Lake Chautauqua

This is the ninth year that Slava and I have come to Chautauqua, NY in the summer, and it is the first time I have attempted to blog about the experience.  One thing I will do each day is give a different definition of Chautauqua.  Today's expression is courtesy of Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan: "Chautauqua seems like a place where God would spend most of Her summer vacation."

Crossan's credentials to speak about God come from 19 years as a Roman Catholic monk, and from 12 years as a Catholic priest.  Although he's a man with a sense of humor, he's best known from his Biblical scholarship, having written 20 books to date. He's in Chautauqua this week as a lecturer in the Hall of Philosophy.

There's a lot going on at Chautauqua, and much of it centers on meditation, devotion, and religious thought. Other aspects of Chautauqua Institution will be covered later, but the religious aspects are a good place to start, because that's why Chautauqua was founded.  It was established in the late 1800's to be a place where Methodist Sunday school teachers could go in the summer for a few weeks of study and relaxation in a nature setting,   It quickly became ecumenical in scope, and today has representation from all the Abrahamic faiths.

The day begins with religious observances of various traditions, and with an ecumenical service led by the guest pastor for the week.  This week it is Rev. John Walton, senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in New York City.  He spoke engagingly this morning about "Wells We Did Not Dig."  He quoted  a passage in Deuteronomy about the people of Israel moving into a land where everything was provided for them.  Very quickly, he said, they developed "the amnesia of affluence."  They forgot to be grateful.  They had an illusion of self-sufficiency.  Rev. Walton had no trouble drawing analogies to the present, and he spoke about debts of ours that have to be honored, not by paying back, but by paying forward.

"There are two ways to be rich," Rev. Walton reminded us.  "One way is to have a lot of money.  The other is to have few needs."