PM and went until almost 11:30 PM. Visitors, family and friends crowded the camp to see all of the programs. This was the evening to be blown away by the talent of the youth. The rock-bands were fantastic and had everyone up and dancing. A camp favorite was a rendition of Nelly’s “Grillz” – skillfully covered by a very enthusiastic group of campers. The dramatic presentations were comedic genius and the a cappella group should get a recording contract. My humble opinion, of course!
Friday evening also brought about the results of the staff dessert competition. Alan and I won for our wacky dessert named “Nacho Libre.” It was created to look like salsa, sour cream and bean dip with chips. It was actually a fruit dip (strawberries, pineapple, raspberries), cheesecake dip and chocolate with caramel. The chips were lacy biscotti cookies cut in wedges.
On Saturday Alan and I were made to stand on chairs during breakfast announcements and were told that we won the award for being Woody Harrelson and Meryl Streep “look-alikes.”
All fun aside, few places in the Episcopal Church are doing enough to engage kids. They are the only hope for the longevity of the church and yet they are largely ignored with the exception of a few Sunday school programs. Youth programs are an uphill battle that must compete with school programs and sports. The church desperately needs to engage the 13-18 year-olds. Those 18 year-olds go off to college and may not set foot in a church (of their own will) again. It is our responsibility to make the church a home for them. There is always a small trickle of returns, a marriage or a young family may initiate a return to church life. Even so, there should be an abundance of young adults in the 22-26 age range, out of school, starting their lives – filling the pews. But they are not there. Why? We never established a relationship with them beyond Sunday obligations.
The Episcopal Conference Center does just that. It makes a home. Episcopalians in Rhode Island should be very proud of ECC's efforts. It does not matter if you have braces or tattoos up at ECC. The kids who attend the camp are fully engaged in creative activities, community and religious services. It is all intertwined. They have an amazing ownership of their spirituality that is not seen in many youth. They come back each year, again and again. They return as campers-in-training. They return to be counselors. They return to be staff members. They send their own children to camp. It is a full-circle program.
In a church that is currently consumed with politics (too left, too right, too center, red state, blue state, gay, straight, somewhere in-between, conservative, liberal, male, female, inclusion, exclusion, schism, communion, posturing, interpreting, right and wrong) it is not only refreshing, it is uplifting to attend a week up at the ECC. For a moment, you see the future and the future is happy, healthy, engaged, talented, community-oriented and deeply spiritual.
Of course, current church events are incredibly important and amazingly historic no matter what side of the issue you may fall on. But they are also exhausting. It is a pleasant reminder of community when you step on to the 186 acres on Lake Echo – the Music and Fine Arts camp at ECC is focused on, well, music and fine art. Amen.
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