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Chaplain’s Blog – Day Thirteen

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Subcamp Delta Two now empty at the end of Departure Day

Chaplain’s Blog – Day Thirteen

July 31, 2026

by John Partridge

Our last day began long before dawn. One bus full of scouts had left late last night after the closing stage show and more would begin to arrive at the Ruby Welcome Center when they opened at 5:00 am. That meant that they would arrive in our camp by 5:30 am. I had asked my tent mate, Bob, who was a early riser, to wake me by five, but I woke up when he was getting dressed at 4:00 am and decided I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep. I got up, got dressed, did the usual morning things, and headed to breakfast. Breakfast, by this point, was wearing a little thin. I was in the Army Reserve for ten years. I know how to doctor up institutional eggs to make them palatable, but the dining hall had run out of hot sauce several days earlier. Moreover, most breakfast foods were the same from day to day, or repeated every few days, and it was all starting to get old, especially when, for no discernible reason, my entire breakfast was served cold for the last few days. Still, it was more than I made for myself at home, so my complaints are really only halfhearted in this regard and I remain enormously grateful for the staff that fed us every day.

After breakfast, I picked out my take away lunch selections and headed back to camp. Once there, I checked in to see if I was needed anywhere, and then began packing up my gear and moving my truck closer to my tent for loading, and for my secondary objective of rescuing food and other useful items from the trash. A little background may be necessary here. As I watched the final day in previous Jamborees, a great many things are left behind. Exactly what is left varies from year to year, particularly as the population of scout troops vary in how they arrived, whether that be by plane, train, bus, car caravan, or whether they brought a troop trailer with them. But no matter how they plan to get home, there are things that just don’t “make the cut” for being worthwhile to take home. Troops that will fly home won’t be able to take much at all with them, those who rented buses can take a little more but are still, by necessity, fairly selective, while troops with their own trailers can take home almost anything that they want. But, at the end of the day, forty seven troops are going to leave behind a lot of stuff. I have seen the contents of that pile of stuff include everything from tents to (lots of) lost water bottles, and always a discouraging amount of food.

And so, for the next several hours, I patrolled between our office tent and the dumpster, picking out discarded things and intercepting scouts with wagons full of perfectly good food. To be fair, you need to understand that during the Jamboree, each morning troops would come to the commissary tent and draw food for the day, but at the end of the day any and all unused food was to be returned to the commissary or turned in at a tent next door for donation to local food pantries. But… there were exceptions. Perishable foods, such as fresh fruits and some meats, could not be returned because they could not be legally accepted by food pantries in West Virginia. Fortunately, I was under no such restraint and so, I redirected as much of this as I could to the back of my pickup truck. On several occasions I meant to get a photo but got busy and forgot each time. Still, by the time the last troop of scouts departed, I had collected a bunch of practically new 2 x 4 boards, five large soup pots, a mostly new plastic bucket from Lowe’s, five or six boxes of oranges, a half a box of apples, several plastic totes of various sizes, a full set (or more) of plastic mixing bowls with lids, a bunch of water bottles, about ten boxes of snacks and lunch items from jerky to chips, to nuts and cereal bars, as well as a couple reams of paper, a stapler, staples, mosquito repellent wrist bands, and a bunch of other stuff.

By noon, Josh and I had repacked and loaded everything in my truck and covered it all with my bungee cargo net, said our goodbyes to the people who had become our Jamboree family, and began our trip home. But first, we drove up the hill to take a photo (above) of our empty camp after our village of two-thousand scouts and scout leaders had departed. After an hour or two on the road we stopped for lunch at Wendy’s rather than eat more of the trail food we’d had for two weeks, filled up on gas, refilled on caffeine, and continued north. Sometime later, we unexpectedly lost a lane to construction (I might have been a little tired) and, while I successfully avoided all of the orange traffic cones, there was, apparently, a sign that stuck out into our lane a bit farther that the cones, and as we passed, it reached out an bit my rear-view mirror. No other damage, but I will need to buy a replacement for that on Ebay this week. In any case, we arrived home safely by dinner time, were welcomed in my driveway by my lovely wife Patti, and the smiling, laughing greeting of our grandson. We sent some oranges home with Josh and his parents and unloaded all of the food before dark to keep neighborhood critters from helping themselves.

After carrying all of my stuff to my room, the remainder of my evening was pleasantly spent sitting in my recliner and babysitting the little guy.

By ten o’clock, our grandson was asleep and, having been awake since 4:00 am, I was completely exhausted and fell into bed.

I think that I may add one more post to this series to fill out a few details and wrap up a few loose ends so stay tuned. Otherwise, you are welcome to hang around because this is where I post my weekly sermons, monthly newsletter articles, and other more occasional writing projects. If that appeals to you, I invite you to hit the subscribe button that appears on this page.

Let’s meet here again soon.

Blessings,

Pastor John.

Chaplain’s Blog – Day Twelve

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Fog rises from Subcamp Delta Two

Chaplain’s Blog – Day Twelve

July 30, 2026

by John Partridge

My morning was ordinary. I was up before 6:30 am, and to breakfast before 7:00 am. After breakfast I read a little and then walked through our camp to check on the Chaplain’s Aides with each troop in my half of our subcamp to see if they had finished the requirements to earn a special Jamboree patch. I found a few, but unfortunately, most of them were already out of camp so, I determined that I would try again in the afternoon when they were back in camp to make dinner and before they all left again to go to the closing show.

When I returned to our headquarters, I was told to be ready for whenever a driver would be available to take be to the far side of camp where my truck was parked so that I could bring it nearby for loading and departure tomorrow. When my ride finally came, it went to the wrong parking lot (a closer one) and asked if they could change vehicles so that we could ride in a regular truck instead of a four-wheeler for such a long trip. I agreed, but needed to go to the final chaplain staff meeting and group photo first. Once that was done, we successfully retrieved my truck, and not long after that I tried once again to find my half of the Chaplain’s Aides. One of our scouts with Down’s Syndrome was very happy, and his leaders (and a parent, I think) took pictures of the presentation. I managed to find most of them and presented the award patch to those few who had completed the requirements. A few more might bring me their completed forms tomorrow morning before they board their buses for home.

Later this evening, we all headed to the main Jamboree stage and amphitheater for the closing show. I stayed for a while, but returned to camp as it started to get dark. With my hearing loss, I really don’t enjoy the shows very much and after sitting for over an hour, I was getting uncomfortable anyway. Instead, I returned to camp and started writing rather than staying up even later to post this.

As I mentioned, the first bus is scheduled to pull out before midnight, and we just saw those buses pulling in now so it will likely be even earlier, as soon as that troop returns from the show and can get loaded. One or two more are scheduled to arrive at the Jamboree welcome center around 5:00 am, a bunch around 8:00 am, ten more at 9:00 am and the scouts should be gone shortly after noon. With any luck, the staff will be mostly loaded and the camp cleaned up shortly after that and we will be released to head home. Some of the troops even chose to pack their tents this evening and sleep under the stars to save a little time in the morning. No matter how much fun we have had, I think all of us are ready to head home and sleep in our own beds.

Navy skydivers bring the American flag

I am still hoping to post one or two more blogs before I wrap up this series so stay tuned.

Hopefully, we will meet here again soon.

Blessings,

Pastor John

Finding Home

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Finding Home

June 18, 2023*

By Pastor John Partridge

Genesis 18:1-15                     Matthew 9:35 – 10:8-23            Romans 5:1-8

As early as 3000 BCE Phoenician explorers were navigating the high seas and Pacific islanders were doing the same using star charts made of sticks and songs to remember important details. Much later, Arab navigators would use a “kamal,” a marked piece of wood or metal with a beaded string for measuring their location and by the 13th century European mariners used the astrolabe to determine their location. The astrolabe evolved into the marine quadrant, and then the Davis quadrant with backstaff, and that technology progressed and became the Octant, and finally, in 1731, John Hadley developed the Sextant. The precision of the sextant allowed a competent navigator to determine their location within about one-half a nautical mile, day or night, even in the rain and pitching seas. A sextant and compass remained the best way to determine your location at sea for over 250 years and remains a useful method for mariners if GPS or radio navigation becomes unavailable.

Why is that important? Simply because it’s always good to be able to navigate around sea mounts, shoals, and shallow rocks, to find your way to islands where you can replenish stores of fresh water, and most importantly, so that, at the end of your voyage, you can find your way home.

Isn’t that always the most important thing? No matter where we go, finding our way home is always a part of the plan. But sometimes the home that we find isn’t the home that we left. After World War I, my grandfather left his family home in Germany and made a new home here in the United States outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The same has been true throughout the history of our nation for millions of other immigrants from around the world. But that story of immigration is also an important part of the story of scripture and an important part of our story as well. As we mentioned last week, when God commanded Abram to “go,” Abram went. But as he went, Abram took with him the values of hospitality that were held by his culture, and we see that in the story of Genesis 18:1-15.

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

The culture in which Abraham lived placed great value on hospitality. Not just in speaking words of welcome to a stranger, but in offering them food, inviting them into your home, giving them a place to stay, sleep, rest, and providing them with necessities that they might need to continue their journey. Essentially, offering hospitality, and not just welcome, to strangers was almost the same as treating them like family.

Why is that important?

It’s important because that culture of hospitality never went out of style. It was passed on by Abraham to the people who would become the Jews and the people of Israel, and it would continue to be found in cultures around the Near East, and it has been, in many ways, passed down to us. If we pay attention, we will see that same culture of hospitality at work in Matthew 9:35 – 10:8, (9-23), when Jesus sends his disciples out into the world to share the message of Good News.

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

10:1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town, and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

As Jesus sends his disciples out into the surrounding towns and villages to share the good news of the kingdom of God, a pivotal part of the plan depends upon the historic and continuing culture of hospitality. In every town where they were to preach, it was expected that they would be able to find at least one person, or one family, that was willing to take them in, house them, and feed them for however long that they remained to preach in that town. They had no money, they paid no rent, and could offer no compensation other than to offer greetings and give the gift of peace to those who invited them in. Although the disciples were away from their birthplaces and away from what was familiar, in the places where they went to share the good news of the kingdom, through the gift of hospitality, they found a place, even for a short while, that they could call “home.”

But scripture tells us of an even more important act of hospitality that has mattered to every follower of Jesus Christ in all of history and that still matters to us today. In Romans 5:1-8, Paul talks about our justification before God, and before we begin, I want to define that. “Justified” is the opposite of “guilty.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that we are innocent, but the implication of being justified is that we have been acquitted and declared, by God’s power and authority, to be righteous. We aren’t righteous because we’re flawless, perfect, and sinless, we are righteous because God says that we are.  Paul explains it this way:

5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wehave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And weboast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but wealso glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

While at first it may not seem like it, the story of our redemption and justification is a story about God’s hospitality. God wanted us to live with him. In fact, God wanted us to live with him so much, that he acquitted us of our sin (the theological word is justification) through our faith in Jesus Christ. And Paul expands on that by pointing out that not only did God acquit us, but doing so was expensive. God loved us so much, that he offers us hospitality, and invites us to live with him in his home, but that hospitality came at the expense of the life of God’s own son. Moreover, Paul explains, Jesus didn’t die for us because we were good, but because of God’s great love for us. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God opened a path for hospitality. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we open the door to peace, hope, grace, and… home.

Our search for a place to belong ends. Because of the hospitality of God, because of Jesus’ obedience and sacrifice, and because of our faith, we have found, for all eternity, a place to call home.

But the message of Jesus, as we saw in Matthew, is that because we have found our home, it is now our calling is to show hospitality to others. We can’t just be welcoming, say “hello” and show them where to sit. Real hospitality can be expensive. It means more than inviting people into our churches, it means inviting them into our lives, caring for them as if they were family, making sure that they have food to eat, clothes to wear, and then telling them about Jesus, so that they can find… home.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™