In Unity with the Cornerstone of Christ

In Unity with the Cornerstone of Christ

Good Morning Friends,

Yesterday we had a sermon on the great commandment. The scripture came from the lectionary for the day.
In reflection it does us good to think of the great commandment of loving God and its partner, loving ones neighbor when we worship God. It does us good to praise God with it in mind. It does us good, because then we can move forward in the great commandment – the one commandment, which is the basis of all others. Friends, it is the reaction to love that changes us, binds us together and builds up the church. And it is in this hope that Jesus prayed and we join to be one In
Unity with the Cornerstone of Christ.

³Scripture:
⁵like 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 2:5 (NRSV)

4I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:1-6 (NRSV)

20 ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,^* so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

John 17:20-24 (NRSV)

Message:

Ever look at a brick. They are all slightly different and have little holes in them. My relatives up North made bricks in a place called Little Egypt. They were promoted as a safer building material when fires burned down wooden structures. My Grandfather helped to build a church building from reused bricks, containing the blood and sweat of the parishioners who scrapped off the mortar. The history of it reminds me that we must stick together as a team…as bricks held together with His mortar. We must build each other up as a body made up of many parts. Because each one of us, in our own way reflects the image of God…because we are unique in our abilities and maturity…because we have different roles, each is important in God’s eyes.
Friends, it is the Holy Spirit who builds the Church and cements her unity, founded on the cornerstone that is Jesus… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. This is about building unity in the church…this is our work and it needs a lot of love. Friends, we have been called out as an assembly to a great hope of strength and unity in the Holy Spirit. We have been called out so we might take our brick lives, forged in passion and turn them into living stones bound to one another in love with Christ as the Cornerstone.

Pray we realize that it is the grace of the Holy Spirit that gives us the strength to love. Pray we realize that love, this act of adoration has the power to bind us together. Pray we are in relationship with the one true God. Pray we know Jesus and mature in the one true faith. Pray we have a passion that burns in us baptizing us and forging our very souls into the one true church. Pray the One Word made flesh inform us how to portray this passion loving the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength bound to our neighbor with ourselves in a community of love…one with the Spirit.

Blessings,

John Lawson