#Camp Meeting in the promised land!- It’s Harvest Time!

Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.-Exodus 23:16

I have been searching for something to write and I must say it has been a bit of a struggle. Not only am I faced with the 2nd year anniversary of my mother’s death, but I am still mourning her a great deal. It’s ironic that her passing fell on the Thursday before our Annual Camp Meeting at our church and also in our community. There were times when she would be busy as a bee with planning for the Camp Meeting at church that was coming up on that Sunday and as years progressed a festival that was started by our former Mayor and also a member of our church. Now that festival has grown into a 2-day event, for some.

We might be one of the few communites that still have some type of celebration in commemoration of “Camp Meeting”. If you are not familiar with Camp Meeting it has been around for many, many, many years, going back as far as the 1800’s. It was a week long celebration where communities got together during harvest time to worship and share crops that were grown all summer.

When I was growing up it consisted of family members like my grandmother’s brother, Uncle Bub, and his wife, Aunt Cora Lee from Rockingham, NC. coming to stay with us. My siblings and I thought their visits were almost like Santa Claus visiting! We had no problem giving up our rooms at our mother’s request. Our church normally would have several sermons planned throughout this day. However, we felt the real action was on the street below the church, so we thought. For as long as I could remember there were always those who never visited or attended the church services. There were times when some would find their way to purchase a fish sandwich from the church or to purchase a plate. (boy do I miss those times).

Sometimes you would get the occassional buzzed guest who had all intentions of coming to our church but was rerouted or redirected to some spirit water before making it to the church. (those were hilarious)

Over the years my mother gave us the freedom of hanging on the street. Her decision came with the compromise of, you had to attend the morning service and some of the afternoon services. As the years went by it changed to attend the service in the morning and one in the afternoon.

There would be people from one end of the street to the other. I imagined back in the day the covered wagons that I was told that would gather. Familes loaded up with their harvested goods to share with other families. Can you imagine it? Camping out for days with others that came to celebrate, hangout, frollic or whatever the reason was but they came because it was harvest time. I often wonder if it was like or had some similarities to one of my favorite westerns “The Wagon Train”?

Here we are now over 100 years later of the wagon style camping out in this same community and church. Our churchyard has been cleaned and our harvest decorations have been placed. We thank God for the old times and we thank him for our times we have today. This year we have planned a drive-up Camp Meeting Service. It will last for about 45 minutes. No fried fish sandwiches and no plates to sell. We will serve individual packaged pre-sliced cakes and bottled water. Although we are having to adjust to a smaller congregation our spirits are still marching on because there is a greater camp meeting in the promised land!