There’s a moment at camp that happens every summer.
It’s not scheduled.
And you can’t force it.
Maybe it happens during a camp song that’s been sung one too many times, when suddenly everyone is laughing instead of rolling their eyes. Maybe it’s at the campfire, when the crackle of flames quiets a group that has been anything but quiet all day. Or maybe it’s the look on a camper’s face when they realize, often to their own surprise, I belong here.
That’s joy.
Not the loud, performative kind that pretends everything is fine. But the deep kind that settles in, even when life is complicated.
The third week of Advent is called Gaudete, which means rejoice. In the middle of a season about waiting, the church pauses to say that joy is already here. We don’t have to wait for everything to be perfect before we notice it.
Camp understands that.
Every summer, campers arrive carrying all kinds of things: excitement, nerves, homesickness, questions, grief, hope. Camp doesn’t erase those things. Instead, it makes space for them. And somehow, in that space, joy breaks in.
It shows up in small moments:
- A counselor kneeling down to listen.
- A camper trying something brave for the first time.
- A meal where laughter replaces awkward silence.
- A worship song that sticks with you long after you go home.
This is the kind of joy Advent points toward. Joy that doesn’t deny the waiting, the uncertainty, or the hard stuff, but lives alongside it.
At the Lutheran Camping Corporation, we see this joy all the time. We see it when young people discover they are known and loved. We see it when families reconnect. We see it when faith becomes something lived, not just talked about.
Advent reminds us that joy isn’t something we manufacture. It’s something we receive. And at camp, that joy is received again and again by campers, staff, volunteers, and families who walk through the gates not knowing exactly what to expect, but leaving changed.
We give thanks for joy that interrupts the waiting. Joy that shows up unexpectedly. Joy that gathers us together.
That’s camp.
And that’s good news worth rejoicing in.