A newborn, a building, a Priesthood - repreach of 5/18/14

May 7, 2023 1 Peter 2:2-10 A Newborn, A Building, a Priesthood 5th Sunday of Easter Year A Prelude Welcome Introit Call to Worship L: Come, all of you who feel lost, alienated, alone. Right Side: At one time we felt that way – we didn’t belong anywhere. Left Side: We just wanted somewhere to be. L: Christ, the Strong Cornerstone of our house, welcomes you. Right Side: Once we were no people Left Side: Now we are God’s people. Right Side: Once we had no place to dwell Left Side: Now we live and abide in God’s love. L: Thanks be to God for God’s gracious love and hospitality. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Opening Prayer (Psalm 31, 1 Peter 2) O God of all creation, become for us once again the solid foundation upon which we build our daily lives. We gather before you, this first day of the week, to align our lives to the strong teaching and life of Jesus Christ, our Cornerstone. Receive our praise and thanksgiving as expressions of faith and love. We come to you, O Lord, as people who desire to learn and serve like Christ. We are ready to receive your blessing and direction today. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, John Brewer) Song His Eye is on the Sparrow TFWS 2146 Children’s Sermon Tell students, Like the other Apostles, Peter traveled to different towns and started churches in all the towns he visited. Then, later, after he left those towns, he would send letters back to the churches to teach them more about God. The lesson we’re going to learn today is part of Peter’s letter to one of the churches. The things Peter wrote in that letter to teach the church back then can also teach us today. (Read 1 Peter 2:9-10.) “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. “Peter is telling the people and us what we are. The first thing he says is that we are a chosen people. What do you think it means for us to be a chosen people? Who chose us? (God chose us to be His people.) God chose you. Think about that. God, who created everything—the sun and the stars, and everything there is—chose you! God loves you that much! Peter also says that we are a royal priesthood. What does the word royal mean? It means that you are a king or a queen or that you’re in the king or queen’s family. How are we royal? We’re royal because we’re in God’s family, and God is the King of the whole Universe. We’re His royal children, princes and princesses in God’s Kingdom. We are also priests. What does a priest do? A priest is another name for pastor. Priests and pastors pray to God for people and teach people about God. How can we be priests and pastors to other people? We can pray for people and tell them about God and Jesus. Peter says that we are holy. What does the word holy mean? (Special or different.) How are we supposed to be special or different from other people for God? As God’s people, we listen to God. We believe what God wants us to believe and do what God what God wants us to do. We obey God’s rules and do the right things, even if other people don’t. Peter says that God called us out of darkness into the light. What do you think he means by the darkness? (Our sins.) And what is the light? (Believing in God and having God forgive us for our sins.) Peter says that God gave us mercy. What does the word mercy mean? It means that we were supposed to be punished for something, but God didn’t punish us. He gave us mercy. What were we supposed to be punished for? We were supposed to be punished for our sins, but God sent Jesus to die on the cross to take our punishment for us so that we could be forgiven for our sins, for all the wrong things that we’ve done. Jesus took our place. So, Peter is telling us to remember how special we are. We are God’s royal children. He chose us to follow Him and to teach other people about Him, and He forgave us for all of our sins. (Ministry to Children.com, Stephen Wilson) Affirmation of Faith (From a Brief Statement of Faith) We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal. (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott McDowell) Anthem Scripture 1 Peter 2:2-10 Sermon A Newborn, A Building and a Priesthood God in the Stone story Theologian Megan McKenna tells of a story that circulates in Italy about Michelangelo and stones. Whether it is true or not is debatable. What it means though is open to interpretation. This is how she heard the story. You decide what it means. Every day, it seems, God would look down from heaven on the earth to watch over his people and to see what they were up to. And every once in awhile God would go to visit his people and dwell with them, though usually no one recognized God. Sooner or later, however, someone would come along and find him and then he would disappear from their sight and return to the heavens. And it seemed that some of his best hiding and watching places were in rocks, stones, canyons, caves, wells, and tombs. Soon there were stories about a stone that Jacob used for a pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending to earth and where he wrestled all night before receiving a blessing from a mysterious angel. And the one about Jacob's well or Sinai's mountain and many about the Temple in Jerusalem. Then Isaiah the prophet promised the presence of a cornerstone (but was it a rock or a person?). "Therefore, says the Lord God: See, I am laying a stone in Zion, a stone that has been tested, a precious cornerstone as a sure foundation; the one who puts faith in it shall not be shaken" (Is. 28:16). Then, not so long ago, Jesus came and told his people that it wasn't necessary to worship in certain places anymore. He told a woman at a well: "Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... an hour is coming, and is already here, when authentic worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth" (John 4:22-23). But then Jesus died on the place of the skull and was buried in a rock-hewn tomb, but escaped from that cave to free us from our caves. It wasn't long, though, before people began building high places and piling stones up to go and worship there. Many years passed and God grew uncomfortable again. People were having trouble recognizing him; they seemed to be looking only in these places that they had built for his honor and glory for his presence and he wondered what he should do about it. One day God's attention was drawn to a commotion that was going on around a man in Italy. This man loved stones. All day he would chisel away at the barren slabs and after time, energy, and painstaking effort, the stone would live. It was almost as if he discovered something alive inside the stone and went about freeing it with a passion. He had set many people free already and this time he was attempting to set God himself free! For years he had been working on one huge piece of marble, and slowly over the years the figure of a woman holding the body of her dead son was emerging from the rock. And this time even God was surprised at what was being born out of stone. He went to Michelangelo and spoke to him. Michelangelo, God said, what are you doing? Lord, he answered, I am setting you free, so that everyone will recognize you not only in stone, but in everything, everyone that dwells on earth, but especially in all those who suffer unjustly and die violently at the hands of others and in those who mourn for the loss of such vibrant life. I don't want people to forget you. And the Lord spoke again to Michelangelo: Do I really dwell in that stone? I know in the past I have often gone to rocks and mountains, wells and tombs, but I don't remember going to dwell in the stone you are working on. And Michelangelo answered God: But my Lord, since your child came to us, you don't have to pick and choose your places of rest; he left your Spirit everywhere we just have to discover it, touch it and reveal it to others. That's what it means to live. The stone is rolled away. Don’t roll it back. Leonard Sweet Sermon, Leonard Sweet, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., 2014, 0-000-1415 God is the bedrock We come to church looking for God. Where in this building do we find God? Is God embedded in the bricks of the building so that God cannot escape? Now before you think that is a totally crazy idea, consider Isaiah 28:16 which says - I lay in Isreal a foundation stone. A primodial stone, a rock that does not move. A rock that like this building isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. You can’t move it, or do anything with it. There is a town in the middle east called Petra. Petra means bedrock. And the town is build within the bedrock of a mountain. The people are long gone, but the structure is still there. Peter the rock When Jesus was talking to the disciples, he said to Peter, upon this rock I build this church. But the word for rock that Jesus used was not Petra – it was petro. Petro is a movable rock, a rock that can be picked up, that can be changed. Rock that is not reliable, but is still usable. Jesus did not build his church upon petra, but petro. Living Stones It is Peter’s words that I want us to consider this morning. He advises us to become living stones. Once again that is a strange term. Afterall stones are dead and lifeless. There is nothing that lives inside of a stone, except God. The story of Jesus reminds us that what was dead and lifeless can e bought back to life, with the power of God. Jesus calls himself living water. Now there is a such thing as living water. A river, a stream a creek is living water, because the water is moving. So a living stone is a stone that moves. Remember, Genesis says that he formed man by taking some dirt from the ground and breathing life into it. So there is regular dirt on the ground that does not move and breathe. And there is living dirt that breathes, walks and talks. You and me, we are God’s living stones. The church is not these concrete blocks, it is these living stones that do the work of God inside of here. GOD WANTS TO LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself." Peter’s words of encouragement I Peter was not written to address a specific issue, it was written to all struggling churches to remind them of their task. To remind them of their faith. Peter believes that those who believe the gospel, must live the gospel. Cant read, and pray and go to church without being convicted of who Christ is. And when you know Christ, you love Christ, you live in Christ. When someone ask who you are – your answer is not about where your hometown is, it is not about what you do for a living, it is about who you are in the Spirit of Christ. God is the bedrock of your life, Christ is the cornerstone of your life, and you are God’s living stones. A piece of God lives in you. And you are a small piece of God. There’s a story that is often told in management textbooks about a man who was walking in the countryside one day. He happened upon a building site where three people were all working vigorously. Two were stonecutters; the third was an old woman, sweeping The traveler stopped and asked what they were doing. The first stonecutter answered, “I am making a living.” The traveler proffered his question to the second stonecutter. He didn’t look up, but kept on hammering while he said, “I am doing the best job of stonecutting in the entire county.” Then our traveler turned to the old woman with her broom. “What are you doing?” he asked. The old woman paused, set down her broom, and looked toward the heavens. With a visionary gleam in her eye she said, “I am building a cathedral to the glory of almighty God.” It’s a parable that rings true for us today, one that this extended metaphor of stones brought to mind. Of course, our text imagines us as stones, not as stonecutters. What could it mean to be a living stone? The first stonecutter thought he was his work, the second thought he was his own effort, but it was the third who realized that she was part of a larger whole. And that what she gave, contributed the the building of God’s kingdom. In this scripture passage, Peter uses three images to describe our relationship with God. He says that we are newborns, living stones and a royal priesthood. I think that Peter gives us the ultimate encouragement. You are a royal priesthood, a chosen people, a holy nation. All of these images are in the old testament. As a matter of fact, Hosea names one of his children nobody – to remind the children of Israel that when they don’t have God inside of them- they are nobody. But with God’s help – they are somebody. They are a royal priesthood set aside for a special purpose. A Royal Priesthood A priest is one who leads others to the glory of God. A bridge, an intercessor. When we live God’s word in our lives, we lead others to God. The basis message of 1 Peter 2 is to have hope, to live holy, to love one another, to seek God like a baby seeks milk. And to live as God’s spiritual house. Living stones reflect the bedrock of God, the cornerstone of Christ. We are building used for God’s purposes. Let us pray… Amen. Song The Church’s One Foundation UMH 545 Prayer of Intercession God of grace and light, Found within and out with the structures of humanity, You cannot be contained, But on occasion choose to dwell in hearts and homes. Glance lightly upon the hearts and homes dear to us, The people and places where we seek blessing. Build up our homes, Build up the places where we work, Build up our community, Build up our nation, loving Lord, Build up the Church, Help us all, this day, to be living stones, and not dead weights, Dreaming dreams, and living gloriously the joy and kindliness Of a faith that edifies everything that life should be. In the Name of our Saviour, our cornerstone, we pray. Amen. Written by Rev. Dr. Derek Browning and posted on the Church of Scotland’s Starters for Sunday website Stewardship Moment Followers of Jesus were given a variety of titles and names in the first century AD. In I Peter, titles mined from the early prophets tumble together to encourage believers to claim their own new identity: A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Because we, too, call ourselves followers of Jesus, the Christ, we may step into these names and titles. However, these are not simply honorifics. These words describe our identity, and put a claim on our lives. As “God’s people” who continue to receive mercy, our response is to share God’s abundance, both here and with those living near “the ends of the earth”. Do you know this congregation ________________ (tell something which is true for your congregation’s financial giving beyond itself, or continue with the following.) Do you know this congregation is part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) which helps support 15 colleges and universities around the US? Did you know some of our giving each year links us to helping refugees, those affected by weather disasters, and those suffering after disasters, through our Week of Compassion? Your financial offering today will help us here, but also with God’s people from here all the way around the globe! Let us joyfully share our gifts, as we remember we are one part of God’s own people! Prayer of Thanksgiving Living God, may you both bless and multiply the gifts provided today, that they may be one means by which we share Good News in a hurting world. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Givng) Communion Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Christ does not give to us as the world gives. We leave church today with Christ’s peace to have, to hold, to share with others. Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid. Christ is with us in all things. May the grace, hope, peace and love of God our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott McDowell) Joys and Concerns Benediction Go forth in peace, dear ones. Bring hope to this world. Go forth in love; bring joy to this world. Go forth in the knowledge that Goes with you, loving and guiding your steps. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Additional Illustrations