This summer, we have focused on the Lord’s Prayer and its application to our campers' lives. Reflect on the line, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” and Aldersgate’s mission to be “a sacred space, empowering all in faith and friendship to change the world.” After living in community this summer, how do you plan to embody and enact these principles in your life going forward?
Submission translated from Polish.
“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” /“ a sacred space empowering all in faith and friendship to change the world”
God bless,
The topic that I am going to discuss in this essay are certainly important phrases, the first for every Christian, and the second for our Aldersgate community. Both phrases carry a vision, they are not empty words, these words have enormous power and the multiplicity of meanings and interpretations is largely unlimited. In this essay, I would like to present what these words mean to me and how they are understood by a person who was brought up in a different branch of Christianity, in a different language and, above all, in a different culture.
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In these words, we see the literal meaning of these words in the foreground. By teaching us this prayer, Jesus certainly wanted to convey that God desires good for people, as evidenced by these words. After all, God's will in heaven is eternal happiness and life in His splendor, so if His will is to "be" also on earth, we can interpret it as the intention of our Lord who wants to make the earth equal to heaven.
This is certainly a beautiful phrase, because many people at that time accused Christianity of the false vision of happiness in the afterlife. God emphasizes that god does not want man to perceive his earthly life as an episode of suffering on the way to eternal joy, but to appreciate the two dimensions of life he has received and rejoice in the happiness he has experienced.
The "Our Father" prayer from which these words come, as we well know, was presented to us by Jesus, our Lord. Knowing the Holy Bible and its content, we know that everything in the Bible can be interpreted in many ways. So this time I would like to present what conclusions I reached when analyzing the words "Thy will be done..." and how these words may have points in common with the slogan of the Aldersgate camp.
In its slogan, Camp Aldersgate would like to emphasize what is important in the camp community. The people who create this community try to make this vision credible and their will makes the camp a better place. Don't the words of the prayer that Jesus taught us have a similar meaning? People of good will want the camp to be for everyone, so that people can make lifelong friends, so that everyone can grow in faith, so that everyone can be whoever they want. Isn't this a vision of heaven? Camp I want to create a substitute for heaven on earth, allow young people who will be the future of their country and Christianity to spread their wings and change the world. Change always starts with small things - such a small thing may be Camp Aldersgate. For me, as a Catholic, the idea of working in a largely completely different church community was terrifying at first. I was afraid that due to my religion and the fact that I am not a strongly religious person, the contrast I would experience at the "Christian" camp would be overwhelming. To my surprise, the Aldersgate community proved to me that it is indeed a holy community that opened my eyes, allowed me to better understand Protestantism, and created a safe environment for developing the skills I wanted to develop at the beginning of my adult life. I am very happy that I got a chance from the camp to fulfill my dream - the ability to deal with children, to grow in my faith, meet great people and perhaps make lifelong friends. Aldersgate has proven to me that what I do can actually make a difference and make even the small world of the Aldersgate area a better place.
I would also like to touch on the topic of how faith changed me as a person, how the Aldersgate camp changed me. I don't come from a religious family, my dad is an atheist and my mom occasionally attends church. I had no reason to be a religious person - and I don't consider myself to be one either. However, I believe in God thanks to my grandmother who raised me in the faith. I was never a strong believer, but still, when I needed support in difficult moments, I turned to God. Strangely enough, it helped me overcome difficult moments in my life, every prayer and people of good will confirmed my belief that there was a deeper meaning behind the formulas repeated many times. The one and only God in the Trinity does not exist only when we say it, and the adversities we encounter are caused by the fact that we distance ourselves from Him. Every time I was closer to God, my life improved. I won, I achieved my goals and, above all, I was happy. The words, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," actually existed in every sense. Faith allowed me to overcome trauma, get up from my knees and reduce the fear of permanently losing my loved ones and distant ones. Camp Aldersgate's mission also showed me that faith does not have to be boring, but can also be about enjoying unity with God in a fun, yet calculated way. Thank you Camp Aldersgate!
Finally, I would like to present my favorite prayer (the prayer of my mother in heaven)
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are You among women and blessed is the fruit of Your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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