Sermons

April 19, 2008

“Living Stones”

I Peter 2:2-10

Rev. Cerna Castro Rand

Mark and I like the way old houses are built. In the summer we take a day drive to different towns just to see and enjoy old houses. Have you ever noticed that on some older houses the foundations are made of stone? Before the time of poured-concrete foundations, homes were built on top of stones because the stones were strong and would never rot or become weak when water and storms bore against them. Pressures and hard forces, and winds from all around the stones would bear down on the stones and crash into them, and yet the house would be fine because the stones would remain strong. In the gospel of Matthew chapter 7 verses 24-27 talks about two different ways of building a strong foundation of a house: on a rock or sand. “The wise man built his house on solid rock.” The foundation was made strong; it could stand all kinds of weather: devastating wind, rain and floods. But the “foolish man who built his house on sand” went tumbling down when a calamity came because its foundation was not strong enough to survive a storm.

Mark has traveled to Israel and has gone to Jerusalem many times as part of his business trips. I learned from him that the whole ancient city of Jerusalem is built with limestone. Many buildings there are hundreds to well over one thousand years old, dating before Byzantine times, without needing modern technology to hold them up. Imagine if these stones were alive and could see and talk. They could bear so many witnesses from the ages. Peter makes an analogy that we, in our faith, can be like the stones that hold up buildings. Our faith can be a “living stone.” Each of us is a living stone, alive in the world and called to support the structure of our faith. With a strong structure in our lives we will be able to act to engage our faith in the world. We can hold up the pieces of faith that need support in the world for ourselves and in others. Each of us is far stronger than we realize. We are like living foundation stones for the kingdom of God. Every time we act in faith, we are like a living stone supporting the ministry in the world that God calls us. Sometimes the call of God is given ever so gently and sometimes not so gently, to do and perform things we thought we could not do, even under stresses and strains, in this world. We are holding up the houses and buildings of God’s kingdom, even in the simplest and everyday ways, as well as in the larger challenges we overcome.

“Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood” (I Peter 2:4-5). According to Peter, Christ is the living stone, and he challenges us to be “living stones.” He wants us to be involved in the life of the church and go out in the world to be witnesses for Christ. We are to be Jesus Christ in the world. We “are 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” (I Peter 2:9). We are all priests or ministers of the gospel. You and I are called to perform Jesus’ work. God’s work is not only for ordained clergy. We are all to be like Jesus, and live out our faith as priests. We are to follow Jesus’ examples; to build bridges that will lead people to a road that promotes peace and will bring understanding, compassion, justice, forgiveness and love for all. I believe we all have our own personal testimonies about our personal relationships with Christ. We may not have the same encounter or experience with the Living Stone like Peter, but we come to know Christ in our life in different ways. But we have the same calling, to share the good news in the world so others will come to know Jesus in their lives.

We are living in a sin-sick world, a world that is weary and desperate for peace, healing and reconciliation. We worry about the safety of our children. This month in our church we are observing the “Child Abuse Month.” Reverend Cheryl Magrini put out blue ribbons for us to wear as we think about the safety and protection of the children. There is more violence in the world than ever before. We have seen the news that in Chicago alone there has been over 20 killings of youth for the past weeks. Religious leaders and people have been rallying at the Thompson Center trying to stop gun violence and save innocent lives.

There is definitely darkness in the world. We do not seem to be taking ownership of our communities any more. There are political and financial forces in the world that seem to not care about our communities and leave people as the lowest priority below the power of money and political expediency. Who is valuing our families and our communities? There seems to be no respect for peoples lives anymore however, we need to be the living stones and rocks that say NO to this. We are the speaking stones that support our community and its structures. There is rot and wear in some of our foundations in our community. We need to shore up our foundations with rocks and stones, like you, right here today, who all care, and care about people. The church is a rock. It reminds me of what Peter said; “Upon this rock I’ll build my church.”

Few years ago I was in New Jersey attending a National Association of Filipino American United Methodist Convocation. One of the speakers shared a story about her ministry in the Philippines. At one point she was appointed as the director of the Student Christian Center that provided board and lodging for college students. One late evening there was a strong knock at the door with a loud voice of a man saying, “Is God there?” The director was hesitant to open the door. It was late at night. Slowly she opened the door. It was a man that she did not know before. He was very drunk. He wanted to have a place for the night. She offered him the couch in the living room to lay-down and rest. When he woke up in the morning he greeted the director and said, “Good morning. Truly God is here. Thank you for letting me rest through the night.” The director prayed for him. Later on the director found out that he was having some family problem. That night he went out drinking and missed his bus to go home. That person later became a member of the church and active follower of Christ. We are called to offer the living stone for others.

On July 16 of 1990 there was a devastating earthquake in the Philippines, which was 7.6 on the Richter scale. It was a century’s high in earthquake strength that affected most of the northern part of the island of Luzon. One of the hardest hit cities was Dagupan, where at that time I was appointed as a deaconess of the First United Methodist Church. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, dated July 20, 1990, “The entire commercial district has sunk by (over) a yard.”

The church was located in the heart of the city and it was one of those buildings that sunk underneath the ground including everything in it. The church building was gone, but our faith and hope in the Lord as a congregation remained strong. The congregation strongly believed that someday their once beautiful sanctuary made up of stones would be replaced in God’s own time. They were devastated, but not hopeless. The members stood firm on their faith and determined to rebuild their church. Two years later, the almost century old church building, which was the largest congregation in the conference, totally destroyed by a natural catastrophe, was replaced by a beautiful, spacious, much stronger earthquake proof building worth more than twelve million pesos. Trusting the cornerstone of our faith to help us in times of our need, as a congregation is an example of standing on solid rock. Now that church continues to be alive, active and powerful in the city. Though the physical church may crumble, our faith in God will not be moved.

Peter said, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (I Peter 2:9). Being God’s people does not make us better than anyone else, or exempt us from experiencing hardships in life. During that earthquake, I was in my room enjoying my day off. The church at that time owned a Christian Center that was used as a boarding house for college students and the church designated a room for the deaconess. I was living there and when the earthquake shook the ground the building floors started popping and bursting with sand and dark water in the air. I ran outside and I saw business buildings across the streets moving up and down. Then the whole city became very loud; everything was cracking and falling to the ground. I heard the students screaming and they were running from the second and first floors going outside the building. All of a sudden I was surrounded by many of our boarders. Whenever I moved they moved and followed me. I thought it was the end of the world. I have not seen anything like it in my whole life. It was like a movie, but we were right there experiencing the terror of the earth. It was so violent and I found myself reciting the first verse of the hymn, “Be Still My Soul” (United Methodist Hymnal #534).

Be still my soul: the Lord is on your side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to your God to order and provide;

in every change God faithful will remain.

Be still my soul: your best, your heavenly friend

through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

I was afraid but I could not do anything. I was reminding myself that though the earth may crumble God is on my side and in control. Later on when the tremor was over the students and the director of the Christian Center and I gathered for a prayer and talked about what to do next. The students testified that when they saw me outside the building they followed me because if I would be saved they too would be saved. They thought I had some power that somehow will save me in case that was the end of the world. What the students did not know was that I was afraid too and not in any special position at all.

That was very powerful actually that the students were thinking that since I am a Christian and I work for God I might be spared from destruction. But the truth is that no matter how strong the person’s faith is, that person is not exempt from experiencing any storm in life. But to have a living faith in God will help the person to survive any circumstances in life. To know that God is in control and with us in all situations in life makes a lot of difference in the way we approach and handle situations. To have faith in God does not guarantee us that life will be easier. In fact to be a Christian is more difficult because we are living in an imperfect world. We are being challenged every day to live out our faith. We are supposed to live as faithful disciples; to do what is right, to love our neighbors the way God loves them, and forgive our enemies the way God has forgiven them. Those are all difficult responsibilities for a Christian to fulfill and yet we remain to be a child of God and try our best to do what Christ commanded us to do. We know that Jesus had died for our sins so that you and I will be saved and have life abundantly. What we can do for Jesus in return is to give ourselves to him for service for others. The Lord needs all of us to obey his call. The church needs living stones like us to follow him even when the going gets tough.

Jesus has only two instructions in the Bible: to love God and to love our neighbors. If we are honestly following these commandments of Jesus we are building a strong foundation of our Christian life and God’s kingdom here on earth. To build a strong foundation of our Christian life does not come by hearing and listening to the word of God alone. We are to obey and live the Word. We are to be talking and living stones and rocks for Jesus Christ. I wonder what kind of ministry Jesus is calling you to participate in our church or in the world? What are some of the things that we can do as living stones to share Christ the cornerstone in the world? Amen.

FUMC Chicago Temple
Rev. Cerna Castro Rand
April 19, 2008