Chaplain’s Corner: Flipping the Script

For one week every July I leave my chaplain/pastor routine in the Valley for an entirely different experience: Camp Director for our 3rd-12th graders at Camp Keola, situated at 7500 feet at Huntington Lake. In addition to swimming, singing and s’mores, it was a week of fellowship and faith formation shaped around the theme of: “Flipping the Script.”

Jesus was not the Messiah the world was anticipating. He was frustratingly non-compliant with the expectations of the world, which values strength over vulnerability, ambition over compassion, accumulation over generosity and the comfort of the individual over the flourishing of the community. Jesus flipped the script on every one of these expectations.

It is too easy in our world of modern comforts to just go with the flow and live a life that blends in with the world around us. Yet we are pulled towards Jesus, aware that we are called to more and asking God what that might look like for us today.

The call is going to look different for everybody, yet camp is a great place to discover it. For a week, the script of our daily lives was flipped. We reflected in nature instead of bustling about in the city. The expectations of school and work were exchanged for a week of play and meditation. We did everything together without the distraction of our electronics. And by the week’s end this intense intentional living together bore fruit through deep friendship and the kinds of mutual vulnerability and support that can only come from a week of giving up the comforts and convenience the world offers.

I pray that you take some time this summer to get out of your routine and flip your script, even if it isn’t camp, even if it is just for a day or two. May the words and ways of Jesus continually disrupt your norms so you may shine, distinct from the world around you.