Campfire Talk by Ava

Tuesday, July 8th

Hi guys! My name is Ava, and I’m a first-year on Life Squad. I’m also a part of the nurse squad with Addy because of my studies in college. I just finished my freshman year of college at Northwestern University in Chicago, majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Spanish. 

Today, I’m gonna talk to you guys a little bit about my family and personal journey with faith and religion in general. To be blunt, I have always felt like my upbringing and my relationship with faith were abnormal. Unlike maybe some of you here, I never grew up going to church or learned much about God at all when I was younger. My household was essentially atheist. 

So, to give you some extra background, my mom grew up in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, in a very structured and strict Irish Catholic household. She attended church regularly, received her First Communion through the Catholic Church, was confirmed, and even went to confession with a priest. As my mom got older, though, she questioned her faith and the rules of the church. She still believed in God and upheld Christian values, but she no longer identified with any organized religious institution. 

On the other hand, my dad grew up on the outskirts of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with some very hippie parents. They were loosely religious, mostly following Episcopalian and Lutheran beliefs, but they never went to church regularly. My dad has always believed in God, but like my mom, he never became a part of any religious group or church as an adult. 

Later on, though, my parents ended up getting married in an Episcopalian Church, but they agreed that when they had kids, they would let them decide what their faith looked like on their own. Although this may seem like an unconventional parenting decision, it ended up being one that I am forever grateful for. 

As I mentioned earlier, I never went to church regularly, and when I was a kid, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about God. So, how did I end up here? Well, I was baptized in an Episcopalian Church when I was a baby, but funnily enough, the first time I remember being in a church with my family was when I was waiting to come up to a little old camp called Spirit in the Pines. I came here with my twin brother, a couple of friends, and basically zero religious knowledge. But I had the time of my life up here at camp. I knew there was something really special about this place, so I kept coming back year after year… even though I was always really embarrassed that I never had the Lord’s Prayer memorized.

One summer, though, I remember sitting here at campfire in the back row over on this side (point right) and feeling the strongest presence behind me. It was indescribable. After that week, I came home telling my parents that I thought I felt God around me for the first time. I told them that it was as if someone was watching over me and protecting me. After this experience, I asked my parents to start taking me to church. And being the amazing parents they were, they brought my brother and me to a few different churches throughout the next few years. They let us see what it felt like at each one and gave us the freedom to make our own decisions in our faith. 

Throughout this process, my twin brother decided that religion just wasn’t for him. He told my parents that he didn’t want to go to church anymore or be involved in anything religious for a while. My parents were completely okay with this and didn’t want to force any of their beliefs onto him. For me, though, I decided I wanted to keep exploring my faith. I continued coming up to camp every summer, and my parents occasionally brought me to a Sunday service. Then, in middle school, I decided I wanted to get confirmed at St. Andrew. While going through confirmation, I remember one time a boy on my bus asked me why I was getting confirmed, but my brother wasn’t. At this moment, I realized that my family’s religious situation was a little unorthodox. I realized that my faith was completely in my own hands, and it was up to me what I believed in and how I practiced my faith. My parents weren’t telling me what to think, when to go to church, how to pray, or anything like that. I realized that everyone’s faith is their own, and no one should judge or change someone’s spirituality.

So… if you’re sitting here at campfire, feeling a little embarrassed or insecure about your faith, just know that there is nothing wrong with you, and I know exactly how you may be feeling… I honestly still feel like that all the time. But throughout the last few years, I’ve learned that everyone grows in their faith differently, and that there is no right or wrong way to find God or His messages. 

Just as there is no right or wrong way to find God, if you’re sitting here feeling a little bit like my brother, just know that it is completely okay to follow your own path in spirituality. Everybody goes through different journeys to discover their beliefs. 

Now I would like to end this talk with a verse from the book of James, chapter 4 (James 4:11): 

“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister, or judges them, speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.”

So, if you take anything from this campfire talk, let it be that no matter what your religious beliefs may be, God will not judge you. God loves each and every one of you unconditionally, no matter when you started practicing your faith, how often you pray, or in what building you worship. 

And all God’s children said… AMEN!