Imagine a world where coming to church meant risking your life, a world where professing belief in Christ was the same as signing your own death sentence. Although that might be hard for us to comprehend, it is that world that our scripture invites us into this morning. 1 Peter was a letter written to a group of Christians who were facing serious and life-threatening persecution. The letter’s writer was an expert in such matters. Peter was one of Jesus’s most trusted disciples, and watched helplessly as his master was tortured and killed. It was too much for Peter to bear, and he ultimately denied knowing Jesus to save his own skin. But after the resurrection, Peter went from cowering disciple to towering apostle, and became one of the leaders in the fledgling Christian movement.
One of Peter’s tasks was to keep in contact with believers in Christ who were spread throughout the world. The letter of 1 Peter is one example of that. Peter encouraged them to keep the faith, even while they were being targeted by the Romans. You see, after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, emperor Nero, who was rumored to be fiddling during the blaze, was looking for a scapegoat, to take the heat off of him. And he found his perfect prey in the Christians. He blamed them for all the empire’s troubles, including the fire, and started a merciless campaign of persecution that would devastate the movement. In fact, both Paul and Peter would be killed during this time. But before his death, Peter wrote to as many people as he could, reminding them that the are God’s children and should suffer their persecution knowing that they belong to a power far greater than Nero’s. One of the ways Peter does this in our passage today is through the metaphor of spiritual milk.
Anyone with children can relate to Peter’s words. Leigh and I certainly can as we work on teaching Sydney the language of faith. She’s learning pretty well. She can recite her way through the Lord’s prayer, and knows “Jesus Loves Me.” I remember when she first tried to sing, “Amazing Grace,” she would sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a scratch like me…” We say a blessing before every dinner, and pray each night before going to bed. She wasn’t born a spiritual giant or theological genius, although I know with her pedigree she’ll become one. She’s still an infant in faith, learning the vocabulary and craving that spiritual milk. And with persistence on our part and curiosity on her part, through God’s grace her faith will continue to grow.
That’s how it is with all of us. We’re all at different places in our faith. I didn’t start attending church regularly until college. Even as a young adult I was a spiritual infant. Some of us are taking in a healthy diet of spiritual disciplines: prayer, meditation, scripture reading. Others of us are still infants, only able to digest the spiritual milk of God’s word we hear on Sunday. That’s wonderful; we all have to start someplace. And as we continue to nurse on God’s word, and learn the vocabulary of faith, we will grow. We know the language….Our father, who art in heaven…praise God, from whom all blessings flow…this is my body, broken for you…as we hear and say those words, we’ll continue to grow in our faith, maturing from infants into spiritual adults.
But we can’t grow if we don’t eat. We can’t expect to grow in faith if we don’t take in the nutrients. Some of us are on hunger strikes and don’t even know it! Regular Sunday worship, Bible studies, reading scripture, daily prayer…these are all ways God gives us the nourishment we need to grow in faith. We can’t grow if we don’t eat.
So Peter encourages readers to crave God’s word in order to grow into spiritual maturity. And then Peter, who knows a little bit about spiritual geology, switches his metaphors from milk to rocks.
Did any of you or your children have Pet Rocks growing up? C’mon, be honest, we’re all family here, you can admit to it. I was a little young for the Pet Rock craze, but I remember hearing about it with a lot of fascination and curiosity. A pet…rock. That whole concept seems a little…out there. Just the name is absurd, about as absurd as a…living stone. But while I’ve yet to discover the theology behind a pet rock, I think I have an understanding of a living stone. The term is an inherent oxymoron, which is two contradicting words together in a phrase, such as safe bungee jump or heated igloo or short sermon. A living stone. But that’s Jesus for you. Leave it to him to take such a contradiction and give it life. Peter tells us that Christ is the true living stone, and by following him, we are also living stones.
What does it mean to be a living stone? What are the consequences for us? Well, there’s a lot we can learn from being called living stones. Peter should know. When he made his confession at Caesarea Phillipi that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus responded, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” The church was built on the faith of people like Peter, people like you and me, and Christ is the cornerstone of that building.
The idea of God’s people as living stones transforms the whole meaning of the word “church.” It no longer means a building or a property or a sanctuary; it means a group of people, of believers, who together make up the church. The church, then, does not have a geographical location, but a spiritual one; it rests in the hearts of each of us, and it goes with us wherever we go.
What this does is present us with another oxymoron to chew on: an individual Christian. If you believe Peter, if you believe we are all living stones, then you will have trouble believing in such a thing as an individual Christian. A stone that lies by itself is useless. It’s only when a stone is put together with other stones that it takes its place and serves its purpose in the spiritual house of God. The Army’s slogan is “An Army of One.” There’s no such thing as a Church of One.
That’s why I think we should all subscribe to the Southerner’s version of the Gospel. You see, there’s no such thing as a singular pronoun in the South. They don’t say you. They say y’all. Even if they’re talking to one person. “Y’all think Wal-Mart’s still open?” “Y’all going to the pig roast tonight?” “Hey Bubba, y’all want some sweet tea?” So in Southern theology, there’s no such thing as an individual. Everyone is a stone built into a spiritual house; everyone is an individual in the midst of a community.
But they don’t use the word community in the south; they just use the plural of “y’all,” which is “all y’all.” So what Peter is really saying is “Come to Jesus Christ, the living stone, and because y’all are living stones, too, all y’all will be built into a spiritual house.” This is All Y’all’s Christian Church.
The Bible tells us that we were created by God for two reasons: to be in relationship with God and to be in relationship with each other. Nothing there about rugged individualism or every person for themselves. We were created to be together. Even in a society that promotes individualism, there is a craving for togetherness, to be with all y’all.
That’s why this collection of living stones sitting here this morning is more important than ever. We live in an age when technology is increasing the isolation among us. As we connect electronically, we disconnect personally. The more wired we become at home, the more important the church will be as a place to find authentic community. People come to church searching for a deep sense of community that they don’t have the rest of the week, a place to ask questions and express doubts and be vulnerable and find comfort. And you and I, the church, this odd conglomeration of personalities that’s been woven together into the body of Christ, we’re called by God to offer community – and communion -- to a lonely world. But, as you can guess, we are not called to do this alone.
We come together as living stones and are built into a spiritual house, but we’re not thrown together haphazardly or without a plan. Christ is not only the cornerstone of this building; he’s the architect as well. The church takes its design from him. He’s already laid the blueprints for the living stones to follow.
How closely does our church come to resembling the cornerstone? We have the blueprint, four versions of it, in fact, written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. If people were to read those blueprints and then look at us, would the see the handiwork of the architect? Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “The physician can bury his mistakes, but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines.” Are we planting vines to cover up the work of God in our lives, or are we living our lives in such a way that the Grand Architect is visible for all to see?
God’s work should be visible in us, because, as Peter reminds us, we are more than a random grouping of people who happened to end up at 1970 Riverwoods Rd. on a Sunday morning. We are – are you ready for this? – a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Wow, I feel a lot more important now! We were chosen by God, we are royal servants, we are no less than a holy gathering.
Such lofty words should make us think twice. Do we act in such a way to deserve such titles? Do we treat others as if we have been chosen by God? Do we speak to others in ways that project our holiness? You might say, “Well, of course I do that in church! But out in the real world, well, you know, that’s a different thing.”
But it’s not. Remember, you are a living stone. You are the church. The church is you. Where you go, the church goes. If you think and act one way on Sunday, and then go into a different mode on Monday, you’re planting thick, choking vines that are covering up God’s love in you.
This is not the church. This is a building made of lifeless bricks and mortar. You are a living stone, full of life and love. You are the church. The more we feed on God’s nourishing word and take the church from this place into the world, the more we can help people who were once nobodies become somebody, the more we can help those in need of God’s love become a part of all y’all. Never ever underestimate how God is working through you where you are each and every day. You are a living stone. You are the church. Not just right now, not just today. At work, at home, in the community with all y’all, everyday, you are chosen by God. You are part of the royal priesthood. You are holy. You are the church. What does that mean for how you are going to live your life once you leave this place?
