A saint who’s gone ahead…
by Peggy Drinkard
For our last Air Force assignment before retirement God led us to Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. In His grace, before the boys and I arrived, He led David to visit a tiny PCA church pastored by Dr. Richard L. Summers, Th. D. One visit and David was sold…couldn’t wait for our arrival and our first intro to Dr. Summers. Beyond retirement age himself, Dr. Summers pastored this church with dedicated love and faithfulness, studying vigorously each week and preaching sermons very much worthy of publishing and a much broader audience. It was a mystery to me why Dr. Summers, such a treasure, was, in a sense, hidden away by God in this small congregation. It was also a lesson to me to observe his faithful labor and apparent contentment with the anonymous nature of the ministry God had given him, for he was an extraordinarily brilliant man, had served in World War II as an aviator, had been a POW three seperate times in Nazi prison camps (from which he escaped three times), and was highly decorated, including a Purple Heart. (Our boys were in awe of him, and he occasionally let them see his medals.)
One sermon that I continue to reflect on all these years later, was titled, “If you followed Jesus, where would you go?” The outline was A. You would go to church (he spoke of the many references in the Gospels that found Jesus in the Temple or a synagogue), B. You would go out among people (all kinds and types…rich, poor, brilliant, slow or demented, etc) and C. You would go to the cross..(death to self). Dr. Summers died a little over a year ago, shortly before Hurricane Katrina. I look forward to seeing him again. Never quite content with any of the communion hymns available, he wrote this one for the congregation’s use:
COMMUNION HYMN
Listen while now the Living Word
Speaks to refresh our souls again
Calls to our faith through bread and wine
Bidding us thus remember Him.
Come claim the grace that spilled to earth,
Out from the Father's boundless love
Draw from the flowing fountainhead
With hearts confessed and purged from sin.
Take up the bread He broke for us
That in one fellowship of love
We all together might be bound
In sweet communion with our God.
Lift up the cup He holds to thee
The pascal mark upon thy life
In this rich sign preserved for life
By His shed blood and sacrifice.
Soon we depart, O pilgrim souls,
Back to the world, the walk, the cross,
Take these provision for thy way.
To keep thee in the wilderness.
That was a beautiful reminiscence. I had the same type of mentor; in fact, he was my spiritual father, although both of us realized that we really had the same spiritual Father. His name was Dr. Robert Ostenson, and he was at Trinity Church in Montgomery. I became a Christian under him, and later became an Elder, an officer in the Church of the Lord, under his guidance. I’ve spoken of this but hearing him preach one Sunday morning, I suddenly realized that God existed. It was a thrilling and fearful moment. He was a man used of God; a great preacher, a great mentor, a great servant, and simply a great man of God.
Dr. O has retired and now lives in Clinton, Miss. He was originally from Iowa, and was a jazz musician before he became a Christian and the Lord called him to the ministry. He is in bad health, and I really need to take the time to call or visit him. I truly love him. Thanks for the message about Dr. Summers. It really brought Dr. Ostenson to mind,
By the way, do you have music to the Communion piece? I’d like to use it on some occasion.
Thanks for those beautiful words about Dr. Summers. He is my Grandfather and I continue to miss him!