Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser
God’s
Spiritual House
Easter 5A 5/10/2020 1 Peter 2:2-10
1 Peter has never been the text for
a sermon I’ve done, yet the last few weeks in the lectionary have contained
some wonderful images of faith, God and church.
It’s not a long letter, just 5 chapters, with some rather historically
limited views of women in ch 3….
However, this chapter starts with a wonderful and feminine view of God
as mother, telling us to be like newborns and long for that true spiritual milk
- because we’ve tasted that God is good. We know how infants want to be fed,
sometimes looking so desperate as they root for that milk - it’s good, it
satisfies their innate instinct to suckle, and satisfies their hunger. It's a very strong and visceral imagery of
believers hungering for God. In a letter
by the apostle Paul, he urges more mature believers to move onto the meat of
the faith, again using human and eating imagery for our need for God.
(ASIDE - There are
only a few feminine images for God in the Scripture as it has come down to us.
Several are distinctly mothering metaphors: this one, God as a hen gathering
her chicks, God crying for slaughtered children like Rachel cried over hers;
the labor pains of the world striving to bring forth the new creation. The figure in Proverbs of God as Wisdom,
personified as a woman who calls out to people to learn from her, is feminine
yet not maternal. There are also occasions of women acting for God, like if
you’re reading the Bible through on our Jamesville reading Plan, you’ve run
into Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives in Egypt who lied to the Pharaoh about how
the boy babies lived; of Deborah the Judge in Israel; of Huldah the prophetess
who recognized and reinstated the rediscovered scrolls of the Law; of Rahab who
saved the scouts Joshua sent into the promised land to scope it out; of Sarah,
of Moses’ spouse Zipporah and sister Miriam; of Jesus’ followers who were the
first to proclaim resurrection, Mary and Martha, Lydia the seller of purple who
hosted a church in her house. They’re
there, the good women of faith, although not mentioned as often as men are, in
both Testaments. And images of God in
the feminine are there, too, although once again not as common as male
imagery.)
The writer
of this 1st letter of Peter, written to believers scattered in the
Mediterranean area, moves quickly to another imagery - that of rocks. From human metaphor to mineral metaphor in
one sentence to the next! Well, I guess
it’s really a metaphor of building structures - Christ as the cornerstone, the
rest of us as the building, taking our direction and guidance from that cornerstone. Yet the writer says this is a spiritual thing
- Christ is a living rock, and we are spiritual stones, together being built
into a spiritual house. A church, in other words - not a literal church
building with literal rocks, but built into a spiritual house with spiritual stones. So we as believers make
up the spiritual walls, floors and roof; we together are the structure of the
house of God. A living house, a living
structure - and all based on Christ.
I like that
image of a spiritual house - it speaks to what we were talking about before
this covid 19 crisis hit - that the word “Church” means the gathered believers,
wherever they met - whether in a house, in a catacomb (which were underground
burial areas, remember), in the Temple when Christ-followers were still mainly
Jews; in separate buildings with sanctuaries, in storefronts, at camping trips
or mission trips - and now, online!
Because WE are the church; and wherever we are, Christ is in our midst. We are God’s spiritual house on earth.
You all may have discerned the
reason I was preaching about this truth back in Jan & Feb as part of our Interim work - it was to remind us that our
lovely building here at 6300 E Seneca Turnpike is just the place we use for
certain purposes - that our mission is out there in the community and the
world, to those who need to hear, to those who are suffering, to those who are
hungry or sick or poor or mistreated or oppressed or held captive - to proclaim
the message of love and forgiveness and restoration and good news to all people
like Jesus our leader did. I wanted us
to think more of our own call to reach out and do the works of Christ, and less
about how to get people to come into our building. I wanted us to remember, in our confusion and
fear after losing a long-time pastor, that EACH OF US is a disciple, EACH OF US
are called to be witnesses, that EACH of us are gifted by the Spirit for
ministry, that EACH OF US is a priest in this holy priesthood - and that God
values EACH OF US as much as God values a pastor - we can each pray, we can
each discern what the Spirit is saying, we can each grow in our relationship to
God, we can each tell the good news that we are hearing daily in God’s
presence. Our great building is a good
place to meet and train ourselves, to worship together, to train our children,
to encourage one another - but that our ministry and service start when we
leave through the doors and go out into the world God also loves and desires to
have faith.
In a strange way, perhaps this giant
change of the Covid-19 crisis in our lives and our worship right now can be a teacher for
us in how to be that spiritual house
that this passage describes. Not that I am saying that God "did this to us' in order to make us better Christians - I don't see God like that. I see God more as a gardener who knows how to compost broken, dead and thrown out things into something that enriches life. God is a God of recreation, resurrection, and new creation. God is a God of love, and who is always bringing new life from whatever happens. God is a God who, like we read last week in the 23rd Psalm, who is with us whatever comes in life - even the valley of the shadow of death.
I get
excited thinking about how God may be composting this experience of physical isolation, working from home or being furloughed. You know, at the beginning we were frantic about all the abrupt changes; then most of us went through a time of being overwhelmed, tired and perhaps exhausted. That's where I've been the last couple weeks, and from the posts I read online, many pastors and others were feeling the same things. Right now I'm feeling almost like I've adjusted somewhat, and am beginning to wonder how God may be calling us to be that spiritual house in the midst of this crisis.
I have prayed for years that the church of the 50s,
that style of doing church that most of us Boomers grew up in, and which is shrinking
and not reaching our communities, and in which most people are ageing and
feeling depressed that younger folks aren’t coming in to step into leadership -
I’ve been praying that that 50s style of being church would evolve, would
develop, would rediscover who we are, would re-enliven and learn to listen to
the new life that the Spirit wants to lead us into. I have prayed to catch a glimpse to help lead
to that future when I’ve felt discouraged; with no real vision emerging for me except to pursue the inner spiritual life. I have prayed for this next generation of Christ-followers coming along to
bring new life and new vision, and promised God that I will listen to,
encourage and support the vision of the folks coming along.
So I'm wondering if perhaps God can use this awful time
of suffering and death, and as we ponder our mortality, as we re-learn just who
it is who is essential, as we re-learn to value science, as we learn to act in
love for the sake of others despite the inconvenience to ourselves, as we
ponder what God may be leading us to do and be in this time…. well, perhaps
this could be a turning point for the Capital-C Church and our local group here
as well.
There are many conversations going
on about how things may change in the way we are the church during and after
these months (years?) of the pandemic. I
myself hope that things don’t go back to “normal,” as it were, and that people
don’t just put this all out of mind and memory in a kind of fantasy-land
amnesia, like some of our leadership seems to be doing. The world is suffering and grieving a great
number of deaths, which is creating breaks in supply chains of manufacturing
and agriculture. The mental health
aspects will affect us for a long time.
The financial aspects will affect us for a long time. We don’t know, and no one can really predict
how many times the virus will rebound, whether we will have immunity… it’s kind
of a wait and see thing. Although our
Council has been talking and praying about how and when to regather in person,
and what that might look like, it’s not imminent in our state, and many
congregations are deciding that, whatever their governors say, they’re waiting
until July or so and taking another look.
Now that we’re learning that singing together in a closed place for an
hour is a really good way to spread the virus, many of us are disheartened
about worship being like it was any time soon.
So I think we need to sit and
consider how to be the church, the holy priesthood, the spiritual house, right
now. This week, next week, and the next
weeks and the next months. This, today, is the situation in which we are to
serve God and serve our community. We
need a new vision,or a transformed
vision, or a stretched vision, or a tweaked vision - God’s Spirit is alive and
working, we are not powerless even if we are physically isolated. Maybe we can’t do the potlucks with special
local speakers that our Transition Team was planning right now. So we need to do things differently, or do different
things.
Our Lenten book study on Sailboat
Church has been a moving study for the group that’s been involved. It has strongly reminded us of the need for
our own personal spiritual development as a vital need for seeking a communal
spiritual development, and to seek the wind of the Spirit through prayer and
discernment. Praying over all big decisions in order to discern what the Spirit is saying, has been a major emphasis of the study.
I need your help in thinking and
praying about this situation we find ourselves in, so I hope to set up several small groups to pray for our
congregation, as well as our denominations and the Capital-C Church. To pray for at least these areas - pray for
vision and direction for t he whole Capital-C Church, for vision and direction for our local congregation vision, pray for the inner growth of each of us, pray for a renewed
mission-oriented view of church, and pray for concrete ideas. I will put out a
list of our elected Council members and Trustees, so they might be prayed for
as our leadership. I may give the
groups some Scriptures to ponder at some point - we’re creating this as we go,
friends - this is a unique situation that seminary offered no class in, too. I see these groups gathering weekly to
check in and talk about what you’ve heard, felt, experienced, and are thinking
about re this prayer and this spiritual house.
Some groups could gather at noon and eat lunch together virtually! Or
brunch... Or pancakes. Everyone who
agrees to be in a spiritual house prayer group will agree to pray on these points (if not others that come to you) on a daily basis. Meetings could be on Zoom, or conference
calls, or any other modern techie ways we know.
Maybe our youth would like their own group? Let me know.
I want to know who feels a tug in
their heart to do this; and I will also call some folks, too, because I know
that volunteering doesn’t always come easily.
But really, if you feel that tug of interest, let me know, okay? That’s the way the Spirit nudges us;
recognize it and respond.
If you are feeling that tug about
your own spiritual development, there are paths for that. The Jamesville Bible Reading Plan is posted
on Facebook, or I can email it. Mike and Lynn have been doing it for a month or
more now, and Greg is doing it too.
Maybe we could start a support group for those who want to do it, where
they can check in and bring up moving passages & weird passages they run across. Martha, Tim and I are attending a
group Zoom study that our Methodist district is leading, on a book about the
importance of lay ministry - our thought is that we can offer this study in our
congregation after we go through it - certainly lay ministry and discipleship
is important in these days. Olivia has agreed to help do a video about all our graduates to post on Facebook so we
can all celebrate their achievements.
Lorana organized a phone tree, with Jean B, Jean C, Tammy, Alison, Louise S, Martha & I doing weekly calls to
an assigned group. Our Trustees
organized a way to do our spring clean-up - Kurt came and spread the
gravel back over the parking lot and picked up all the stacks of branches I
made clearing the trail to the picnic tables behind the church, and Louise
S has come up and cleaned the insides of the sanctuary windows. There’s a list on the front door for folks to
sign when they’ve completed one of the tasks - if you’ve done something and I
didn’t mention it, let me know. Our
Facebook group has some good sharing going on, too.
These are all supportive and
strengthening things we’re doing within our own congregation. Our outreach
through the Food Bank has been to share their request for money, so they can
purchase what is needed. I know many of
you are reaching out personally to your neighbors and friends to check on them
and respond to needs.
Well, this is longer than I usually
preach… I wanted to thank everyone for continuing to pitch in, continuing to
worship, continuing to give, and living your faith with your neighbors. And I wanted especially to begin an intentional
prayer effort for us to look into our future as God’s Spiritual House. AMEN.
