Camp Friedenswald

the peaceful woods

Summer 2023: Water Ways

· · In Program Highlights

Water is dynamic, moving, and life-changing.  Water sustains, connects, changes, and blesses. Water is the primordial stuff of life:  “the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Gen 1:1)  

This summer at Camp Friedenswald we’re diving into the theme of Water Ways – exploring both the waterways and watersheds that we inhabit and the ways that water is intimately connected to God’s activities – in our lives and in the world. 

two people floating on canoe on lake
Program director Jane Litwiller (right) goes canoeing with Becky Overhold (left) on Shavehead Lake during Women’s Retreat (2022)

We’ll be learning about the water around us at Camp Friedenswald – from the prairie fen wetlands and Shavehead Lake, to Mud Creek (that flows in/out of the lake) and the St Joseph River. The water that sustains us at Camp is also the water that connects us to all life within the watershed. As we learn more about our water, we’ll turn towards how we are called to seek justice for all who rely on this life-sustaining water. 

As we learn through our experiences of water around us at Camp, we’ll also draw in the stories from our biblical texts that help illuminate the ways that God collaborates with water.  Sometimes God releases water to ensure life, such as when Moses draws water from the rock for the people to drink. It is in the waters of Jesus’ baptism that Jesus is named as God’s beloved and is seen publicly as the One the people have been waiting for.  Water pays no attention to borders and erodes barriers. Just as Jesus passed from Judea into Samaria, rivers pass through nations and states, not caring which boundaries humans have set down. 

boy gets sprayed with water
Camper August Franklin gets sprayed with refreshing water during summer camp

This summer we are eager to explore the ways that the biblical text and creation are in conversation with one another! We are eager to learn more about the earth and its waters from the stories of God’s people and through the stories of creation. We look forward to growing in relationship – with God, ourselves, other people, and the other creatures within our watershed. 

And we sure look forward to singing in the rain, splashing in Shavehead Lake, sitting by the spring, walking through the fen frolic, slipping down the waterslide, and being refreshed by the water of Life!