Sermon from 20th May 2007

Godly shepherds for God’s flocks - a sermon from our new Associate Vicar, John Itumu, concluding our study of Peter's first letter. Today's reading is from 1 Peter 5:1-11

Today we journey together in this last part of our teaching series from Peter’s first letter. Let me quickly remind us where we have been.

We first heard that this letter is really a bunch of very important keys which if used responsibly will help us unlock the meaning of Easter – the most important secret of all history; how to live for God especially in painful, trying and grievous circumstances that are inevitable in our Christian lives.

We were then reminded about our responsibilities in all this. The need to embrace a DIY concept in living out our faith; a realistic balance and understanding about what was done for us on the cross and what we need to do ourselves.
We then heard that if all relationships that we find ourselves in – master-servant, husband-wife, church members-those outside church; if all these are aligned with Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, our lives will be really worth living. It is tough, but well worth it!
Last week we heard that our aim must always be to use the gifts God has given to us so that in all things praise may be given to him. We must live with view that the end of this life will soon come, after which we will need to give an account of our lives here on earth.

Now Peter turns to his readers – he earlier, in chapter 1 describes them as God’s elect, exiled and scattered people throughout the Roman Empire. He recognizes that they would certainly have been gathering together – like we have done today. They will have needed to belong to a community; a community of believers. A community who have voluntarily come together with only one agenda - to worship a God who they have had to suffer for; a God who they have made a cornerstone in their lives; a God whose mighty deeds and deliverance they can testify about; a God who has unified them in their various relationships; a God who they really wanted to learn and know more about.
I wonder whether we have lately sincerely wondered or even questioned the reason why we really need to come and gather with other people this way – Sunday after Sunday. Why? That is some food for thought.

For Peter, the issue here is not ‘why’ because he knows that there is already a flock. He calls it ‘God’s flock’; a flock that comprises all sorts of people – young and old, leaders and followers. A gathered people seeking God and desiring to submit to him more and more as they live out their lives in an environment of suffering. Rather Peter’s concern is, how should it be with you (God’s flock) when you are gathered together like this?

And he uses an image they would have easily understood; the shepherd image. In the Old Testament, God is frequently pictured as the Shepherd of his people.
Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing/I shall not want

Isaiah 40:11
He (God) tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart…

Jesus himself took this picture and saw himself as the Shepherd of God’s flock
Matthew 15:24
… I was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel

And John in his gospel actually records a conversation between Jesus and Peter.
John 21:16ffd
Simon son of John do you love me? Take care of my sheep.
It is probable that Peter would have remembered this
conversation with Jesus.

Peter addresses two key components of the people gathered together in worship:

To the elders (to be shepherds of God’s flock):
I can identify with this image because I had some little shepherd experience as a young boy. The flock would be a mixed one of cows, goats and sheep. The shepherd’s job was simply defined as ‘looking after the flock’. This in reality however translated into a number of activities:

Opening the sheds in the morning to let them out
Keep them from wandering once out in the pastures
Protecting them from attack, dangerous spots - marshes
Separating them when they fight
Exercising individual care and especially for the weak and hurt
Leading them to the watering hole at about midday
Bringing them home safely in the evening

As you can see, a shepherd is vital to the well being of the flock. Clearly, a flock would simply not survive without a shepherd. A flock desperately needs a shepherd. It is a most fitting image of our relationship with God. It also equally applies by extension to all those charged with the responsibility of shepherding God’s flock.
The KJV urges the elders to exercise the ‘oversight of’ the flock. They are to act as overseers. They should have supervisory responsibilities. It is the Greek word from which ‘bishop’ comes. A flock must have a shepherd!

And how are they to do this? Well, whole-heartedly and from a real desire to serve. From quite early the church felt an obligation to provide for people who could not earn their livelihood through other means because they were in full time church service.

1 Timothy 5:17
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is teaching and preaching…workers deserve their wages.
This was of course an encouragement to the many who volunteered. However, this must have attracted some purely for financial gain. It is this lot that Peter denounces. Equally too, it was possible that such overseers had access to the church funds and which they could easily misuse.
What a relevant message for church leaders today! This is a potential pitfall and a timely warning for any church leader today, in spite of the size of a church. In fact also for anyone with access to funds and resources meant for the public good. Do not pursue any dishonest gain, Peter warns. Godly shepherds don’t live this way!
The overseers are also to set a good example in follower-ship; being eager to serve and doing so with humility. I like the choice of words – clothe yourself with humility towards one another. It has often been said that an effective leader must be a good follower. Following does not come naturally to most us. We are more inclined to tell others what to do than to listen or even be told. We are never short of words, even when there is really nothing to be said. Nevertheless, we speak, and continue to speak, and speak even more; give our opinions, suggestions and points of view even when they are not solicited. Someone once called them ‘loud sounding nothings’.

We live in a society where we ‘unconsciously’ learn to stand up for ourselves. That is what happens at our work places. That is what kids learn quite early at school play grounds and in our public transport. That is what the media reminds us every now and then. If you don’t stand up for yourself and threaten you will be trodden upon. When it spills to our homes, we then blame society as we wonder what has happened.

Well, Peter reminds us all – don’t lord it over other people who you are responsible for, those entrusted to you, because that is typical of worldly rulers. Do not emulate them. Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood a holy nation, God’s special possession – you are now the people of God. You are different!
It is a message for all of us. We are all shepherds of God’s flock in one sense or another. This may be informally at family level or at office or more formally elsewhere.
Lead by example, Peter reminds us all! It is quite remarkable that Peter actually says all these words as an appeal. He says in verse 1, I appeal to you as a fellow-elder….
Well Peter was not just an elder. Just have a look at some of his credentials:
He is presented as the original leader of the church in Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus.
Peter is known from very early to be the founder of the Christian church in Rome – at least its first bishop
Peter died a martyr by AD 96.
He was without doubt an outstanding figure of authority and leadership. We however don’t see any of these in his letter. He appeals to them as a fellow elder. He is called, just as they are, to exercise leadership on the same terms as they are. He appeals to them as if they were of the same level. They share a common task. What humility!

Leading others in this way of humility is a hard thing to do and so there must be a motivation. All elders, leaders, overseers of God’s flock, actually all who have embraced his earlier description of being a chosen people, have one other common uniting factor. We all await the return of Jesus Christ in the future.
Verse 4
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
Friends, we are to keep this imminent return of Christ in view. We do all things for him, including what is not convenient or even attractive in the eyes of the world. After all we are a royal priesthood, a chosen people, a holy nation, a people with different values from the world.

To the young people:
This was a patriarchal society where men were divided into young and old anywhere along the 40-60 bracket. There was certainly potential for conflict. It is an understatement that young people and old people often see things differently. The differences then would have been mainly age/experience related.

In our non-patriarchal context today, other issues are the bones of contention. Differences can be caused by anything from family background, education, social status, culture, colour etc. The question that this begs today, just like in Peter’s days is: how are we to co-exist in church in the light of all these? Peter has an answer. All must show humility towards one another.
Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another. There is an echo of 3:8
…all of you, be like minded, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
We must be ready to transact humility. It should move both ways. The truth is that the proud, who boast in self sufficiency and independence do not actually see the need for God. Such people, God will oppose. We don’t want to belong there, do we?
So be alert! Do not be caught unawares. We have an enemy called the devil, the deceiver. He masquerades as a lion – he roars like one. He rejoices when we are in conflict with one another. He rejoices when a shepherd scatters the flock, wounds others, or allows them to wander about. If you are not spiritually awake, you will fall easy prey to his antics.

But you are not helpless. Only remember to stand firm in the faith. Resist him. Remind him what his destiny is. Friends, we draw strength from what we believe. Our God is a great big God as a popular children song goes. Let us choose to trust him, for he is all that we will ever need!

And so we come back to the beginning. The key to accessing the riches of a true Christian life is trust that God is powerful enough to enable us overcome temptation and suffering. We have a responsibility to blend this trust with some action. Some effort is required from us. As we work on our relationships let us keep Jesus as our cornerstone. It is hard but worth doing in the end.

Amen.

Sermon from 13th May 2007

Today our Vicar, Cameron Barker, gives a sermon based on the reading from 1 Peter 4:7-11

Any experienced DIY-er will know very well what one of these is! It's a bracket, the thing on which a shelf sits. Its main purpose, of course, is to ensure that the shelf stays securely in place on the wall, and holds up its contents.

Now I'm not going to follow the example of the last two preachers, and tell a DIY disaster story about putting up shelves – though sadly, I could! Instead, I want to point to the brackets that we read about in Peter's letter. There are two brackets, here, one at each end – as there are with most shelves. Like any brackets, they support the shelf – and its contents. In this instance, the brackets support the church, and its life.

As you know, today we're holding our church AGM. This is our chance to look back over the past year, and ahead to the year to come here at St Saviour's/ Paul's. Well, as we do that today, I want to talk briefly about these two brackets on which the whole structure of the church sits – or should sit. By their nature, brackets are usually out of sight. But we can and will bring them out to look at today – to make sure that our church structure is resting on what it must. And, just for good measure, we'll also briefly examine the contents of the shelf that Peter listed in this section of his letter.

The first bracket is in Peter's words that I began with: “The end of all things is near”. In the context of this letter, there is little doubt Peter meant he expected Jesus to return at any moment. In a full sermon we'd have time to explore that idea and its implications in rather more detail. For today, though, we just have to accept what is a fundamental New Testament belief: the fact that Jesus is coming back. We don't know when he will, just that he will. And we know too that Jesus expects his church to be ready for him when he returns.

That's the 1st bracket on which our whole church structure can, should and must rest – the sure knowledge of Jesus' return. So has it rested on that bracket; and will it? Is what we do and how we do it underpinned by the fact that Jesus will return and hold us to account? That is a key question for us as we look back over the past year: have we rested on that reality? If Jesus had come back last year, would we as a church have been ready for him? And then, if we weren't, are we ready for Jesus' return this year? Today I'd suggest – in the strongest possible terms – that we must be ready for him, or else the shelf of our church life is very precariously balanced.

So there's the first bracket that we are to rest on: Jesus' return. We found the 2nd bracket at the end of our reading, where Peter wrote this: “So that in all things praise may be given to God / God may be praised through Jesus Christ”.

Sadly it's all too easy for us to lose our perspective. In the midst of our business, and busyness, we can forget what we are supposed to be about as a church. Peter's second bracket won't allow us to do that, though – any more than his first bracket does. This 2nd bracket reminds us that everything we do – and the way we do it – must point people to who God is and what he's like. That must then result in God being praised – particularly for what he has done for all people through the life, death, and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ. That's the 2nd bracket on which a church's life must rest: that all things lead to God's praise.

Again I only have time to raise the obvious questions now – but I hope that we'll have them uppermost in our minds during our meeting later. Did everything we did last year – and the way we did it – lead to God's praise? Has the past year been, above all else, about praising God? Or did we perhaps lose sight of that main supporting bracket along the way? And, if we did, how can we rest on that bracket better during this current year? What might we need to do to ensure that our shelf does rest on what it needs to – as God leads us on into this new year?

These, then, are the two brackets which Peter says must hold the life of God's church securely in place. First, the reality that Jesus will return. And, 2nd, that all we do leads to God's praise. So what, then, are the contents of the shelf that these two brackets hold in place? Again I need to be brief, but here's what Peter had to say about them here. Because Christians know that Jesus will return, and because everything we do is meant to lead to God's praise, we are told to be alert and self-controlled / clear-minded – in order to pray more effectively.

Prayer is an absolutely crucial part of the life of any church. Prayer is how we are to respond to what we see around us, and to what experience. Christians are called to respond to everything by communicating with God. We are to find out what God wants for us and from us in all situations. And we do that by praying. So don't be surprised if prayer becomes our main focus as a church later this year. But, even if we do hone in on that, we'll still need to remember that there's plenty more on the shelf of church life along with prayer. Peter also told his readers here that above everything else they were – as we are – to love each other, with God's kind of forgiving love.

Love is another vital item on the shelf that's supported on these two brackets, then. And it's a very practical kind of love too, Peter wrote. The specific example he gave here – of hospitality – was particularly relevant to his readers in their circumstances. It applies to us too; but we also need to look for other ways to express God's love in the church. So again that's a question we can profitably ask ourselves as we look backwards and then forwards later: how have we, how will we, practically show God's love for each other?

And there's more to church life besides! Peter also set out here a key principle for how any church needs to operate. Everyone, he said, has been given gifts by God – every-one! There are different kinds of gifts and Peter breaks them into 2 general groups here. But his point is that everyone has gifts. And everyone is to use their gifts in the same way too. We are not to use our God-given gifts selfishly, for ourselves – but rather for the good of every-one else! When we do that, of course, our aim – and the result – is that “in all things praise may be given to God / God may be praised through Jesus Christ” - which brings us back to the bracket

These are all very timely reminders for us as a church on this day. Here are the two brackets which our life together must rest on – the certainty of Jesus' return; and for every -thing to lead to God's praise. Are those the brackets we have rested on in the past year? Will they be the brackets that we rest on this year? And what about the items on our shelf? Have they been prayer, practical love, and the selfless use of our gifts? Will they be this year? Lets look back honestly, and forward in faith as we prepare for Jesus' return, and live for his praise in everything. So lets pray ...

Sermon from 6th May 2007

Today, our OLM trainee, Gill Tayleur, preaches
based on the reading from 1 Peter 3: 8-18a

Do you love it or hate it? Or maybe you don’t know it… …Love it or hate it, I’m talking about IKEA, the Swedish furniture store that’s very cheap because you have to buy the furniture flat-packed and screw it together yourself, with instructions like this. The instructions haven’t always been translated into English very well, which is why some people hate IKEA! Yes I’m one of those – because I’m no good with DIY. Putting things together, even with the instructions, I sometimes get them wrong. Once I had a chest of drawers that had one drawer upside down. It looked OK shut, but when you opened it, the bottom of the drawer was at the top, so it was useless! Last week Adrian told us of one of his DIY mistakes: building a pergola in his back garden wonky, because he laid the first brick at the wrong angle. That was when he learned what a cornerstone is, and last Sunday he showed us. The cornerstone is the stone or brick that is laid first. It must go in exactly the right place, at exactly the right angle, because all the other bricks are lined up with it. Like this… one goes exactly straight on top this way, another that way, lining up the corner, and so on. The cornerstone is the starter brick and the example. It shows how all the others must go. The reason Adrian showed us what a cornerstone was, is that Christ is described as a Cornerstone in the reading we had last week. We’re working our way through this letter that Peter wrote to Christian communities in what’s now Turkey around 60 AD, about 30 years after Jesus’ death. And in chapter 2 last week we read that Christ is The Cornerstone. He’s our starter and our example. We are to model and align our lives and behaviour on His, like the bricks. We’re to live Christ’s way. And in the passage we heard earlier, Peter gives some very practical advice about how we do that in real life everyday situations. Unlike IKEA’s, Peter’s instructions are very clear. But before we look at those instructions, let’s just think about why we might want to align our lives on Christ’s. In verse 18 we read “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” Christ died for our sins, the ways in which we live with our lives centred on ourselves rather than God. He died for the unrighteous, he died for us, in your place and mine. He died to bring us to God that we might be forgiven and set free from that sin, that self-centredness. Free to live as God intended, with Him at the centre. Free to live His way. And last week we read Peter’s description of Christ as ‘the cornerstone’ and we who live His way as ‘living stones’. ‘Living stones’ being built into a ‘spiritual house’. This spiritual house is the church, and together we give Him worship and obedience. We’re a whole people who live with Christ as our cornerstone, aligning our behaviour with His, living His way. This means turning from our self-centred ways. We read in verse 11, “turn from evil and do good”. Living Christ’s way is not something that always comes easily. We have to turn to it, to choose it, and we can see how in today’s reading. Since the part of the letter we were looking at last week in chapter 2, Peter has been writing about relationships. He says his readers are to live Christ’s way in all their social roles: as masters & servants, wives & husbands, and now church members & neighbours. In a series of one-liners, he shows how everyday relationships can be aligned with Christ the cornerstone, can be lived Christ’s way. Let’s look at them, beginning at verse 8 if you want to follow along: First, “all of you, live in harmony with one another”. Other translations say, have the same attitude and the same feelings, pursue the same goals, or be all of the same mind. If each person is living Christ’s way, then they will have similar aims and direction. What about us here at St Saviour’s, and with our brothers & sisters at St Saviour’s? To what extent do we have harmony and the same attitude? Do we focus on what we have in common, following Christ together? Or do we stir up the different approaches or attitudes we sometimes have to, say, our musical traditions? Do we join in pursuing the parish goal of becoming more-mission shaped, or stay on the sidelines? Do we insist on things being done our way? Or do we line up our attitudes to the cornerstone’s, to Christ’s? ‘Live in harmony with one another, pursue the same goals.’ Then there’s “ be sympathetic, love as brothers (& sisters!), be compassionate and humble.” Is that what our church community is like? How responsive are we to each other’s needs? Do we even know what they are? How willing are we to get involved with practical help, compassion and humility when someone is in trouble? Peter developed compassion and humility the hard way. When he was first a follower of Christ, compassion & humility didn’t come easily to his forthright, impulsive, strong willed personality. Peter had been certain that he would never abandon Jesus or let him down but he did so on the night Jesus was arrested. Not just once but 3 times he said he didn’t know Jesus, because he was scared for his own skin. But later Jesus gave Peter the chance to come back to Him, humbly this time. And in the next chapter of this letter, we see Peter’s humility, in the way he writes about church leadership. Peter learned to live Christ’s way, lining up to the cornerstone, and we can too. Live in harmony, love as brothers. Then: “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing.” Don’t we want to get our own back when we’re hurt? Our gut reaction is to snap back, when we’re cut up on the road maybe. Or left out of a decision at work. Or when someone we live with takes out some of their day’s frustrations on us? But instead of kicking back, we’re told repay with a blessing! To be a blessing to the one who has hurt us, by doing something good for them perhaps, and or to pray for them. Is this tough, or what?! But look at how our cornerstone is set: see how Christ responded when he was on the receiving end of abuse & hurt so much worse than anything we’re ever likely to face. Repay evil with a blessing. So, Live in harmony, love as brothers, repay evil with a blessing. Peter picks a great one next: it’s about what we say and how we say it: “keep the tongue from evil and the lips from deceitful speech”. We all know the terrible effect our words can have and how out of control our speech can sometimes be. Some of us tend to speak before we think, and a cutting or sarcastic, or untruthful word can be out of our mouths as quick as a flash! Or a critical or complaining one, or gossiping, boasting, exaggerating, putting others down, hateful or angry words… But Peter says it’s up to us to keep our tongues from evil and deceit, from words that are hurtful. We’re to align our speech with Christ the cornerstone, who spoke only for good, with words that were always loving, if sometimes very tough. And there’s another practical way of living Christ’s way that Peter describes: “Seek peace and pursue it”. A good peacemaker actively pursues peace, building good relationships and anticipating & dealing with problems before they arise. We might see how this works in our family relationships. Dealing with conflicts before they grow unmanageable – making peace is harder work than waging war! But that’s another aspect of living Christ’s way. So, Peter has given lots of practical advice about how to line up to Christ the cornerstone, how to live His way in our relationships. Live in harmony, love as brothers, repay evil with a blessing, keep your tongue from evil, and pursue peace. And we’re to live this way, Christ’s way, regardless of the circumstances! That whole section, from verses 10 to 12, is a quote from Psalm 34. It was written by David when he was on the run from Saul, who was trying to kill him. Similarly, the people Peter was originally writing to, like Peter himself, were facing horrendous persecution. In those days Christians were being flogged, tortured, imprisoned and even killed for their allegiance to Christ rather than the Roman Emperor. Being known as a Christian was a very dangerous thing indeed. So the references to suffering we read here, were not theoretical but very real. Peter says “Even if you suffer for what is right” & “It is better to suffer for doing good, than for doing evil.” Peter knew his readers would face suffering. But look! He goes on to say in verse 14, “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” Rather than fear our enemies, we are to trust God. He’s the one we’re to set apart to look up to, and to obey. We’re to live His way. And when we do so, when we put Him at the centre of our lives, we cannot be shaken by anything our enemies do. Like Christ, our cornerstone. It’s in this context of persecution & suffering that Peter gives one more piece of practical advice about relationships with people outside the church. He says “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” He’s telling them to be ready to speak up about being Christians, in a situation where to do so might mean imprisonment, a beating, even death. How much more should we then be willing to speak up about our faith, about what Christ means to us, when, at the moment anyway, all we’re likely to face is being laughed at or looked down on? Peter is saying to keep on doing the right thing, align yourself with Christ the cornerstone, keep on living His way, regardless of the consequences. And just some of the ways to do that are to live in harmony, love as brothers, repay with a blessing, keep your tongue from evil, pursue peace, be ready to speak up when asked about your faith. Isn’t it true, that there’s a joy in knowing we’re doing the right thing?! Living Christ’s way may not be easy, and could conceivably bring suffering or trouble as well as joy. But we do so because of what He’s done for us: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” He died for sinners, for us, so that we can be brought to God, and freed from that sin, freed to live His way. We have the instructions, we have the cornerstone already set. Let’s come to God with thankfulness for all he’s done for us in Christ; let us live Christ’s way regardless of the consequences! No matter what! All the time!

Sermon from 29th April 2007

Today one of our Lay Readers, Adrian Parkhouse, preaches, based on the reading from 1 Peter 2:1 -10

1. It’s that time of year. The time of year when one’s colleagues come into work on a Monday morning with traces of white emulsion in their hair – or evidence of sand and concrete under their finger nails; when, at my office at least, the soft, lily-white fingers and hands of grown men who do nothing for most of the year but read papers and use office equipment, begin to take on the gnarled, weather-beaten appearance of sons of the soil. It is spring. It is the season for DIY.

I have done DIY. I have been there: I have painted and sawn and stuck and dug and laid and hung with the best of them. But I begin to sense those days are behind me: it is all quite hard work; now, I accept that room could be painted, but I rather like it how it is; anyway, the professionals do it so much better; and – actually - I like having hands like a girl!

2. Last week we started our study of the first letter of Peter. Cameron led us through the early part of the first chapter and we learned that the letter had been written most probably by the same Peter as was Jesus’ disciple; from Rome in the period 25 or 30 years after Jesus’ death; and written to new communities of people who had come to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, people and communities that were scattered through what we now know as Turkey; and people who faced real persecution solely as a result of their new faith. [In that it is written to new members of the faith, then it is apt that the letter provides our study on the day of Benedict’s baptism. While, as we will explore, the circumstances of the church now is apparently very different from then, and while Benedict is too small to understand or remember what is said today, I am confident that Peter’s words apply as much to him as to the scattered believers in first-century Asia.]

In that first chapter we saw Peter reminding the believers of what Jesus meant to each one of them: that they had been chosen, made holy; been given new life by the raising of Jesus; given a living hope, able to look forward (beyond the present persecutions) to a rich blessing, kept in Heaven. They had been given something which the ancient prophets had foreseen and which even the angels would like to understand! Had we read on last week, we would have found that, against this background, Peter went on to appeal to his readers to live holy lives – to be obedient to God, to love one another and – as we come into chapter 2 to rid themselves of the characteristics that would prevent them growing and maturing as Christians.

So in that first chunk, Peter has explained what God has done in Jesus for each believer – and then has pushed them to the conclusion that in response to that they are bound to live in a way which reflects God’s love. A balance between what is done for us – and what we should do ourselves. And as we continue our studies we will find that much more of Peter’s message relate to this DIY-aspect of our faith – to how we live out our faith in the world, how we relate to people, how we face unfairness, how we face suffering. How we get our hands dirty and paint in our hair.

3. But the challenge to DIY is set firmly in the context of that reminder of what God has done and is doing in our lives. Last week the emphasis was on the individual; this week it is on the community, on the church. This week we are told what “being Church” involves from God’s side – what He has done for us that enables us to respond by obedience.

So what do we learn?

4. First, we learn about Jesus. It is Jesus who is first mentioned as “the living Stone”; it is He who is “chosen” by God, who is “precious”; it is He who is the cornerstone (or capstone).

We should not be surprised that Simon, renamed by Jesus Peter, Cephas, the Rock, takes up the imagery of stones when explaining Jesus’ role in the community of the Church; Peter, the one who first expressed the insight into the messiah-ship of Jesus and drew from Jesus the promise to build the Church on this rock. But Peter claims no such role here: it is Jesus that is the living stone, Jesus the cornerstone.

I now understand cornerstones. When next you come to see us, take a look up the garden at “DIY-error number 63”: a lesson in the use of cornerstones. DIY-error 63 involved the laying of a small patio to take an equally small pergola at the end of the garden; it used redundant left-over materials and took less than a day to complete. Another couple of hours constructed the pergola. Standing back from it I recall the feeling of satisfaction at a job well done. Until I got inside when I proudly directed the family’s attention to the new garden ornament. Strangely, though left by me standing parallel both to the fence behind it and to the front of its new patio, from the house it seemed to have shifted itself around and to be standing at a 45° angle to the house – which was odd since the back fence was, I assumed, parallel to the house? Wrong assumption! The fence actually runs at a fair old angle. And my error was in placing my cornerstone to be parallel with the fence and not the house: the point about cornerstones being that once it is in place it provides the direction and run for the rest of building. The next brick is tapped into place to follow the cornerstone’s line in every direction an so on as the building grows. In my case, at least two wrong directions!

God has placed Jesus as the Church’s cornerstone. All we do and are is governed by the lines He has set.

5. Second, we learn about the believers, about us. We too are “living stones” (those who remember the authorised version may recall this as “lively stone”?) which reminds me of Jesus’ reply to the priests when they ordered him to quiet the crowd on Palm Sunday: “…if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start to shout!” (Lk 19:40).

And we are being built into a “spiritual temple”/ “spiritual house” to serve as priests and “to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ”/offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”. I understand “spiritual” in this passage to be a contrast with “physical”: Peter is using images – the essence of the Church is not its physical building, but its God-given unity and strength, the love that exists between its members; the sacrifices that we offer are not those of doves or pigeons but spiritual ones like prayer like teaching, most of all lives lived obediently to God.

And Peter does not stop there in his description of what God has done, is doing for the believers: not just chosen, not just a holy priesthood but also

“…the holy nation, God’s own people…called out of darkness into His own marvellous light. At one time you were not His people but now you are His people; at one time you did not know God’s mercy, but now you have received His mercy.” (GNB)

A marvellous passage. Many of those hearing Peter’s letter first time around were Jews who has responded to the gospel. Peter’s words will have resonated with them: not just the imagery of the Temple – so important in Jewish belief – but now the repetition of the promise of God to Abraham and the patriarchs: the essential formula – “I will be your God and you will be my people”; and the echo of the exodus salvation – “called out of darkness”.

6. That then is the basis of belief about the Christian community, from which (in addition to what God has done for us as individuals) Peter feels able to challenge his hearers – isolated, unfairly accused, persecuted believers, whose new faith could not have been held for any length of time – to challenge them to obedience – to undertake the DIY-aspect of the Christian life. In the weeks to come we will look at what form that call takes (how as Christians we should be getting our hands dirty): for now though let’s end by noting one immediate response that is in our passage. As a spiritual temple, with Christ marking the lines we follow, our cornerstone, as people belonging to God, once not a people, but now a people, once without mercy, now having received mercy, “it is [to pinch JB Phillips translation of v.9] for you now to demonstrate the goodness of him who has called you out of darkness and into His amazing light”.