If you came to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Basye, VA on Sunday, July 26, you wouldn’t have found a single member sitting in the pews of the church.
But if you walked out to the parking lot and listened carefully, you may have heard the sounds of blue grass music coming from the distance.
Just a few miles down the road at Shrine Mont Episcopal Camp you would have found the congregation worshiping, not to the musical notes of an organ or a piano, but to the strumming of a banjo and a mandolin.
The Rev. David Drebes, the pastor of Prince of Peace, had just finished his week as the chaplain of the camp and just minutes before had delivered a sermon to the campers of Shrine Mont.
Because Pastor Drebes needed to give two sermons that Sunday he turned a potential stress into a major joy for his whole congregation by inviting the members to an outdoor bluegrass mass.
The bluegrass mass is a worship service that is common in the Central Valley because it was written by several of our Virginia pastors, including Rev. Jim Baseler, the dean of the conference who was in the worship band that Sunday.
After a brunch at the church all the members carpooled over to the camp just as Pastor Drebes’ first sermon was ending with some loud camp chants.
“I hope he doesn’t lose his voice for the next sermon,” one member said with a chuckle.
As the men and women replaced the screaming campers on the benches in the beautiful outdoor worship space, there was a sense of excitement and camaraderie.
During the service toes were taping to the twang of the blue grass liturgy.
“I really loved this service,” said one woman who had just recently moved to the area with her husband. “This reminds us that you don’t just have to worship in a church building, you can worship anywhere.”
With the beauty of God’s creation surrounding you, there is an overwhelming sense of God’s majesty that doesn’t come from anything made with human hands.
While the outdoors can bring about an atmosphere of worship, the mountains and fields of Virginia also provide a natural location for fellowship.
If you are a Lutheran in Southwest Virginia, you’ve probably been to the Annual Highlands Conference Corn Roast, or at least you’ve heard of it. Families from different congregations have been coming together at Hungry Mother Lutheran Camp for decades, united by their Lutheran roots and their love of fresh corn.
Helen Keck, a member of Holy Trinity, Wytheville, and Rebecca Peery of Sharon Lutheran in Bland are friends and neighbors who have been coming to the corn roast for over 15 years. And there they were on August 2 for another year of good food and good friends.
“We would always come when the kids were little and make a day of it,” Helen said. 
As Rev. Joe Shumate and Rev. Jim Bangle, two retired pastors in the Highlands conference, shucked corn this year, they reminisced with laughter about the 30 years since the corn roast began in the 1980s.
“For the first corn roast we were expecting about 50 people,” said Pastor Bangle with a smile. “About 300 people showed up, we had to keep running to town to get hot dogs and drinks.”
The popularity of the event doesn’t seemed to have decreased much since that inaugural year. The picnic shelter at Hungry Mother Lutheran Camp in Marion was packed and some people even brought their own chairs to sit out in the sunshine. It was almost impossible to count how many people were gathered because during the 3 hour festivities, youth and kids escaped with new friends to explore the grounds of the camp and people came and went at their leisure.
Everywhere you looked people were engaged in conversation, often with a bright smile on their face with a large yellow ear of corn in their hand. The gathering not only gave members of different congregations an opportunity to celebrate joys with one another, but there were also moments where sharing experiences turned into encouragement.
After experiencing a long search process to hire a new pastor, Pat Hunter from Redeemer, Bristol was able to have several good conversations with members of congregations who don’t currently have a pastor.
“Often we get too focused on our day to day lives, this gives us a broader perspective of what is going on in our conference.”
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