Each year, Friends from Burlington, Haddonfield, and Salem Quarterly Meetings, and beyond, gather together at camp Ockanickon in Medford, New Jersey, as they have done for generations. It’s a time of recreation, spiritual rejuvenation, for meeting old friends, and making new ones.

If you grew up Christian, you might have been to retreats; this gathering was something like that. If you went to summer camp, this gathering was something like that too. If you can imagine the best weekend possible with family and friends, old and new, that’s what this weekend was, along with healthy time to encounter self. I’d say it was a perfect weekend, but that would be an exaggeration.

Are Quakers perfect people? By no means! I’m no fan of Paul, and I think that is all of the writers in the Bible his words have caused great harm, but I do agree with what he said in Romans 3;23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God“

Quakers aren’t perfect, but there is one thing that we practice regularly. We practice listening. We try to hear the voice of God. And some of us try to hear that voice of God in the voice of others, knowing that “there is that of God in each of us”. And when there is a gathering of believers joining together for collective recreation, learning, and worship, something special is bound to happen. And it did, as it apparently does reach and every year.

I’ll certainly be a regular!