(Photo: Montreat)
"Encountering God through relationships, renewal, recreation and rest."
- Montreat Conference Center Mission Statement
If you have been in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) for any length of time (especially here in the Carolinas/Southeast), invariably you will hear about Montreat Conference Center. For many it is described as a place of serenity, "a thin place", or a slice of heaven. Many people have grown up going to Montreat for many generations and find it a place to relax, refresh and get away to spend time with family and friends. No doubt it is a beautiful place and the memories and experiences run deep like a river. Included in this memory of Montreat are the youth conferences (MYC) that are held annually each summer for six weeks where many young people have their first exposure to this wonderful place. I have been many times to Montreat plenty of times in various capacities and wanted the youth from our church to have the same exposure. So for the first time ever a few weeks ago, Davie Street sent five youth and two adult back home leaders (my wife and I) to MYC week 4 (July 16-22). From the get-go they were excited to go to Montreat!
The theme of this year's conferences was A Missing Peace. My seminary classmate and President of Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, Paul Roberts, did a wonderful job as keynote, highlighting that peace was not the absence of conflict. Rather, God's peace is present with us even in the midst of difficulties. Paul shared a few personal stories to highlight his journey with peace, including the story of the recent death of his mother. He was also very connected and engaging with the participants. The biggest highlight for our back home group was the daily interaction with other participants in their small groups and our partnership with Wake Forest Presbyterian Church as we went to Catawba Falls together for Wednesday free afternoon and ate dinner at their house (we stayed in the Winsborough and ate most of our meals at Assembly Inn).
Having been a first time back home leader (which I swore that I would never do) I knew we had a great group of young people who would really resonate with the concept of peace. However I really was heartened and surprised by our discussions during evening devotions and around the meal tables as we talked about our daily experiences at the conference and in our own personal lives. Peace these days is very elusive, especially with the present societal climate. Hearing young people share in our small groups and various discussions their personal stories of family, personal struggles and overcoming adversity added an additional element of how to have peace in the midst of everything that is going on in our daily lives. In our back home group we discussed various ways in which we can enact and empower others to be peacemakers and agents of reconciliation. They had so much fun that they are ready to make MYC week four an annual event!
On that Saturday morning after the conference ended, we packed our bags and loaded the van ready to return to Raleigh. However, my wife wanted to get one last picture of our group. We had a hard time trying to decide the "perfect" picture to shoot but wife had the idea that we should take one with our hands folded into a heart with each of us in a circle (pic below). I think we can truly say the Montreat experience is not only a "thin space" but one of finding and exploring peace so we can go home and fully become what our preacher Katie Day said on the last evening in her sermon, "We are a Child of God."
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