Service to the Lord - Camping Log Entry 3

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47 New International Version

If you are ever in the far reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, take Hwy 26 north out of Phoenix, until you find Jacob’s Falls. Go another hundred feet or so and stop in at this place.

 I know that I have blogged about this wonderful little bakery before, but I just have to give them as much free press as I can. Here is who they are, according to their website:

We are a Catholic Monastery of the Byzantine rite, under the jurisdiction of The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago, and belonging to the Ukrainian Metropoly in the United States of America, which is in union with the Pope of Rome, supreme pastor of the universal Church. We embrace evangelical poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability of life, according to the Rule of Saint Benedict and the traditions of the Christian East.

I always thought that monks lived a simple life. That description does not sound so simple. These monks at Jampot, however, go on to share that:

In our skete at Jacob's Falls, on the shore of Lake Superior in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, we devote ourselves to a common life of prayer and work for the praise, love, and service of God and for the upbuilding of His Kingdom through the Arts.

That should be everyone’s goal – to live a life of prayer and work in the service of the Lord. Further, we should serve all others and share with them the love of Jesus Christ.

Oh, and if you are wondering just what a skete is, it is the happy medium between the kind of monks who live as hermits on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere and those who live a 100% communal life surrounded by and sharing everything with their partner monks. 

And don't mess with these monks and break the eleventh commandment. Keep them happy so they keep baking.