Like Living Stones

There were days when Lydia wondered why she had ever become a Christian. Not that she doubted the truth of the new Way. Even though Christians were such a small minority in first-century Cappadocia, she felt as deeply in her heart as ever that Jesus was truly God’s son and her Lord. She didn’t doubt for a minute that he had lived and died and risen again, for her and for all people, and that he would eventually come back to rule over everyone. It was just that it was so hard being a Christian! Even though her father was liberal and enlightened, he was dead set against Christians. He said they were anti-social and subversive. In fact, he even thought they were dangerous atheists, and that they would call down on the whole state of Cappadocia the wrath of all the gods, because they refused to worship the old gods. Even her fiancé was beginning to wonder about her. He said he loved her, but he too wasn’t sure he wanted his wife to be a Christian. He certainly didn’t want to become one himself – it would ruin his business! Her women friends kept telling her that really getting baptized and becoming a Christian was just something silly she had done when she was younger. Wouldn’t it make more sense to worship her husband’s gods? Some of the others in her Christian cell clearly understood how she felt – they were Greek business people like her family. Most of the others were either working class or some other ethnicity. There were even a few Jews and a few slaves. In their own way, she guessed, all of them encountered the same negative reactions from others that she did. Being a Christian did not make you popular! Had she really done the right thing to go against the wishes of her family and friends to follow Jesus? And then one night, after they had shared the Lord’s Supper, one the elders read a letter….

Fast forward to 2011. There are days when George wonders why he ever let herself be baptized and confirmed. Not that he’s having a crisis of faith. Not at all. He freely accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he promised to follow him, and he fully believes and tries hard to understand everything that the church teaches. He fully intends to keep all his promises to pray and worship and serve others. It’s just that it’s so hard being a Christian. His family doesn’t understand at all why he joined the church. His parents never went to church – they couldn’t care less about any religion. His fiancée and most of his friends think church is just plain silly: who can believe all that mumbo-jumbo about a Father God and his divine Son? Salvation? From what? Life is good. Bread and wine becoming someone’s body and blood? Yuck! And taking care of the poor? Let the poor take care of themselves – if they just weren’t so lazy they’d all be fine. After he and his friends have been out late on Saturday evening, George has to push himself out of bed to get to even a late service at church. Really, everyone says, just stay home, read the paper, and enjoy your coffee. Of course, all the shops are open on Sundays, along with the theaters, restaurants, bars, and sports events. Even if he wants to go to adult education on Wednesday evening, there’s always some conflict: either his boss wants to him to work late, or his family or friends pull him away for something. Prayer? When does he have time for that? And then, one Sunday morning, when he finally did manage to get to church, the lay reader read a letter….

What Lydia in Cappadocia heard the elder of her house church read was a letter written by someone close to Peter, the leader called by Jesus to be the rock upon which the church would be built. The letter had a lot of good things in it about Jesus. At the end there was lots of advice about how to live properly as a Christian. Lydia wasn’t sure she understood it all. But one part really stuck with her. It was the part about how they were all like “living stones,” and that they should let God build them into a spiritual house, so that they could be a holy priesthood. What were “living stones,” she wondered? As if he’d read her mind, the elder began by reminding everyone of stones in the Bible: how Jacob had used a stone for a pillow when he was running from Esau; how Joshua had made the twelve tribes carry stones from the Jordan to the Promised Land, to remind them of God’s covenant with them; and how John the Baptist had said that God could turn stones into children of Abraham if God had to. Now here they were, stones in a way, people whom others despised, people who had neither a Jewish nor a pagan temple in which to worship, but people who were nonetheless being built into a holy temple in which Jesus would dwell. Maybe it didn’t matter if they were educated or not, if they were the right ethnicity or not, if they were women or men, or even if they were free or not. They were all part of each other, they were all necessary for each other, and together they were letting God make a new, unique, wonderful community out of them. They were letting God make a holy priesthood out of them, who would serve each other and the rest of the world in Christ’s name. They would be a new holy people whom God had mercifully and bountifully blessed. At last, Lydia understood why she was sitting there, and her heart was filled with joy.

Sitting in church that Sunday morning, George heard the lay reader read the same part of Peter’s letter that had so struck Lydia. And George too had a revelation. He realized that, even if he were no longer living in the age of the great cathedrals, even if the day when everyone went to church – either out of social obligation or real conviction – were long past, even if the world around him and everyone he knew thought going to church was totally unnecessary, he realized that the people of St. Monica’s, his church community, were also living stones. They too had been called by God to let themselves be built into a spiritual house and a royal priesthood, to serve the world, even if the world didn’t know or care about their service. He realized that the city’s movers and shakers no longer found it necessary to be part of the church. Instead they had a couple of women wearing clothing from some give-away, they had people who passed the peace to each other, even though they were still struggling to forgive each other for some ancient wrong. There was a crying baby who kept interrupting the priest. And, miracle of miracles, there were even a few bored teenagers, who were probably texting their friends when they thought their parents weren’t looking. But they were all there, they were strong and solid and growing spiritually, they were all sharing God’s love, they were all being nourished by Word and Sacrament, they had all been honored and blessed by God, and they had all put themselves into God’s hands, to be fashioned together into a community radiating the love of Christ in the world.

My friends, we are living in George’s world. St. Peter’s is struggling to survive in the same world as that of St. Monica’s. In Gallipolis, people have no earthly reason to come through our red doors on Sunday morning – or Tuesday evening for that matter – and every good reason to relax at home or go out and do their shopping. Perhaps some even see this community and this sanctuary as a white elephant, a holdover from the era of buggy whips and high-button shoes. Our numbers have decreased, and sometimes we wonder whether the pews will ever again be filled for anything other than a wedding or a funeral. We wonder where the dollars will come from to keep the lights on. We know that 1964 will never come again, but we don’t know what’s coming next. We know that we need to change in order to grow again, but we’re not sure how to do that. Where’s the good news?

My sisters and brothers, here’s the good news. This community was called into being by Jesus, and Jesus, the same Jesus who promised to be with us until the end of time, will help rebuild it – if we let him. “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,” the letter writer exhorts us. Let yourselves, cooperate with God, put aside old conflicts, let go of old cliques, take advantage of the opportunities for growth and change that God gives you, let new leaders arise, and then God will fulfill God’s promises. God will remake us into a holy priesthood, a community that witnesses to Jesus’ power to forgive us, heal us, and send us out to serve others. I don’t know if the Common Ministry project, to which we have been invited to apply, is the vehicle through which God wants to work with us. But I do know that, at long last lay people are called to share their gifts and talents with their church communities, to help build up the church in this place. You know, we’re talking these days about bi-vocational priests, priests who are part-time clergy and have either a secular vocation or another source of income. Lay people too are called to be bi-vocational. All of you have used your gifts in your families, work places, and secular volunteer communities. Now God is calling you to claim your baptismal ministries and use the gifts the Spirit has given you to rebuild the church in this community and make disciples for Christ.

God has called a new community into being here, a community of people alive in Jesus. I pray that we are willing to be living stones for Jesus. I pray that we are willing to let ourselves be rebuilt into a new spiritual house.