I realized today, that I have been camping at Carpinteria State Beach for over 30 years. It has been a long running tradition at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church that we take one weekend a year and simply go together to be present with one another, and with God.
Over the years that experience has changed for me. As a young child, I would sit in school all day on Friday and wait for my parents to take me out a couple of hours early just so my siblings and I could get there right at check in. We would drive up the coast, pull into the campsite, and immediately hop on our bikes and look for all of our friends around the campsite.
People trickle in. That is what I love about the Carpinteria Retreat. As a child I could feel the anticipation, the longing, as people trickled in. We would stand at the train tracks waiting for the recognizable mini-vans carrying loads of our friends. It has always been about connection. Connecting with friends, with God, with nature.
As an adolescent, Carpinteria was about freedom. Our parents trusted us to go into town, to the beach, or to the tide pools. We felt older. We had the arrogance that familiarity and repetition brings to the blossoming confidence of youth. We were experts. We knew the secret spots. We knew where to order cow brain tacos and how to brag about it loud enough for all the parents to hear.
Now as a parent attending the retreat, I long for my own children to race up and down the sites looking for friends. I long for them to make memories. I long for them to find rest from the haste of daily life.
The Carpinteria Retreat allows for us to trickle in and escape the busyness of everyday life and routine. We can linger. We can visit. We can be dirty together. Make memories. Eat poorly and have perpetually sticky hands from marshmallow experiments.
But what makes it most appealing, is that God meets us in the mess. The smiles on the faces of elementary aged boys and girls, with recently lost teeth, grinning ear to ear as they take bite after bite of burnt hotdogs – God is there.
In the devotions on the sand, being sunburned through the morning haze – God is there.
In the frustrating tent setups, and realizing you forgot to pack a change of underwear for the kids (and yourself!) – God is there.
In singing together, in worshiping together, and in breaking bread together – God is there!
In the late night conversation around the campfire – God is there.
In walks down the beach and the strolls into town – God is there.
Carpinteria is a sacred place, because God is there.
You are a sacred space, because God is with you wherever you go. I hope that you were refreshed as you trickled in back home. I hope that as you fall back into your routines and regiments, God is able to meet you in the mess again, wherever you may be. God is there.
