The Fifth Sunday of Easter --- May 18, 2014

(For a number of reasons, I did not preach this sermon today. I decided to go for more of a "dialogue homily." There were a number of appropriate remarks that helped the preaching along.)

1 Peter 2:2-10

2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and 5 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. 6 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." 7 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," 8 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. 9 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 marvelous light. 10 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. 

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.

• This part of the first letter of Peter is remarkable because it has a large number of scriptural references in a very short portion of the letter. The writer knew his Hebrew Scripture and made good use of that knowledge.
• This final verse of today's reading uses a phrase from the prophet Hosea where the prophet speaks to the Israelites of how God put them together as a people. Hosea speaks to the people of Israel, reminding them that they have been made a people where they had been a collection of different and often unrelated individuals. During their time in Egypt, they had been distinct tribes with others who were hangers-on, but when they were led out of Egypt, they became a united people.
• They became a people because they had been drawn into a relationship with God and God had made a covenant with them. It was that covenant that made them distinctive and, in many ways, set apart from all other people. So the people of Israel have been (and remain) the Chosen People and that was through God's choice rather than any merit of their's.
• The letter of Peter reminds the readers that it is God who creates a people for God's own. Those who are called might not understand what they are being called to or even that they are called at all. Still they are called none-the-less and that call is one of being called into relationship.
• Being a people also provides a place in the world for all who are called. It is possible to live without a place or an identity, but it is quite lonely. Such a person might never know or realize their relationship with God, with other member of the people, and with the world in general. Being a people provides an identity and a solid reference point from which to see the world.
• God invites whom he wishes to that people and those who are invited are not always the ones we might expect or even desire.
• This holds true for the local expression of the people of God: the congregation. The people of God is a much larger and an even more lively concept than one congregation although every congregation might be said to be a model of God's people.
• For most of the world and even most of the Christian world, the local congregation is the main experience of the people of God. It is not the only experience of being God's people but it is the one that is closest to where and how people live. To come to a wider understanding of the breadth and depth of God's people takes a broader understanding and a wider view, and that's not always available to everyone.
• One thing is available to all of God's people and that is the understanding that their relationship with God and indeed with all of God's people is based on grace, flows from grace, and is due to grace.
• In the Christian understanding, is there anyone that God exclude from his people? To put it another way, is there anyone excluded from God's covenant? The answer is: Only those who are excluded from his saving grace... which means nobody!
• Covenant and Grace are the basis of the existence of God's people, of the Church. The Hebrew people received the covenant through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, who received the Law on Mt. Sinai. They were also promised that the world would be called into covenant with God and would be included in the promises of the covenant. We have received our covenant in nothing less than the words, life, body, and blood of Jesus Christ.
• Why does the church exist? The letter of Peter answers that question best.
• 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 marvelous light.
• By the grace of God, we all have been called as a people to tell of what God has done for us and for all the world by what we say and what we do. Where we come from matters less than where we are, and indeed where we are going.
• John the Evangelist tells us of Jesus' words: Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. So in so far as this goes, we are called to the same mission and call as Jesus: to proclaim the Kingdom of God in word and deed and to welcome others into the People of God.