CAMPING WITH ADVENT FRIENDS

Potluck at an Advent Camping trip in 1982
Sanburgs, David Park, in chairs
Elizabeth Sanburg and Clay Park at picnic table

Potluck is often associated with church suppers, but at Advent it has had a completely different definition!  In the  Eighties and early Nineties there was a robust camping group at Advent.  Sometimes as many as ten families would gather at a campground and enjoy a unique potluck.  To join this potluck, each family would contribute not just a covered dish but a jar of the designated pot-dish of the camp.  Often it was spaghetti sauce, but pots of chili, beef stew, and soup were also devoured.  Each family would add their “special recipe” to the pot and everyone’s seasonings would blend together to make the most unique and delicious sauces, soups and stews ever consumed around a campfire! 

Peter and Ernie Eich, Bryan and Kevin Strong ready to gather firewood!

Of course large boiling pots require copious amounts of firewood to keep them going and to provide the spark for many a toasted marshmallow!  At most campsites, the rangers would allow you to pick up branches and wood that had fallen on the ground.  As soon as our tents were set up, the guys would lead a scavenger party of kids out into the woods to retrieve wood for the fire.  I can still see David Park, William Fox and Lewis Barber coming out of the woods with their rag-tag-pied-piper group of children, hatchets in hand, carrying branches (some with green leaves still attached!) just as the ranger was making his rounds to collect fees.  Luckily he just smiled and chose to “look the other way.”  After that we had a no green leaves rule!

Bob Strong, Martha Sanburg and Anita White by the campfire

One of our favorite places to camp was Black Mountain Campground near Mt. Mitchel and Burnsville, NC.  With campsites surrounding a grassy meadow, it was easy to keep the kids entertained and corralled. The South Toe River provided both a swimming hole and a waterfall.  We almost always hiked to the bottom of a great double waterfall, but on one memorable camping trip David Park and Kuniko Barber set out with a half dozen children up the mountain to the top of the falls.  More than twenty-five years later, Dave can still recall the chills and awe he felt when after urging the children onward and upward several times, they broke out of the woods and into a clearing with a magnificent view of Mt. Mitchell and Kuniko burst out in her amazing soprano voice “The hills are alive, with the Sound of Music…”  That night at the potluck, our prayers included praise for God’s beauty and Kuniko’s beautiful voice!

David Park holding Clay with Emily in 1981

On another trip, Joyce Fox and I were thankful for the “Sounds of Silence.”  This trip was marked by a Saturday marred by rain.  Our children were still small enough to need afternoon naps, and Joyce and I pulled “nap duty” while the guys went into town for more beer to accompany the potluck!  The children had finally settled down on their sleeping bags and I ventured over to Joyce’s tent to check on her.  She greeted me at the door of her tent with large eyes and the universal “shush” sign on her lips.  Then she pointed to the skunk, ignoring the rain and meandering around their campsite.  We both froze and watched as the mamma skunk’s babies joined her and pranced between our tents.  I guess skunk babies do not need afternoon naps! That night Joyce and I had earned an extra beer around the potluck as we gave thanks for the end of the rain and for skunks who chose to honor us with their presence, and not their “presents”!

Joyce Fox, Frank Burns and William Fox

Emily and Clay Park on a playground near King's Mountain
Clay sprained his ankle coming down the fireman's pole and
I spent the afternoon with him in the ER

During those years, our church was dominated by families with young children and Lewis Barber remembers that it seemed that at some camps over half of the congregation participated.  On one memorable trip to Kings Mountain, Lewis and his son Bryant set out on a hike.  Several hours later, they realized they were lost.  Spotting an abandoned fire tower, they climbed it and saw a road that would lead them back to “civilization.”  They flagged a car down and got a ride back to camp, over 12 miles away.  They were greeted by relieved Advent campers and rangers who had organized a search party for them!  That night around the campfire, we were thankful for Lewis and Bryant and their resourcefulness, and for the others that cared for them.

William Fox in green, Martha, Ashley Barber and Eric Sanburg

While families with young children comprised most of this group, older members often joined us.  Martha Sanburg remembers a hike with Noel and Pete Petrea.  Their then two year old son William (now among Charlotte's firefighters!) got tired quickly and Pete put him up on his shoulders.  When they came down the mountain William was asleep with his head on top of Pete's.  Often Ethel and Alma Yount would also accompany us. They had both an in-home child care center and were dedicated to the church nursery.  The children loved them! They often watched the young children while the grown ups enjoyed a game of volley ball or badminton.

Ashley Barber, Elizabeth Sanburg, Matthew Burns and Matthew Fox 
are entertained at a picnic table @1982

Great memories and faith development came from those camping trips.  As we honored and appreciated God’s nature around the campfire, we forged friendships and relationships that supported us through the stress of parenting young children, and building careers.  On Sunday morning we would have a short Bible study and then sing hymns and parts of the liturgy a capella around one last campfire.  Often by the time it was over, the witness of our “joyful noise” would have other campers in the campground joining us and singing God’s praises!