Scoutmaster Podcast 120

And now it's the old Scoutmaster. This is Donnie Grandy. I'm a charter organization rep for Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Boy Scout Pack, Troop and Crew 720 in Glen Allen, Virginia.

Have you seen the new hiking boots? They have an onboard processor with GPS, a pedometer and a stopwatch that times your attempts at climbing mountains.

I think these are the souls that time men's try. Hey, this is podcast number 120..

Welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clarke Green.

So thank you, Donnie. Thanks for the joke.

I think Maybe it's time to stop apologizing for the joke. See, other people send them to me. You'll hear back from Donnie Grandy. I had a great story to relate and that's going to be a little later on in the podcast. Take a look at the mailbag real quick. I got one item in the mailbag this week: Another five star review on iTunes from TC in Ohio.

He says Scoutmaster CG is like a compass for the scouter. Clark points you in the right direction but doesn't tell you how you have to go. That parts up to you. Clark's easy manner and Melodia's voice- Hmm, Make listening to the podcast both informative and relaxing. The bad jokes and puns are just awesome. Thanks, TC.

Thanks for being in touch Also in this podcast, introducing what let's hope will be a new feature and that's the shout outs- Got one that I was able to get onto the podcast this week and you can- you can record a shout out for the podcast, That's right. So you know, if one of the leaders or scouts in your unit has reached a milestone and reached some kind of distinctive achievement, I've got some phone numbers you can call and you can record a message that will be played to them on the podcast, That's right. Or you could just call up and say that you support the Scoutmaster podcast and we'll have you and your voice somewhere on the podcast. Or if, like Donnie, you had a great joke or just a joke, like Donnie, had you call up with that too.

And the other thing we're going to do, let's see here in Scoutmaster's ship, in seven minutes or less, which goes slightly over seven minutes, we're going to talk about reflections and scouting, So, and I'm going to tell you about a practice that we have in our troop called Vespers. So that's going to do it for this podcast.

So let's get started, shall we

Scoutmaster's ship in seven minutes or less. Reflection is an important aspect of scouting, Discussing with scouts the different things that they're going through and the values that they apply to them.

We have a tradition in our troop that we call Vespers. It comes from the Latin word that means evening Vesperis, And that is the root of the English word West, where the sun sets. And gathering for a moment of reflection or a religious service in the evening has a long history and practice and symbolism.

You know, the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and Christians of many denominations observe evening Vespers services. Muslims pray five times a day, the fourth being the sunset prayer. Hindus practice puja or prayer facing west in the evening On the medicine wheel of Native Americans. West is recognized as the direction of change and reflection. The evening is often the best time for scouts to assemble while camping and reflect on that part of the scout oath that pledges duty to God and that part of the scout law that encourages us towards reverence. We usually do this on a Saturday evening after dinner.

It lasts for about 15 or 20 minutes. That seems to be the amount of time that makes it meaningful, yet doesn't make it too long, Depending on the time and the season in the setting.

We may gather around a campfire, outside or on a hillside as the sun sets in the summer, In a grove of trees, you know someplace nice. In the wintertime we may be in the warmth of a cabin.

We're either sitting or standing in a circle, And I think that's important just because it puts no one in the background and encourages everyone to participate. Everybody is in the front line.

When we have these Vespers observances. I want three things to be present. I want the whole thing to be reasonably predictable. Scouts like familiarity with something like this.

We have a formal opening, We have a predictable progression of the way the thing is going to unfold And we close formally And this encourages scouts that it's not going to last for hours and hours first of all, And it also kind of signals them, once they become familiar with it, that they're going to be expected to participate. I like it to be brief. I've mentioned this a couple of times already. But effective reflections, they need to be focused and relevant. 15 or 20 minutes of concentration is within the grasp of most scouts. 20 minutes may be getting a little long.

15 minutes seems to be about right. Sometimes they're 10 minutes. The idea is to honor both their attention span and the desire to impart something to them.

And finally, I believe that we need to have some solemnity. It's not necessarily dour and horribly serious- I mean, we'll laugh sometimes during this, It's no big deal- But we need to maintain a respectful, reverent atmosphere And that's a signal to the scouts that something important is happening. And I can tell you how we do this And you can adapt this however you like. I mean, you may find this useful and you may not, But our scouts keep patrol logs And the patrol log is kind of a combination of a diary and just a record of what they've been up to and what they're doing. Prior to us getting together as a troop, the patrols go off to their campsite and they'll spend 10 or 15 minutes putting their thoughts for the day into their patrol log And them getting together as a patrol and discussing and reflecting on what they did helps prepare them to be a part of this Vespers observance. Then, once we assemble, the Vespers leader opens the session with a simple statement.

We try and repeat this statement almost verbatim because it really helps everybody understand. Okay, now we're going to do Vespers and this is what it means, And we'll observe the different traditions of this time that we spend together, And so we say something like this whenever we're camping. We set aside some time to remind us of that part of the scout oath in which we pledge our duty to God and to help other people at all times, And that part of the scout law that encourages us to be reverent.

So for the next few minutes, we'll all have the opportunity to reflect and share on why we are scouts and what it means to us. Then, whoever is leading the Vespers- and it can be a youth, it can be an adult, I've led plenty of them, My senior patrol leader has led some of them- But we share a brief thought or reflection on something we've observed or discovered or thought that day to help focus the group. For example, today on our hike, I watched as we followed the trailblazes along the way. These blazes help us follow the trail and they tell us when we're going to have to turn or indicate other trails that are attached to the one that we're on, And I couldn't help but think that there were other things in life that act like trailblazes. They might not be painted on trees, but the scout law is kind of like a set of trailblazes that guide us. What other things in our life, guide us like the scout law does.

Can any of you tell me this kind of trailblaze that you follow in life? So that's brief, to the point, focused, and then it opens up the possibility of everybody joining in and participating in a general discussion.

Now this can be a bit of a challenge because sometimes scouts will be very quiet and sometimes everybody will want to speak at once. We need to encourage scouts to share their thoughts and ideas and we need to focus these reflections and guide any discussion that arises, because discussions get digressive.

We may start out with one idea and somebody may take it down another trail and somebody may take it down another trail and pretty soon we started talking about A and now we're talking about X. Part of the leader's job is to focus everybody back on the central thought.

You know that's a worthy subject that you mentioned there, but right now we're talking about this and I'd really like to hear your thoughts on that- And it's important to treat every contribution that a scout makes as sincere, And there's always a. You know every troop has a joker, every troop has a smart algae guy, You know, and if you treat whatever they say is sincere and you ask them questions about it. They get the message pretty quickly that hey, this is not a place where we're going to be joking around about stuff. This is a serious thing.

So you know, they may come up with a little quip or try to impress everybody with their wit, And I would say something now: do you really feel that way Or are you just kidding us? Your cheerfulness is always welcome, but I'm more interested in what you really think, or what you really feel about what we're speaking about right now. Bringing things around kindly is important.

Now, once we've heard from several scouts and the discussion and the sharing has started to wane a little bit, we should ask if anyone else has a thought, And if no one else does, we move towards closing. Closing can be lots of different things.

It may be the Scoutmaster's benediction, you know, may the great master of all scouts be with us till we meet again. It can be a prayer. We usually close with a moment of silence. Let's close with a moment of silence in which we remember why we are scouts and take the time to concentrate on what we've shared today and what we've heard this evening.

Now, when we begin to talk about observances like these- the one I'm explaining is not necessarily religious in nature. Now, a lot of people may say it being useful to make this a more specifically religious observance.

So we need to be informed by a couple of things, And I found a couple of statements from the BSA that help us identify what's appropriate to put in a religious observance. As scout leaders One says- There's another statement I found that says this- And finally, the Boy Scouts of America recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but it is absolutely non sectarian in its attitude towards that religious training.

So what's important to take away from this? Well, if we're going to have a specifically religious observance, then we need to make sure that that the content of that religious observance follows the policies that I've just read. A lot of times people substitute the term non denominational for non sectarian. But there's a difference.

Non denominational means that if everyone in the group shares the same religious tradition, for instance Christianity, yet is members of different denominations of Christianity- So you know, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist- then the content of this observance should be non denominational. You may use specifically denominational things, but it always has to be couched in the idea of: I'd like to share this. This is part of the denominational tradition that I come from and it may appeal to you.

It may not, but this will help you understand what I believe and who I am. But it shouldn't be required that scouts have to adhere to specifically denominational things in that instance- And the instance I'm talking about is where everyone in the group shares one religious tradition, such as Christianity, for instance. If the scouts in your group share different religious traditions- In other words, let's say you have some scouts who are Christians, some scouts who are Jewish, some scouts who are Muslim, some scouts who are Buddhist- We've had all of those different traditions represented in our group over time- Then our religious observance needs to be specifically non sectarian- non sectarian, not non denominational, but non sectarian. In other words, it shouldn't be all specifically Christian, it shouldn't be all specifically Jewish, it shouldn't be all specifically Muslim. It should be focused on the shared elements of those different religious traditions. You may end up sharing a specifically sectarian thought or idea or practice, but in no way would you want to put it in a form that required people from another religious tradition to adhere to it.

So there is a difference between non denominational and non sectarian. As responsible scout leaders, we want to make sure that the content of any religious observance that we create or participate in for our scouts is thoughtful of the different religious traditions, reverent, respectful of the different religious traditions represented by our scouts.

Now, earlier, when I talked about the leaders reflection, I used an example of something that I had thought about that day while we were out hiking. And it's always good to have a short file of different ideas that you can apply to this, just in case you don't come up with anything during the day.

And it's always good to share the leadership of this Vespers with other people so that they can have something to say and they can lead a Vespers observance as well. Hey, I hope you find that helpful. I know it's been an important part of the program in our troop. I'd love to hear your thoughts and the different practices that you follow. Do be in touch.

This is Adam Cox from Portland Oregon. I am the training chair in the Portland District and the Cascade Pacific Council.

I want to give a big congratulations to George Steffen and Virgil Pierce and Alan Campbell. They all received the District Award of Merit at our district dinner. Congratulations everybody. Thanks.

This has to be the truth, folks, because there is no way anyone could make this up. So this story about your son sounds a little too good to be true. Yeah, but it happened. I mean, it's one of those things you don't realize when you're out there with all those little kids running around and you're trying to keep some order with the chaos that people may be watching, and it has an effect on it. It definitely does, Even when it's a little boy looking out a window.

So I'll tell you what. Just tell me the story. Early one Saturday morning in October here in Glen Allen, Virginia, my first grader called me over to a window and asked what those boys were doing outside. I looked and saw a bunch of blue uniforms running around with grocery bags, Told them that they were Cub Scouts collecting food for people who didn't have any.

He looked back out the window and turned to me and asked: Dad, can I be a Cub Scout? Being a busy dad?

That really wasn't something I had considered And the first thing I thought of saying was: we'll see, which of course means no. But for some reason I asked him: why do you want to be a Cub Scout? He looked back out the window and thought a long time for a first grader, And I could see the little gears turning in his head. He turned back to me and looked me straight in the eye and said: Dad, Mom has been teaching me about character.

I want to be a boy with character and I want friends with character. Those boys have character.

Dad, can I be a Cub Scout? Well, we joined the next week. He has lots of friends who both are characters and have characters.

He is a 13-year-old life scout now who's goal is to go to the Jamboree next year as an Eagle Scout. What a touching story. What a great story. It's hard to say it too without getting choked up. It was good that you were able to hear it, that you heard what he had to say. Yeah, I was shocked.

You look at him and your mouth just kind of opens and closes a few times and you go. I think we'll figure this out somehow.

I really appreciate you spending a little time with me Well, thanks, and I really enjoy your podcast.