Project Arctos Contributor - David Atkinson
Background image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
DC/Maryland/Virginia, USA
Favorite hymn/worship song:
“Jesus Is a Rock” by Gregory Oliver
A song that has always stayed with me is “Jesus Is a Rock.” I learned it while in youth choir growing up. It's a communal song by nature since it has multiple parts sung separately and together. Its message is simple: Jesus is a solid foundation in a weary land and a shelter in the time of trouble. It builds from Jesus being the foundation of the church and goes on to say that He is a solid, consistent, reliable God – even when we are going through difficult times in difficult places.
Type of church context:
I grew up going to a Black Baptist church in the suburbs of Maryland. I came to faith early on in life and was able to grow up in that same church until college.
Commune:
Seeing Jesus as my Rock was something I could look back on as I processed deaths of family members, one of the earlier religious moments I remember. While there are many things Christianity will move us to do on Earth, Jesus can uniquely provide assurance of salvation after death. While I didn't fully know what this would look like, it was a promise of God I held onto early on in life: eternal life.
I think this promise helped me to have a baseline of trust that God is trustworthy and reliable and can promise the works and more. Eventually, the next step in my Christian life was hearing from God via reading the Bible. I think holding onto this baseline of trust allowed me to go through the daily practices of growing in the faith (prayer, Bible reading, hearing from God and worshiping in Christian community).
As I have gone through the different tests of the last 6-8 years as a Christian, where the American church has grown more divided against itself, I have held onto songs like “Jesus is a Rock.” Forces like White supremacy have grown in the church and caused many to leave the faith. They have also pushed Christians to remain in the faith, but seeking to redefine it in ways it hasn't been defined before. With all of this turbulence, and as I work on growing in the faith, I can say this is a guiding principle: Jesus is a Rock.
Connect:
During college and for a year after I went to the same church, but I would say most of my spiritual formation during that time came from my college fellowship. After a few years of work in construction management, I worked in the same field abroad (Saudi Arabia). It was there I learned about underground fellowships, since public gatherings were outlawed. I gained an appreciation for the lives and views of Christians from different parts of the world, from Catholics from India to Protestants from the Philippines. I have since worked back in Maryland, at a church planted from the one I grew up in. Through all of this, I would say I've been through many growth and challenge periods in my faith.
Articles written by David: