By Pr. Rhoda Klein Miller.
As I made the drive to Hope on Sunday to begin a week of dirty grunt work in the muggy summer heat I was noticing feelings of dread. I just didn’t know if I could muster the energy needed to power through the days of hard labour and on the fly troubleshooting as we assembled giant tents and set up venues for thousands of campers and day visitors that would attend the upcoming Camp Meeting the following week.
If you’re new to BC or Adventism you might ask “What is Camp Meeting?” Its origins are part of North American frontier Christianity in the early 19th century, when week-long gatherings were hosted for preaching the Gospel, congregational worship and community fellowship. Families from rural homesteads and villages would travel to join these spiritual revival meetings and reunite with friends from the surrounding region. These annual summertime events led to the development of church owned retreats and campgrounds. The BC Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has held camp meetings in Hope for decades.
You could also find an example of earlier “camp meetings” in the Bible as an annual event observed by the Jews. Sukkot, translated in English as the “Feast of Tents” or “Festival of Shelters” is described in Leviticus 23:42. It was part of their calendar as a reminder how God led and provided for the Israelites while they lived in tents in the Sinai wilderness. God placed a message for future generations within this appointed holiday. It also foreshadowed the time Jesus would be the one to leave His heavenly home and as the Word made flesh to dwell with us and eventually return again for a never ending reunion. Sukkot, goes by another name, “The Season of Our Joy.”
As I approached the Camp Hope turnoff I prayed through teary eyes for Jesus to give me His strength and bring me to a place of joy. The road gently curved under a canopy of trees and then opened wide to showcase a stunning mountain view. I felt I was on holy ground and thanked God for His reminder He still provides for those in a spiritual desert. May you experience that joy every time we gather as a church community and share in joyful expectation of the day we never have to part ways again.