Living Stones

In the 1850's, in the 1890's, and again in the 1950's, the people of St. Mark's have had building programs, and we continue to renovate, care for, and improve the properties.

They are important, as places for us to use as the base for our ministries together, and also as a visible witness to the community which drives past every day.

We want everyone to know that the worship of God, and our coming together for many other purposes also, are things that are worth doing, and doing well.

We can also be aware that there is a danger that we get stuck on the building and regard it as an end in itself instead of a tool for ministry and a base point for all that we are and do throughout the week.

So we have the Second Lesson before us today to keep us on track.

1 Peter says that we are in the business of being “living stones” and the business of inviting and encouraging others to be shaped in that same way.

What does it mean, that strange and intriguing image of “living stone?”

First, let's imagine its opposite, dead stone.

One time I saw a TV special about Pennsylvania mines, and how the miners must very frequently test the stone above their heads.

Some kinds of rock like limestone are usually safe and stable, while other kinds like shale are very dangerous.

A mine roof of shale would be like holding a deck of cards so that when one falls, the others tend to follow, leading to a complete collapse.

So the miner has to test the roof: a hand is placed against the roof and with a hammer, the miner taps all around.

Does it ring true when he taps, or does it have a dull thunk, indicating that it is starting to separate from the rock above, that it is no longer supporting the rock, that it may soon fall.

Dead rock can make a dead miner at any moment.

A dead roof has to have timber supports added immediately in order that work may continue.

Now, let's talk about people as living stones or as dead rock, and begin with Peter.

In Jesus' language, the words for Peter and rock are the same, and in the Greek they are also very similar.

What kind of a rock is Peter?

Oh, he means well.

He even gives the appearance of being true and faithful; he says some good things.

But we hear also of how badly he fails.

Three times he denies even knowing Jesus, like the layers of a shale roof collapsing.

By himself, he turns out to be useless.

It is only as he is given a foundation in the promise of the risen Lord Jesus and supported by the timber of Jesus' continuing presence that Peter can become the apostle and missionary, doing his intended job as a living stone.

That mine roof is held up not just that people can come and look at it and say “Oh what a nice roof it is”, but in order to make room for the rest of the mine's proper activities.

Why are we baptized?

Why have we been selected by God to be living stones?

So that we can have warm, fuzzy feelings?

No, our lives may turn out to be cold and drippy more often than they are warm and fuzzy!

Whether easy or difficult, our work of holding up the roof, with the support of the Lord Jesus beneath us, goes on for as long as the mine is active; that is, as long as the church as the body of Christ endures, which is forever.

The only way that a miner gets to the working face is by passing through the areas already worked by others, using those passageways as conduits and supply routes.

If an especially good job was done, everyone who follows will enjoy that passage.

If there is a low and crooked place in the roof, then everyone passing that way will hit their heads every time.

In the same way, when we talk of church as brick and mortar, or church as the people of Christ's body,

we make use of the work of Christians who passed this way before us.

The building and the organization can cause us to hit our heads, or they can make it easy for us the do our proper work.

Every generation which follows depends upon us to keep our area in the way in which God wants it to be kept.

It is an overwhelming responsibility.

The verse immediately before our lesson today says:

Put away all malice, and all guile, and insincerity and slander.

Those are things which can collapse a community.

Those are the signs of a dead stone, which has to be cut out and re-supported.

And what of the testing done for dead stone?

We do some of that each week in the Confession, where God goes tap,tap, tapping on our lives and finds the dead places, the dull thud instead of a true ring.

We know what they are; things done and not done, the angry words said, the helpful words left unspoken,...every one of us has a long list of them.

Jesus says: “I'll hold you up and cut out all that dead stone.

I will make you anew into living stones instead of that dead stone.

I will make you anew into living stones for the sake of you yourself, for your companions, and for all those yet to come.”

How can we dare to do it?

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

So, here are the questions for us today:

For whose sake this week have I been baptized and made into a living stone?

What is the darkness in me that Jesus needs to cut out?

What can Jesus speak and do through me this week.

How will Jesus support me in ways that will make a space for someone else to come into this community of Christ and thrive?

Living stones,...dead stones; more than brick and mortar.

Here is what happened in another congregation.

“I've been trying to get that church in gear for years” the pastor said, “but it is like beating my head against a brick wall.

Then I preached a sermon on the church's mission and our need to be involved.

On Monday, a senior member of the congregation called the pastor and said that she had not slept the previous night, because she couldn't get his sermon out of her mind.

“In that sermon you asked “if this church disappeared from the earth, would anybody note the difference?

I just want you to know that I'm ready to work with you so that this church does make a difference in the community.”

With delight, the pastor replied, “When can you come in so that we can talk?!”

One woman's response led to a new lease on life for that congregation.

One woman heard her name being called, and she responded. Just one.

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.

Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.

Living stones: how we live in the way, truth and life of Jesus.

Living stones: our baptismal gift, and our daily life in Christ...

because Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.