Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

Acts 7:55-60

1 Peter 2:2-10

John 14:1-14

NUCC

Easter 5

April 24, 2005

            Today each of our scripture lessons tells of stones ----- killing stones, corner stones, refuge stones.  As we have heard them we are reminded that the Christian Church had a particularly rocky start to her existence.

            Our leader was executed on a stony crag called Golgotha, laid to rest inside a rocky cave and brought to resurrected life when the stone was rolled away.  Now today we have heard the story of difficulties in the early days of the church.  A group of people were called to serve as Deacons so that the poor, especially widows, could be provided for.  But one of those Deacons felt called to preach in addition to serving.  His name was Stephen.  He offended the people in power by his forceful words condemning them for causing Jesus’ death.  “Stiff-necked people,” he called them.  “Opposed to the Holy Spirit.”  For this Stephen was dragged out of town and, as one translator puts it, “pelted with rocks.”  He died in prayer as the rocks came raining down upon his head.

            This is how our Christian Church got its start ----- in opposition and in persecution.  Others would follow Stephen in such a death.

            Even though the church eventually rose beyond persecution, rocky times did not cease.  If we look back even to the history of our own church we can find that even though our spiritual forbears in Neillsville did not suffer persecution, they did have a tough time of it.  Zion Reformed Church began out in southwest Pine Valley with a group of German and Swiss immigrants.  They formed a church and were able to have a minister come on weekends every third week.  Seeing that there were no prospects for growth out in the “boon docks” they moved to town, which caused new problems.  They rented the Unitarian Church for $50 a year and finally were able to purchase it in 1913.

            The Congregational Church had similar challenges, and I’m told that Rev. Longenecker had to exist on the generosity of his members, since his salary didn’t really offer him much support.

            Through the years the two churches which formed our United Church of Christ continued down a sometimes rocky road.  When they voted to merge in 1958 and then build a new building in 1962 they had to go out of town for a loan because local bankers didn’t think the church could afford such a structure.  But here we are today, still worshiping and praising the one for whom the stone was rolled away on Easter morning.

            As I remember such rocky beginnings and such rocky roads in the ancient church and the church of our day I am buoyed up by the remembrance of courageous servants like Stephen and the rock-solid ministry of so many other leaders.

            In my study at home I have several stones.  Among them are some stones from the dried up creek (or wadi) in Israel where a young shepherd boy named David picked up “five smooth stones” and then slew a giant named Goliath.  Next to these I have others stones from a wind-swept island off the coast of Scotland ---- an island named Iona.  An Irish monk named Columba landed on the rocky shore of that island and established a church.  From there he brought Christianity to the country of Scotland.  Now in this day pilgrims gather from all over the world at the Iona Abbey to worship and be renewed for service in all sorts of places.  We have sung music from that place.

            In this time as well as in previous times we recognize that God offers us a challenge to head out on rocky roads and land on rocky shores, even braving rocks that may be thrown at us.  But God also offers us the strength which comes from a solid foundation laid by people like Stephen.  And then God offers us a refuge where we can be protected, strengthened and renewed.  The Abbey in Iona is a place like that.

            On Friday night Karen and I became aware of another place of refuge in a rocky time.  It was called the Hotel Des Mille Collines.  It was (and is) a four-star luxury hotel in Kilgali, Rwanda.  Usually wealthy Europeans and North Americans stayed there while on business.  But during the horrible genocide of 1994 when the Hutus were massacring the rival Tutsis, not with stones but the machetes, this elegant hotel became a fortress, “a rock of refuge” for over a thousand Tutsi destined for death.  The assistant manager, Paul Rusesabagina, emerged as the savior for these people through his calm and courageous efforts ----- first just to save his own family ---- and then to rescue neighbors, residents of an orphanage, and complete strangers ---- from the machete wielding madmen who roamed the streets.  This story is detailed in the movie Hotel Rwanda, and I would highly recommend it to you.

            Paul Rusesabagina was not a natural hero.  His calling was primarily to please the rich and well-to-do at a high class hotel.  However, when the time came he knew that God was calling him to use his skills at negotiation and organization for a much greater task.  He was a rock in the good sense.  He was a rock solid support for those who in need, those whose very lives were about to be sniffed out.

            Then I think of our scripture texts:

Psalm 31

            Be a rock of refuge for me,

            A strong fortress to save me.

1 Peter

Present yourselves as building stones for construction of a sanctuary

vibrant with life…

John 14

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…

Where I am, there you may be also.

Jenny Williams writes:

“How odd that the rock of ages, in whom we seek sanctuary, fashions us into a living sanctuary for the rest of the world.”

            This indeed is both our comfort and our challenge.  The promise of God through Jesus Christ is that there is a place for each of us.  He has gone there before us.  He has traveled the rocky road and cleared a path.  Now he invites us in.  He affirms us and ordains us into what the writer of 1 Peter called a “royal priesthood.”  At our baptism we are welcomed into this priesthood of all believers.  Here we are nurtured.  Here we are trained.  And then we are sent out.  For some of us the challenge may be just as great as it was for Paul Rusesabagina at that hotel in Rwanda.  For others the challenges will be of a more modest nature ---- like raising a family or helping a neighbor.  For all of us the promise we receive is that God is indeed our rock and our salvation.  There is a place for us in God’s ministry.

            During the past weeks I have presided at several funerals.  One of the texts I have used was our Gospel Lesson for this morning ------ one which promises a room for each of us.  My prayer and hope is that each of us will accept the invitation to refuge offered by our God and that each of us also may one time also be welcomed into one of those rooms in a house, not built on sand, but on solid rock:

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  (2 Corinthians 5:1)

Amen