At VCS 2014, we had a wonderful week of sharing meals, praising God through song, and responding to the stories of God’s faithfulness during Israel’s 40 years of wilderness wanderings.

Our stories for the week of VCS began and ended with water–God brought the people of Israel out of slavery by way of the Red Sea and into the Promised Land through the Jordan River. After remembering God’s miraculous opening of the Red Sea, we spent the first day learning about Israel’s encounter with God at Mount Sinai, complete with the golden calf.

In the days that followed, we heard of God’s faithfulness to all the people as they wandered for so many years, complaining as they went because there was little water or food (and then, the food got tiresome!).  We also heard of the times the people remembered God’s saving works. Wherever the people went, God went with them, in the Tabernacle made by divine order and human hands.

Israel’s time in the desert was a time of wrestling–trying to figure out what it meant to be God’s people, what it meant that God was their God. Throughout our time at VCS we asked these same questions: who is God? What does it mean to be God’s people? How can we be faithful to being called God’s people.

We closed with a feast–a joyous celebration of the Eucharist and a community meal–remembering that whatever it means to be God’s faithful people has something (or everything) to do with gathering, hearing the story of God, proclaiming who God is and who we are, and sharing the bread of heaven.