What do babies, stones and priests have in common? Not a lot, we might think. But they are the three images in our second reading this morning, images Peter uses to encourage us to to grow in our faith. I'd like us to chew over these images this morning and see what they have to say to us.
The first picture is of newborn babies. Peter has earlier, in chapter 1, reminded his readers that they have been 'born anew' through the living and enduring word of God. Now he says, 'like newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.'
Most of us know what newborn babies look like, though they are always a marvel to see as they don't stay newborn babies for long! Many of us may have had our own children, or remember younger siblings when they were tiny. And some here in this congregation are rejoicing in the recent arrival of a grandchild, even if they sadly cannot see them in the flesh at the moment. There is one thing which new parents are acutely aware of: their newborn baby is utterly dependent on milk in order to grow. If babies are to grow well and strong, they need to feed well and we are concerned when a baby isn't feeding properly.
Just as the newborn baby is dependent on milk to grow, we as Christians need to long for the pure spiritual milk in order to grow in our spiritual lives. What is this spiritual milk? Milk is sometimes used in the NT to refer to the basic teachings of the gospel; here it seems to refer not only to the gospel message, but also to God's very presence. God feeds us not just with a spiritual message, but with his very self, his very life. Peter refers to the invitation in Psalm 34 to 'taste and see that the Lord is good'; but he assumes here that his readers have already 'tasted that the Lord is good', and having tasted God's goodness they are to long for more of it. We are to long for more of God, just as the baby longs for more milk. The word Peter uses here is a very strong one; it literally means to crave. We are urged to 'crave' more of God; his presence and his love.
If we're honest we may admit that we don't have such a strong desire for God. Babies, of course, have an instinctive craving for their mother's milk, but we have to foster and strengthen our desire for God. Perhaps we used to have it and have lost it, maybe we have never had it. We may be just beginning to taste that the Lord is good, to experience his presence and his love in our lives. But even if our longing for God is rather intermittent or faint we can at least want to want him more. And our longing for God grows the more we spend time in his presence in prayer and silence and reading the Bible.
Babies have a certain look of 'baby' about them, don't they? Yet, when we look closely at each baby we see they're different. And as they grow they'll become more different and they will develop in different ways. So for us in our Christian lives: we look different, we learn in different ways and the way God works in our lives will be different. But whatever stage we're at, we all need that craving for a deeper relationship with God our Father in order to grow. And that craving has to be our own – each of us has to take in all that God offers us through our own hearts and minds. If I'm a baby next to another baby, the fact that the baby next to me craves milk and drinks it won't help me grow. So also, I can't grow as a Christian through someone else's craving for God. I need to taste for myself that 'the Lord is good' and yearn for more of God's presence and love in my own life.
But we are not just a collection of individuals in church, not just a lot of different babies growing up. Peter's second picture makes this clear as he speaks of us being 'living stones', allowing ourselves to be built up into a spiritual house. We're not only growing up as Christians each one separately; we're also being built up together.
Think about a house built of stone. One stone is firmly fixed on another, and another, until the house is built. The house can't be built of one stone, but of many stones all built together on a firm foundation. The word used for stone here is not that of a rough, loose rock lying in a field, but a crafted, worked stone; one that has been shaped. In the process of building with stones one stone may have to be cut and shaped to fit with another stone in order to make the building secure.
As we are built up together as Christians there's sometimes some cutting and shaping going on! And that can be painful when there are conflicts or clashes of personality. When we brush up against someone different from us it may hurt. We are all stones of different shapes and sizes and sometimes our sharp edges have to be cut to fit with another stone, but as that happens we are moulded into the person God wants us to be. Yes, it can be painful; sometimes we don't want to change shape. We want to be the rough stone in the field – rigid, hard and obstinate. But we are called to be worked, shaped stones – living stones – built up together with others.
At the moment we can't meet one another in person. Instead we are worshipping and encouraging one another with online services and meetings. But 'virtual' church, although necessary at the moment, can never replace our meeting in person; though perhaps sometimes that might be tempting, as we don't really rub up against each other; we can keep each other at a safe distance and avoid some of that essential shaping process.
But of course being built up together is also a source of support and encouragement and much of that is still going on. Just as, in a building, one stone rests on another and is held secure, so the same can be true of us: we rest on each other and support one another and we make something more together than we could on our own. That's the church at its best. I pray that here at St Ursula's we can perceive God at work, both in the cutting and shaping which at times goes on and in the holding together and supporting each other.
Peter talks about us 'being built up' together; we are not doing the building ourselves. We need lots of prayer and a deep dependence on God to let him build us together effectively. We're being built by God; we're being built on God. Our foundation does not rest on our common interests, ideas or principles; our foundation is Christ himself, the precious cornerstone. It's only as we, each one, come to him, the living stone, that we can be built up together.
So we come to the third image Peter uses, that of priests. The first image speak of our need to grow as individuals, the second of our need to be built up together; the third picture tells us the purpose of all this.
We're to be priests – which may sound to some of us more unlikely than being a baby or even a stone! Now of course we're not all called to be ordained priests but in an important sense all Christians are called to share in the work of priesthood. There is a 'priesthood of all believers', which means we are all called to do priestly work: to offer sacrifices of praise to God, to pray for others, and to share the message of God's love in Christ.
We're to 'offer spiritual sacrifices to God, through Jesus Christ', Peter says. Spiritual sacrifices sounds rather airy-fairy, but actually our spiritual sacrifices can be very down to earth: 'spiritual' isn't the opposite of 'practical'; rather our spiritual worship includes the whole of our lives. 1 Peter is full of examples of how we can offer spiritual sacrifices by the way we live. Let me mention some: getting rid of jealousy, living in harmony with those around us, speaking openly and gently of our faith to others and showing hospitality.
As 'priests' we are to offer the whole of our lives to God. We are also to pray for others and to speak of him to those who don't know him: 'to proclaim the wonderful acts of God who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.' We have a purpose: to declare God's love and faithfulness to others. We're not being built up together to make a beautiful fellowship just for ourselves – but to share what God has done for us with others; our neighbours, relatives and friends.
Babies, stones and priests.
As babies, we're to crave a deeper relationship with God in order to grow, each one of us as individuals.
As stones, we're to be built up together, on the foundation of Christ; to allow ourselves to be cut and shaped and also to provide strength and support for one another.
As priests, we're to offer our whole lives to God; to pray for others and to declare God's love and faithfulness to them.
In all of this, may we truly taste that the Lord is good. Amen.
Revd Helen Marshall