W.D. Boyce, a Chicagoan, finds himself lost and disoriented on the streets of London one particularly foggy day in 1909. A local lad appears out of the mist and guides Boyce through the soupy conditions to his destination. Wanting to express his gratitude, Boyce offers the child a tip, but his young guide refuses to take it, explaining he is a Boy Scout merely doing his good turn for the day. Boyce, unaware of the scouting movement, nevertheless is impressed and makes inquiries. Before leaving London he visits the Boy Scout Headquarters and meets with its staff, possibly even with Lord Robert Baden-Powell himself. Upon returning to the United States, Boyce launches scouting here and the Boy Scouts of America is incorporated on February 8, 1910. Its stated purpose at the time is “to teach [boys] patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred values.” Former President Teddy Roosevelt becomes one of its many early and ardent supporters.
Just 12 years later, St. Paul’s Vestry
meets on May 17, 1922 and suspends its regular order of business to give “the
privilege of the floor” to Mrs. Arthur Woolford. She is interested in organizing a Boy Scout
Troop here at St. Paul’s. It appears
most (if not all) members of the Vestry know little or nothing about the
movement. No action is taken on the 17th,
but one week later the body reconvenes for “a special meeting… held in the office
of M.K. Kendrick in Room 441 of the American Bank & Trust Company.” The purpose is to consider, endorse, and
sponsor the creation of Boy Scout Troop #3.
Several letters pertaining to scouting are read and a proposed charter
is presented. Still, the Vestry needs
more time to deliberate the matter.
Eventually a troop is formed and scouting begins at St. Paul’s. Various troops of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
Cub Scouts, and Brownies are formed over the years.
The
Vestry minutes of October 18, 1965 record the following:
Mr. Rusty Hundley
came before the vestry to answer questions concerning his requirements for the God
and County Scouting Award. He did just
fine. A motion was duly made by the
vestry that Mr. Rusty Hundley has passed the necessary requirements to receive
this award. Rusty thanked the vestry for
their time.
In January 1988, Carrington Pinner,
Joseph Brooks, and Garrett McGehee attend a Vestry meeting as part of working
toward a God and Family Cub Scout award.
The
last troops organized at St. Paul’s came about in the mid-late 90’s. Still, many of our young people have
participated in troops not sponsored by our parish and in recent years, Ben
Leonard, Hack Gallotta, and Sean Leonard have held their Eagle Scout ceremonies
in our sanctuary. The current mission of Boy Scouts of America is “to
prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by
instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law” and I am grateful to
Macey Olenjack for suggesting we observe Scout Sunday today.
I think it pairs nicely with today’s
gospel reading as Jesus tells his followers “You are the salt of the earth” and
“You are the light of the world.” In
ancient times salt serves several functions, none more important than as a preservative. It is rubbed into meat to prevent it from
spoiling and it is such a valuable commodity Roman soldiers receive it as their
pay (it is from this we derive our word salary). As salt, Christians act in ways to preserve
the world from corruption and decay.
Just as the ancient value of salt may be
lost on us, so too may be the value of light.
I jokingly tell people the word “Suffolk” is an old Nansemond tribal
term meaning “ambient light.” It is
never dark in downtown Suffolk and it is never completely dark in my
house. This would be completely foreign
to Jesus’ listeners. They know the
experience of lighting an oil lamp to pierce the utter and complete darkness of
their homes. They recognize the
impossibility of nighttime travel without some type of lantern. As Christians, the way we live and move and
have our being in this world is to be an illumination of God’s purpose for all
humanity. We guide people from the
world’s darkness to God’s light by living life as God intends.
I grew up going to church
pretty much every Sunday. I learned
about the biblical images of salt and “this little light of mine” from an early
age. I understood Jesus called me to a
higher ideal than what I saw around me and scouting helped me develop this in
practical ways. I learned how to
interact and cooperate with others. I
learned how to be faithful in carrying out the chores and tasks assigned to me. I gained a profound reverence for the
outdoors and a sense of responsibility for the care and keep of God’s
creation.
My initial experiences with
scouting were less than stellar. With my
first troop on my first campout, I shared a tent with a friend and we were the
two youngest boys on the weekend. In the
middle of a rather chilly night the older boys pulled out the stakes of our
tent and it collapsed. This particular
troop had the rather curious practice of having each scout bring his own food
to prepare and eat. I awoke in the morning
to discover troop leaders had “raided” my food.
I was furious and walked out of camp.
And I walked. And I walked. And I walked.
Some two hours and twelve miles later I walked into my house.
As you might guess, this led
to a trial with a second troop. Along
with a friend from the neighborhood, we were again the two youngest in the
troop – the membership of which consisted largely of our neighborhood’s
bullies. It is a cold Saturday morning
and my new troop is camping. The older
boys inform us younger scouts they will give us a five minute head start to run
off in the woods before they hunt us down, tie us to a tree, and leave us for
the day. It was terrifying.
The third troop I tried
proved to be my lucky charm. It focused
on the ideals of scouting and was committed to helping boys experience the
timeless benefits of the movement. We
camped once a month – year round in Ohio.
We were divided into patrols and each patrol spent weekly meeting time
planning out what it needed and how it would be organized for the campout. I learned to cook, to clean up, and to carry
water. I also learned the joys of
hiking, mapping, and reading maps with a compass. Within a year I was one of the older boys and
led my own patrol. The experiences I had
with previous troops greatly informed how I used my age and position. I used it as an opportunity to lead and to
guide, to encourage and to uphold mutual expectations. I would not have used these images at the
time, but it gave me a place to practice being salt and light.
Here is a newsflash for all
of you: I am still not perfect at it.
There are times I should be thrown out on the path and trampled under
foot and there are times when a basket should be put over me to cover what it is
I am burning. But I am trying. Scouting was for me a wonderful place – among
other things – to figure out what it means to be a follower of Jesus in a
setting not entirely set within the context of the church.
Well, enough about me. What about you? When did you first embrace your call to be
salt and light? As you were growing up
how did you personally experience the world’s decay and darkness? In what ways did your life shine God’s love
and grace for all to see? How do you
experience it today and how are you salt and light in 2017? May I suggest these questions set the agenda
for conversation around the table as you enjoy today’s Souper Bowl Lunch!
