Dear Campers...

Once again, I apologize for a post that is unrelated to my directing endeavors. I wrote this letter for my high school campers a few weeks ago. It was read aloud so I'm sure I live edited it, but I was  asked to share it. I thought this would be the easiest way to do so. 

It's unedited and imperfect, but I love the teens I wrote it for and I hope it serves them well. #welikecamp

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Campers, 

In case you didn't know, it's summer outside. And, as I've reflected on what I want to share with you in this precious time, this sliver of opportunity to hopefully make the tiniest impact on at least one of the one hundred of you listening to me read this, it's my prayer that at least one of these metaphors will resonate with you. And, that God will work in your heart, despite my odd writing style that spans from Perks of Being a Wallflower to Shel Silverstein and just a touch of Jon Jorgenson spoken word. 

All of us, all of you, we're in different seasons of life despite it being 95 degrees outside. Some of you are starting high school. Some of you are starting to drive. Maybe this is a new season for your friend group, your family, or your church. Maybe you're in a season of peace for the first time in a long time, or maybe this season, quite frankly... sucks. I could try and unpack the literal thousands of seasons high schoolers walk through in this letter, but that would take the whole week and even then I'd surely miss some. So, instead, I've decided to go with four. Because if four was good enough for God, it is good enough for me. 

What season do you find yourselves in, friends? Winter? Spring? Summer? Fall? 

If it's Fall and you have a mess in your yard, my suggestion is this- rake up those leaves and play in the pile! And, if it's cold, put on a hoodie and get back out there! 

If this is your emotional summer, grab a swim suit and jump in the pool. Enjoy the sun with others and remind one another it's BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE! Invite them to put on their suit and come on in cuz the water isn't just FINE, it's INCREDIBLE! In the summertime, protect yourself daily because I can promise you this, if you skip your son screen, you're going to bed with a sinburn. But y'all, God's grace is better than aloe vera and while it takes humility to admit it when you've been burned, once you do and you accept the treatment, guys, it's soothing. And remember, if it's peeling, it's healing and that's gross but it's cool and when you're ready, get back in the pool!

When it's winter and it's cold and the pain's getting old, you know what I say? I say "it's OKAY!" Like little Peggy Ann McKay, it's alright to stay inside for a day and it's okay to wish the snow away and it's okay to stop and cry out for some sunshine cuz you're tired of tryin' and you're tired of lyin' whenever you say that you're okay cuz you're not okay, not today. But please, campers, don't wish that day away. 

Stop. Pray. Ask for help. If you don't know how to make a fire, SOMEONE DOES and SOMEONE WANTS TO HELP YOU MAKE ONE TOO. And while the voices of the world tell us to push away the people who aren't afraid to get some ash on their clothes for us, don't listen to those voices. Ya'll, the world tells us the second we let somebody stay longer than we absolutely HAVE to have them help us, we've become as fragile as those snowflakes outside. But guys, LOOK AT WHAT A MULTITUDE OF THOSE SNOWFLAKES CAN DO! Snowpocalypse. Snowmageddon. SNOW DAYS! SCHOOL IS CANCELLED. That's the power of the church, friends. It's a group of seemingly fragile and yet pristinely unique, one of a kind, hand-crafted-by-a-creator-God, works of art and together, they make a masterpiece. 

My slightly selfish prayer is that this is your Spring. I pray you find yourself comfortable, new, refreshed, and brimming with possibilities. I pray your emotional temperature is at a breezy 71 degrees and whatever you dress yourself in every morning, be it a simple prayer with breakfast, or your bible and your journal, or a run with your favorite pastor preaching truth through your genuine apple earbuds, whatever it is, I pray it'll do just fine all day long. 

But if not, know that here, you are loved. By us and CERTAINLY by God. No matter how ugly or beautiful your season, you're not alone and we are HONORED to share in it with you this week. 

With a good deal of love, 

Matthew Silar 

Where I'm at with all of this...

NOTE: This is A- longer than most of my blogs and I'm sorry for that, and B- not super-related to my work as a director. So, forgive me future employers. Read the post under this one. 

For the last three years, I've found myself in a position as a camp counselor for an overnight, middle school and high school theatre camp. Honestly, it's the best job in the world. One of the things I love about it is the opportunity to unplug for a week. Come Friday, I have at least a double digit number of texts I still haven't responded to and a triple digit number of emails. And sometimes, we miss a lot of the real world in that week. Last year, one of the major events we missed was the legalization of gay marriage. Rejoining the world of social media on Friday was unlike anything I had seen before. Everybody was posting about the same thing, in the way I imagine they would have had this level of social media been around in 2001.

That's happened a lot more this year it seems, and even more over the last few months. From freak-animal-accidents to shootings and police brutality, the trending topics on social media lately seem to have reached an all-time high when it comes to unanimity. And, those who follow me on social media may or may not have noticed that I tend to stay pretty quiet on mostly these topics. I'll discuss it in person, but I rarely find the words to write an articulate post deemed worthy of the internet. Here's why:

I don't know how I feel.

That's a scary, blanket statement and bares some elaboration. I obviously know I think senseless killing is wrong. I think people are worth more than animals. I think humans make mistakes and sometimes deserve some slack. I think racism is alive and rampant in a lot of this country. I think prejudice against dozens of people groups is alive and rampant in a lot of this country. I hate that people I love are living in fear. I hate that police officers don't make people feel safe. I hate that some Christians who should be much slower to speak are often the ones making sweeping statements in the name of all believers. I know how I feel about those things.

But, I don't have answers. I don't understand why these things are happening. I don't know what people mean when they tell me to "stop praying and start doing something about it." As a white, straight, Christian male, I face literally NONE of the prejudices in question. I'm of average height and build. I wear glasses and my voice is set just a tad higher than the average man's. These genetic happenstances make it so I can reach into my back pocket without others passing judgement or irrational fear. But the other night, on a long walk back to my car, I passed a stranger (who's race and gender I did not and still do not know) and my mind flashed back to my Facebook feed and I held my breath because I'm being told that everyone I know and love "could be next" so why NOT me? Subsequently, when I see a white male express a simple fear like this publicly, they are assailed with claims of their lack of empathy and understanding. It's overwhelming at times to think one sentence or word choice could be the difference between my status going viral, aglow with the newly introduced "LOVE" reactions OR starting a miniature civil war between several people I love, sharing blogposts and news outlets and youtube videos, all trying to prove their own point.

And as I wrestle out the literal thousands of possible of reactions should I choose the wrong bible verse to post or the wrong name to hashtag, I come to the conclusion that I don't always wish to add another voice to the horde. So I scroll, and I read the hundreds of soapbox speeches scrawled via QWERTY keyboards across 6 separate social media platforms, and I pray that an all-knowing, all-loving God will burden my heart to act and respond in the ways He is calling me to. For I know my God is a God of justice and loyalty and unflinching, irrevocable, unconditional LOVE for His people, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, sinful pasts, or human misunderstandings.

And honestly, I look forward to another week where I have an excuse to leave social media behind and sew into the lives of young artists and, hopefully, reiterate to this upcoming generation that ART mixed with FAITH has the capacity to heal and bless a broken world, even if we don't fully understand it yet.