Written by Susan Dale. You can read more about St. Luke’s San Lucas or SL2 here, as well as the Bishop Rivera Fund grant that they received in 2022.
Creation Care Camp – Gratitude
We at St. Luke’s – San Lucas have celebrated and are grateful:
For air, water, and light. All of God’s creation which is the ultimate gift to the people, we celebrated these gifts through spirituality, art, music, science, food, and play each day of Creation Camp. For this we are grateful.
For science experiments that help teach our children the value of these gifts and what we must do to preserve them. For this we are grateful.
For the Godly Play lessons that express through stories the importance of these gifts spiritually through the word of God. For this we are grateful.
For the crafts, rock painting, Gyotaku, beaded wall hangings, paper making, sun prints, bird feeders, clay, basket weaving, music hearts, gratitude tree, and creating a habitat. For this we are grateful.
For the beautiful Care cards made with young hands with big hearts. For this we are grateful.
For those who planned and lead music. The hymns, the fun camp songs, the introduction to many musical instruments and our organ. For this we are grateful.
For the nutritious food that was prepared for us. The Venezuelan dishes that were lovingly prepared and shared. For this we are grateful.
For the Friday night family dinner, with lots of food contributed by our families. For this we are grateful.
For the fragrant smell of fresh herbs as they were ground in mortar and pestle and placed in silk bags. We are grateful.
For the spinner and her spinning wheel, who shared stories of sheep and the making of yarn. For this we are grateful.
For the donation and the planting of native plants in the peace garden by small hands. For this we are grateful.
For the thoughtful and informative native plant packets made with care for each child. For this we are grateful.
For the animals who came to visit and shared friendship with us, their bodies told us things about Creation that we had yet to learn. For this we are grateful
For fun games and soccer outside in the summer sun. For this we are grateful.
For the youth who pitched in and volunteered. For this we are grateful.
For all the volunteers, who spent hours planning and patiently worked with the children. For this we are grateful.
For the leadership of our community, who supported us and had confidence in us. For this we are grateful
For the all the children of St Luke’s/San Lucas who participated and those who came from our surrounding community. We are grateful.
We are grateful for the hand of God at work within our community that guides us forward and inspires us to teach our children to more fully understand the gifts of nature, diversity in community, and a meaningful relationship with the creator.
And so, we are enriched and seek to share again, another year to grow this program and include more families and the message of inclusiveness, care of God’s gifts and the holiness of God and Christ. With gratitude we have scheduled the next Creation Care Camp for July 8th – July 12th, 2024.
