How Truth Points to Good

The April edition of the Chaplain's Corner by Pastor Dave, SCYL Chaplain

What is truth? We think of telling the truth. We think of being honest. But truth is more than that. Truth is a kind of knowledge. Truth tells us about what is real. So a statement like, “There is a God,” is truth. This is the knowledge aspect of truth.

But there is another side to truth. Truth has a purpose in our lives. What it all comes down to is how to live a good life. And here truth fulfills its most important function. Truth tells us what good is. We have ideas about how to act. We have ideas of what is socially acceptable. But what really matters, is what it is like to be a good person. This is where truth comes into our lives.

We learn about what a good person looks like in may ways. But two very important ways are from the Bible and from teachings from religion. The Bible has two sections—the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament can sometimes look like a bunch of laws. The New Testament is mostly about Jesus’ life. But both the Old Testament and the New Testament talk about what it means to be a good person. The laws of the Old Testament tell us how to act. And the stories about Jesus show how love can be practiced in life. There is a very old passage in the book of Exodus (the Old Testament) that tells one how to act if he or she sees an enemy’s ox running away. It says, “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him” (Ex. 23:4). Jesus says the same thing in a different way: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:43-44).

If you do love your enemy, when you see his or her ox wandering off you will return it to them. This is because you care for them and want what is good for them—that is what love is. But if we talk just about behavior, in case a person does not feel love, we have the law that tells you to return the wandering ox to its owner, your enemy. The case is the same with all the laws we find written in the Bible. In case a person doesn’t feel love for their neighbor, we have a list of laws that tells us how to act toward them. These laws can be called truths. They tell a person how to behave in order to be a good person, and then ultimately in order to be a loving person.

Our purpose on earth is to learn how to love wisely. Truth tells us how to do that—either by laws like we find in the Old Testament, or by stories about Jesus in the New Testament.

Wow Kitchener!

I just got back from the Church of the Good Shepherd "Earth" retreat in Kitchener, Ontario. Wow, what a weekend! 30 teens! Yes, 30! From Maine, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan (3 vans) plus of course a nice large group of local teens from the Kitchener-Waterloo area.

Earth walks and shopping, sunshine and hail storms, disciples and Jesus, music and muskrats, movie night and worship morning, snakes, mice, parrots, Christmas caroling??? My mind is still spinning. And all this intertwined with long pockets of free time spent relaxing and goofing around with friends.

The earth poems you wrote were amazing! The whole retreat was wonderfully communal and also a bit chaotic and bizarre. It was a dynamic encounter with nature - warm sunshine, violent winds and hail - and a dynamic encounter with humanity - incredible expressions of love, care, thoughtfulness mixed together with random challenges and bizarre occurrences.

It's been a little while since I've been able to post. I've got lots of material and I'll start sharing memories, pictures, poems and stories from this past weekend retreat. This week I'll also be posting the April Chaplain's message. Keep checking in!

Former League President Rev. Kevin Baxter

We start a new feature this month. Former SCYL Presidents ~ Where are they now?

This month's featured former League President:

Rev. Kevin Baxter
Served 1990

What did he do and where is he now?

I believe I was elected in Olds Canada.
I don't remember much from my time as president, but i do remember we tried to do some charitable work and fundraising along with the normal teen retreat schedule. I think my greatest contribution to the League was lobbying convention in 1993 (I think) to get the SCYL a voice (two votes) on the floor of Convention.

As for where I am almost twenty years later... I am a minister of the Gospel in the Swedenborgian Church (currently serving the Cambridge Society). I am the director of Almont Summer School, served a few years as league chaplain and still try to attend retreats when my schedule allows. In retrospect, it is tough to say what influence being President has had, but certainly the influence of camp and the SCYL is a part of who I am today. The League friendships have lasted a lifetime and the memories still make me laugh.

Tweens Spring Retreat in La Porte

By Lori Steinhiser

Eight tweens (ages 9-13) from Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio came together at LaPorte New Church Manna House in Indiana for a weekend retreat lead by SCYL Youth Leader Kurt Fekete. Friday night was spent hanging out and getting to know each other; for instance, we all now know Danny is “yarnful” (ask him sometime, he’ll fill you in on the “story”) and Bryan, Mariah and Skylor’s noses are exactly the same size. The evening ended with a much anticipated meditation by Kurt. After breakfast on Saturday, we headed over to the Fellowship Hall for an enlightening discussion about Spring, the theme of the weekend. I was really wowed by the way the kids were connecting the dots so easily between our physical and spiritual experiences of the seasons. They made tie-dyed flowers that stood for their talents and skills. After lunch we headed to Soldier’s Memorial Park to hang out on the beach and collect five smooth stones for more of the flower project. Emily made a daring attempt to sit at a picnic table high up in a tree but it was a bit too far out of reach…good try, Em. We made it back to Manna House without getting too much sand in our pants (thankfully, huh, Tony?!) and added words of truth to the stones. The evening was full of rousing games, pizza, fellowship and more flower making. We finally had to call it quits amid pleas of “one more game” when we realized it was after 1am…how did that happen?! Sunday brought on a mad dash to pull ourselves and Manna House back together before worship service. The kids shared the extra flowers they had made with the congregation, then “planted” their own during Sunday school time. The retreat was a great deal of fun, and we’re so glad Bekka and Anna were willing to come long distances to join us! Plans to make a tradition out of this weekend are in the works. Many thanks to Tam and Dawn for being a part of our first tween retreat; we could not have done it without you! Thank you also to the WA-WAs for donating the paper goods and to everyone who dropped off food and drinks!