November 30th – the Feast of St. Andrew’s Camp

 

Thank you, Priest James Worthington, for contributing this post to our blog!

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Today we commemorate the Apostle St Andrew the First-called.  He is known as the First-called because he was the first one who left his home and job to be a full-time disciple of Jesus Christ, right as Jesus was beginning His ministry.  It must have been a scary decision to leave everything to be the first one to follow Jesus Christ.  No one knew who this new teacher was, and if what He was teaching was true.  But St Andrew had faith the Jesus was the long-awaited messiah, and the Christ that God had promised from the beginning of time.

St Andrew was from a town called Bethsaida.  This is a town by the Sea of Galilee (which is really just a big lake, and that sounds familiar to me!) where Christ and the Apostles returned many times, to rest and get ready for their next task – just like St Andrew’s Camp.  Bethsaida was their retreat center.  They went there to recharge their batteries, and perhaps to visit with friends and relax.

So on that day when Andrew first saw Jesus coming by, who knows what was going through his mind.  But when he was asked to be a disciple, he immediately joined Jesus. And from that first day, Andrew spread the Good News that Jesus had shared with him.  Andrew went to his brother, Peter, and told him that Jesus was the long-awaited messiah, and truly God.  Peter, who went on to be the chief apostle, owes much to St Andrew.  And their home town became the base of operations for Christ’s ministry.  Our camp can be the same thing for each of us– a place to relax and see old friends, and to recharge our batteries and become closer to God and firmer in our faith.

            St Andrew was brave.  St Andrew was firm in his beliefs before he met the Lord, and was a firm apostle for the rest of his life after he joined himself to Christ.  You guys, the campers, teachers, support staff, board of directors and prayerful supporters of St Andrew’s Camp are also brave. But especially, we always focus on the campers.  You campers, the youth and future of the body of Christ are brave because you are challenged by so many other things in the world that are trying to get your attention. The world offers many distractions and painful lessons.  But you make a commitment every summer to follow in the footsteps of St Andrew.  If during the rest of the year you are asked by a friend or acquaintance to do something contrary to the Law of God, you can remain firm in your beliefs and faith because you have decided to follow Christ.  The world calls you away from Christ, but Christ calls you to be closer to Himself.  In our time, there are many distractions from our spiritual lives, but following Christ has the best reward – eternal life and peace. Our patron St Andrew was firm and spent the rest of his life sharing what Christ had taught him.  He spent the rest of his life sharing what he heard by that lake surrounded by his friends.  And it took him to many places.  St Andrew was the first one to preach in what would become Constantinopole. And he was also the first to preach the Gospel to many of your ancestors when he crossed the Danube River and went to Kiev, the early capital of the Rus people.

            For all of his efforts, almost every church in the Orthodox world has an icon of him in their church.  He is remembered for all time because he chose to follow and love Jesus Christ.  It may be difficult for us to follow in Andrew’s footsteps sometimes, but with the friends we make at camp and in our parishes, we can have mighty helpers on our journey.  May we all also become remembered by God and the people of the Church because we are also brave enough to follow Christ and to say to our friends and family the great words of St Andrew “We have found the Christ,” and we follow Him because He loves us.

May you all have a blessed feast day of our patron St Andrew the First-called, and stay warm until we all meet again next summer. Glory to Jesus Christ!

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