Fifth Sunday of Easter
Alleluia, Christ is risen – He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
We just read from the Letter of Peter. That letter was sent many centuries ago to young congregations of new Christians in Asia Minor, part of the Roman Empire. Our reading begins with the exhortation that these recent converts should rid themselves of malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Now that they believe in Christ, they are to leave those parts of their former life behind.
Their lives are now shaped by the Easter gospel, by the good news of Christ’s love, death, and resurrection. They are now following Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. They are different. But the world around them is the way it has always been. They themselves embrace new values and ethics and missions, but their neighbors don’t. That creates strife and challenges and rejection and frustration.
These new believers live in two realms at the same time, the realm of the kingdom of God and the realm of the Roman Empire. They are dual citizens. The next verse beyond today’s reading calls them ‘aliens’. Dual citizenship and alien status – now that is something I and quite a few of you know something about.
I was born and raised in Germany. When I came to the US, I had to adjust to a new country, a new language, a new culture. I experienced homesickness and longed for German foods and holiday traditions. At the same time, I loved this country, its wideness and beauty, its possibilities, its can-do attitude. I was committed to living an American life, but still feeling my heart beat in German. I am a dual citizen.
Here is one thing that makes me feel like an alien. Even after 35 years in this country, people who meet me for the first time still say, “You have an accent. Where are you from?” They mean no harm; they are just curious and want to make conversation. But to me, their question also has the undertone of, “you are not from here; you are a foreigner; you are an alien.”
And they always want to hear my life story: Where do I come from, how long have I been here, why did I come over? Again, it’s meant in a friendly way, but I always feel like I have to give an account as to why I sound different and still prefer my hot dogs without a bun.
This mirrors the experience of the new believers Peter’s letter addresses. Because they follow Christian ethics and morals and faith practices, they are different from their neighbors and colleagues. They are constantly being recognized as “other”. They are always being asked to give an account as to why they live and act the way they do.
Today, Calvary and the church as a whole are again in a similar situation. As followers of Christ, we, too, are in the minority. Because of the values and passions, visions and hopes Jesus instills in us, we do things that make other people wonder.
Setting aside two hours on Sunday mornings to worship, tithing our income to the work of God through the church, giving our time and energy to congregational events, fundraisers, or mission projects, caring about our neighbors in need and feeding them, making efforts to be good stewards of God’s creation, praying for peace and for becoming people of peace ourselves, coming to faith conversations and Bible studies to grow as disciples – all those habits makes us different. We Christians are different.
And being different can be exhausting. It sounds very much like the letter’s recipients were exhausted from the ongoing struggle to remain faithful.
Here is how the letter addresses their exhaustion.
First, look for spiritual milk. Babies need good nourishment to grow strong; in the same way, you believers need to feed your souls in order to grow into salvation. You have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior; that’s wonderful! But that’s only a first step on your discipleship journey. Keep feeding your faith. Keep nourishing your soul. Read the Bible, come to worship, pray daily, serve in a ministry, seek conversation with other Christians, read a devotional – long for the pure, spiritual milk so that by it you may grow into salvation and have the strength to remain faithful and hopeful.
Second, look at Christ, the living stone on which you build your lives. He, too, was rejected. He, too, was noticed as being different, odd, radical, weird, challenging. In the end, he was killed because his values clashed too hard with those of religious and political powers. Following him as our Savior, we can’t really expect to get by without struggles. So, expect them.
Third, Jesus was rejected and killed, but God raised him up on the third day. God brought him to new life. When the world thought they had gotten rid of him and his ideas, he came back and his mission continued and the kingdom of God grew and grew, eventually moving hearts and souls all over the world. Being rejected doesn’t mean we failed. With God, there is always resurrection.
Fourth, you are not in this alone. You are one of many living stones that are built into a spiritual house and in whose midst God is dwelling, in whose community God’s presence can be felt. You have brothers and sisters in Christ who support and encourage you on your faith journey. These living stones are much more important than brick and mortar. Certainly, we have an amazing building, a precious inheritance, and I am so grateful for all who built it and for all who maintain it today. However, this is not Calvary’s first location; we started out on Flag Marsh Hill above Woodbine. When fire destroyed that first log cabin church, the congregation built a new sanctuary in Woodbine When that building became too small, this new church was build. We know that bricks can come and go, but what lasts is the community of faith, the body of Christ, built of living stones and their love for Jesus and neighbor.
Fifth, remember your identity. Here the letter writer gushes exuberantly: You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people! That’s who you are. Not because of what you did, but because God made and called you as such. Your identity rests in you belonging to God. Nobody can take that away from you. Ever!
When the young Calvary congregation built that first log church and then saw it burn, they remembered that their identity rested in being God’s people, and they rallied and rebuilt.
When COVID prevented us from meeting in person, we held on to our identity as God’s people and found new ways to connect, gather, and worship.
When we as individuals and as a congregation feel small and vulnerable in today’s post-Christian world, we find strength and comfort in this assurance: “We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people!”
As such, sixth, we are called to “proclaim the excellence of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light”. The early church proclaimed the resurrection of Christ and the life and forgiveness and hope it gave all of his followers. The letter quotes from Old Testament scriptures that allude to the exodus when God through Moses brought the Hebrews out of slavery to freedom in the promised land.
We, too, are called and empowered to proclaim how God has brought us through perilous times. Here at Calvary, we can proclaim how God has helped the congregation rebuilt after the fire of 1904. We can proclaim how God gave the congregation the vision and energy to move to a new plot and erect a new building. We can proclaim how God has steered this congregation through tough discussions, such as about contemporary worship and the welcome of LGTBQ+ folk. We can proclaim how God has helped us to be a welcoming and caring and united people where life-long members and recent arrivals are equally valued and empowered. We can proclaim how God has blessed us with amazing staff and volunteers who make ministry and worship lively and joyful, like all the musicians who offer their gifts today. We can proclaim how God steered us through COVID and is now helping us to grow in faith and numbers.
God has been good to Calvary. Time and again, God has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And God can do it again.
Yes, it can be exhausting to be counter-cultural by remaining faithful; but as we see, that’s almost parr for the course in the life of a disciple. And we are told how we can energize our faith journey: by seeking spiritual milk and being together with other living stones.
Yes, it can be daunting to see our congregation struggle; but the early church receiving Peter’s letter and the young Calvary congregation 136 years ago had it no different and they persevered; so, by the grace of God, will we.
Yes, we are still dual citizens, belonging at the same time to the US and the kingdom of God, but one thing never changes: Our identity as baptized children of God. We are living stones build into a community where God is present, held together by Christ as cornerstone. We are called from darkness into God’s marvelous light to proclaim how excellent our God is. “We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people!” Hallelujah! Amen.