church camp

I spent last weekend at our annual church camp near Big Bear. About one hundred Unitarian Universalists from 4 congregations in the San Fernando Valley attended. The minister from our Canoga Park church (Rev. Anne Hines) and I collaborated on a workshop on Saturday and the Sunday outdoor worship. We also shared the duty of saying grace before each meal.

The camp is called deBenneville Pines. George deBenneville was an 18th century Universalist, born in London but later lived in America. The camp is named for him to honor the Universalist source of the money that purchased the camp ground (previously owned by the Boy Scouts) in the year before the Unitarian Universalist merger. The Universalist money had come from the dissolution of two Universalist churches in the Hollywood area. Information about the vanished churches are available here and here.