Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, 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 darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:5-9, NRSV)
As I write this, I can hear my wife Hillary running on the treadmill upstairs. She loves to run and she’s good at it. I only run when people are chasing me and I’m not good at it. So take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt: I doubt that Hillary will ever break her personal record on a treadmill.
It’s a new treadmill. It’s a nice treadmill. But I don’t think it’s it’s a record breaking treadmill…because it’s missing one essential thing: a crowd.
Yes, terrain and temperature and training are factors; even a non-runner like me knows that! But runners run faster when a group of people are cheering them onward.
If today’s scripture had been written by Paul, we might expect him to use a running analogy or metaphor to make a point about Christian community. After all, he does that in several of the New Testament books attributed to him.
But because today’s passage is attributed to Peter, it’s not surprising that Peter would use stones to make a point. After all, he’s the one that Jesus called the rock on which the church would be built (Matthew 16:18).
And while we often think of churches as physical structures, houses of God, the house that Peter describes is not a physical one; it’s a spiritual one. When Peter mentions stones, he’s not talking about hard substances found in the ground; he’s talking about living, breathing human beings like you and me. What Peter is saying that God wants those who follow Jesus to be part of what God is building in the world. It takes more than one stone to build a physical home and it takes more than one living stone to create spaces where people can encounter
God. Like a runner who is at her best with the support of a crowd, followers of Jesus are at our best when we’re in community with other believers. We are meant to be part of a holy nation. Together, we will more effectively and fruitfully proclaim the marvelous Light of the one who came at Christmas…and still comes today.
May God grant us the grace to reminder that we need Christian community…especially during a pandemic.