Sep 19-20, 2020
From the Pastor’s Desk: Pastor Karen QuanThe pandemic has brought chaos into our lives. Schedules have turned upside down, simple tasks now take much more time and relationships have been deeply affected. We are tired of hearing of watching the news, only to hear nothing but bad news. But is there more that this pandemic brings?

I’m thankful that in the midst of such chaos, we as a church had the opportunity to support families who could no longer work from home. Day Camps is a ministry that we have been hosting since 2009 but this year proved to be the most unique experience ever. Thanks to Kelly Luk & Janzen To (a former Day Camp kid) and without any volunteers, we managed to host 4 weeks of 6-11 kids. But it certainly had its challenges in terms of group life as kids had been stuck at home for months, learn new safety protocols (masks/physical distancing) and how to function as a family not just an individual.

Yet despite these real obstacles, God brought more than we could have ever expected. Though tender in age, the deep questions that arose from this bunch surprised even me. Our Daily Bible Time extended overtime as they would ask difficult and deep questions about God/the world. Their questions became so many over the course of the day that we decided to create a “Question Box.” This way, they could submit their questions all day long and we could have some time to prepare and research before we answered them.

Some of the questions they asked:
1) Were there dinosaurs in the bible?
2) How can God be 3 in 1? How can Jesus be God’s son and God too?
3) Is the Bible against Divorce?
4) Is the Bible against being gay? But doesn’t God love everyone?
5) What happens after we die? Do we get another body? What is our spirit?
6) Isn’t God sad by the many the people dying of COVID? He’s so powerful, can’t he just make it stop?

One of the great features in Day Camp is time and lots of it. Some days we spent 9-10 hours together. And while Kelly/Janzen had lots of program plans, these took a back seat to the opportunity to address such questions. I realized that it’s not only the adults who are asking deeper questions of themselves in terms of priorities and relationships. Kids are also asking tough questions and seeking truth. Sometimes, our answer to them was “I don’t know, but I’m willing to go and find out” or “It’s a mystery, ask God to continue to show you.” I’m so grateful that we were able to discuss in age appropriate groups with these kids about theology and where to find these truths in scripture. That we were able to point them to God’s words rather than just listen to our words.

So while this pandemic has brought hard adjustments to daily living, it’s also brought an opportunity to wonder, to think and search for God in ways that perhaps we wouldn’t have done before COVID. May we as God’s people also dive deeper into God’s word to seek His truth for ourselves.