Sunday May 10, 2020 – Easter 5

Easter 5 2020

Our Savior’s La Crosse

1 Peter 2: 2-10

Professor David Bartlett from Yale Divinity School wrote in his commentary on our verses from 1 Peter:

Christ is like a stone, a foundation on which to build one’s life. But Christ is   also a living stone. Christ is not static or staid; Christ is alive. Christ is not        barren or cold; Christ is life-giving.

            (“1 Peter 2:1-10 Commentary” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 12, p.      264)

I majored in Religion in College. I attended Carthage College in Kenosha, WI. In one of my required Theology classes, we studied what is known as process theology.

One of the themes of process theology is that “The universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe, not just human beings. God cannot totally control any series of events or any individual, but God influences the creaturely exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. To say it another way, God has a will in everything, but not everything that occurs is God’s will” (Process Theology” Wikipedia).

A second theme of process theology is that “Because God interacts with the changing universe, God is changeable (that is to say, God is affected by the actions that take place in the universe) over the course of time. However, the abstract elements of God (goodness, wisdom, etc.) remain eternally solid” (ibid).

In other words: God did not create the world then step back and leave God’s creation alone to do what God had already decided creation would do. God continues to live in relationship with creation, all of creation, offering possibilities to creation, interacting with creation even as creation interacts with God.

While studying process theology in college, two classmates and I decided to pull a bit of a prank on our theology professor.

Carthage College is located on the shores of Lake Michigan. The shoreline is covered in large slabs of rock, intentionally placed there to prevent erosion from the constant pressure of the lake’s waves. Students climbed around on those rocks back in my day. Sometimes students got in trouble for climbing around on those rocks.

My friends and I went down to the rocks at the lakeshore just below the building housing our professor’s office. Our intention was to pick up one of the smaller slabs of rock and relocate it in front of our professor’s office door. We would then attach a note from the rock to our professor stating that the rock had spoken to God and together the rock and God decided the rock was asserting its free will and relocating itself in front of the professor’s door.

The problem was, the rock was heavy. We were three 20 year old students. We were struggling to move the rock when a member of campus security came up to us and asked us what we thought we were doing. Religion majors that we were, we could not tell a lie. We explained our mission to the security officer. Then, instead of reprimanding us, the officer grabbed a corner of the rock and helped us carry it to our professor’s office door.

Our prank was a success.

Remember Professor Bartlett’s words?

Christ is like a stone, a foundation on which to build one’s life. But Christ is also a living stone. Christ is not static or staid; Christ is alive. Christ is not barren or cold; Christ is life-giving.

He also wrote:

“… the implication is that Christian life imitates or partakes of the reality of Christ’s own life. He is a living stone, and Christians are living stones as well, full of life and life-giving (“1 Peter 2:1-10 Commentary” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 12, p. 265).

We might not be feeling full of life or life-giving these days. But, this is our call. Even in time of pandemic, we are called to imitate and partake of the reality of Christ’s life.

How do we do this? By living out our calling. By interacting with God, knowing God is not far away from us but living in relationship with us, calling us into this day and into the days ahead.

I like the suggestion that process theology makes, that God is affected by the pandemic. God is affected by your sudden unemployment or under-employment. God is affected by your cancer. God is affected by your loneliness just as you are affected by any or all of these things. I further like the suggestion that those things that are never changing about God– that God is loving, that God is good, that God is wise—help God set before us an abundance of possibilities. Even now. Even when we might feel like our lives are heavy, impossibly heavy, without any immediate hope for positive change.

There is no hope, not if we forget our lives alone and our lives together are built on a living rock. Jesus Christ is our cornerstone. As Christians our lives are shaped by him even as they are built on and around him. Professor Bartlett said it clearly when he wrote “No Christ; no building” (ibid).

Jesus calls us to live, even when we are afraid. Jesus calls us to love, even when those we love most are far away. Jesus calls us forward, into this day. Jesus calls us to have hope.

What gives me hope? Doing what we are doing right now. Four congregations that sometimes feel the sting of competition are standing strong together, we are worshiping together, we are building this day together as friends, as Christian family—knowing we share a common foundation. Jesus Christ is our cornerstone. We ask him to build us up. Together.

Amen.