Dear members of the Presbytery,
This letter is to urge you to preserve the Presbyterian Camps of Chicago. The Camp has uniquely touched my life and my spirit in a way no other place has. Please read my story. God no longer strides the earth as in the times of old, and his spirit grows dim amidst our cavalcade of consumerism. If God’s presence is to be felt on our earth, then it will be felt in places like Presbyterian Camps. The Presbyterian Camps are a legacy from our ancestors, and a gift from God. They must be preserved.
God has never been a personal part of my experience. I was raised in the Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak, Michigan. And though I was in church twice a weak, sang in the choir, starred in Church Musicals, and was elected a Junior Deacon, I never felt God. From 18 years old when I left home, to my late 20’s, I never attended Church. With the birth of my children, I gradually turned back to the Church and attended Fourth Church every month or two noncommittally for a period of several years. While I have always enjoyed church and was happy to introduce my children to it, my attendance at Church always smacked of hypocrisy. I was singing the Lord’s song in a foreign land and while I mouthed the familiar sayings, my heart was not filled.
And this was what the Church would have been for me: A pleasant and innocuous trip to Michigan Avenue and an interesting experience for my children. Nothing more. Then two years ago, I attended Family Camp. As I hope you know, Presbyterian Camps is a physically gorgeous place, and with the wind whispering through the trees, the soft light on the boardwalks, the water on the shores, and the thundering herd of my children screaming in the forest, I believe that, sometimes, I may hear soft murmurings of God.
And I am no longer a hypocrite in my Church. I now attend most Sundays, My son sings in the Choir, and my children cannot wait to go back to Family Camp. Please allow them–and me–to grow up there. Don’t get me wrong, for better or for worse, I am still spiritually agnostic, and perhaps simply a cowardly atheist, but I know I belong at my church. I know that an institution that has cherished and nurtured a place like Presbyterian Camps is a place to which I belong, and I know that if someday I am to meet God, then I shall meet him with a cup of hot cocoa, a wooden cross, and a view of the lake.
I am not a business person and I do not know the best way to preserve Presbyterian Camps. I do know that the people of Lake Shore Camping Consortium are good people, and it is on their urging that I write. If the Presbytery cannot preserve the Camp, then I believe the people of LCC could, and that it would greatly serve the mission of the Presbytery to ensure that the camp ended up under the good auspices of LCC. These are difficult times for the Presbyterian, and for the world, but the ministry of the Presbyterian Camps has great meaning in my life and if it is lost, it will be lost forever. They must be preserved.
Thank You, Carl Wasielewski