From the Associate • 06.12.2026

Hello friends!
Last week, I joined roughly 280 campers and staff from the Dioceses of West Missouri, Kansas, and Western Kansas for Episcopal Summer Mega Camp, where I served as the Junior High Program Director.
In that role, I had the privilege of teaching and guiding 98 individuals in the Junior High division through prayer, scripture, fellowship, and faith formation through an Episcopal lens. Each day, our division—74 campers and 24 adult leaders—gathered for public prayer, scripture reading, large-group activities (including photo scavenger hunts, team-building challenges, and obstacle courses), and small-group discussions focused on connecting scripture to everyday life.
During those 90 minutes each day, I witnessed campers and adults alike being shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Together, we practiced what it means to be disciples: learning God’s story, sharing life with one another, and carrying Christ’s message of hope and grace into the wider camp community through service and witness.
This week’s Gospel reading continues that theme of discipleship and mission. Jesus calls and commissions the twelve disciples, instructing them to pray for laborers for the harvest. What they soon discover is that they themselves are the laborers Jesus is talking about. Having been gathered and formed by him, they are now sent into a world that longs for healing, hope, and good news.
The rhythms of camp mirror the rhythms of Christian life. The disciples gathered around Jesus, were shaped by his teaching, and then sent out in mission. The same is true for us each Sunday. We gather in God’s name, are formed by Word and Sacrament, and are sent back into the world “to love and serve the Lord” and to be faithful witnesses of Christ.
We are called. We are commissioned. We are sent.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday as we gather in God’s name, are shaped by Word and Sacrament, and are sent out once again to participate in God’s mission of love and reconciliation.
God’s peace,
Mtr. Clare