Our title, "Living Stones", comes from the First Letter of Peter, Chapter 4: “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house…” (1 Pt 2:4) It seems a fitting image for a blog about how, as a people, we are continually re-shaped, and reformed for service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The process of change is not easy. It is human nature to cling to what we know and what we love. Even if the promise of the future is bright, we are reluctant to move on. Certainly we get a glimpse of this in the story of the Transfiguration. St. Peter offers to build tents for the Lord, Moses and Elijah on the mountain in order to preserve and prolong the experience; but the moment passes. The followers of Jesus came down from that mountain and went on to experience the presence of the Lord with them everyday. To live is to change.
I was speaking with a woman after last Sunday’s event for leaders of the four parishes in the Asbury Park area. She had listened carefully to the presentation, and she was sympathetic to those who had expressed anxiety during the question and answer period. However, she shared with me what she had chosen not to say aloud. She wished we would recall the words of Jesus, “Do not be afraid.”
Every parish in the Diocese of Trenton is in the process of change. We cannot be “living stones” and have it be otherwise. There is nothing to fear, for we are in the hands of our loving God who is building us up into a “spiritual house” that we might work together to announce His kingdom.
