1 Peter 2: 2–10, John 14: 1–14

By Rt Revd Katrina Scott,
Archdeacon of Cheltenham and Acting Archdeacon of Gloucester

God of love,
Open our ears to hear your word afresh
And open our hearts to respond in our lives.

Amen

‘Heaven itself cannot contain you.’

Those were the first words in the Dedication Service for this church – back in 1992. Heaven itself cannot contain you – words, sung by the choir, taken from the First Book of Kings, words that express something of God’s eternal and omnipresent nature.

They are very good words for us to ponder today, as we hear today’s Bible passages, as we continue to celebrate the Easter season, but also begin to look towards Ascension Day and Pentecost.

Thank you so much for your welcome of me here today. It is a joy to be back. I grew up in this church, and in fact, my faith and vocation were deeply nurtured in this church. My Dad, David Goldie, was the Vicar through the period of the planning, building and early years of this building.

My sisters and I had the privilege of growing up here in a time where the vision for this place was an inspiration. There was a lot of activity and a lot of happy times, and some great fundraisers – Burns Suppers, fun runs, picnics and parties particularly stand out in my memory…. One highlight moment for me was the Good Friday, when we sang, ‘Lift high the Cross’ as the cross was lifted by crane onto the dome above us – to stand visibly expressing God’s love across the city. It still hits me with joy when I drive into the city and see the dome and the cross standing out.

But, of course, all of that was about more than a building, more than bricks and mortar, … it was always about being a symbol of hope for the future, being a space of love that nurtures the people of God, and as your current vision statement puts it, ‘Creating an Oasis of hope in Central Milton Keynes’. This is what today’s readings speak to.

In our Gospel reading, we hear Jesus talking with his followers, the night before he died. He knew what was going to happen to him – they didn’t. He gave them words of peace, of confidence, and reassured them that whatever happened, he would be with them.

He also pointed towards what his hopes for them would be – to continue to do the works of his Father, in heaven…

Our first reading is from the first letter of Peter – an encouraging letter to the early Christian community, facing uncertainty and persecution. Peter writes of the fundamentals of the faith, supporting and inspiring the people of God. In the passage we hear today (which coincidentally, was in fact a passage also read in the Dedication Service of this building), Peter speaks to the people, describing how they are specially called by God and given a new identity as ‘living stones’, built together supported by Jesus the cornerstone. Peter encourages the readers that they should keep on trusting and praising God who has shown them light and mercy. As it says on the base stones at the foot of the chapel, outside: ‘We the living stones – Christ the Cornerstone’.

Both readings remind us that God is all around us, offering peace, hope and light – encouraging us to trust in him. They both also help us to see that the Christian life is about faith AND action.

One of the joys of being in my current role as Archdeacon, is that I get to support and encourage hundreds of different Christian communities. I see colleagues, lay and ordained, serving in a whole variety of places and among a great diversity of people – and I am so encouraged by the faithful, exciting communities that I see week to week. In the last month, I have been with the people in a small village in the north Cotswolds, I have been in a large church in the heart of Cheltenham, I have been in a community centre in a new estate on the edge of Gloucester with a group of new Christians – as many of whom were under ten years old, as were adults!

In each place people were gathered for worship, fellowship and encouragement, and in each place they were sent out into their lives to live as God’s people. That is so much a part of who we are as church – we are people who gather and we are people who are sent out. People who are nurtured here – and people who go out to share God’s love. As our readings today say – people who are rooted in the cornerstone, and sent into our daily lives as living stones, to make a difference.

One of my colleagues said something to me this week, that seemed to be both quite simple, but also deeply profound. He said, faith is about our heads, our hearts AND our hands. Our heads, our hearts and our hands. As I say, deeply simple and challenging.

Who we are as the people of God, affects our:
heads – what we believe;
our hearts – how we feel;
our hands – how we act.

All of that is drawn into the role of Living Stones. This is a role for us all…

There’s a great story about the evangelist, Billy Graham. Apparently, one day, he was visiting a new place to preach a sermon. He needed to post a letter on his way to the church, so he stopped and asked a young child where the post office was. Billy Graham thanked him and then invited him to church – ‘f you come this evening,’ he said, ‘you can hear me telling everyone how to get to heaven.’

‘I don’t think I’ll bother’, said the child, ‘how will you show us the way to heaven, if you don’t even know the way to the post office?’

As living stones, we don’t need to know all the answers, but we are simply invited to live our faith in action: in heads, hearts and hands.

I love the story of the young Robert Louis Stevenson. He was looking out of his window one winter’s evening on the Edinburgh street on which he lived, and he saw the old-fashioned lamplighter coming past on his rounds. He called his carer to him, saying, ‘Look, look, there’s a man out there punching holes in the darkness!’ (A beautiful image – as the lamps were being lit – it was as if the darkness was being punched through.)

As living stones, we too are people called to punch holes in the darkness!

Heaven itself cannot contain God – God is everywhere, deeply among our communities; we are invited to use our heads, hearts and hands to help people see him, know him and trust in him.

Amen