Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

As I write this letter, I am on a plane traveling from Reconciliation Camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to Sessions ’08 on the Oklahoma prairie. The young mom sitting beside me has a baby boy asleep in her arms. I am thinking of my strapping 6 foot son, now 22, whom I used to carry like that – and it doesn’t seem so very long ago.

Raising up children is just about the most important thing we do. In the church, we don’t raise our children alone.

Reconciliation Camp took place at Craig Springs, Virginia. The campers and the staff were African-American and European-American. Twenty-five middle schoolers, four counselors, a nurse, a chaplain, a crafts person and director Rev. Terrye Williams. When Terrye envisioned this camp, she saw young people (just coming to the "age of accountability" as we used to say) learning about the gift of diversity and challenging the unfairness of stereotypes. She hoped they would learn about working together, sharing many gifts, being one church. Terrye’s vision became a reality and on the morning of their last full day, I had the privilege of joining these young members of our church and participating with them as their keynoter.

When I arrived, it was clear that the message of the week was sinking in.

"What headlines would go with the story of this camp?" I asked.

"A Week of Unity," "We are One at Craig Springs," "35 Working as One," "News Flash: We are One People," they told me.

At worship the night before they’d presented a skit where they divided into groups, each one claiming that God loved their group the most. Then "God" arrived on the scene, and solved the riddle: God loved them all the same. Another skit: quarrels breaking out one after the other, but each one stopped by a prophetic figure "in the name of peace!" Simple skits, fervent prayers, energetic songs.

Raising our children is just about the most important thing we do, and parents don’t do it alone. We share the job with the surrogate parents, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas of the church.

At Reconciliation Camp I reminded the children of the saying attributed to St. Francis: "Preach the gospel always. When necessary: use words." I reminded them that our lives are a sermon, that our mission statement as Disciples of Christ is "to BE and to share the good news of Jesus Christ." I urged them, according to the theme of the day, to reflect on the words from James, "Be doers of the word, not hearers only," and encouraged them to think of how they could be doers of all they were learning at camp once they got back home.

My time with the campers reminded me that there is hope for the church as we look for opportunities in our congregations, in our schools, and in our neighborhoods to live as Jesus lived.

Reconciliation Camp is one way that creative people in one region are working to fulfill our church-wide priority to be a pro-reconciliation/anti-racism church. Because their work links with our most important responsibility of raising our children well, this camp gives me hope for our future. If we can raise our children to see beyond stereotypes, to value the variations in culture as a gift, and to thrive in a world of diversity, then I see the reign of God drawing near.

Before long we’ll be observing our Reconciliation Offering. This year for the first time it is intentionally linked with World Communion Sunday, on Oct. 5. We’ll remember that as Disciples, we are a movement for wholeness, reaching across barriers of race and culture, to be one people at the table of God. We’ll remember that as part of the one church, we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us. And we’ll pray for a day when all our lives will preach a sermon that says, "God loves all God’s children just the same!"

Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)