The Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 20, 2008
The Reverend Robert Cowperthwaite

          If last Sunday could have been nicknamed “Shepherd Sunday,” then today might be called “stone” or “cornerstone” Sunday. We have images of houses, cities and cornerstones.  The psalmist calls on the Lord to, “Be my strong rock, as castle to keep me safe, for you are my crag and my stronghold,” and later, “You are my tower of strength.” In the letter of Peter, Jesus is the “living stone” and his followers, “like living stones are [to] let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.“ Further, Jesus is, “the chosen and precious cornerstone,” and “the stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.” 

The images are not all positive ones. In Peter, those who do not believe will find that cornerstone to be, “a stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the stones are used to execute Stephen, the first person called to serve as what the Church later called a Deacon. Earlier he is referred to as a person, “full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” and as one who, “full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” [Acts 6:5, 8]

          Note too, that our patron, Paul stood there and watched it all. Still known as Saul, he headed from this event toward Damascas intending to find other believers and “bring them bound, to Jerusalem.” It was on that trip that he had his dramatic conversion experience.

          This image of the Church as a building, with Christ as the chief cornerstone is a powerful one. Jesus promised that in God’s house, there are many dwelling places. A lot of buildings in Israel are made of stone. Some are very plain, utilitarian, and others are wonderfully decorative. Sculptors and masons can look at what to me is a mere piece of stone and see the potential for something grand and beautiful.

          This is what I think the author of Peter was writing about in the letter we read today. He is talking about the Church, the people of God, the Body of Christ. See yourselves as “living stones, though rejected by mortals, yet chosen and precious in God’s sight.” The metaphor changes, “...like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

          I am reminded of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. It is a unique place in the Episcopal Church - much to the credit of a former Dean, Jim Morton who served there some 25 years. He made it an inclusive place. The Dali Lama is an honorary canon. Phillipe Pettit, the high wire walker was one of the “artists in residence.” At a celebration a few years ago, he walked on a high wire stretched the length of the nave (which is two football fields long) while another artist in residence, Paul Winter played a lone saxophone from little niche in the wall some eight stories off the ground. At the annual blessing of the animals, elephants and giraffes lead all sorts of others of God’s creation up the front steps and through the great bronze doors into the Nave of the Cathedral for the blessing.  There are chapels around the side of the nave – honoring firefighters (even before 9/11,) HIV/AIDS victims and care-givers, artisans and artists.

          It is a living stone. Some years ago the Dean convinced the chapter to go ahead and finish the towers, which had never been completed because funding was not available. One of his concerns was that practitioners of the art of stone-masonry were dying out, and he was concerned that there might soon be no one skilled enough to ever finish the towers. They agreed to raise the money (that was what Phillipe Pettit and Paul Winter were helping do that evening). They found a mason from England and hired him as the Chief-mason. They set up an apprenticeship program, and hired young people from the neighborhood near the Cathedral (Harlem). The program provided employment for young people, taught them a skilled trade, and it breathed life and a new future for stonemasonry. That is what Peter, (and I) mean by, “living stones.”

           Walking through the Cathedral stone-yard, one can find a metaphor for the Church. You would see stones of all shapes and sizes carefully laid out. They were waiting to be hoisted on high, to take their places in the intricately formed tower. Each stone would be intimately related to its neighbors. Each will add something to the whole.   Some are just square “building-blocks.” Others have simple grooves that form part of a column. Still others are finely carved saints, animals or gargoyles that are such a special adornment of the tower. There were other stones in the churchyard. They are the “mistakes,” the “misfits.” They are the result of a slip of the chisel, perhaps too aggressive a tap of the hammer or an unseen blemish in the stone. They were saved anyway. Some were sold as mementos, others were recycled - cut down and used again for another piece. That yard is a picture of the Church. Good and not so good, they are all “living stones.” 

          We too are the Church, living stones, Christ’s body. As Peter writes: “But 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.”

          What a wonderful image of the Church. But note that it is not for our sake, or for God’s pleasure that we are called together as the Church.   It is so that we may proclaim God’s mighty acts. We are not in this by ourselves – for ourselves,  just to get our own private needs met. It is in Christ and as Christ that we gather. Jesus, in the Gospel today, promises that all who believe in him should not be troubled, “for in his Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” Alone, we are only one stone, not much of a building, not much of a body! Together, we become living stones. That is how the Church is God’s gift in Christ. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people,” writes Peter.         

Today, we as the Church, living stones of an ever creative God are called to witness to God’s creative power by coming together in love, seeking forgiveness, putting aside selfish wants and needs for the sake of others. The kingdom of God is taking shape little by little as we are made one body in Christ, and him in us. The tower is rising, ever higher!

 Having received the Body and Blood of Jesus, we are assured, as we pray in the post-communion prayer of Thanksgiving that, “in these holy mysteries we are living members of the Body of your son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.”   We then close, saying, “And now, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever.”

          Living Stones - loving all of God’s creation, serving all of God’s people, may we be the body of Christ.