May 18, 2014
A Living Stone or Dead Wood
- 1 Peter 2:2-10
- Rev Ruth Chadwick Moore
I had no idea what title I would give my sermon today. But then Nancy Sala, our administrative assistant in the church office, told me her father, a Presbyterian minister, had preached on these passages and used the title: “A Living Stone or Dead Wood?” Somehow the title intrigued me, so I stuck with it. Not because I really understood what the title meant, but because it spoke to me about the landscaping at our new house. And so of course I chose a sermon title that was more about me than about God, but then that is another sermon and another prayer of confession isn’t it?!
As most of you know Mark and I moved into a new home right before Christmas. The home is 27 years old and the elderly gentleman who sold it to us had not done much inside or outside the home for many years. Thankfully, we were able to do most of the interior renovations before we moved in. But now that the 3,000 tons of snow we had this winter has finally melted, we are also realizing that much needs to be done on the outside of the house too. The biggest problem, or the one I have been pondering the last few weeks, is what to do with the stones and mulch that line the side yard of the house.
The part that bothers me the most is that in this 30 or so feet of space between our house and the house next store, there are three kinds of ground cover and many over grown shrubs. We have already ripped up all the old shrubs and are ready to plant new ones. But what should we do with the ground cover? About 1/3 of it is old rotten mulch – or dead wood. It is very unattractive. Another 1/3 of it is orange stone which I think is just a bunch of old clay pots that the previous owner smashed and put on the ground. It too is very unattractive. But the last 1/3 of the side yard is covered with beautiful gray, white and pink stones. It is very attractive, but expensive to replace or to add to. So what do we do? I would like to have one consistent ground cover. The orange stuff definitely has to go, but do we replace everything with new mulch or do we put down more of the beautiful stones?
When I have gone on vacation or traveled to different countries I often bring home rocks or shells that I find by the water. They can look pretty ordinary or they can have different colors, shapes, or weight. The rocks that I have brought home remind me of the places I have been and the beauty I have seen. They are a permanent – or almost permanent – reminder of my travel experiences. When I see them and when I hold them I remember where I have been and the places I have seen. When Jewish people go to visit the grave stones of loved ones at a cemetery they place rocks on the grave and not flowers. Flowers wither and die, but a rock is a permanent reminder that the dead have been visited and that they have been remembered.
Each rock is unique, just like every rock in our side yard is unique. They can be placed in a specific way to highlight a shrub or flowers and they don’t blow away or move around like mulch does. They do not have to be replaced every season like mulch does. Each rock is different and each has been shaped or smoothed by nature’s wind and water. Together the stones beautify their surroundings.
One of the best things a family of faith can do is remember that every single person is beautifully important to the entire community. This is a recurrent theme throughout the letters of the New Testament. The author of First Peter calls us “living stones” to be “built into a spiritual house.”
We are rocks. Rocks with a purpose. And that purpose can’t be accomplished if any rock is discarded. Every idea, old or new is needed. Every person, young or aged is valued. Every soul, troubled, or overly satisfied, or whole, is treasured. Every spirit, tired or high strung, is refreshed. Every child of God is welcomed into a house where God’s other children wait with open arms. And together with God, they are built into something beautiful. They are built into a holy priesthood, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We, the living stones of God, become God’s people – God’s household of faith – and we are never the same.
Jesus says: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14: 2-3) These familiar words from the Gospel of John are often read at funerals. The words are comforting and they sound like what we imagine heaven to be. If that’s so, then it’s a future place, a place that we will “go to.” And I believe that is part of the promise Jesus was making to his disciples. The other part is in his answer to Thomas: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
Yes, we are promised eternal life, but today, right now, we are also promised that we are living stones being built into a spiritual house. Right now, we are being promised that we are already housed by God, fed by God, carried with God, and that we are loved by God just for being God’s people – God’s children. We already are home; it is not just in the future. We already have a foot in this place, that spiritual home that Jesus has prepared for us if we but look around, look within and listen.
But as nice as that sounds, doesn’t it seem difficult to imagine what this home, this home with Jesus as the cornerstone really looks like? And shouldn’t we be seeing more signs of Jesus being the way and the truth and the life? If people truly believed that they were God’s children and that God is very much with us, wouldn’t the world be a different place? Jesus often talked about the Kingdom of heaven as being here already – it is here and now – and that we must be in the process of building it. But right now we aren’t very far away from the kinds of things that happened when the church, our spiritual home, was still in its formative era.
And so we wonder where is this Kingdom of heaven if all around us we see hatred, violence, racism, poverty, suffering and sadness? And for that matter where is Jesus? Did he go to prepare a heavenly place for us and forget to come back?
And so our hearts become troubled. And we wonder how we can build our faith to the point where we can believe in a different world – a world where we can see God in the midst of hardship. Perhaps that is where Peter’s letter comes in – where we are reminded of the spiritual milk that God offers us – so that we can grow into salvation and taste that the Lord is good. Regardless of how old we’ve become in the church, we are continually being offered nourishment in our spiritual home – a place where we are nourished through prayer, through the words and symbols of our liturgies, through the example of those who love us into loving ourselves because they believe in God’s love for us. It is through the living stones of the church that we learn whose we are and where we are called to go. It is in the church that we grow in spirit and we share a sacred meal together so that we can touch Jesus and know that he is in us. In the mystery of worship, communion, and prayer in the household of God we are equipped to continue to look for ways to build the Kingdom of heaven here – while we wait to take our place in the world to come.
Peter reminds us that we are loved, holy, chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and the people of God. Do you believe that? Doesn’t that sound like a rather lofty description of us? But you know, when people begin to believe these words, they find themselves doing amazing things. They find themselves being living stones who may be called to build the kingdom in different ways – perhaps through teaching, or writing, or participating in Habitat builds, or helping with School 55, or through the example of their integrity or genuineness.
Jesus never promised a safe and trouble free life for those who followed him. He was always very honest about the fact that the world most often covers its ears and shouts and sometimes throws stones. But if we try – if we believe we are chosen, that there is truth in the saying that one candle brings light into the darkness – then we are building into the Kingdom of God. In our spiritual home on earth, in the church, we are building into the Kingdom piece by piece, living stone by living stone. And as we add stone upon stone we will feel the difference in ourselves and we can see the difference in the church.
Only God knows when the Kingdom will be realized – for now we are just a part, a critical and unique part of that work, but we are not the whole. There will always be more for us to learn and more for us to do to help the Kingdom continue to grow. Evil will not stop trying to destroy the goodness of our spiritual home, the goodness of the holy places in our lives. And so there is still the need to continue building each other up, to work together, to pray together, to become that holy nation, a holy community of living stone and not dead wood.
Each and every one of you is called. Each and every one of you is invited to follow Jesus who is our way, our truth and our life. Each and every one of you is a living stone – a rock with a purpose and that purpose can’t be accomplished if any rock is discarded or not heard or appreciated. Our purpose, to follow Jesus and build the Kingdom of heaven here on earth, can’t be accomplished if we are dead wood.
The Good News is that Jesus is with us. He has promised never to leave us. He is our way, our truth and our life. And our scriptures remind us that we are holy. We are chosen. We are God’s beloved. We are living, unique, beautiful stones that together can share the good news of the gospel and build God’s kingdom here on earth – one rock at a time.
So what do you think for the side yard – stones or dead wood? I’m thinking stones. Amen.
Resources: (Much of this sermon comes from the words of Dr. Metz)
“Building the Kingdom, Stone by Stone,” the Rev. Dr. Suzanna Metz, Sermons that Work, Episcopal Digital Network, 2014.
“Rocks,” Melissa Bane Sevier, Contemplative Viewfinder, 2011.