2025 Family Spirituality Day – Be Who God Made You to Be

On Saturday, March 1, children and adults gathered at Camp Johnsonburg for the second annual Family Spirituality Day, hosted by the Young Leader Formation Team. Participants were invited through story and song, craft and camaraderie, to explore what it means to be who God made them to be.

After opening with songs led by Amy and the Rev. Tim Clarkson (Union Hill and Succasanna), Joanne Willans (Whippany) provided a series of “Would you rather…” icebreakers, calling everyone to consider things that they like, make them happy, or are good at doing.

Resource Staff Steve Shussett then used these responses to lay out that the idea that these are the very things by which God may be saying “Perhaps these point to who God made you to be – but it may take a while to find out.” He spoke of people who had other careers before becoming pastors, or a young woman who wanted to help people, and thought becoming a medical doctor was the answer. Except her grades suggested otherwise. Disappointed at first, she eventually realized her love and aptitude for art would allow her to help people as an art therapist.

At the same time, however, someone can be very young and make a big difference. Steve told stories of the twelve-year-old Australian, Campbell, who taught himself how to use a sewing machine, and raised money for supplies, all so that he could made stuffed animals for hospitalized children. More famously in the United States, four-year-old Alex Scott didn’t let her own cancer diagnosis stop her from raising funds for cancer research. Though she died four years later, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and funded over 1,500 research grants.

Amy Clarkson shares the story of the baby Moses being saved by Pharoah’s daughter and his own sister, while Steve Gaden (Morris Plains) makes river sounds with a rainstick

Four stories provided the day’s focus, each of which presented a facet of the invitation to explore what it means to be who God made you to be. The first was The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth, based on a story by Leo Tolstoy. Watching a day in the life of young Nikolai, from digging gardens for a turtle to saving pandas, listeners pondered

  • When is the most important time? Now.
  • Who is the most important one? The one you are with.
  • What is the most important thing to do? To do that person good.

With that, families began a day-long crafts project, creating a flyable kite that included these important questions and answers. Eventually the kites came to include praying for needs in the world and gifts we have to meet those needs.

The biblical illustration for “Be Who God Made You to Be” was Exodus 2, told by Amy Clarkson through bibliodrama, an inviting way to hear and participate in scripture. A lovely and elaborate Nile River was composed of layered cloths, bulrushes (palm fronds) on the shore. Sight, sound, and touch allowed everyone to enter into the story of baby Moses saved from the river. Listening adults heard great wisdom from “out of the mouths of” those not that long ago “babes and infants.”

Following this scriptural foundation and a nice walk outside, Joanne Willans read Maddie’s Fridge by Lois Brandt and Vin Vogel, a story of friendship and care. Alex’s Lemonade Stands have raised millions and Campbell has helped thousands with his stuffed animals. Maddie demonstrates the one-on-one care that we are all called to live out on a daily basis.

Find God in every one and in every thing.

Love God and love neighbor,

not just in words and speech,

but in spirit and truth and action.

Be who God made you to be,

and know that you are loved.

~a benediction offered by Steve Shussett

Steve Gaden shared the last book of the day, Maybe: A Story about the Endless Potential in All of Us by Kobi Yamada. After lifting up the many needs in the world and sharing ways that others have addressed them, this book invited listeners, young and old alike, to consider their gifts and how they might be used to care for others. As Christians, this question, and the life we lead trying to answer it, is central to the faith.

The day ended with a midday meal prepared and organized by Young Leader Formation Team members, including Diane Halper (Flanders) and Catherine Morgan (Ringwood).

Thank you to all of the leaders and participants in this year’s Family Spirituality Day. and to the Presbytery of the Highlands for its support. Watch for word on the next Family Spirituality Day.

Joanne Willans with the crafts she led: the kite from The Three Questions and Moses in a basket.