Summit Ministries
HEAD, HEART AND HANDS
The life motto and intention of my time with Summit; serving the Lord with your Head(knowledge), your Heart(passions and emotions), and your Hands (labors and serving)
Lord you are good and worthy to be praised! This year has been strange. From picking up everything, moving to phoenix and living with a guy I barely knew, moving back home and spending much needed time with family to where I am now at Summit Semester and fulfilling a goal that would make a younger David very proud. All this has been the good hand of the Lord, even the trials. Yet I thank God for this season of dependency I am in here and how easily I am able to rejoice over the Lord’s testimony of this last year and counting.
My chapter in Phoenix is over and I do not yet know why or what the lord used that season for but I can still find reason to rejoice nonetheless. Things I am looking back fondly on are: my friendship with Phil, lessons learned in solitude(importance of community, value of my time and how it needs be scheduled) and wisdom from Rick.
Philip’s life was a billboard for Christ and I value him greatly for it. Leading in meekness and valuing humility were staples of his life and how he loved those around him
Prayer
I want to read a quote to start off… by one of my favorite authors Bonhoeffer
How is it possible to live the life of faith when we grow weary of prayer... When we lose our taste for reading the Bible…
when sleep, food and sensuality deprive us of the joy of communion of our God.
— Bonhoeffer
I want to focus on that first part. Is this our experience? on this I want to ask you to think about how are you praying?
Prayer
This is often something we are told to do but not often something we practice at with an aim to be better at. here are some things that have been laid on my heart that I want to share with you that have impacted me.
Pray with immediacy. We should be praying in a way that we can see answers.
Praying that the Lord will move in tangible ways.
praying in a way where we expect him to move.
Placing ourselves by faith in his mercy trusting he will provide.
Asking the Lord to help is not enough. Do we know and care enough about the person or situation we are praying into. Then lets pray like it.
Pray boldly the promises of God back to him. Citing scripture and steeling ourselves in the truth.
Often We pray prayers without faith then keep idle hopes that something may happen.
We need to discern the will of God and pray fervently. Are we asking the Lord how to pray for the situation, are we asking the individual where they need the Lord to intervene? Pray intentionally for one another, not as a means to save face as a Christian but as your only hope of intervention.
This being said How can we pray if we won’t rejoice with his answer... Whatever it may be. As Job says
Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
Job 2:10 NLT
So truly pray and ask the Lord for his grace as you do. And await his answer… knowing that he works all things together for the good of those who love him.
We pray prayers of action. Prayers that will cause others to move but not us…
There is an African proverb that says; when you pray move your feet.
So How as the hands and feet of God do we expect his will to be done if it is not to be done through us. we need to be walking in obedience to the father being moved to action on behalf of our family in Christ. Our prayers also need to move us to action.
This is how jesus prayed: John 17
Because your mercy endures forever
You forgive us all our debts,
And in doing so
You put yourself in our debt
By your promises
— St. Augustine book V ch VIIII
We serve a God who puts himself in our debt by his grace. I want to say there is no other desire on earth that seeks to do us good in spite of ourselves.
1 Chronicles 17:16-27 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and prayed,
“Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O LORD God!
“What more can I say to you about the way you have honored me? You know what your servant is really like. For the sake of your servant, O LORD, and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known.
“O LORD, there is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! What other nation on earth is like your people Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you redeemed your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations that stood in their way. You chose Israel to be your very own people forever, and you, O LORD, became their God.
“And now, O LORD, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. May it be a promise that will last forever. And may your name be established and honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And may the house of your servant David continue before you forever.
“O my God, I have been bold enough to pray to you because you have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him—a dynasty of kings! For you are God, O LORD. And you have promised these good things to your servant. And now, it has pleased you to bless the house of your servant, so that it will continue forever before you. For when you grant a blessing, O LORD, it is an eternal blessing!”
What other religion has made promises to man? All other world views and religions are the seeking of our own selfish gain. All other Gods are not capable of making promises to us and fulfilling them. The idols we seek after do not care for us but take from us.
You alone, desire to do us good. There is none like you, our hearts stray from you yet you hem us in.
“O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you. When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place— what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority— the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!”
Psalms 8
Meekness and masculinity
What does it mean to be a man. What does a man look like. Is it that he is strong. That he is brave. That he excels at what he does. That he is honest, acting in integrity, speaks with authority and leads well? I want to offer that the world has many ideas of what it means to be a man. So I want to draw the conclusion that the more Christlike we become the more masculine we are. The true authority, the Bible will say something that this world will never tell you about, when it comes to the question of what it means to be a man. The word is Meekness… What about meekness? Does Meekness come to mind at all? What even is meekness?
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I found often in my pursuit of masculinity, my hearts desire was comparison. Masculine compared to… friends, celebrities. Christ calls us to leave that behind and compare ourselves to him alone.
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Our responsibility to steward
This is a portion from Brothers K that I think speaks to our time here. I have replaced only 3 words here those being the word, Monk with the word students
‘Love God’s people. Because we have come here and shut ourselves within these walls, we are no holier than those that are outside, but on the contrary, from the very fact of coming here, each of us has confessed to himself that he is worse than others, than all men on earth....
And the longer the (student) monk lives in his seclusion, the more keenly he must recognise that. Else he would have had no reason to come here. When he realises that he is not only worse than others, but that he is responsible to all men for all and everything, for all human sins, national and individual, only then the aim of our seclusion is attained. For know, dear ones, that every one of us is undoubtedly responsible for all men — and everything
on earth, not merely through the general sinfulness of creation, but each one personally for all mankind and
every individual man. This knowledge is the crown of life for the (Student) monk and for every man. For (We)monks are not a special sort of men, but only what all men ought to be. Only through that knowledge, our heart grows soft with infinite, universal, inexhaustible love. Then every one of you will have the power to win over the whole world by love and to wash away the sins of the world with your tears....
Each of you keep watch over your heart and confess your sins to yourself unceasingly. Be not afraid of your sins, even when perceiving them, if only there be penitence, but make no conditions with God. Again, I say, be not proud. Be proud neither to the little nor to the great. Hate not those who reject you, who insult you, who abuse and slander you. Hate not the atheists, the teachers of evil, the materialists — and I mean not only the good ones — for there are many good ones among them, especially in our day — hate not even the wicked ones. Remember them in your prayers thus: Save, O Lord, all those who have none to pray for them, save too all those who will not pray. And add: it is not in pride that I make this prayer, O Lord, for I am lower than all men....
Love God’s people, let not strangers draw away the flock, for if you slumber in your slothfulness and disdainful pride, or worse still, in covetousness, they will come from all sides and draw away your flock. Expound the Gospel to the people unceasingly... be not extortionate.... Do not love gold and silver, do not hoard them.... Have faith. Cling to the banner and raise it on high.”
I want to admonish and exhort you guys with this section from Brothers Karamazov. Because I believe this writing is very similar to our experience. Not this Thursday but the last, a few of us went to a monastery down in New Mexico. Our experience was very interesting and I found it compelling how similar what we are doing here is to the monastery we visited. We have separated ourselves from the world for this time. Our minds are not idle but being renewed on truth and God’s word. Daily liturgical practices that remind us of who God is and surrounding ourselves by our brothers and sisters that have committed to pointing us toward Christ.
Our experience here is unique but it does not have to be. The community you have built and the life you are living here does not have to end. You did not come here to escape but to learn, to grow, to leave and bring this home. By “This” I mean Christian community. While this community is unique it is not limited to your experience here. Where Christ is present so too this community is present
By coming here you had opportunities that many do not have and will never get. By these We are now held to higher standard and responsible for more than we were before we came here. So how are you going to live when you go home. Are you going to shy away from everything you learned in this time. Are you going to cultivate the life you have lived here at home or fall back into old habits and patterns. In many ways the life that we have all experienced here has been fed to us. The outside influences we will face when we get home have been almost entirely absent in the past 3 months.
So what intentionality are you going to go home with?
From Ceremony CIGAR LOUNGE in Phoenix AZ.
What did I learn at semester? Going into semester my focus was that of discipleship. I came into it with a lot of ideas and very little experience and quickly realized that what matters in the end is my reliance on Christ. My students, the staff and everyone else around me needed my relationship with Christ. That seemed counter-productive however it what is in my humility and understanding of my need that the needs of those around me were met. When I was truly aware of my need, Christ would use me and guide me in who to talk to and what to say. I remember interactions I had with a student, she was a sweet girl and facing some difficult problems. She was somebody that the Lord often impressed on me to be praying for and would lay on my heart the inclination to pray with her. While there were times, I recall having profound things to say that I knew weren’t coming from me other times it was just my obedience to Christ that kept me in tune with the needs of my students that would easily have been missed had I not been seeking the Lord diligently first. What I had thought was necessary to good discipleship which was my knowledge and my other abilities that I had cultivated all amounted to less than I thought it would. God would use me and give me all that I needed for sake of my students when I first sought him. 3 months was a long time and I went through many phases as the weeks progressed and many lessons were taught as the time progressed. One lesson that I am remembering well was at about week 8. I found myself being complacent, in a seemingly good spot from the outside but inside operating from pride. My faith was being placed in my abilities and going through the motions if you will of a devout christian. I was amazed that I could be in such a good spot yet knowing my heart was growing cold towards, and for the students. I was not able to minister to them well and my interests became self centered. I found that I had to do something that was not natural to me. I had to humble myself and pray against this mentality I had slipped into. I was seeing the fruit of Gods working and equated that with my own abilities and knowledge. This would not do and I had known well enough that God would not honor this and needed to bring myself to my knees and pray diligently against my feelings of adequacy. Upon doing this the Lord began to move and softened my heart. I began to have more interactions and compulsions for the heart of the students. Coming to the end of Semester I was told by many of my students that my time at semester had not been in vain and that they truly valued my input in their lives. This meant so much as I knew from prior experience that this is where discipleship is found. In summary discipleship comes from the life we live and not in what we have to offer. Oftentimes it looked less profound and mundane than I would have expected but in the faithfulness was where the fruit was found.
