Opening Up
August 30, 2006 at 23:56 by Mike McQuaid
I had the real privilege of spending the week of the 12th to the 19th of August at the Altnacriche Christian centre near Aviemore, serving, with 10 other leaders and 3 cooks, a group of 44 13-18 year olds.
It was a week of ups and downs. Just before the week started, the Assistant Team Leader’s father became very ill, so he had to drop out, and my good friend Andy Brown (aka ‘Pants’, no-one knows why..) had to take over, meaning I was left with a dorm of 4 kids to myself, which I was glad about, despite the circumstances that brought it about.
Averaged about 6 hours sleep a night, so by the end of the week I was exhausted and eaten by midgies. However, this was a fantastic camp for many reasons.
The kids in my dorm were fantastic. Normally the guys sleep outside, in tents, but one of my lads had a problem with walking, so we were put inside, unlike the other 6 years I’ve spent on this camp. The guys were all Christians, and all seemed to gel well and get something out the week, and encouraged me to think as well. The Biblical program focused on Colossians, one of Paul’s Letters of the New Testament.
It was quite a lifting and emotional week for me too. I came to realise that, as some of you may have seen in person, and some of you may have seen in this blog, I have become a very cynical person, especially where Christianity is involved. Ironically, a few weeks ago I came to blows with a friend over even thinking he was judging my differing Biblical views. Last year, I stopped going to the Edinburgh University Christian Union due to theological differences. Colossians really hit home to me that this attitude is just divides Christians and makes our Christianity look a bit worse to outside observers.
I also came to realise that I shouldn’t become complacent in my faith, and the focus of my life should be on loving others, not on petty theological arguments, when, ultimately, I don’t know.
This was compounded to me when I met a male friend’s boyfriend the other day. It just really struck me that we as Christians are called to love, and that I really don’t think its my place to tell him what he is doing is wrong, even if he is, which I’m not sure any more. It seems bizarre to me that him and his boyfriend who care for each other are committing some sin by being together, when God created them with an attraction to the same sex.
Way I see it, if either of them become Christians, it’s up to them, but otherwise we are called to love, not judge. If we remember how Jesus treated others, this attitude seems to be what is required of Christians, and thats one thing we can always get better at and always improve, rather than obsessing over the details.
On that note, off to bed. More about the other few weeks banter later!
Posted in Christianity
Hello. Just catching up on your recent(ish) blog posts…
Assuming that the ‘Pants’ you know is the same one who was a camper on an AV camp I did many years ago (I think it was AV2, 1997 or 1998), if I recall correctly, the reason he was originally called ‘Pants’ was simply that he had brown pants with him at camp. His pants were brown, his name was Brown… hence ‘Broon Pants’. Over the years this must have become shortened to simply ‘Pants’.
Say hello from me.
Ricky (assistant team leader AV2 1997 (or was it 98?))