Jubilee is Here and Now
Today’s blog post was written by Delanie Gustin. Delanie is currently a junior at Indiana Wesleyan University studying Honors Humanities and Community Development with a specialization in Human Trafficking Studies. This summer, she has stepped into the role of Program Manager. “I am most excited about getting to use my gifts of administration and creativity to be able to give campers a tangible and transformative encounter with God!”
Jubilee is not just something we talk about. It is not a feeling, an idea, or an abstract teaching to make an audience feel good about themselves. Jubilee is a lived experience. The largest portion of my job as a Program Manager in this 50th year of Mountain T.O.P. is to create spaces for campers to have meaningful experiences with God. My fear as I headed into my first week was that they would return to the valley below with a limited, or even false, understanding of what it means to practice Jubilee with their hands and feet. How could I preach Jubilee in the present when there is no historical record of it ever actually happening?
Mountain T.O.P. is a ministry of reconciliation and healing. Even being at camp and in the community on and off the plateau is enough for campers to experience the liberating power of Jubilee. Getting campers to understand Jubilee and why it is necessary was something I could partner with God in doing—not something I had to fabricate on my own.
Jubilee is a Day Camp child feeling safe enough to tell their buddy a vulnerable story.
Jubilee is a homeowner being able to safely enter and exit their home for the first time in years.
Jubilee is a family that can safely play in their yard because they don’t have to wonder if there are snakes below the tall grass.
Once campers return from serving in the community, they are invited to participate in an evening full of spiritual programming. We invite them to share their experiences in both large and small groups, share a meal together, and end the night with worship to connect what they’re doing with why they’re doing it. Each message is guided by the Holy Spirit, presents a sometimes uncomfortable truth, and carefully walks the line between inviting people into faith for the very first time and calling long-time believers into a new depth of relationship with God.
On Sunday, we invite campers to place a handprint on a board to pledge their commitment to practicing Jubilee with their hands and feet. For the remainder of the week, each night is full of teaching and response designed to put Jubilee into action. We invited campers to respond to the Word of God by doing things like trading heavy rocks for light feathers to symbolize the easiness of the Lord’s yoke, to pray for healing over one another, and to receive fishhook pins to symbolize their calling to be fishers of people.
I knew before I even stepped foot on the grounds here for this summer that God was going to do big, extravagant things. Not only would campers learn about a year of Sabbath and reconciliation as described in Leviticus, but they would see it with their own eyes in the lives of homeowners and within their own community. You cannot be in this place and not believe in a God who sets captives free, relieves all debt, and provides more than enough.
Jubilee is here and now.
