The Pastor’s Pen – April 2026
I spent last weekend at Camp de Benneville Pines and had an amazing time! The people are lovely, the programming is fun, and the setting – well – if you haven’t been there, you have got to go! High in the mountains of the San Bernardino National Forest, surrounded by evergreens, it’s breathtakingly beautiful.
For those who don’t know, Camp DPB was opened 65 years ago as a UU camp owned by the congregations and fellowships of what was at the time called the Pacific Southwest District of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Although the UUA has recently reorganized this area into the Pacific Western Region, a much larger area encompassing many more states, the Pacific Southwest congregations whose charge it is to sustain Camp DPB remain connected and hold an annual Assembly to support the congregations and the camp.
This year, the assembly will be held right here at Pacific Unitarian on April 24-26! You can print this flyer or visit www.pswassembly.org to read all about it and register.
The community formed by these congregations is incredibly important to the future of each member congregation and especially to Camp DPB, a resource we are incredibly lucky to have and would like to keep for many generations to come.
For a little taste of what Camp DPB means, below is the blessing I offered for the middle school campers this past weekend. The theme was “Permission to Play” so I made a game of it and did a MadLib blessing – the words the campers offered are underlined. I think it perfectly encompasses the fun and spiritual experience one has at camp.
Spirit of tranquility, we gather at Camp de Benneville Pines feeling overjoyed and a little pickly and with minds open to community.
May this camp be a place of delicious trees where we discover Patrick’s hat and share cucumbers with one another.
May we celebrate the hearts we create together. Let this be a time of just the right amount of chicken.
As we go through these days together, Bless this time, this place, and these people – just as we are, and just as we are becoming.
If we feel depressed, may a rock remind us we belong.
May we leave with friendship and a deeper sense of love of pickles.
May it be so.
I encourage everyone to attend camp (see ad in this newsletter for our Pacific Unitarian weekend June 5-7) and to register for the assembly in April (note: the PWR assembly in Sacramento at the beginning of April is a separate event). Not only does it have some awesome speakers, workshops, and events planned, it is a great way to support our larger UU Pacific Southwest community and our beloved Camp de Benneville Pines!.
Pastor Joshua
