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If you have your Bibles, you could turn to Genesis 12. That's where we'll spend a little bit of time today. Hi, my name is Melanie, and I always have to introduce myself with this. About 24 and a half years ago, I stood right here and got married. I know. I have a history here, too. We share that. I guess maybe you'll get married here. I don't know. Depends on what the Lord has for you. So I'm Melanie. My husband and I have been part of Gull Lake Ministries 25 some years, in fact. My husband John. There's a chapel right out there, and that's where he accepted Jesus when he was like 7 or 8. And we have another history that I didn't know until I was in my 30s, I think. I asked my grandma, where's that camp I used to go to with our church growing up? And she said, yeah, it's not a camp anymore. It's in Hickory Corner somewhere. Some bigger camp bought it. So over here where the zip lines are, used to be a softball field and another camp called Cy TC or something like that. Christian Youth Training Camp used to be back there. Does anybody know where the. I think there's a maintenance building, the blue building with the wavy siding. They used to have a little gift shop at the bottom floor where we bought suckers. So when I was half your age, I used to be out there. So we have a lot of history here, and we love it here. And we're praying for you. I think some of you came to our church, Grace Spring, earlier in the summer. So we appreciate seeing you there and praying over you as a church. And of course, our family loves coming here when we can in the summer. So we acknowledge that it's probably the hardest work you've done yet in your lives to be here, especially when you start feeling sick or homesick or wondering fall is going to bring you're going back to college. There's a lot on your minds, and I know it's heavy on your heart and it's wearing on your bodies. So we pray for all of that, that you will be sustained every week by the Lord himself. Because I think hard work like this teaches you you really bring not much to the table, and you need the Lord all the time. So I'm 55. I'm still learning that. It's just the best lesson you're going to be learning over and over. So I want to lead us through a time of prayer, essentially. I don't think you get a lot of quiet in Your week. And I'm going to bring you through sort of five things. First, an invitation. My grandmother, John's grandmother, gave us this book about 20 years ago. It's all beat up, and it's our favorite prayer book still. In fact, it's dated, and this year we run out of dates, so I have to get another version of it, which I'm not a fan of. Like I said, I'm 55. I like things the way I like things. So this prayer book has an invitation, and I underappreciated the value of liturgy. Does anyone here attend a church where you have a liturgical order that you follow, like Anglican or. I think some Presbyterian churches do that. I didn't grow up with that, so I'm newly aware of how beautiful it is. So I'm going to walk you through something of a liturgy. Some of it's in the book, and some of it I'm creating for a project that I'm working on about pilgrimage. So we're going to talk a little bit about being pilgrims today. So I'm going to start with an invitation. We'll have a moment of quiet so that you can hear the invitation the Lord has for you in the scripture that I'll read. And then I'll read a song. I will not sing you a song, and you can thank me. I will read you a song from Psalms, and then I'm going to ask you a question, and then we'll finish. If there's a moment, I want to share a Hebrew word with you that I learned yesterday, and I think you'll appreciate it, too. And then we'll end with a blessing. So that's assuming I keep everything on schedule. So I have questions for you, because, like I said, I'm writing a project about pilgrimage, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you hear from the Lord in His Word. So I'll start with the invitation. It's from Psalm 145. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises, and he is faithful in all he does. Just take a moment and ask the Lord what he has for you in that the Lord is trustworthy in all he promises, and he is faithful in all he does. Lord, we hear words in that phrase that we need. We need you to be trustworthy, even when we're not. We need your promises because some days our hearts really need hope. And, Lord, we need you to be faithful. The faithfulness we see in your stories and in your songs and these prayers of the saints. Lord, it is your faithfulness. That we're counting on each morning when we get up and at the end of the day when we go to sleep. Thank you, Father, for this morning. Thank you for your word that speaks to us. Thank you for the worship we were just offered by these young ladies. All time is in your hands, Lord. We're trusting that. And from Psalm 25. In you, Lord, my God, I put my trust. I trust in you. Do not let me be put to shame or let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame. But shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. Lord, show us your ways. Teach us your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me. For you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Lord, we believe the God that you say you are. And these stories we're going to read today and these thoughts we're going to stir today, Lord, we offer them to you as worship. And we receive from you, Lord. We ask for capacity to receive whatever you have for us in Jesus name, Amen. So I have a question for you now. What is a pilgrim? I know we've got like the Thanksgiving. You're going to have to kind of set that Americanized idea of pilgrimage aside. It's a good one and it's worth knowing. But I want you to think more long term. Historically, has anyone been on a pilgrimage or has a definition for pilgrim? Sometimes it helps to contrast something. What is a pilgrim versus a tourist? I don't think I need to stand up here. I'm going to come down a little bit. Have you ever been a tourist? So what's that like, superficial? It can be, yes. A lot of selfies. Got to remember that I was here. I got to show somebody I was here. Yeah. I feel like a program is somebody who's moving from, like, their home country to some place that they've never been. Whereas a tourist is just traveling to another country. But they'll come back. So sometimes it's time. How long you're going to be there. That's definitely a factor, I think. Yeah. That's all you had to say. Like, outside, you want to bring back a T shirt. Tourism is good. We need it. Israel needs it. We usually take people to Israel and they're suffering because they can't even get their most superficial tourists can't get there right now. But something happens when you're intending to be a pilgrim. Right. You expect something to change inside of you. Can a pilgrimage be short or does it need to be long? Could you be a pilgrim for a day? I kind of want to think so. Pilgrimage is so needed. Right. And so. So much opportunity. You'd like to think you could do it in a short period of time. My daughter's friend leaves today for Spain. He's going to walk the El Camino. Have you heard of the El Camino? So it's usually longer than a week, but he'll take a week. And it's. I don't know how many hundreds of miles it actually covers. But people go there intending to be pilgrims. So they stay with people who know they're hosting pilgrims, and they walk along the way and they meet other pilgrims. And there's something different in the way you walk when you expect that inside stuff to be happening. You think your conversations will be meaningful. You expect that when you sit to a meal, this isn't just food. Like, there's something spiritual and important happening here. I have a friend, she's actually. Pray for her. Her name is Sue. She's coming to stay with me tonight. I haven't seen her in about eight years, and she did the El Camino last year. So she's not a believer. And of course, my first question was, why are you doing the el Camino? That's St. John's way is the other name for it. It's intended to be a biblical following of the disciples in Jesus footsteps. So I'm kind of curious. I get to ask her tonight, what was that pilgrimage for you? So hopefully a pilgrimage is a meaningful, heartfelt. Something deep will be happening here, and I need to be ready for it. Right. How do you think you'd get ready for a pilgrimage? What would that look like? Has anyone ever done one? Yeah. Okay. Knowing and understanding the significance of where you're going or maybe what you're doing, I would think. I think there are two elements of pilgrimage. At least this is what I'm asserting in my thesis that I'm writing, time and place. So I think pilgrimage, you need to shift your place for it to be considered a pilgrimage. We can do lots of good things at home, and we should be. But a shifting of place stirs something and wakes you up to something. And I think time is the other factor. I do think you can have a short pilgrimage and have it be very meaningful. But I think the idea that you're dedicating your time, that you're expecting something internal to happen. So let's look at Genesis 12. I have a version. I have A this is the daily reading, but Genesis 12 is in here, so you'll have to trust me. I'm reading from Scripture. The Lord said to Abram, go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land. I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. And whoever curses you, I will curse. And all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. That first sentence is really lost on us, who live pretty comfortably in a familiar culture most of the time. Has anyone traveled overseas before and lived or at least spent time in a culture that was not your own? And you know what that feels like. But I'm guessing by the fact that you're here and as young as you are, you've never been asked to take everything you've ever known that you can carry or that can walk next to you and go someplace you've never been. Our world is so small. There isn't anything in this world we can't look up online and see what it looks like. I know. I plan trips for my family, and I'm always searching ahead to make sure I kind of know what to expect. So we have the best experience possible. We're not caught too much by bad surprises. And most of our surprises are good surprises. This sentence, go out of your country, the only place you've ever known, out of your people. I really can't imagine saying goodbye to my people and never seeing them again. And take your. And out of your father's household, which is really a way of saying all your security, your future, your extended family, which was their security. All you had in those days was land and family, and it's basically leave all of that behind. You can take your wife, you can take your nephew and go someplace new. How do you think Abram prepared for that? The only thing I could think to do was pray, too. And God is new to him, right? He's introducing himself to Abram. He's not the God of his area. This is a new God to him. So, yeah, sort of. Lots of questions. Okay. Where are you taking me? I would have questions too. Yeah. I didn't hear you saying goodbye. That's a lot of really unusual goodbyes in their day too. This is probably met with some resistance by his extended family. I would think if you were to tell your family I'm leaving. I know I'm not coming back. I don't know if you can come with me where I am. That'd be a very hard goodbye. Right? Very hard goodbye. Especially again for something he really knew very little about. What do you think the word I keep coming back to when I'm writing my project is? Posture. What is your posture? When you set out as a pilgrim, can you think of any words to describe what you need to be thinking and preparing yourself for and walking in a posture of pilgrimage? What do you think that looks like? What's that? Reliance. Yeah. Obedience. This is a very big obedience step. Right. We are also asked to do obedient things. But we'll probably never be asked to do something this hard. What about the time factor? He didn't know how long the trip would take. How do you prepare for that? Yeah. Yeah. Take as carry as much as you can. This friend of my daughter that's going. It's one backpack. Not sure if that's his self imposed way of doing it. But a lot of the ways people do this pilgrimage there's no rolling luggage on these trails. It's what you can carry and you've got to have all your stuff. You can't leave it behind. So what you can carry is all you have. Which I've never done more than this. Last weekend I took a three day trip with only a backpack. It was not camping but it kind of felt like it. It was all we could take on the plane. So that's all we took. It's a very strange way to travel when we just took a trip a month ago where we had two big luggages and three rolling carry ons. That's how most of us are accustomed to traveling. Traveling light is very intentional. Right. You have to be very intentional. What you can take. Now I want you to think about the longest trip you've ever taken. Maybe it's this. Is this the longest trip you've taken? It's sort of a trip away from home. What are things you absolutely knew you had to have with you? Yes. Toothbrush. Absolutely. There's no living without it. There's no substitute for a toothbrush. No. Just not the same. The finger does not work. I don't care what everybody tells you. Mouthwash is not the same. What else did you have to bring with you to camp clothes. Clothes are good. We appreciate clothes. Especially if you're going somewhere where you can easily replace what you didn't bring. Right. Do you bring scripture with you? You brought your Bibles. You knew you had to have your Bibles here, right? But would you anyway, if you had to be away for three days or a week, would you take scripture with you? If you're preparing, pretend you're going to the El Camino. Maybe sometime you will take a pilgrimage like that. How would you prepare your mind and heart? The toothbrush is packed. Your clothes are packed. How are you preparing your mind for what the Lord might have for you? What makes you ready? Yeah. Yeah. Memorizing scripture to know the sound of God's voice. That's. I mean, even if you don't memorize it intentionally, hearing it over and over and over so you recognize when it's God's word, when it's a word from God and when it's something else. Especially if you're going to be out on pilgrimage. And sometimes you can't carry all your study tools. Right. I mean, your phone makes it pretty easy now you've got all the study tools at your disposal. But the more you have in your head, that's what your brain first feeds on, right? What's already in there. And if you get discouraged, you have scripture for that. If you get a confrontation with somebody, you start engaging in a conversation and you're ready. Right. That's how you prepare yourself. We already said prayer. You prepare yourself with prayer, you prepare yourself with Scripture. I think those are two key elements to being ready. But I think there's one more way you can prepare yourself. If you knew you were doing the El Camino and you've been praying and you're memorizing scripture and you're packed, what is another way you could imagine being ready or feeling a little bit more ready? Yeah. So I have some goals and some things in mind, like some benchmarks that, you know you're making it, you know you're doing it. Yeah, I would, too. What did you say? Talking to somebody who's been there. Testimony. Right. So this is the thesis I'm putting forth, that prayer and scripture and testimony are three critical elements to building up a capacity for your pilgrimage to truly be ready. What is. Did you talk to anybody about Gull Lake before you came? Could you. I mean, this might be impossible to imagine. Can you imagine having come here, not having ever talked to somebody who's done it? I mean, even the Guys who recruited you, right? I don't know who the recruitment team is. Maybe it's women, too. They probably told you a little bit of what it would be like. Can you imagine being here with no idea? Never been a camper. Right. That'd be a really hard thing to imagine doing. Abraham did it. Abram became Abraham. He did it. He went out with any. There was nobody to ask, what's it like down there in Canaan? What are those people groups like those warrior, pagan, filthy culture. He had no idea. And maybe that was better. Have you ever done something and you realize, if I'd known how hard this was going to be, I might not have walked in such obedience. Maybe there's a grace there that he had no idea what he was going to be facing. But we also believe that same grace that maybe kept some things from him, gave him all that he needed to be prepared. Right? We sure hope so. There's another pilgrimage story that I want you to read. This is your homework. In Acts 8, do you know the story of Philip with the Ethiopian? So Philip was with the Lord, right? Philip was with the Lord. And then eventually the Lord sent them out and went to heaven. And he was running along the way and came alongside a chariot. I want you to think about that sort of pilgrimage in your life. The idea that you are so ready because you've been praying and you have scripture in your head and you encounter a total stranger and recognize, I think the Lord wants me to talk to this person. I was thinking about that even as I drove here. What could I possibly say to these faithful people who've been obedient and you're working your tails off. You make my summer look like a vacation. I know how hard you're working. What could I possibly say that would be meaningful? And you know what the Lord said? He said, I love those people, and I promise you I have something for them. That's how he prepared my heart. That's what gave me a posture to stand up here with a very awkward microphone and tell you things from the Lord's word, because I know he loves you and I know he has something for you. And he wants you to be strengthened and encouraged this morning. So if you're encountering a conversation or whether it's a difficult one or a fun one, if you can have in your head, I know the Lord loves this person, and I know he has something for this person. And if I can be any part of that, then you get to walk alongside them, sort of pilgrims together. So what is not A pilgrim. What is a posture? That is. We said tourist. Have you ever gone into a national. Have you ever been to a national park or even a park that has an office? Did you ever go in and say, what trails should we hike? What should we make sure to see? And they pull out their giant maps and their highlighters and they stand there and they're like, okay, make sure you go to this trail and they mark it up for you and they hand you the map and off you go. Have you ever had that experience? Sometimes that's super helpful. I love maps. I studied biblical geography. I got a master's degree in biblical geography. That's how much of a map nerd I am. I love maps. But if I'm going someplace I've really never been and I know nothing about, I'd prefer a guide. Okay. We were just in Italy with our whole family and we had these two fantastic Italian guides who were like a comedy act of their own. And they took us everywhere we went. They sat with us at meals. They walked on these alpine trails that we for sure would have been lost. And if you get lost up there, it's real problem. It's a real problem. There aren't the facilities, so we needed guides. Sometimes it's okay to hand somebody a map and maybe that's all you have the capacity for. But sometimes you need to be the guide who says, oh, I know what that's like. Let me walk with you. And we don't really talk in those terms, but you could certainly offer, and I bet you've done it here as a camp counselor or as a person who works here. Let me show you where that is. Isn't that so much more inviting than pointing at it? Right? That's how you're a pilgrim. Walk together with people. Now I want to teach you a Hebrew word. Anybody know Hebrew? Anybody studying Hebrew? Oh, that makes me very sad. Nobody knows any Hebrew. A prayer, something. Yeah. Did you have a little hand up? One word? What is it? Okay, I'm not even hearing you. Quran. Oh, she knows a word. I don't know. Can you say it louder? Kova. Kova. Now you know two. You're about to know two Hebrew words. Kova. Shalom. Everybody know shalom. Ok, see, you do know some. Okay, so relieved. You need to study Hebrew people. That's what we're going to be speaking in heaven. That's what my professor said anyway. Okay, this Hebrew word I think you've heard Shechem. It's a city. What do you know about Shechem not great things happen there, right? It's not a places have identity. Gull Lake has a fabulous identity. Shechem had an identity, but before it had that lousy identity, it had a good one. And the word itself means shoulder. So say Shechem. When you learn a new word, especially if it's a foreign language, you got to say it over and over to really learn it. Shechem. Shechem. And from the word shechem, which means shoulder, we have a word, hashkem. Say hashkem. Okay, so hashkem means basically persistence. So say it again. Hashkem. Okay, and here's where the word came from. The word has a picture behind it, as all Hebrew words do, and probably English too. At the center of Canaan, there were two immense shoulder mountains. Abol and Gerizim. You've heard this. What happened at Abel and Gerizim? Joshua and the people came in from Transjordan. They came into the land. And what happened at these mountains? Anybody remember? Off from one mountain they said blessings, and off the other mountain they said curses. Okay, so Shechem. Say that again. Shechem. Shechem means shoulder. So there was a village nestled between these two massive shoulder mountains called Shechem. When the Israelites first came to the land, after their 40 years in the wilderness, Joshua led them to Shechem. He lined them up on the slopes of the two shoulder mountains, half on one slope, half on the other. And he reviewed the word of God that had been directed to them. Do you remember what the name of that book is that Moses recited the whole of? And then Joshua brought it into the land? Deuteronomy. It's all the instructions. Here's everything you need to know to live. And then they came into the land and they were supposed to live it. So Shechem is the center where the word of God is spoken and listened to. From one shoulder the blessings came to offer life of worshipful trust. And from the other shoulder the curses that would came if they lived lives of rebellious self centeredness. So then, as words do, Shechem developed another meaning. When you went on a trip in those days, you loaded provisions for your journey on your donkey's shoulders, or you put them on your own shoulders and you set out. So the noun shoulder developed into a verb, and it began to mean load the shoulders of beasts for a day's journey. In a country like Israel, where it's hot, it's important to get as many miles in as you can before the sun comes up. So the journey Usually begins long before dawn. Eventually, the word came to describe the activity of people who got up early before the sun and set out with heavy burdens. They got up early to have as many hours as possible to do the thing they intended to do. You guys probably get up pretty early here at camp, right? To do the thing that you intend to do. This is speaking of Jeremiah the prophet, who in his book alone there are 11 uses of this word. A dead set in the book of Jeremiah is the word hashkem. Say hashem. And that is to tell you the Bible is very intentional. Even where words are placed in a book is on purpose. And that word is a way of saying, pivot your life around this idea of faithful obedience. And not just, okay, Lord, whatever you want for me. No, get up early and expect that the Lord has something very good for you today and very good for that person you're going to be walking alongside. So Jeremiah, if you know his story, stuck it out for 23 years in the city. He was in Jerusalem, tortured, imprisoned, mocked, belittled, alone a lot in Jerusalem. And he didn't resolve to stick it out for 23 years, no matter what. He got up every morning with the sun. The word hashkem has a sunrise in it. Jeremiah got up to do his work. He is not a reluctant, bored drudge. There's an early morning lightness in him. Every day is the anticipation of hearing God's word and speaking God's word. Jeremiah for sure knew the psalm. I'm ready, God. I am so ready from head to toe. Ready to sing, ready to raise a God song. Wake my soul, wake lute Wake up, you sleepy head, son. That's from Psalm 108. This day is God's day. It is not the people's day. He did not get up because he had to face rejection. He got up to meet with God. And he didn't rise to put up with another round of mockery. He rose to be with the Lord. And that is the secret of persevering pilgrimage. Not thinking with dread about the long road ahead, but greeting the present moment in front of you, every present moment with obedient delight and expectant hope. And to say, my heart is ready, Lord. So I want to finish with a blessing for you. You can close your eyes and just take a minute and receive this blessing from the Lord. God of Abraham. In your call on my life is a claim. You claim that I am yours. I thank you with my whole heart for the grace that found me. And I thank you with my whole Heart and soul for the grace that makes me willing and ready to live for you to go where you send, to follow where you lead. Lord, I ask that when the morning comes, even before morning, you would wake us up, wake us up to hashem, wake us up to a persistence, absolute convincing that you're with us, that you have something for the people we will meet today. And you've chosen us to be a part of that, Lord. It's an honor and a privilege, and we take it for granted. Thank you for the grace that has found me. I know that grace will make us willing and that grace will make us ready. And in the ways that you have blessed me, Lord, I ask that you allow me to be a blessing to others. Lord, I ask that you would remove illness from this group and from the campers and their families, Lord, that there would be no more fatigue, no sickness at all, but that we would be fit to do the work you have for us. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you. And I have plans to give you hope in the future, Lord, in that hash chem that we trust you to give us, Lord, we ask that you wrap that up in joy, that persistence, that decided determination to do what you have for us today with joy. Lord, we ask that you add to it laughter and wellness and super fellowship with one another. Lord, help us to be friends to each other, to lift each other up, to know that you have something good and beautiful for the person I'm talking to. And it begins with the good and beautiful you're putting in me, Lord, as we talk about pilgrimage and we try to define what it means to be ready and to pray and give testimony and be in your word and memorize your word, Lord, all of that is from you. Our desire to be willing to serve is from you. The feet to walk the path that's from you. The strength to get up is from you. For this conversation about place and time, both of those belong to you. This place belongs to you. The chairs we're sitting on belongs to you. Our homes belong to you. Our schools belong to you. And Lord, we ask that you would remind us to give our time to you, that first and most we would long to be in your company. With just a week and a half left, Lord, it would be easy to just see this as home stretch. And it is. And we're grateful, Lord, we're grateful for those markers along the way that remind us we're getting somewhere. We need that and you were human too. And you know we need that. But Lord, let us not take today for granted, because it's just one of many. Each day is a gift from you. I ask that you would give us that hashkem. Grant us the peace and the joy that come with it, because we know it's from you. Lord, help us to be found, faithful and joyful. In Jesus name, Amen.