While Grandma Sylvia and her brother, Howard, the medical missionary, gave me a vision, a grade school friend, Dave, provided an important friendship in my early years. Dave was a couple years ahead of me in school. His father was the Wawaka Church of the Brethren pastor and a Wawaka High School teacher. Dave’s mother was a gentle, kind woman who made me feel very welcome in their home. They invited me to worship with them, a warm gesture. I never felt pushed or pulled by their family or anyone in the congregation. They were welcoming and in time my younger brother, Terry, and I were baptized. I was 12 years old - a big step, a moving experience.
Baptism ushered a person into the family of believers, the family of God. Christian traditions have variations in their practices. The Church of the Brethren looked to the New Testament as their creed or statement of belief. This is captured in a quote from the founder of the Brethren, Alexander Mack..
Whenever God commanded something He wanted it kept just as He had commanded.
So the New Testament was the guide for the life of faith. Two important Brethren distinctives are the Love Feast and a footwashing service as depicted in the Gospel of John, Chapter 13. As interpreted by the Church of the Brethren it was a simple meal followed by the profound act of love by washing the feet of the brother or sister next to you. Once baptized, a new member could participate in these moving services.
The baptism could be performed outside in a river or lake or in the church sanctuary. This act of dying to the world and rising from the water a new creature in Christ was was once again patterned after the New Testament model. If indoors, as my baptism was performed, the baptismal font was in front of the sanctuary with steps down into the water. Brethren are immersed three times forward by the minister as he or she pronounces, “In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
With Grandma Sylvia’s loving hand and Dave’s friendship and the new church family, my life began to be identified as Brethren. An important part of church life for most denominations is going to church camp in the summer. Our district camp was Camp Alexander Mack, shortened to Camp Mack.
I attended Camp Mack several summers. Alongside beautiful Lake Waubee there were numerous buildings for meetings, activities and worship. Of course cabins for sleeping and mischief making (like raiding the girls cabins, taking swim suits and slamming shutters - big time vandalism) were an important part of camp life.
The leadership and campers helped to mold and give life direction to those of us attending. It was a significant time of character building and filled the gaps from home life.
[In a future post I will share about returning to Camp Mack as a resource person along side Dan West, the founder of the Heifer Project International. We led a peace seminar with high school campers. I was fresh out of the Army as a court martialed conscientious objector.]