News from EYC

A Word from Holly

One of my favorite things about the summer growing up was camp. It always seemed to come at just the right time. I knew from past experience that whenever I announced, “I’m bored,” my mom was quick to reply, “Okay, the hall closet needs to be cleaned out – who else is bored?” Just about the time when I could no longer restrain myself from letting others in on my boredom, camp would come.

Camp was amazing. A new camp director, Mac, joined the Episcopal camp where I worked the year I started as a counselor-in-training. With him came a newness, an excitement about helping the staff discover who they were as leaders. He helped us figure out who we were, what gifts God had given to us, and how we could all work together as a group for the long, hot summer.

Building on the years of tradition of this particular camp, Mac inspired us to become different types of people, people who put campers first, who listened to them, who gave our all for what we were trying to do. He didn’t do it heavy-handedly, giving us consequences whenever we stepped out-of-line. Oh, there were those times, usually one-on-one with Mac where I shook in my boots or tevas or whatever were on my feet at the time. But with Mac, for the most part, he showed us what he wanted us to do and then he gave this rag-tag group of sixteen- to twenty-year-olds space to create, experiment, succeed, and fail.

Each summer I think of Mac and those amazing years I spent at Camp Gravatt being formed as a leader. I think of the summer our staff created our own prayer we prayed each morning. I think of the random times of reading the scriptures together or praying together. I think of the late-night conversations about God and theology and the state of the world.

I can’t help but think of the disciples and Jesus. Its not that Mac was Jesus but he really modeled what it meant to lead like Jesus. Jesus inspires us not to necessarily do things the way they have always been done but rather to become a certain type of person, one who brings about the dreams of God. Jesus sent his followers, his disciples, out to experiment with cultivating these dreams, these hopes. Sometimes they did amazing things. Other times, well let’s just chalk some of those up to “learning experiences.” (There was the time they offered to cast down lightning on enemies of Jesus or when Peter forgot that Jesus believed in him and sank in the water or the time they tried to shoo the kids away from hanging around Jesus. None of those were highlights for any of them. Nor were they the only not-so-positive experiences they had.)

And for us, in the long line and tradition of those people who are following in the way that Jesus invited us to follow, we too are invited to live a certain type of way, to become a certain type of people, to create and experiment in a safe space where we at times succeed and other times fail.

The years have passed since I spent my summers out at Gravatt. Several years ago, Mac was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At his hospital bed on a regular basis were adults that he had mentored at camp and in his years as an educator. They were people in whom he saw kernels of hope, life, and leadership when others saw trouble, insecurity, and dead-ends. Mac had taught these people a way of life. We all both mourned his death and celebrated his life.

Mac is gone but the tradition of what he started at that camp still exists. One of the folks who learned the ropes as a counselor with me now runs the camp. I spent the summer out there last year as the lay chaplain. And new young people are coming in every summer learning about leadership, cultivating the dreams of God on this plot of land in Aiken, SC.

I’m not too sure what you are doing this summer, but my prayer is that whether it is at a summer camp, playing tennis, lounging by the pool, volunteering around town, or just wasting time with friends and family, that you may you create, experiment, succeed, and fail as you cultivate the dreams of God. As a word of caution, I might refrain from letting your mom or dad know if you are bored.

-Holly

Summer EYC Events

Join the EYC leaders and teachers for AWOL - Another Wednesday of Leisure!!

July 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, & 30th
San Antonio Taco at 7:00pm

August 6th & 13th
Meeting place and time TBA

July 12th - Sounds Game; Please contact Kay at 385-2150 x 261 or kay.neal@stgeorgesnashville.org if you are interested.

August 17th - “Back to School” Pool Party at Jani and Fin Sarratt’s house; Check your weekly updates for more info.


We are currently planning other fun summer activities for the EYC including putt-putt, a Sounds game, a swimming party, and ultimate Frisbee. Details of these events will be communicated in the EYC Thursday email!


The 4th Annual Messy Olympics
August 24, 2008

Front Yard of ‘104’ (the building/house next to the church).

Opening Ceremonies – 2:00pm
Closing Ceremonies – 4:00pm

Let’s all welcome our rising 6th graders to the EYC!!


We are currently planning other fun summer activities for the EYC including putt-putt, a Sounds game, a swimming party, and ultimate Frisbee. Details of these events will be communicated in the EYC Thursday email!


Youth Leadership Salons

All current Sunday School teachers, Advisors, Parents, other Volunteers, and anyone interested in participating in leadership with the Student Ministries at St. George’s in the coming year are invited to join us for our monthly salons.

Salon - A periodic gathering of peopleof social or intellectual distinction

This month’s salon, Who Am I: The Changing Face of Adolescent Development, will take place in Aker’s Hall on July 8th from 6:30pm – 8:00pm. Please mark your calendars for the August salon: Toward Holistic, Missional Student Ministry on August 11th at 6:30pm. Contact Kay Neal at kay.neal@stgeorgesnashville.org or Holly Rankin Zaher at hollyrankin.zaher@stgeorgesnashville.org or at 385-2150 for more information.

Congratulations to Our Graduating Seniors!

Katrina Adlerz
Lauren Bailey
William Ballow
Mac Berklacich
Will Clayton
Mary Cooper
Bennett Davidson
Trip DeMoss
Anna Elbon
Richard Exton
James Farrell
Emily Grant
Thompson Grant
Will Hastings
Hayley Heath
Grayson Jones
Patricia Kelley
Will Krugman
Chase Miller
Clara Milligan
Molly Nesbitt
Adam O’Donnell
Alex Orga
Nancy Organ
Anne Peebles
Frances Phipps
Anna Pitz
Lindsay Potter
Lauren Quinn
Catherine Ramsey
Cate Tidwell
Max Webster
Sarah Weeks
Anna Catherine Welty
Chip Wilkison
Que Zeller
Kate Zerfoss