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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues.

Belonging and depending

Living stones with Christ the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-6)

 

Context

Glenrothan is a tense drama about family and forgiveness. After thirty-five years in the USA, Donal returns to his family-owned whisky distillery in the Scottish Highlands. He left straight after his mother’s funeral and had not been back since. He did not even attend his father’s funeral. His brother Sandy invited him home and to everyone’s amazement he returned. Although Donal had built a life for himself in America, the wounds from that terrible time have never fully healed. Now, with the survival of their treasured family business on the line, Donal hopes to make amends with Sandy – and to find some desperately needed inner peace – before it’s too late.

One of the themes that the film explores is belonging and how belonging is important for a relationship to flourish in a deep and fulfilled way.

This week the long-awaited state visit of the King and Queen to USA is taking place at a time when relations between the two nations have been described as strained. In his historic speech to US Congress, King Charles has called for reconciliation, renewal and prayer that the alliance will continue to defend shared values.

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

Similarly, one of the themes explored by the writer of 1 Peter in chapter 2 is what it means to be living stones. This is a theme of mutual dependence and interrelationship and how this is enabled by God through Christ the cornerstone.

Members of a family and members of Christian communities do not always agree and it can be challenging to co-exist peaceably but the presence of Christ the cornerstone holds the individuals together. God is worthy of praise for enabling this but we are also challenged to offer this model more widely in our world.

Living stones share a common purpose. Together they bring greater strength. The King calls for reconciliation and renewal between the UK and the USA so that both nations may be stronger together. Here is a challenge to look for opportunities for reconciliation within and between Christian communities.

 

Questions for discussion

  • What does it mean to you belong to a church?
  • Who do you depend upon?
  • If the church model is so good how can we share it more convincingly with others?

Rev Stuart Wild is a Methodist minister and regular cinema goer when time permits.

 

 

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Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

This time of year is arguably my favourite time of year - in part due to the warmer weather, but mainly due to the plethora of sport:

And yet sport was never really my thing when we were growing up. Yes, we played football on the playground at school and we kicked a ball about in our back garden at home. But I was often one of the last to be picked, never got anywhere near any of the school sports teams and wasn’t involved in sport outside of school.

I struggled to find my place.

And yet, when it came to church life, I somehow kept finding a place. It started out with being asked to operate the ‘OHP’. (If you’re under 30, ask someone aged 40+ what an OHP is!) As I moved into double figures, we were often asked to do a reading or play a part in a drama. As I started to pass my piano exams – I was more a pianist than a sports star as a child – I got invited to play the odd song in church which grew into playing multiple songs as I grew in confidence.

Because I’m human, and the Church is made up of imperfect people like you and me, I still often struggle to find – or know – what my place in the Church is. And yet this final verse from today’s passage in 1 Peter spells it out loud and clear:

‘Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.’ (1 Peter 2:10a NRSVA).

We – me, you, the person sat next to you – we are the people of God. Not someone who's got it all together. Let’s face it, no-one's got it all together. No – we are the people of God together. Therefore, there’s a place for each of us in the Kingdom of God.

Jonathan Buckley is the Redevelopment Manager at St Paul’s Wordsworth Avenue in Sheffield and the Youth Development Worker at YMCA White Rose in Rotherham.

 

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