Sermon: "Why Church? Part 1: Come," January 12, 2020
Part of our series "Why Church?" The series is loosely based on Scott W. Sunquist’s book, Why Church: A Basic Introduction. Each week looks at a movement in worship to answer this question, in worship we:
come together
stand to praise God
kneel to confess
sit to listen to the Word of God
go out into the world
“Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 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 of darkness into his marvellous light.
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.”
Today we begin our sermon series, “Why Church?” Obviously, since y’all made it out today you have your reasons for being here. It’s real clear for some of us—we have an elevator speech ready if anyone were to ask. But for the rest of us, maybe even most of us, the draw is there but the reasons aren’t quite so clear. We feel drawn, but may have trouble articulating why. Why to ourselves. Why to parents, children, friends.
So that’s what this sermon series is for. To help us understand “why church?” for us, so we can express “why church?” to others.
Each week, we’ll look at a different theme. Each theme is based loosely on the book called Why Church? By Scott Sunquist. In it he structures the reasons for church based on the movements of a worship service. Which is a helpful way to think about it because each week we go through the pattern. These reasons for church are hooked onto the pattern we go through every single week, making it easier for us to recall. Easier because we repeat it. That way it gets into our bones.
The first movement of worship is the simplest one, but also the most important. We “Come” to worship. The first thing we do is put our foot into the front door. If nobody came to worship, we wouldn’t have worship. If we didn’t come to this place, this community wouldn’t exist.
Today’s text is from the first letter of Peter, which you can find way way way at the back of your New Testament. This text was chosen, not only because it begins with the word “Come.” But because it answers “why Church?” with two of the most important reasons for coming to church in the first place. Two reasons.
Now, the first reason is this: in coming together, we’re not simply coming to a building. We’re not just coming to some place. We are coming to some One.
“Come to him,” the passage begins. “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight.” Here, Peter issues his community an invitation. And the invitation is to come to a Someone, a person. And that person, of course, is Jesus Christ.
Drawing on imagery from the Old Testament Psalms and book of Isaiah, Peter imagines Jesus as a living stone. He imagines Jesus as a sort of organic building material. But not as an attractive, shelf-ready piece, cleanly cut with good angles. Instead, he imagines him as a stone in the quarry that’s tossed in the reject pile. Too small, too rough, too weak. This is a metaphor, an image for Jesus’ life. You’ll recall that Jesus himself was rejected by his own people. As sinful, as a blasphemer. As useless for their own purposes, completely inadequate for building the kind of powerful, self-sufficient life they imagined for themselves. So he was cast aside. Tossed on the discard pile. Crucified as history’s reject.
His people saw him as a dead weight, for sure, says Peter. But not God, though. Human beings may have thrown him out. But Peter imagines God picking through this pile of stones left for scrap. He imagines God sifting through all this human debris, finding Jesus, dusting him off, and thinking to herself, “this is a choice piece… I could do something with this.” Jesus who was rejected by the world is instead—in Peter’s words, “chosen and precious in God’s sight.” Quality building material. Grade A raw goods for the almighty.
Now, this may not seem like a big deal to us. But it would have been for its original hearers. Peter wrote this letter to a community that was made up of people on the margins. Slaves, women. The poor, the disabled. People with little in terms of prestige, and even less in terms of power. And not only that, they were doubly rejected for their faith in Christ, which made them suspicious to both their Jewish neighbors and their Pagan ones alike.
They knew what it meant to be devalued by other people. They knew what it meant to be looked down upon. Tossed aside. So when Peter would start talking about Jesus as a stone rejected by the world they would have recognized their own lives. They would see themselves as rejected by the world, but nonetheless chosen and precious in God’s sight.
This is the God that Peter is inviting his people to. Come to this God, he says. The God of rejects. The God who does not choose the wealthy, the powerful, the respectable. But the kind of God who chooses someone like Jesus, and chooses people like him to love and to bless. With all of their faults, their brokenness, their heartaches and limitations.
And we come to church for the same reason. I mean, for a while attending church may have been seen as something good, upstanding citizens do, as a sign of social respectability. As communities with influence, the ears of industry and government. But in most places in North America, that’s gone. It’s a shame in some ways, for sure. But it’s also helped us get back to essentials.
We come to church, not because we’ve done well enough to win our ticket inside. No to be seen, not to earn holiness points. But we come to have an encounter with the God who Peter’s talking about. The Source of all things, the mystery at the heart of the universe. And here’s the beautiful thing. Where the world judges us by our accomplishments, by our performance, by our achievements, this God is different. The beautiful thing is that when we come to this God, this God welcomes us not as we should be. But as we are. God sees us, warts and all, sins and all, quirks and failures and all. And in spite of it all says we’re worth dying for.
That’s the first reason. Why Church? We come to encounter the holy, to the experience the sacred. We come to meet God. And not just any God. We come to meet the God we meet in Jesus. Because this God knows the dusty gravel pit that is our lives but looks at us and instead sees us living stones. Grade A holy building material.
That’s the first reason. The second is this. We come to church to meet God, yes. To be seen, to be accepted as we are. But that’s not all. We come to church to meet God-in-Christ, yes. But in doing so we also come to community. We come to community.
First Peter tells his people to come to Christ, the living stone, so they can see themselves as living stones. But he knows that a stone by itself, however beautiful, doesn’t mean much. You can’t do much with one stone. Other than maybe throw it at somebody. Or make it into a doorstop. Or a pet rock. So he imagines all these people, all these rejects, all these living stones coming to God. But then he says this:
“Like living stones… 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.”
First, he imagines God as this great stone mason. Taking each living stone, each person, carefully placing them one on the other to build a spiritual house, a holy temple. But then he imagines all these people as the priests inside the temple, too, offering sacrifices. Here Peter mixes his metaphors a bit, but they all go in the same direction. The temple in ancient Israel is where God is most fully present. And the priests inside are bridge people. They’re mediators, they’re conduits for God. So in both cases, Peter’s saying that God takes all these reject stones, and starting with Jesus as the cornerstone, builds a temple. A community where the living God takes up residence. Where God can be seen, touched, and experienced among them.
Now, in North America we often see spirituality as an individual, or a private thing. Between us and God, or us and the universe. A little bible reading here, some mindfulness meditation there. A walk in the woods alone or an inspiring TED Talk on our phone or tablet. But here, Peter says that the whole God thing is communal. We come to church to come to God. We come as we are, loved and precious as individual stones. But it’s in togetherness where we truly meet him. You could say that Christianity isn’t a solo sport.
Which makes perfect sense. Think about it. Together, we can bear each others burdens. We deliver food to each other, and pray for eachother when we’re sick. Take care of each other’s kids. To pool our collective wisdom. To pool our resources and start a Soup Kitchen or food pantry. Share all of our joys and sorrow. Alone, stones are just stones. But together, Peter says, they’re a temple for the presence of the Holy Spirit.
That’s the second reason. Why Church? We come to be more than we are as individuals. To be built up, to be a community where God is made manifest. Where we’re made more together than we would be apart. All by the pull, by the grace of the Creator of the universe. It’s in community where the total encounter with God happens. It’s not perfect. Community—Church—Is how God chooses to work most powerfully in human life. Is at work as we speak.
Christ, and community. That’s what Peter’s getting at.
So the next time you’re at a dinner party. Or in a coffee shop. Or on the phone with one of your adult kids. The next time that awkward topic, the topic of church comes up, and the person you’re talking to doesn’t get it… And they ask something like “Why church?” aloud or with their tense body language. Now you’ve got a couple of things, a couple of reasons that you might share first, straight from the worship service you attend weekly. Straight from scripture, too. You can even whip out chapter and verse.
When you do, imagine yourself coming to church. Arriving one Sunday morning. Imagine the cross reaching out at you from the front of the sanctuary, and looking at all the different faces you see here today. Children, adults, seniors, of different races and different places. Men and women, gay and straight. Some with money, some with less. When you see this, it’s not so hard to imagine each of us as living stones, each as an integral part of God’s great building project of salvation right here in our neighborhood. Each rejected in our own way, flawed and broken in our own way. But each gathered by God out of nothing but grace—unconditional love. Coming together as people though rejected by mortals chosen and precious in God’s eyes. Fashioned together as a temple for the Living God.
We come to church because here we come to Christ. We come to Christ and community.
“Why Church?” you ask? “Why not church?” with reasons like these.
Amen.