Living Stones - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (May 3, 2026)

Scripture Readings: Acts 7:55–60 | Psalm 31 | 1 Peter 2:2–10 | ​John 14:1–14

​“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.”
(1 Peter 2:4-5).
 
As you may know, two weeks ago our Diocese held a special synod in Fredericton to discuss together, and to advise Archbishop David of our hopes and concerns regarding the future of Christ Church Cathedral, in light of the significant, multi-million dollar repairs that this  historic building requires.
 
In my opinion, it was a really good meeting, in which Anglicans, clergy and lay people from across the province, shared their wisdom, and their hearts with one another… even though we had been gathered to face a pretty daunting reality. Over the past years and months leading up to this meeting, our Diocese has been forced to recognize that we have a lot more work to do than we imagined. Problems had been quietly developing that had escaped our notice, but have clearly become a big concern.

Now there are all sorts of reasons why we’re in this situation now. Some resting within our Church’s control, and some that were always out of our hands. This is not about pointing fingers and placing blame, but about finding a better, effective, and faithful way forward together.
 
And thankfully, at this last synod we saw that as a diocese we really do desire to come together and all do our part to preserve this sacred building.[1] And much more than that, we see this as a faithful way for us to come together as brothers and sisters in service of the Gospel… building up our shared community and bonds of Christian love across New Brunswick, as visible signs of the Spirit’s work and God’s New Creation unfolding here and now through the lives of His people. 
 
That kind of hopeful vision can be easy to lose sight of at times in a world so full of problems. Everywhere we look, it seems like there are signs of things falling apart: of old challenges not being looked after, as well as new and unforeseen issues suddenly coming to light… threatening all that we have known and held dear. At times, this can all feel pretty overwhelming, and frightening… leaving us uncertain about how best to keep moving forward… and maybe even wondering if there will still be any place for us in the years to come?
 
Thankfully, we’re not the first people to feel this way, and to receive assurance and hope from the Lord. And our Scripture readings this morning remind us that even in uncertain times, God has given us both the way forward, and visible signs intended to keep us on track… faithfully pointing us towards the bright future and New Creation that God Himself has in store. 
 
On the night before His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was speaking to His disciples… that is, His students… His apprentices… those seeking, not just to walk around learning from Him… but who sought to become like Him. To practice His teachings, and embody His whole way of life. To set aside their own plans to share in His work, and His story… building their lives on the foundation that He was setting into place.
 
That fateful night, Jesus tried to prepare them for His coming departure… His immanent arrest, rejection, and death on the cross… not wanting His beloved followers to lose heart. He knew this was all a part of God’s plan, and that there would be far more to the story then they could yet imagine… but Jesus also knew that it would all still be really hard for them to understand. That soon it would seem like everything was lost, and that there was absolutely no way forward. So Jesus encourages them to stay faithful… to trust that God was not done yet! To trust in Him, and trust that He was not abandoning them, but was leading them into God’s new life.
 
John 14:1-4, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
 
Knowing just how hard the next few days were going to be, Jesus assures His disciples that, no matter what lay ahead, their ultimate fate was to rest safely in God’s house… a place not built by human hands, but prepared for them, and for us by Jesus Himself.
 
That sounds great, of course. But how do we get there from here? As we face uncertain and unsafe days ahead, how can we be sure that we’re on the right path?
 
John 14:5-7, “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
 
Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth, and the life. The heart of the Gospel… the Good News of God is Jesus Himself. Not our buildings, not our ministries, not our traditions… there’s no other substitute… no other foundation for our faith, or sure path leading towards God’s future. All our buildings, and ministries, and traditions are intended to help us faithfully tell Jesus’ story… and to help us as His disciples to take our own part in it, and to invite those around us to do the same. Jesus Himself is the source of our life and our connection to our Heavenly Father.

John 14:8-10, “Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
 
If we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father! There is no other God behind the back of Jesus for us to fear, as the theologian T.F. Torrance once put it.[2] Jesus Christ is God in the flesh… God among us… God Himself who chose to suffer the rejection and hatred of His human children… and even be put to death at their hands… only to rise up again to be their Saviour, and the Saviour of the world. Forgiving even those who killed Him, and making the way for all to return to His loving arms.
 
If we have seen Jesus, we have seen God. This is the incredible, world-changing Good News of the Gospel. But how in the world do people see Jesus today? Where are we to look to catch a glimpse of God in the flesh? To see His mercy, and holiness, and saving love at work here and now?
 
Well… they’re supposed to be able to see Jesus by looking at us… at the Church… at Christians like you and me.
 
That’s because, as His disciples, we’re also on a journey not just to learn from Jesus, but to become like Him. Not just moved to adopt a few of His teachings, or to be a bit nicer now and then… but to be filled with His own Spirit to share in His ongoing work in the world… to be a people set apart to both carry on His story, and to help anyone who will believe to draw closer to the One who alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
 
As Christians… as Christ’s ones… God is actively and graciously reshaping and molding us for a clear purpose: so that together we may become the place on earth where God’s New Life in Jesus is made known and experienced.

To make this point, in our second reading today, St. Peter speaks of Christians and the Church community in terms of construction materials… stones arranged in their proper place to create a sacred structure, and sharing in the work of our Saviour.  
 
1 Peter 2:4-5, “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.”
 
Now I know St. Peter ends up mixing his metaphors a bit… but he paints a pretty powerful picture for us nonetheless! Christians are to be like living stones in the great Temple of God that is Jesus Christ Himself. You and I are being built into the meeting place for heaven and earth… distinct but united parts of Christ’s body… individual but carefully shaped and assembled stones in His Temple… not just to look nice, but so that all creation can be reconnected with their great Creator, Saviour, and King… drawing near to Jesus in faith, and receiving from Him the gift of God’s New Life.

Like living stones, we are being chiseled and shaped to become like the great stone… our Saviour Jesus Christ. So that, bound together by and with Him, the world around us can also come to know and receive His salvation.
 
But being made like Jesus means that we might also face times of serious challenges. Like our Master, we might well face rejection… we too may be misunderstood, and slandered… and be accused of all sorts of evil… and even face our own persecution or death, like so many of our brothers and sisters around the world. 
 
In our first reading today from the book of Acts, we heard one such story: the death of St. Stephen… the first Christian martyr… murdered for testifying truthfully about the Risen Lord. But while this truly was an act of injustice and terror, it is not a story of Stephen’s failure! Far from it! No, this is St. Stephen’s victory! Remaining faithful to the Good News even to the very end… becoming like His Saviour in His sufferings, and entrusting His fate completely to the One who raised Christ from the dead.
 
Just like Jesus Himself was rejected, but was later vindicated by God, so too those of us who remain faithful to our Saviour, even if we suffer, will be vindicated with Him: His victory and glory will one day be ours as well.
 
And so, in our own contexts, when we face serious challenges of all sorts… when we face times of great uncertainty, and we don’t fell like we have what we need… when we feel pressured to compromise our commitments to Jesus Christ, and the calling He has placed on us to live as His chosen people… when we feel threatened by our surroundings, and concerned about our future… we are also being given our own opportunities to choose to be faithful, to remain true… or to fall away to try to save ourselves.
 
In those moments, may we remember Christ’s words to His disciples… before Good Friday, and to us all today, when He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6). Will we believe this?
 
Our whole existence as the Church is intended to be about helping one another and our world to believe and to live this Good News… drawing our eyes, and our hearts, and our minds to Christ, and living each day as His disciples… becoming like Him… a people set apart to share His holy love with the world… so they can see God’s Spirit at work in us, and join us as living stones in the New Creation that God is building.
 
1 Peter 2:9-10, “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.
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.”
 
That is our purpose. But are we actually doing this? Are we as Christians, as a Parish family, as a Diocese, and as a Church consistently pointing people to Jesus, or are we sending mixed signals… or worse yet, getting in their way?
 
Looking around at our communities, our world… and even at ourselves… maybe we have more work to do on this than we had imagined. Maybe we’re seeing some real problems that have been left unattended… the absence of the fruit of God’s Spirit, like kindness, faithfulness, patience, and love… or the presence of dangerous things like indifference, arrogance, prejudice, greed… sins that have become a big concern. And maybe we’re just disheartened by how many seem not to care about the Good News we’ve come to cherish… looking around at pews that were once full, and wondering why that’s no longer the case.
 
Now there are all sorts of reasons why we’re in this situation today. Some resting within our control, and some that were always out of our hands. This is not about pointing fingers and placing blame, but about finding a better, effective, and faithful way forward.
 
The good news is that today we’re all being given a chance to rediscover and reaffirm our faith in our Saviour King Jesus, and in what He can do in and through His people, when we trust and follow Him. Today, we can come together as brothers and sisters to do the hard work of discipleship… of seeking to become more and more like Jesus, through the power of God’s Spirit at work in us.

Today, we can recommit to our mission… which is more than simply preserving our buildings, and ministries, and traditions… not less, mind you… but more… much more… which is to use all that we have, and are, and do to point everyone in our world to Jesus Christ the Risen Lord… the One who alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
 
I’ll close now with a poem called Not One Stone, inspired by the recent Cathedral Synod, and inviting us to remember our place in the story of Christ our Saviour.

Not one stone / upon another
Thus You spoke Lord / long ago
That we serve not / what must falter
But Your Kingdom’s / glory know
 
Long we laboured / in days gone by
Trusting in Your / gracious hand
Gathered from / quarry and quarters
Stones and servants / of this land
 
Every stone an / act of worship
Placed atop the / one below
Drawing eye, mind, / and heart upward
Signs of paradise / to show
 
Bound by something / more than mortar
And aligned by / wisdom true
So that those who / come long after
May come face / to face with You
 
In these stones we / found Your shelter
Voices lifted / up in prayer
Sinners gathered / at Your Table
Grace and love You / give to share
 
Rainbow light shines / down upon us
Scripture stories / all around
Windows into / sweet communion
With Your saints warm / welcome found
 
Here were countless / humble hands laid
To the trowel and / to ordain
Workers for Your / harvest ready
Sent to labour / not in vain
 
Stone on stone has / caused the stranger
To ask questions / or admire
Amid all life’s / many worries
For what purpose / we aspire?
 
Not one stone / upon another
Will endure / forevermore
Yet as Living / Stones we gather
In hope for what / lies in store
 
And so Father, / keep us faithful
Jesus Saviour / bound to Thee
Spirit breathe new / life into us
Built together / to be free
 
Not one stone / upon another
Thus You spoke Lord / long ago
That we serve not / what must falter
But Your Kingdom’s / glory know
 
And ‘til New / Creation coming
Keep us steadfast / in Your way
That as Stones we / point all to You
Built for Love’s / eternal day

Amen.


[1] For a great summary of the events of Synod, I encourage you to read this article by Gisele McKnight: https://nb.anglican.ca/news/synod-resolves-to-work-together-to-safeguard-cathedral-building

[2] “During those years what imprinted itself upon my mind above all was the discovery of the deepest cry of the human heart: Is God really like Jesus? This came home to me very sharply one day on a battle field in Italy, when a fearfully wounded young lad, who was only nineteen and had but half an hour to live, said to me, ‘Padre, is God really like Jesus?’ I assured him as he lay upon the ground with his life ebbing away that God is indeed really like Jesus, and that there is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus for us to fear, to see the Lord Jesus is to see the very face of God.” T.F. Torrance, Preaching Christ Today.