Rocky Hill Congregational Church, United Church of Christ

May 22, 2011

CONFIRMATION SUNDAY

1 Peter 2:2-10

Living Stones

2011 Confirmation Class: Thomas Day, Jack Malespini, Sarah Mosure, Joseph Sheehan

Note: This sermon – like all others – is part of an oral tradition. For that reason, it was not originally written in paragraph form, but in a form that allows the preacher and hopefully the hearer to be open to the Spirit’s presence.

JOE: Will you please pray with us.

Gracious and loving God, as we enter this time of meditation, may you take the imperfect words of our mouths, and the meditations of each of our hearts, directing them to a perfect understanding of your love, your care, and your presences with us. We pray this all in Christ’s name. Amen.

JACK: When confirmation began, I wasn’t sure if I was entering into an experience that would create a long lasting memory of joy or sitting in a room waiting for it to end. But as our confirmation year ends, I can see how much of a blessing it was to work alongside all of my friends on this path to confirmation.

SARAH: When we first began our journey through confirmation, I’ll admit I was skeptical. I had the false impression that religion was quickly losing its influence on society because it caused more trouble than it was worth. Back in November, I didn’t expect a miraculous spiritual transformation and certainly I didn’t think I’d actually enjoy it. That said, over the months I feel I’ve embarked on a voyage of self-discovery; one that has thoroughly uprooted all my previous assumptions. But with this upheaval, my foundations have also been rebuilt.

JOE: Our scripture lesson from First Peter, references newborn babes craving spiritual milk. This is a metaphor for young people, like ourselves, growing up from our foundations in faith. It uses the language it does because faith nurtures us and shapes us into the people we are today.

JACK: This really hit me. It says a person needs guidance like a baby needs milk. I really took it personally because if you think about it, who hasn’t needed guidance that couldn’t be provided for them at least once in their life. It doesn’t matter whether it was a teacher, friend, or even a parent that just couldn’t help with the situation. But in the end you will always have that spiritual milk…you know that you will always have a fall back “guy”. This is just comforting to me because I always like to have back up and help in stressful situations.

TOM: It's in that safe haven that we receive, like little babies, the spiritual milk that we need to grow our faith.

JACK: It’s in that safe haven that the scripture talks about every individual being important and having the ability to be accepted into God’s house.

TOM: The scripture says that Christ is the cornerstone which is most important architectural piece, the foundation on which everything else is built, but we are the walls that branch out, supported by the cornerstone, and supporting the cornerstone. If we remember that Peter’s audience was a group of dispossessed people, people who had no unifying body and identity apart from being a church, the power of these words expands in our hearing. In order to grow healthy and grow up you need some guidance no matter how well off you are or not well off you are. Like a baby who needs its mother’s milk.

When I was first getting into the wonderful sport, I now have come to love --football, I had in my mind that each person individually, playing their hardest, made the game happen. This is true in some ways but you also need to be on the same page as the people who are giving their body to block for you. The path that is there every time you rush to tackle or rush to the end-zone wouldn’t be there if someone wasn’t looking out for you…If there wasn’t that community supporting you…nurturing you…And it wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t that thing, that makes individuals a team, or a community that is the body of Christ. It wouldn’t be there without the cornerstone.

When you are missing that someone, that community, the path is no longer there, the building crumbles, you need the supporting stones of each other just as much as you need the cornerstone without one the other can’t function. And, if you choose to accept God as your cornerstone, then you have the responsibility of becoming a supporting stone in the spiritual house that continues to grow every day. We become part of a community.

SARAH: Through this church, I have discovered what it means to be part of a community. Apart we are lost, but together, as Peter writes, we are a people: God’s people.

This title simultaneously unifies us and emphasizes our individuality, for we truly are living stones. We’re composed of a multitude of unique components and worn by a myriad of circumstances before we are finally fused together by our faith. In this one body, we are all the more powerful, whether we choose to build or to destroy.

I, for one, have realized what it means to build and to be built up. Together, my fellow Confirmands and I helped serve a meal to the homeless, and never before had everything felt so right. This experience supplemented my own faith by strengthening the bonds between us – the hosts – and the people we were serving. Amidst the heaping piles of scrambled eggs and sausages, I witnessed the beauty of community at work. And through these acts of selfless compassion, I began to grasp what faith was really about. This was the spiritual nourishment I realized I’d been searching for, and indeed it was good.

JOE: It is in that searching for spiritual nourishment, and finding the faith that tastes so good, that we have come to realize, all are accepted. When builders reject a stone, God can find a use for it.

JACK: Even if you aren’t liked by groups in the world, no matter how different or unique you may seem, you will still be loved in God’s kingdom,

JOE: God has a place for all people and things. This parallels with how Jesus treats the poor, and the lepers, all those rejected by society. He heals people in those situations, and does not scorn them.

JACK: This especially makes me feel reassured because I know that even if I screw up in life, I know I have someone to fall back on and help me no matter what. And the chances of me making a wrong turn or doing something that I would regret are very high, so this passage just makes me feel safer in a way.

I know I am loved in God’s Kingdom...

I know I am loved as a part of God’s people…

JOE: When Peter says “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” I think he means that we are all welcome in God’s faith, that we are all part of God’s people, and even the weakest stone may be the cornerstone of our faith.

Hear again these words from Peter: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

This is God using Zion, as a cornerstone geographically of the faith. He uses it as an icon or symbol representing the faith itself.

Then Peter says that those who reject the faith will have a weak cornerstone, and they will crumble like an old building, or one that was not built correctly in the first place.

“A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

But those who accept the message are God’s chosen people, and God will protect them and show them mercy.

The ultimate message is that those who come in faith, who live as God’s people, who live as a community, will be fulfilled.

TOM: So if you have been rejected don’t worry because Jesus himself was rejected, but was chosen and was God’s own. Just like each and everyone was chosen by God for a special individual reason.

You, this community, each and every one of you, are put on this earth for a reason and it is our choice to find the reason and to make an effort to be that living stone, that God has called you to be.

We are living stones, part of God’s spiritual house, a house that is not built of one stone, but multiple stones together creating something wonderful and together we make it home, protecting and loving one another.

JACK: We all need that home in life, whether it’s in a family or within God’s House. This year, in a new way, we have become a part of a spiritual community. As Peter suggests, we have had to have faith that we are are joining a community. During our process of transforming in faith, we as a group of confirmands have accomplished much and experienced a lot. We went to a Synagogue, expanding our idea of who were truly our brothers and sisters in faith. We fed those in need, and our eyes were opened. I saw that whenever I need help or guidance I can just ask a “neighbor”. This is our faith, this is what we find in our Spiritual home, and it comforts me.

JOE: Over the course of the past year I have grown both as a person, and in my faith. I have come to appreciate what it means to follow Jesus Christ, and to me church has become much more than “That thing that I have to do every Sunday”

I first noticed this feeling on Maundy Thursday. I had never appreciated the true journey of faith through holy week. I had always focused on the Joy of Easter without realizing that it was meaningless if I could not even appreciate the crucifixion.

I find that the idea, of living stones, of being built into that spiritual home, accurately describes my journey of faith and self.

SARAH: For so long, my trombone teacher has been trying to get me to put meaning and expression into my music. Yes, I would play the dynamic changes and yes I would articulate correctly, but I never truly got it. It wasn’t until recently that I stumbled upon the essence of music. Now when I play, I feel the flow of emotion – either warm and sweet or dark and ferocious – pour from my heart into my hands. I can barely fathom how I once played any other way. The same goes for my faith.

Ever since I became engaged in this faith community, I try not to falter when I encounter God’s living stones. I will strive to see all the meaning and beauty that they hold. In my confirmation journey, I have grown immensely. I’ve learned the importance of trying to emulate Jesus Christ mainly by becoming more accepting of myself and others.

As a teenager, I face so many obstacles that would steer me off this path. I see so many absorbed by technology and things like gossip and material items, especially myself at times. We miss the bigger picture because we are lost. Many haven’t yet tasted that the Lord is good, so they don’t understand what it means to set aside differences and love thy neighbor. We reject others and are likewise rejected; we don’t see that God would gladly have us as the cornerstone of his spiritual house.

In History this year, my class learned about the Renaissance and the many brilliant philosophers, artists, and musicians it produced. Michelangelo was one particularly renowned artist and sculptor. Unbelievably, his famous sculpture, the Statue of David, was crafted from a piece of marble that all the other sculptors had turned down. He saw its potential where no one else had and therefore he was able to chisel out a beautiful masterpiece.

In this same way, a community of faith looks past imperfections to one’s inner beauty, giving that person a voice he or she never knew they had. This outlook on life has enlightened me and helped me grow into a more confident and loving person.

Now that I have a living stone to lean on, to be a part of, and to build with, I feel I am better equipped to face the world’s challenges. More than ever before, I am comfortable just being me.

JOE: Together, as we grow into becoming comfortable just being us, as we come together with this community of living stones, we are honored and grateful to become a part of this community…God’s people, building together a Spiritual Home.

AMEN.