by Andrea Martinie Eiler at the Bloomington Catholic Worker.
Our May 25-28 gathering at Camp Bedford in Bedford, Indiana, brought together folks from Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Missouri. Seven states, eleven communities, and sixty-four people were represented! Each person pitched in to offer help with childcare, cooking, cleaning, or leading music, prayer, or roundtables. In this fashion, the many work items of the weekend were distributed and enjoyed by all.
We also shared roundtables on many topics such as crafting, finding joy, grieving and celebrating in community life, and navigating conflict.
Saturday night brought hours of Contra dancing and some spontaneous line dancing. This is always one of my favorite activities because everyone, from the youngest children on up to the older folks all enjoy the dancing together. So sweet, joyful, and a little chaotic!
We sang together often, and the weekend ended with a worship service of song and prayer that sent us off ready to live into our normal lives with a little more love in our minds, hands, hearts.
The weather was absolutely spectacular (not usual for our gathering) and added to the beauty and joy of the weekend. We were able to swim, sing around campfires, share stories, griefs and joys, and make new friends. Thanks be to God for a blessed weekend of fellowship!
