Anglican Camp

Regular visitors to this blog will have no doubt by now figured that that last weekend (noon Friday to noon Monday) was the First Annual Family Camp of the Diocese of the Western States -- and what a fun event it was! The t-shirts we have commemorating the event (with this terrific logo on the the back!) will be treasured for the memories.

Held at the Hat Creek Campground in the (figurative) shadow of Mt. Lassen, two of the three group campgrounds were reserved although as it turned out this wasn't really necessary as we were a bit un-Anglican in our campsite gregariousness. Despite having folks from a number of churches present, and perhaps aided by the fact that there were no designated campsites (just a large camping area for us to use however), tents tended be erected all jumbled together. Hey, we're all Anglicans here, right? Except we weren't. We had some Roman Catholic friends along too - and quite welcome!

One of the things that caught my attention once we'd arrived and set up camp, was the fancy barbeque near the center, already bearing a load of Books of Common Prayer (1928) for the services ahead. Obviously it was intended for the men's BBQ dinner Saturday evening, though it seemed a bit overkill. But when asked, Archbishop Provence remarked, "Well, this is an Anglican HIGH church camp." I'll accept that!

We'd arrived too late for the Friday afternoon outing to the Subway Cave (thanks to the aforementioned camera issues), but enjoyed one of the two campfires that would feature hot dogs, s'mores and popcorn over the weekend.

After Morning Prayer on Saturday the group went on an outing to Burney Falls, some distance to the west. For those of us not accustomed to California's high summer temperatures and exceedingly bright sun, this was a blessed relief and the group spent a lot of time near and in the pool at the base of the falls.

That evening was the men's BBQ, which featured its own miracle of the loaves, as more and more hamburger and hot-dog buns kept appearing throughout, leaving quite an excess of same. The morning after the women prepared breakfast following the service of Holy Communion -- there are no pictures because yours truly was too busy eating. (grin) Delicious.

All in all, a wonderful time. And so many people noted throughout the weekend their almost surprise that there are fellow Anglicans in other churches, fellow believers in other churches, that they've never had a chance to meet before.

A wonderful time! Thank you, Abby and Jon -- and I hope this tradition will continue!!