April 20, 2008 Sermon
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Easter 5 - A
April 20, 2008 Allan Conkling
I had a friend in seminary who had been a geology major in college, and who loved this passage from 1st Peter:
"Come to him, 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..."
He would say, "I used to study rocks and rock formations. Most people don't think of rocks as 'living' things, but to me each one is 'alive' and has a story to tell." Studying geological formations had brought him to the awareness that, as Gerard Manley Hopkins said, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God."
The author of First Peter uses a curious image of rocks that are alive, "living stones" to demonstrate a contrast between life "before and after". For First Peter the watershed moment, the Continental Divide (using geological language) was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Before him all was inert and lifeless. But in the Resurrection, God raised Jesus and all creation from death to life. In that moment all things were made new: Lifeless and inert things took on new form. Nobodies became somebody. These "living stones" were then hewn, shaped, and built into a spiritual house: Christ’s body, the Church. By holding fast to that cornerstone you and I today have the assurance of being a part of God's plan on this earth: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." What Good news that is!
When we take this passage and pair it with the Gospel for today (John 14) we get an even greater sense of what makes this Christian faith of ours so dynamic. On the night before he suffered and died, Jesus spoke to his followers, telling them:
"Don't let your hearts be troubled...Believe/trust in God, believe also in me."
Peter would deny Christ three times. All but a few would forsake him. These individuals and countless others through the ages stand as examples to us of how a troubled heart can get the best of a person; but also how Christ can take even the roughest stone and shape it for good.
When, by all outward appearances evil and death seem to be winning, in fact they are not. In times of brokenness, oppression, illness, challenges; in the midst of suffering the disciples found hope, comfort and assurance, and so can we:
"Do not let your heart be troubled...Trust in God...Trust in Christ..."
This phrase became the mantra of the early church, and should be our mantra today!
It is interesting that these readings are probably best known to Episcopalians from attending funerals. But today, as Barbara Rossing says,
"Instead of standing before a grave waiting to be filled, we stand outside a tomb that has been vacated."
This is not just about "going to heaven" but about how to live in fullness and harmony here and now: in our families, at our jobs, at school, with our friends. What is important is not who is saved, but what salvation actually is: a relationship built on love of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and lived in service to all.
I read once an Easter sermon by Dwight Moody that great fundamentalist preacher of the early 20th century. Moody had a great line:
"If you don't believe that Jesus was raised from the dead you probably shouldn't be here this Sunday. If you did believe, you would want to be here every Sunday."
Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life, but herein is the challenge: For a growing, dynamic church is not to be found in the granite of fundamentalism but in being "living stones" being formed, as it were into a spiritual house. As my friend in seminary would say, most people don't think of rocks as 'living' but in fact each one is 'alive' and has a story to tell. And so are we. Faith is not built upon archaeological ruins but upon the "cornerstone" Jesus Christ.
So what is our call? To live fully, love exceedingly, and be all we have been created to be in God's sight.
"Come to him...and let yourselves be built."
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