Which World Is Real?
The truest truth for the needy, weak, and vulnerable—for all of us {Plus two links worth your time}
I always return from Hope Heals Camp and struggle to convey our experience in words. I walk away with all sorts of stories, and I will share some of those in the weeks to come, but I also walk away with a renewed understanding of the truest truths and realest reality. I want to try to write about that reality today, even though I know that words will be inadequate.
Sometimes we say that this world we live in, with all the shiny things and all the successful people and all the stress and striving, is the real world. And then we enter into a place where every person we encounter is seen as beloved, where the gifts of each one are celebrated and the sorrows of each one are held with compassion, where no one is looking for a reward or an increase in social status. It’s there that I realize that a life without ego, a life without posturing, a life without rushing, is real life, life with God.
My role this past week was to be the camper pastor, which meant I spoke to the adult campers during our morning gatherings. I spoke about the Beatitudes as a point of orientation by which Jesus invites us—yes, us, the ones who know we are needy and weak and vulnerable and who long to live in God’s presence—into the good life and also by which Jesus sends us out into the world to be salt and light, as we are.
I’ve been reading a book by George Hunsinger on The Beatitudes, and he writes:
“The proper distinction, theologically speaking, is not between the real and the ideal, but between the real and the unreal. Only the kingdom of heaven determines what is truly real, because only the kingdom enjoys ultimate reality before God. The world of sin, poverty, and death represents the unreal world that is destined to pass away.”
Hope Heals is not a world of the ideal. People come with their real suffering, and often that suffering is not alleviated by being at a camp in northwest Alabama for a few days. They come with their failing marriages and broken hearts and painful story after painful story. They come in wheelchairs—both visible and invisible. They come as they are—broken, and beloved.
But being at Hope Heals Camp puts me in greater touch with the real than anywhere else. I’ve never experienced the same beauty as seeing a grown man with cerebral palsy sing Jesus Loves Me from his wheelchair for the talent show. Or the joy of watching kids (including Penny) try different adaptive bikes and expand our imagination for what is possible (short video here).
Or the blessing of a four-year-old little girl who took a vial of oil and made the sign of the cross on my skin as her mother pronounced the words, “I am with you, I am for you. God is with you, God is for you.” (Hope Heals Camp on Instagram has beautiful photos of the week here.)
Every time I had free time, every time I went back to my room, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t want to check my email or respond to text messages or read the New York Times. I didn’t want to do anything that would take me away from exactly where I was and exactly who I was with. I just wanted to stay there.
So, those are all my words to try to tell you about a beautiful experience that will orient our life as a family for the year to come. It will be easy to forget everything we learned, everything we received, everything we gave and saw together. But if we stay connected to the source of the really real and the truest truth, if we stay in close proximity to the poor in spirit, then we have a chance of walking in these ways all year long. In other words, the truest truth of Hope Heals Camp is available to me—and to you—every day. If only I have eyes to see it and a heart to receive it.
Blessings,
Amy Julia
P.S. Keep reading for family snapshots and a song and a movie that are worth your time.
Family Snapshots
I have to say that one fun—and utterly nerve-wracking—thing was writing a song with Penny for the Hope Heals Talent Show. She’s performed every year, but I’ve never been up on that stage with a rewrite of Miley Cyrus to sing in front of 500 people before!!! I was so glad we did it, and so glad when it was over! (Watch part of our performance here!)
Another sweet gift of Hope Heals was being there alongside some of my oldest friends, including one of my best friends from college and some of my closest friends from my early 20s. Even better was that our kids were there together AND that they really liked each other. What a gift.
AND I got to spend an extra 36 hours in Nashville at the end of camp to visit college friends and their kids at the same time that I got to see our dear friends from Connecticut who moved to Nashville and who took me to Thistle Farms Cafe. (If you don’t know about Thistle Farms, you want to. Here’s a podcast interview I got to do with their founder and also with a woman who went through their program.)
Grace upon grace.
2 Links Worth Your Time
Song: Settled Into Place
Settled Into Place was my favorite song from our week at Hope Heals. It speaks so tenderly to the place so many of us find ourselves—longing for something truer than our daily lives.
Movie: The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic poem did not disappoint. A few of the adventures felt a little perfunctory, but on the whole Nolan brings out the pathos of our humanity. Even those of us who are strong and cunning and brave and celebrated can find ourselves haunted by the ways we have defied the gods and defied the deepest parts of ourselves as humans. Nolan’s Odysseus (played so well by Matt Damon, I might add) is a man broken by himself and his actions. He is also a man who might well find redemption. I very much appreciated David French’s reflections here. The spectacle of the first viewing—all the fighting and creatures and crashing waves—overpowered the subtle, gentle, beautiful text. That’s not a criticism. It’s just my own realization that the reason we’ve listened to these stories for so many years is also the reason this film would be worth watching again and again.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to these days?
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Such a moving post. I am sharing Thistle Farms. Thank you and your friends.
Beautiful words as always, THANK YOU, Amy Julia!
Add MAD MABEL to your fiction list! You’ll love it!