8/29/17
We have [God’s oath] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
-Hebrews 6:19-20
Many of our blog posts about SMI 2017 have explained the sociological, cultural, and medical aspects of what our team experienced during those three weeks. I want to affirm those things, and also briefly reiterate one of our team’s main struggles. I was one of the few students who was even from around the Philadelphia area, and I’m not even strictly from Philly- I’m from DelCo. Each of our races, our backgrounds, and our experiences were things that we learned to be cautious of, lest they get in the way of genuine love, service, and Christ’s Gospel.
For me, I was particularly worried that the experiences of my comfortable life would cause me to inadvertently communicate to the neighbors a sense of superiority or detachment from them. And I certainly was detached- but in a very natural way. God ended up using all of our backgrounds, races, cultural heritage, skills, gifts, relational abilities, and everything else, to further what He wanted to accomplish in and through us and our neighbors. My clumsiness could not stand in the way of the purposes of God, even if I wanted it to. Caution and wisdom is necessary, but I never should have worried.
SMI went so much faster than I expected, and I gained way more friends than I thought I would (23 to be exact.) As I start one of my last years of undergrad, I have my team’s encouragement notes pinned up on my wall. Our team’s dynamic was one of encouragement and exhortation- a very small microcosm of how the Church should look. One specific day weighs heavily on my memory as I begin another semester full of sweat and tears (school is not my best area). Several times a week, our small group met to discuss a chapter of Romans, the speakers’ content from the day, our experiences in the neighborhoods, and prayer requests. On this particular evening, the five of us were each moved by the Spirit to unburden ourselves of similar veins of sins we struggled with, and sins committed against us. As we shared our trauma, confessed our sin, and spoke aloud about how our past and present made us fear for the future, each sister chimed in with support for the other, and to affirm Christ’s active work in her. I know each one of us felt our sisters carrying one another’s burdens for us, particularly when we laid hands on one another for prayer and healing.
Just as we saw Christ’s transformative power in neighborhoods, through faithful individuals and organizations who were already present, so we saw His work in our own hearts and minds. He is the only one powerful enough to break chains of oppression, poverty, addiction, sin, anxiety, and everything else we fear. The Gospel is preeminent, and Yahweh is the only one strong enough to anchor our souls to His promises of healing and concrete hope.
-Kate Kempf
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
-Hebrews 6:11-14