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Living stones, spiritual houses, royal priesthood, holy nation….there is certainly a lot going on in our 2nd reading today. A lot for us to live up to and a lot for us to live into.
But perhaps it is best to begin with a brief lesson in architecture. As many of you may know, the cornerstone in many modern building is an important ceremonial stone which contains the date of a building, the name of the architect…occasionally housing time capsules or such, but in our day and age they are largely a symbolic and ceremonial significance.
In older more hand made times the cornerstone was of great practical significance as well as symbolic importance. The cornerstone was the very first stone laid, the corner foundational stone and as such was representative of the whole building. Not only that, but the crafting of a cornerstone was a serious and painstaking endeavor…all measurements for the foundation of the building were taken from the cornerstone. So, if it wasn’t true, that is, straight and square, the building could falter. So, builders had to be careful when choosing a cornerstone and anything that was not true was rejected.
So, it was in the days of Isaiah and so it was in the days of 1st Peter
‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’
7To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner’,
8and ‘A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
When Isaiah wrote this he was speaking God’s word in reaction to the corrupt leadership in his time. We read Isaiah tell us that in his time “the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink…they err in vision, they stumble in giving council.”
The holy priests and the prophets of the Lord’s temple, the holy men tasked with offering sacrifice and living as an example …were failing, utterly. They were to be the cornerstone …straight and true, but their errors caused others to stray and because they were crooked, the temple fell. The church in our time is struggling. The culture has lost faith in the church’s integrity. There have been leadership failures and systemic failures. We at St. Andrew’s are a part of the system, this is a fantastic parish, but we are a part of a bigger picture. So the very first thing that we need to do as a parish is the same thing they did in Isaiah’s time.
Find our cornerstone. That one thing that we truly depend on above all else. That thing which will be the one thing that we measure everything we do by, the one thing that determines how well everything else is built. Now, it’s a simple enough thing to say…JESUS …Jesus is our cornerstone! And how right we would be, but is it true in practice?
There have been many churches that were doing so well that they decided to start up a new church…a mission...a branch as it were. Led by a passionate pastor and a devoted team, off they went… rented space and started to preach! Everything went well, until the time came for the pastor to leave…and it all fell apart. It turned out that the foundation of the mission was Christ in theory, but in practice they had built the foundation of the church on a single personality. Everything was measured to that standard, built on the charisma of one person and without them it could not be sustained. Unknowing the builders rejected Christ as their cornerstone, set their belief elsewhere and inevitably stumbled.
It doesn’t need to be a charismatic preacher. In the Anglican church we often have set tradition as our cornerstone. In other circumstances it can be finances, or attendance, or mission or perfection. We need to ensure that as we seek to build up this parish we do so on the true foundation, on the one thing that can and will hold up anything and everything built upon it. Jesus Christ.
It is by Christ we should measure all that we do and all that we propose, it is by believing in Christ as the foundation of all that we do, that we will not be put to shame. For if we use any other measure…we will stumble.
Mind you, when we do stumble, because we will from time to time, we get the opportunity to look at things from the ground up and see where our foundation truly lies. Then we can straighten the course or if need be we can tear down the faltering foundation and by God’s grace begin again. Because like those newborn infants 1 Peter speaks of, we do long for growth and we know that the Lord is good and will help us grow, if we only get our foundations straight.
And on that foundation of Christ we can begin to build. Ah, but build what?
That is the million dollar question…what is it that we are building? Is it a temple where priests offer sacrifice and prophets speak God’s word to a passive people? Because that is what Isaiah spoke of…but that had changed by 1st Peter. In Peter’s time there were was no more temple and no more sacrifice, the ritual and the priestly pattern was gone. Rather we are told that the new temple to be built was a spiritual one, rather than a physical one. So, rather than depending on priest and prophet to bring God to the people … priesthood and prophet got redefined.
It was the everyday parishioner who was to act as priest, offering sacrifice and prayers…but not an animal sacrifice on the temple altar, but a spiritual sacrifice on the altar of their heart. As Isaiah tells us God has asked for
“I have had enough of burnt offerings …I cannot endure hypocritical assemblies.. rather cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan and plead for the widow.”
It is not enough to say we will build our church on the foundation of Christ, we must do so. Each person is to be part of a holy priesthood, a holy nation…part of that priesthood of all believers that we join in our baptism. Baptism, in which we commit or recommit ourselves to living out all that Christ would call us to do. To being guided in principle and in practice, by the cornerstone of our faith. So that we can all be square and true when measure against Christ.
So that we can be the stones, living stones that build up the church. Or as 1st Peter puts it…
“Come to Christ, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house”.
That is how we build the church, stone by stone, person by person, parish by parish measuring our selves, individually and corporately by Christ. By looking to see if it really is Christ we are built upon, or if we have stumbled over Christ in favour of something more attractive, practical or charismatic.
And I know that this spiritual house will continue to grow because this parish is already full of living stones, hewn true to Christ. People who build on Christ’s foundation of prayer, individuals who are carved of healing, men and women who live out Christ’s compassion, who care for the sick, the lonely and depressed. Individuals whose foundations and whose hearts are true, those who have Christ’s own strength of Spirit and carry all of us, those whose lives are formed around the hospitality of Christ.
and if you look around, you’ll recognize some I’ve mentioned and you’ll know even more. And if you look at yourself to see where your foundation lies and what part you play in the building of this Spiritual House, you will see that you too are a living stone in Christ’s church.
“you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
We are the church, each one of us, and it is with us that Christ builds his kingdom. Intimidating? perhaps, but it doesn’t need to be complicated…it just needs to be firm.
Built on a strong foundation and laid out with the most perfect cornerstone. Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Together, built of living stones, on the foundation of Christ, we cannot do anything but stand…and not only stand, but grow.
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