This month we are pleased to have a post from Brenda O’Connor. Brenda’s family has deep roots at St. Matthew’s Church (my lifelong church home until it’s closure four years ago) but I first met her as an adult six years ago when she volunteered for Day Camp Travelling Team. Since then she has returned as a committee member and Training Team Leader. Hey, maybe I should let her tell her own story and thank her, in advance, for saying many kind things about me,very humbling.
Welcome Brenda…
In the summer of 2010 when a summer course I was planning to take at the University of Alberta was cancelled, I instead spent a few weeks in Alberta volunteering at summer camps. One of those weeks happened to be at St. Paul’s, Edmonton’s CrossTalk Ministries Day Camp.
A few days in, after hearing the name “Valerie” floating around, I realised that this was the same “Valerie” who attended my mother’s childhood parish of St. Matthew’s, whose mother had served on the ACW with my grandmother making sandwiches aplenty, and who had made my sister and me such beautiful doll clothing as children. One of the many blessings of continuing to be involved in CTM has been the privilege of getting to know Valerie, seeing her at work in the ministry, learning from her, and working alongside her.
Since 2010, I have been involved in many different facets of day camp ministry, from team leader in Northern Saskatchewan, to committee member (via Skype!) and training parish leader, to parish coordinator. As I look ahead to the day camp at my own parish this summer, I am filled with awe over the work that Valerie does each and every year in preparation for the six weeks of Day Camp ministry. As I agonise over volunteer recruitment, finding billets, organising snacks, and tracking down supplies for one camp, I am reminded of the enormity of the task God has given Valerie as she oversees twenty-six camps! As I pray for the children who will come to our camp, and for the youth that will lead, I am reminded of the hours of prayer (often while carrying a pack basket filled with day camp supplies, and holding a very enthusiastic black Labrador’s leash) that Valerie devotes to all the children, team members, leaders, and parishes across the country who will be hosting camps this summer.
Throughout my involvement with Crosstalk Ministries, one of the things that God has been teaching me over and over again is that prayer is a gift that changes and forms us. As we approach God in prayer (a very necessary part of day camp!), we are reminded that we and all we love are in the care of the Creator and Sustainer of the universe who demonstrates his great love to us in the sending of his Son, Jesus. As we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, present our requests, our fears, and our anxieties to God in prayer, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will (and does!) guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6). This peace, even in the midst of the (best possible kind of) chaos of day camps, seeps from Valerie into those around her. Perhaps without even knowing it, Valerie encourages those around her into deeper lives of prayer, to the continued realisation of our reliance upon God for all that we have, and to the recognition of God’s great provision, which is so evident in the work of CrossTalk ministries.
As I reflect on the impact of CTM in my own faith journey, then, I’d like to take the opportunity to give thanks for Valerie, for all that she has taught me, for her tireless work on behalf of this ministry, for her ceaseless prayers, and for the faith, love, and care that she not only expresses, but demonstrates in all that she does, and to ask for your continued prayers for her, for her ministry, and for the continued ministry of CTM Day Camps – that in and through it, God’s will will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”