Holy Play
Pr. Alex (right) leads Bible study during staff training.
Originally from Wisconsin, Pastor Alex LaChapelle first encountered outdoor ministry as an elementary kid at Camp LuWiSoMo in Wild Rose, WI. There he and his friends learned the songs, played the games, and encountered the college-age counselors each summer. As a young adult, Pr. Alex worked at several camps out West – from Idaho and Oregon to California – enjoying the different challenges and joys that came with each setting and each new role. When he took the call to Prince of Peace Lutheran in Marquette this past winter, he began looking for ways to connect with and support life-giving outdoor ministry once again. He found Fortune Lake, where he volunteered as Chaplain for staff training and helped teach the summer’s Bible study curriculum.
Pr. Alex admits that at first he questioned whether he had what it took to hang with the young adult staff: “Do I have the energy? Can I still do this?” But, within the first day, it all came back. Camp brought out something that bubbles in his spirit, the capacity for play. Camp is a safe place to let the inner child out, to play in creation, “to revert in a really beautiful way, and let the scales fall off.” Fortune Lake – as it does for so many – offered Pr. Alex a place of safety, joy, and renewal. “Camp’s going to make you more of who you are, part of creation,” he recalls.
Pr. Alex takes this posture of playfulness into his ministry at Prince of Peace. He thinks of children’s sermons as an opportunity for two minutes of camp right there in the middle of a Sunday service. He is convinced that adults can learn from this mini-camp experience too. He believes in camping ministry, for what it can do for the lives and spirits of campers, and for the leadership it fosters among its staff. He says, “Seminary made me aware theologically, but I think I’m the pastor I am because of camp.”
Pr. Alex believes Fortune Lake as having its own unique vibe, perhaps due to its smaller size, or perhaps just being in the UP. “Where else,” he asks, “do we say, ‘let’s do this old Finnish tradition and hop in the sauna?!” At Fortune Lake, where child-like faith and playfulness of spirit meet the U. P.’s laid-back vibe, kids, counselors, and pastors like Alex are renewed every day.
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