Basic Christian Beliefs: "I Believe in the Holy, Catholic Church"
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
David C. Wright
I Peter 2:1-10
March 28, 2010

          As we continue our series on the Apostles Creed, we come to the phrase that says, “I believe in the holy, Catholic church.”  Let’s clear up some common confusion right at the beginning.  We’re not saying that we believe in the Roman Catholic Church!  It’s the “holy” catholic church.  The word “holy” doesn’t mean we think we’re morally superior to everyone else.  It means “set apart”- called by God to special service.  And the word “catholic” means “universal,” so we’re saying that we believe in the universal church, set apart to serve Jesus Christ.  We are part of an entity that transcends geographic and denominational boundaries and spans the ages.  All followers of Jesus Christ, living and dead, here and around the world, are part of the church.  That’s what we’re saying we believe in.
          Now there is some confusion out there about just what a church should be.  James Kelley, a Washington, D.C. attorney, is part of a small group of folks at his Episcopal church who love church, but don’t believe in God!  I quote, “We all love the incense, the stained-glass windows, the organ music, the vestments, and all that.  It’s drama.  It’s aesthetics.  It’s the ritual.  That’s neat stuff.  I don’t want to give all that up, just because I don’t believe in God.”  Somehow that doesn’t seem quite right does it?  Shouldn’t church be more than just the rituals and aesthetics?  And, if it’s more that that, then just what is it?  There are several well-known passages in the New Testament that answer that question, but I’ve chosen one that may not be so familiar.  It is found in I Peter 2:4-10.  Listen for what it says about the church.
          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 marvellous 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.
          The New Testament uses several images to help us understand what the church is like.  The Apostle Paul says the church is like a human body, with each members having a different function just like the different parts of a physical body.  He also talks about the church being like a human family, with Jesus as the head of the family and us as his children.  What does Peter say the church is like in this passage?  He says it’s like a building.    “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...”  (I Peter 2:4-5a) The church is like a spiritual house or a temple and we are the living stones which comprise the building. 
          I can never hear this verse without being reminded of a youth Sunday at a former church.  The youth had selected this verse for their theme.  My son, Stephen, who was in high school at the time, was delivering the children’s message.  He called the kids forward and pointed to a large refrigerator box that had been made-over to look like a house that was built out of stones.  Stephen was reading this verse and preparing to tell them its meaning, when all of a sudden his best friend Joel, who had been hiding in the box for the first 20 minutes of the service, suddenly burst out of the box nearly scaring the kids to death! Joel, who was wearing tights and a brightly-colored cape, loudly proclaimed, “I am Living Stone Man!”  As Joel stood proudly in front of the box, Stephen attempted valiantly to get across the concept that each child was a stone in the spiritual building we call the church.  After a few minutes startled and bewildered children were herded away to Children’s Church, and Stephen and Joel (who was another preacher’s kid!) added one more chapter to their already dubious reputations.
          But they were right in saying that the church is like a building that is made up of “living stones.”  What does that image tell us about the church?
          First of all, the church is about God and God’s people.  In fact, it’s theologically incorrect to say that this sanctuary is God’s house.  God doesn’t live here!  God lives in his people, who form a kind of spiritual building.  This structure just keeps the rain out!
          All of us are “stones” in that spiritual building.  That means that each one of us has an important role to play.  We bear the weight of those above us.  Others below bear our weight.  Like a good stone mason, God uses all kinds of stones to form his building and carefully fits them all together.  Black and white and brown.  Rich and poor.  Men and women.  Young and old.  Some of our living stones are successful in society, while others are not.  Some living stones are solid and well-formed, while others are broken.  Just as there are a variety of stones in a wall, there are a variety of people in a church.  And God wants it that way.
          This image also reminds us that Christian life is life in a community, as the creed reminds us when it refers to the “communion of saints.”  We can’t be a spiritual house all by ourselves.  One stone does not a building make!  God calls us to live in community.  I admit that can be annoying at times.  We don’t always agree with each other.  Some of us are prickly or prejudiced or arrogant.  All of us struggle with some sin or other.  That’s the down side of being in a community.  But there is also an upside.  We care for one another in a Christian community.  When there is illness.  When there is death.  When someone experiences failure.  And, we celebrate together, too- maybe a promotion or birth of a child or grandchild. 
          Whether the connections happen face-to-face, over the phone, by email, or on Facebook, the church is a community.  We’ve witnessed this recently as Phyllis recovers from her accident, as Susie, Jan, and others face treatment, and as we grieve Don Clark’s death.  GPC excels at being a community.
          But this spiritual building, this supportive community is different from other organizations.  Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of this building.    “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”  (I Peter 2:6) When a cornerstone is laid, it determines the location of the building and the exact direction of each wall.  The church is built on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.  That means that the priorities and direction of the church are determined by Christ.  And that means that being a member of the church is different than being a member of any other organization. 
          The primary focus of most organizations is determined by the desires and goals of its members.  Not so in the church.  The church doesn’t exist for the benefit of its members.  It exists for God and God’s purposes.  The criteria for all the decisions we make in the church should be this: Does this course of action honor Jesus Christ and advance his mission for the church?  That means that phrases like, “I’m just not comfortable with fill in  the blank,” or “I don’t like that new whatever,” or “It’s just not like it used to be,”- those phrases should be rare in the church.  Instead, the criteria should be, “Does this decision honor Jesus Christ?  Does this practice advance his mission for the church?”  My personal preferences, desires, dreams, hopes, previous experiences, and comfort level are entirely secondary.  And so are yours!  Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.
          Next, Peter talks a little bit about what takes place in the church.  “...let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood….” (I Peter 2:5)   A holy priesthood.  Let’s talk about that.  Picture an ancient temple.  I saw a variety of them on my recent trip to Israel- Canaanite, Roman, and Hebrew.  All of them had priests whose role was to bridge the gap between God and the people.  But notice who the priests are in this passage.  All of us are priests.  That’s right.  If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a priest!  In fact, you are a holy priest.  Again, that doesn’t mean that you’re better than anyone else, but just that God has chosen to set you apart for priestly duty. 
          When the Protestant reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin read this passage they were taken aback.  The medieval Roman Catholic Church had lost sight of this truth and had determined that only a few people could be priests.  Everyone else had to go through them to gain access to Jesus Christ.  But passages like this one convinced the reformers that this idea was mistaken.  According to Peter, every believer in Jesus Christ is a priest.  We have direct access to God through Jesus Christ.  We don’t need anyone to run interference for us!  And, like priests, we do intervene with God on behalf of others.  We do that through our prayers.  The reformers called this understanding “the priesthood of all believers.”
          Writer Ann Lamott illustrates the priestly role of other believers in her book, Traveling Mercies.  She writes, “When my minister was about seven, her best friend got lost one day.  The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark.  She was very frightened.  Finally a policeman stopped to help her.  He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church.  She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, “You could let me out now.  This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here.”  Lamott adds, “And that is why I have stayed so close to my church- because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home.”  We are all priests who help each other find our way home!
          So, the church is like a spiritual building, made of living stones, a community.  And all of us have been called as priests to intervene with God for one another.  Is there anything else?  Yes. (SLIDE #6)  Verse 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.”  (I Peter 2:9)
          The church is called to balance its inward mission of being a caring, priestly community with an outward mission of proclaiming the mighty acts of God, which can only mean the Good News of God’s love for all people in Jesus Christ.  In the People’s Republic of China, the officially-sanctioned Christian denomination is called the “Three-Self Church.”  Their worship services contain singing, prayers, Scripture reading, preaching, and the sacraments.  Just like here.  But they are not allowed to evangelize.  That’s part of their deal with the Communist state.  They can do their thing in peace as long as they don’t share it with anyone else.
          But there are about 50 million other Christians in China who have chosen not to be part of the “Three-Self Church.”  They risk meeting illegally in homes, because they’re convinced that you can’t be a Christian church unless you share the Good News with others.  The two go together and are inseparable.  I don’t raise this issue to heap judgment on the Three-Self Christians, who face pressures we can only imagine.  But the situation in China reminds us that evangelism and Christian faith are inextricably linked.  The Apostle Peter says that our inward ministries exist in order that we can proclaim the Good News of the gospel.
          We Presbyterians used to be pretty good at sharing our faith.  Unfortunately, many of us have forgotten how to do it in recent years.  We’re sitting on the best news that the world has ever heard- that God loves every single person and wants to deliver them from the ravages of sin and evil- and yet we fail to spread it around. 
          You can begin by simply inviting someone to come with you to worship or some other church activity.  You might tell someone why Jesus is important to you.  You could offer to pray for someone who is struggling with something.  You could send a card with a Scripture verse to a friend.  And, in addition to verbally “proclaiming the mighty acts of God,” you could do your best to live a life consistent with your Christian calling.  The mission of the church is outward as well as inward.

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