Camp meeting begins in a few days. Doesn't that sound ______________________?

Some of you would probably complete the question with the word, "great." Others surely put, "awful." There might even be a few "okay's" but usually camp meeting has a polarizing effect. Either you love it and go every year or you avoid it like the plague. 

When I was growing up, I avoided it like the plague. Camp meeting was not for me. Now, as a full-time pastor, I have no choice but to go. I have worked in the Junior tent the last few years and the kids are great. They are excited to be there and we have a great time with them. The spiritual impact camp meeting has on their lives is enormous and eternal. The other pastors on our team are amazing and we work really well together. The snack bar also makes amazing hoagies that I get at least once a day and makes me very happy. 

So, I have learned how to embrace camp meeting, at least in part. Yet, I still feel like I am in a foreign land with strange people who I do not understand. Who is crazy enough to gladly listen to sermons and seminars day and night for a week? Who is crazy enough to stay in tents or in little "motel" units in 90 degree weather where they have to walk to a bathroom and get in line for a shower? What kind of kids would refuse to go to Disney World for a week because they would not be able to go to camp meeting (a true story one woman told me a few years ago)? 

Camp meeting people are from a different planet. 

That fact has actually become the beauty of camp meeting for me. I do walk around shaking my head at the whole experience and the excitement of everyone there. It will probably never make sense to me. Yet, it reminds me of the beauty of being part of the family of God. It reminds me how important it is that we have different people serving as part of God's body here on earth.  Thank God, all Seventh-day Adventists are NOT like me. 

I am frightened by the people and groups in our church who are seeking to limit the diverse expressions of the Adventist faith. It worries me that conformity of thought and action has become a goal of many within our faith. There is a growing movement to define who should be considered a "true" Adventist in very strict and exclusive terms. 

This trend also existed in the days of the apostles and Paul gives us the right approach to take in Romans 14. He lists off several contentious issues at that time including food and worship (not minor issues at all). He notes that there are people on both sides of the issues and the key thing is to not demonize those who take the different side but instead be supportive and not put stumbling blocks in their way. The rationale is because "each of us will give an account of himself to God" (vs 12). It is here that he argues for a diversity of thought and action while maintaining a supportive community of faith. In times like these, we need to learn how to embrace those who do not think and act like us and realize that they too are reflecting the glorious image of God and showing us the beauty of an inclusive faith. 

Thank God for camp meeting.