Hello friends,
Here is a Morning Watch recorded in the catacomb of a 4th century Christian Church in Rome. Several hundred years after this Church was built, a saintly missionary named St. Cyril was laid to rest there. On our 2025 CKC Staff / Alum Mission to Rome to volunteer with Mother Teresa’s sisters, we stopped here to tour the layers of this ancient place and reflect on nearly two thousand years of Christian influence, tradition, and prayer that had been shared here.
St. Cyril and his brother St. Methodius are key figures in bringing the Gospel to the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe! To do this, they translated the Slavic language and endeavored to offer translations of the Bible and Church celebrations and liturgies as well. This approach of evangelizing in the local language was controversial in a world where Latin was the language the Gospel was typically presented, and this approach brought the Gospel to the Slavs in their mother tongue, in a way they could understand. To this day, Slavic pilgrims to the tomb of Cyril are laying fresh flowers on his tomb as a form of gratitude for his service, presence, and sacrifice.
How does this translate to camp? Camp is a community, a family, of friends. In communities like ours, there is a tremendous amount of teaching done to make our activities and traditions accessible to those who are fresh to our camp family. Taking the trouble to communicate in a way that can be understood is key to a successful friendship. As someone who is currently living in a foreign land, I feel very loved when someone addresses me in English and helps me work through my confusions and misunderstandings about a new culture or idea. Cyril and Methodius were masters of language and strategic sharing of the Good News, but what motivated them, in an essential sense, was their friendship of Jesus and their love of Jesus. Their friendship with the one who ultimately teaches us how to love and therefore the meaning of our very existence was the reason why Cyril and Methodius had any credibility with the Slavic peoples to begin with – they lived the Gospel they preached! This is how their example translates to camp – and beyond! To become credible witnesses to our campers, or to our neighbors for the rest of our lives for that matter, we must exude and exemplify friendship with Jesus.
At CKC, we hope to accompany young hearts towards God through adventure, friendship, and fun. I am confident that those who knew Cyril and Methodius and who esteemed them so highly would say that our mission at CKC and the mission of these two brothers is really one and the same.
