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Living Stones

1 Peter 2:4-10; Joshua 4:1-7

November 2, 2025

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If you ever go to Jerusalem, you will probably go to see the Western Wall. That’s the the only remaining section of the retaining wall King Herod the Great built as a platform on which to erect his Temple. It is now the place where Jews from all over the world go to worship God and to mourn the destruction of that Temple in 70 AD. as well as the many persecutions of the Jews over the centuries. 

 

On the northern side of that wall is a tunnel, which allows visitors to see the massive stones at the foundation of that wall. The largest of those, known as the Western Wall Stone, is 45 feet long and nearly 10 feel high. It weighs somewhere between 550 and 600 tons, leading you to wonder how they ever managed to get that huge thing up the hill and situated in its present location. 

 

There’s a legend associated with that stone that may or may not be true. It’s said that when the builders were constructing the Temple, that stone was among the first batch of stones sent up from the quarry to the construction site. 

 

All the rest of the stones were roughly the same size and shape, but that one was so radically different that the workers thought it was sent in mistake. So they rolled it to the edge of the cliff and tumbled it down to the Kedron valley below. 

 

As the years went by, they were finally ready for the chief cornerstone, so they sent a request to the quarry to get it. The answer came back, “You must have it there; we sent it to you a long time ago.” So the builders diligently searched the construction site, but couldn't find anything like it. 

 

Then an older workman said, “I remember now. There was a stone that was different from all the rest and we thought there as no place for it, so we tumbled it down to the valley below.” As a result, the workers went down to the valley to look for the cornerstone. They eventually found it. Over the years, it had been covered with lichens and debris. They cleared it off and then had to hoist it to the top of the cliff and back to the platform before they could put it in place. 

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Seizing on the parallels between that story and the crucifixion of Jesus, Peter uses that legend as a metaphor to explain how someone who had been rejected by the nation’s religious leaders could actually be the long-awaited Messiah. 

 

And if the Messiah is the metaphorical cornerstone, that makes us — his followers — the metaphorical stones that are erected into a center of worship of Jesus, the rejected and resurrected Messiah. That’s true regardless of where those followers may happen to live, what language they speak or what culture they may be a part of. Our faith in Christ transcends all those things and unites us in him. 

 

In the Old Testament era, whenever a significant event occurred, the people involved would erect one or more stones as a monument to that event. One example of that tradition may be seen in our Old Testament lesson. There God parts the waters of the flooded Jordan River in front of the people of Israel so they could cross into the Promised Land on dry ground. Then Joshua commands the people to gather 12 stones from the middle of the river bed to be set up on the far bank as a monument to the way God cared for God’s people.

 

Another example may be found in Genesis when Jacob is given a vision of a ladder reaching up into heaven with angels climbing up and down on it. After Jacob wakes up, he erects a stone as a monument to his vision. In both cases, those stones act as a witness to the fact that something significant happened at that place.

 

But unlike the historic plaques that are scattered all over Galena — including the front yard of the church and the front of the manse — those monuments were nothing more than stones artificially propped up into a standing position. Unless someone was physically present to tell the story, that was nothing more than a silent rock.

 

We used to have an unintended example of that just across the Mississippi. High above the front door of the First Presbyterian Church in Dubuque are carved the words First German Presbyterian Church. But it didn’t always say that. During the World War I era, an almost rabid anti-German sentiment swept across this country. So the members of the First German Presbyterian Church decided that it would be wise to remove any evidence of their ethnic connection.

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Therefore, someone was sent to climb up to that carving and fill in the word “German” with cement. The result was hardly subtle. A word was obviously missing, but unless you knew what had previously been in that blank space or knew what had caused the church to add the cement in the first place, you were left with a minor mystery. 

 

At some point in the intervening years, that cement patch was removed, but while it was in place, it offered a mute witness to a time of great fear and prejudice — a prejudice powerful enough to cause an entire community to deny its own origins. But again, that witness meant nothing without someone to tell the story. 

 

How often are we Christians willing to do the same thing when we choose to keep silent about our Christian faith in our day-to-day lives? We have been called to serve as living stones — that is, to bear verbal witness to the fact that God has done something powerful in our lives. We are the modern day witnesses to the resurrection of our Risen Lord and to his ongoing presence with us, supporting and sustaining us and granting us an abundant life. But if we say nothing about it, our lives bear only silent witness. 

 

I believe we’re called to remember that, as Christians, we are the living stones of Christ’s church. We are the church — all of us, not just the pastor or the church officers. As such, we come together in this building to offer our praise to God and to get our emotional and spiritual batteries recharged, but then we’re called to go out into the world with our eyes fixed firmly on the future, just as our ancestors in the faith did. We’re called to build our own church — one that’s shaped by moments of love and hope and changed human lives. 

 

As Mike Yaconelli puts it, “The people of our communities, the people of the world, are looking for love, for forgiveness, for life, for hope, for peace. Jesus Christ gives us the chance to share the good news, to carry out his ministries of feeding the hungry, loving the lonely, healing the sick and welcoming all. And when we do, we are home with God.” 

 

Notice that he doesn’t treat sharing the good news as if it were in a totally separate category from offering practical help to people. In reality they are two sides of the same coin. 

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People can’t truly listen to our story if their practical needs haven’t been met. But, at the same time, if you don’t explain why you are offering your assistance, they will be missing out on the most important part of your gift — that is, a chance to develop a genuine relationship with their creator. 

 

As living stones, we carry within ourselves the story of God’s grace and that grace impels us to go out into the community and share grace with others. We are, in fact, called to be living stones of the church so that God’s presence may be seen in us even as we go about dealing with the seemingly mundane moments of our lives. 

 

Individually, we represent a part of the presence of God, but together, we form that living entity, the church, which has been brought together by God to be the body of Christ in the world. Take one part away of that entity away — or, to use the metaphor of First Peter, remove one of the stones — and the strength and integrity of the entire spiritual structure is jeopardized. But by working together — by remaining connected to one another — we can strengthen the church and remain connected with Christ who is our cornerstone. 

 

I can’t imagine a more important time to emphasize that fact than now. As you know, for a couple of years, I have been trying to prepare you for my retirement at some time in the not-too-distant future. Once that happens, the presbytery will require you to get an interim pastor because I have been your pastor for so long. 

 

One of the functions of an interim pastor is to intentionally do things differently than you are used to doing now. That’s so change won’t be quite so jarring when you call a full-time pastor to follow me. That’s very important in most churches. However, I’ve always loved the fact that this congregation actually enjoys variety and change, so it’s far less important here. 

 

In any case, it will presumably take time to find an interim pastor and later to find an installed pastor. In the meantime, the health of this congregation lies with all of you. That’s always true, of course, but it’s even more so in a time of transition. This congregation will thrive or languish depending on your faithful attendance in worship, your participation in Christian education and fellowship events and especially in your support of our mission work. 

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Those are among the large and small ways you can become and remain the living stones of this congregation. Many years ago, I read a book written by a colleague, which told the story of a woman who was struggling with her family’s overloaded schedule. She said:  “It was Thursday of a long and difficult week for me and my husband. We were overworked, overtired, [and] overextended [...] A month before, we had invited friends to dinner and now that the evening had come, we feared [we’d be] far less than a blessing to our guests.

 

“I mustered enough energy to cook a simple dinner over which we shared our week’s experience with our friends. As it turned out, they had been feeling much the same way, and all of us were comforted by our common struggle. Through the evening, the four of us shared our hopes, dreams, thoughts, failures, and ended our time together in prayer covering these concerns.

 

“The next morning my husband and I woke up feeling rejuvenated, as if we’d been given new life and strength. We were amazed and agreed that something powerful had happened during that time of being together with our friends. Through that and many similar incidents, we’ve discovered that it’s possible to find love, accept-ance, correction, healing, deliverance and encouragement just by spending time with people who have the life of Jesus in them. There is a strong common bond of love that is healing and fulfilling and makes all other relationships seem shallow by comparison.”

 

Christian community is a powerful process of laying aside the masks we use in public and allowing people to know us for who we truly are — warts and all — and being freely and openly accepted by them in turn.

 

A church family should be able to offer that same kind of warm, open-ended, personal acceptance and commitment to everyone — regardless of whether they are church members or not. My challenge to all of us this morning is for us to begin to expect more from our faith community. I’d like us all to look for ways in which we — both individually and together — can begin to support each other and others in this community, remembering that, as Peter reminds us, we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” Amen.

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by Jim McCrea