LIVING STONES

Joshua 4:1-7
I Peter 2: 1-5

 In one of my favorite hymns, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Robert Robinson, the second verse reads, "Here I raise mine Ebenezer."  As a child, I had no idea what that meant.  Personally, I didn't know anyone named Ebenezer, and if I did, why would I want to lift him up.

Actually, it refers to I Samuel 7:12.  The prophet, Samuel, had a stone erected at the site of a victory over the Philistines and called it Ebenezer, "God has helped us so far."  In the Old Testament, there are several instances, including the one cited in Joshua 4:1-7, where the people of Israel used stones to mark places to remember what God had done for them.  They were like those historical markers we see along the road sides.  They served as reminders of the actions of God at some point in their history.

They were always made of stone -- inorganic, dead materials.

I Peter 2:1-5 talks about something quite different -- living stones from which a spiritual house, the Body of Christ, the church, is constructed.  Living stones evokes the image of an organic community of Christ's followers.

These living stones draw upon the energy of the Holy Spirit to become spiritually mature, transforming into the likeness of Christ in word and deed.  An organic quality allows the church to react and adapt to changes, keeping it alive to bring the faith forward to each new generation by offering Christ's love and sharing the Gospel with new people in new places and in new ways.  And like all living things, it reproduces itself by going out as commanded in Matthew 28:16-20 and making new disciples for Jesus Christ and the transformation of the world.

As Christians, when we own that identity a spiritual house made of living stones rather than anchoring ourselves to a physical building, we can be the church any place we are gathered:

  • In the park across the street.
  • At a football game.
  • On the African plains.
  • In the middle of the Amazon jungles.
  • High on a windswept mountain top.
  • Meeting in a cave, deep underground.
We can be the church any place God leads us to be.

We're also released to truly be the Body of Christ, that is the physical presence of Christ in the world, in ways that brick and mortar just can't be.  We can see the needs of our neighbors and speak words of comfort and hope.  We can be the presence of Christ as we hold the hand of a grieving friend or sit in a hospital waiting room with an anxious mother and father.  We are Christ's hands and feet with we work side by side to build a home for a stranger or give a hand up to a new start in life.

And unlike memorial stones that witness only to the past, we testify to what God has done for us as well as celebrate what God is doing now, and with hope, point to the future God has planned for us. 

Our challenge as living stones is to remember that we are a spiritual house built on the strong foundation of  Jesus Christ, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Then, we can use the legacy we have inherited from those who have come before us to continue to be the people of God, anywhere, any time, and do what is pleasing and acceptable in God's sight.



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