"Living Stones"
Nehemiah 3:15, 4:6; 1st Peter 2:1-7
Rev. Laura J. Collins
October 27, 2002
"Like living stones let yourself be built into a spiritual house." 1st Peter 2:5a
Today is what is traditionally known on the Protestant calendar as Reformation Sunday. It is the day we reflect on our Reformation heritage and what it means to be Reformed Christians in the 21st centuries. So what does it mean?
Most basically it means to be followers of Jesus Christ who choose to worship and live out our faith in the context of a church family which goes back to the Biblical community of early Christians, but who broke from the Roman Catholic church starting as early as 700 years ago. In the 14th Century, Englishman John Wycliffe wrote an English translation of the Bible. As a studious, academic man, he did not intend to be a rabble rouser, but as a preacher of the Scriptures and someone who deeply cared about the reform of the church at that time, he could not help but be. Less than half a century later, another academic became a student of his writing in Prague and like Wycliffe before him became an impassioned preacher of reform, longing to bring people to a true and grace-filled faith, which he found sorely lacking in the wealthy powerful church of his day. This man, Jan Hus, found a huge following, but both he and Wycliffe were martyred before they could begin large reform movements of their own.
Nonetheless, they lay the groundwork for the reformers who were to follow and they planted the seeds of a new church in the people who heard them preach and read their scholarly works on Bible and Theology. Remember, this was the Enlightenment period and from Copernicus asserting that the sun was the center of the universe to the development of the printing press, it was a period of incomparable intellectual foment in all areas of life. The church was part of this great movement of thought and change.
But those people who led the church’s reformation, while most of them began as scholars, as students and writers who longed for a quiet life of academic pursuits, found themselves caught up in the excitement of a new experience of faith. They were compelled by the Holy Spirit, sometimes working in the form of activist friends, to bring their bright minds and strong faiths to the forefront.
What was the point of all this uproar? Why did quiet scholarly men find themselves in the center of great controversy, to the point of martyrdom for many?
Because in their own work of scholarship, as they studied the Scriptures anew, /with access to new translations, within the context of intellectual questioning on all fronts of life -- of science and technology and economics and politics -- they found their hearts on fire with faith. They discovered in themselves and felt compelled to share with the world, a new way of knowing God, a new way of experiencing church, a new way of living the faith. And this renewed faith was so full of grace and the power of God’s spirit that no power on earth could contain it.
Some have said that Wycliffe struck the spark, Huss kindled the coals and Luther brandished the flaming torch. And the torch that was lifted high was the flame of a new religious fervor. A fervor that desired all people to find God’s saving grace and created a new religious context in which to do so.
These men became living stones building on the tradition of faith. Living stones. This is what we are called to be as well. "Like living stones let yourself be built into a spiritual house."
An interesting thing about this metaphor is that a brick sitting by itself is not much use. Only when it is built into a structure does it serve its purpose. This is why, in fact, the brick exists -- to be part of something larger. Individualistic Christianity is ruled out by this image. We exist for community.
Now, we know something about building around here these days. While we may grow tired of the dust and inconvenience of our renovation project, we are also excited because something new is being built. In our case, we had to do a lot of tearing down to make room for the new. The text from the letter of Peter also begins with some clearing out: "Strip down!" we’re told!
The word gets translated in our pew Bibles as "put away," which makes me think of gently opening a drawer and placing something in. But the original word has more vigor in it, literally "strip off," like you might strip off some soiled clothes. "Strip off malice and insincerity and envy and slander." Or in another version, "Strip off deceitfulness and hypocrisy and envy and gossip." What are we stripping off? Things that tear apart community; things that building fences instead of houses.
"Like living stones let yourself be built into a spiritual house," Peter says, "and a holy priesthood." Now the Latin word for priest is pontifex which means bridge-builder. We are called to strip off the things that break community and to build ourselves into a welcoming home, a bridge to community.
This is really what the reformers were about: stripping off those parts of the church that build fences and becoming living stones and bridge builders in a spiritual home. They wanted people to have direct access to God’s word and to the sacraments as means of grace. They wanted people to understand themselves as priests -- bridge builders -- in all aspects of their lives.
In 1517 Martin Luther posted 95 Theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany as a protest against the church hierarchy’s hypocrisies and fences. John Calvin began a new wave of reform a few years later, creating an experimental political and economic system in Geneva based on Scriptural principles and with the idea that all work in our communities should be part of the building of a spiritual community, not just church work. His democratic principles moved from the Swiss church to Scotland and then to the United States where Presbyterians played a large role in forming the new government.
The church over the years has been at the forefront of reform movements around the globe, improving education and health care and human rights and, in what I believe is our generation’s primary call to reform, environmental justice.
But we have made plenty of mistakes along the way. At times, the church coerced rather invited people into membership. The church in this country and abroad has been guilty of subjugating indigenous cultures in the name of Christ. We have been segregated racially, we have been overly concerned about our own survival, we have kept women out of leadership. Pick your favorite historical mistake. Knowing that human nature will sometimes get it wrong in its zeal to be right is why the motto of the Reformed church has been and continues to be "Reformed and always reforming."
In 1974, the Rev. David Sindt stood before the annual meeting -- the General Assembly -- of the Presbyterian Church. He held up a sign which was both a cry for community and a call to action, like Luther’s 95 Theses. The sign said, "Is anybody else out there gay?"
Thus began the More Light Movement in this denomination, a 30 year struggle to reform our relationship with gay and lesbian members of our churches and our communities. A struggle to learn to be bridge builders rather than fence builders, and members of a spiritual house strong enough to welcome all God’s children. This congregation has been a leader in this reform, just as it led the way in becoming racially integrated in the 60s and 70s and in helping immigrants and economically disadvantaged people and families of young children in the 80s and 90s.
I am glad to be part of a living tradition of faith: a tradition with an ancient foundation, which has stood the test of time, but which is willing to undergo renovations from time to time to make it more accessible.
May we all be living stones, set upon the cornerstone of Christ, as we continue building together!
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