"You are part of a living building"

      . . . like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation, 3 since you have tasted that the Lord is good.

      ⁴ Now you are coming to him as to a living stone. Even though this stone was rejected by humans, from God's perspective it is chosen, valuable. ⁵ You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Thus it is written in scripture, Look! I am laying a cornerstone in Zion, chosen, valuable. The person who believes in him will never be shamed. ⁷ So God honors you who believe. For those who refuse to believe, though, the stone the builders tossed aside has become the capstone. ⁸ This is a stone that makes people stumble and a rock that makes them fall. Because they refuse to believe in the word, they stumble. Indeed, this is the end to which they were appointed. ⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God's own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. ¹⁰ Once you weren't a people, but now you are God's people. Once you hadn't received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

      It is a strange thing, church. It is different from any other organization we know.

      How do we join? By nothing less than an act of Almighty God. God names and claims us, even before we are born. We make a ceremony of baptism, but baptism is primarily God's work. God's work unfolds in the joy of new life, in the symbol of refreshing water, in the action of washing.

      How many clubs do you join by getting drenched? How many groups require dying and rising? This, at least, should be a clue: church is an entirely different animal. Remember this, as today we remember our own baptisms: the promises we made, or the promises made for us.

      1 Peter 2 points to what it means to live out baptismal promises. The author uses this strange metapho of living stones! Living stones! To live in Christ is nothing less than being a part of a building that is alive.

      Church is a living building, each stone carefully set. Each stone depends on the placement of every other stone. Each stone leans against the other. Each is crucial to the whole. And each stone utterly depends upon the keystone, who is Christ. (What is a keystone?)

1. Architecture The central wedge-shaped stone of an arch that locks its parts together.

2. The central supporting element of a whole.

3. Something that is necessary to connect or support.

      Christ is the keystone because the whole building rests on Him. No Christ, no building. No Christ, no church. Who is the architect of this living building? It is tempting to think it is us, but it's not. It is God.

      It is terribly easy to drift into the thought that the church is here to serve our needs. In our times, churches are evolving into "one stop" marketplaces where you can get coffee, go to a (Christian) bookstore, get your children looked after, join a self-help group, listen to wonderful music, play on a softball team. This is a very attractive (and overtly successful) model of a 21st century church.

      Our scripture today serves as a corrective to this particular blueprint. We are warned this kind of plan is neither biblical nor faithful. Buying into these kinds of building plans, we have fired the architect. (Remember the architect?) In our attraction to a marketplace church, we forget what is basic in the Christian faith. Even small churches such as we are tempted by these appealing structures. Even the leaders of small churches such as we are distracted by these secular models.

      Likewise, it is terribly easy to drift into the thought that church is just another volunteer club, like Exchange Club, or Kiwanis, or P.T.A. A group of like-minded people doing good things.

      There are many things wrong with the "club" model of church. First, what we are about is much more profound than "just" a club. We are a part of someOne who has literally changed the course of humanity. We are a part of something that has spanned millennia and the globe. Second, we are anything but "like-minded." We here at LHPC are from all different walks of life, different cultures, different countries, different political perspectives. We even have people who are St. Louis Cardinals fans! Third, we don't get to choose who joins us. We do not exclude people. In fact, the opposite is true. And for these things, I am grateful to be part of LHPC.

      It is terribly easy to "settle" for the marketplace model or the club model. If this is all we are about, then we may as well just stop, right now, today, close our doors, and go home and do something else.

      Instead, we know there is more. We are here now because we know there is more. But I am not going to soft pedal it. It's hard. It's not easy to let God be the architect. We are a part of a living building that existed long before we were born and will exist long after we are gone. Scripture hints we are the priesthood of all believers. Now that one's easy to gloss over, but it is who we are. During the Reformation, way back in the 1500s, the church had come to exist pretty much only for priests. Martin Luther knew church needed major renovations. He coined that phrase, priesthood of all believers, based upon this very scripture. Every person actively participates as priest. It is not the role of minister or staff, but the role of every single baptized Christian! A priest. Wrap your mind around that. It kind of changes things. It raises the bar.

      Every one of us are priests in this temple! This should impress you and rattle you. You don't have a choice. You are a priest. With God as architect, we don't have the option of hiding in the shadows and saying "I am not important. I don't have time. I don't have anything to offer. The building doesn't need me. It won't hurt if I step out." The architect knows better. The architect planned YOU, with your unique qualities, talents, and flaws. Yes, even the flaws. The architect has a place in the design for you and only you.

      Part of our challenge as leaders is to help you see how what you do fits into God's carefully drawn plans of his living building. How what you give is not just a "chore" or a check, but a gift to be offered. How you on the mowing team aren't just cutting grass, you are serving a ministry of hospitality. How you who proofread aren't just correcting grammar, you are enhancing the connection between living stones. How you who sing and pray in worship aren't just filing the pews, but cementing the mortar, strengthening the wall. How you who prepare music aren't just singing and playing, you are priests guiding worship, evoking the Holy Spirit.

      We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own. When we are asked to fill out what race we are on a form, we should write, "Christian." When we are asked to fill out our occupation, we should all write, "priest." It is WHO WE ARE, created for God's purpose, created to take our place in this living, breathing building, God's church.