As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

1 Peter 2: 4-6 (NIV)

Kia ora whanau

Jenny and I have been away on sabbatical (I hope somebody noticed) and it’s so good to be back home and catching up with everyone. Even if that did mean being thrown in the deep end and sharing at our recent training days (at Karori, less than 48 hours after landing – not sure how much sense I made). There have been so many blessings over our time away and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you over the next few months.

Our final month was spent in Israel-Palestine. With a small ecumenical group of Christians we worshipped, explored, prayed and learned about the complex history of the cradle of Christianity from a range of ethnicities, traditions, political persuasions and faiths. It was a challenging and richly rewarding time in which we were so fortunate to visit many of the historical buildings and sites considered sacred to our faith and others.

One thing I noted was a recurring conversation which emerged with Palestinian Christians. Many would make the point that so many international Christians would visit the Holy Land, but their focus was on visiting ‘dead stones’, rather than interacting with the living stones; Christians alive and active in the mission of Jesus within their communities. This was a powerful observation, particularly for me off the back of our Lent Study which focussed around 1 Peter in which this concept of living stones is so prominent.

So what does it mean for us to be the living stones ourselves, and to be present to each other as fellow living stones? The 1 Peter 2 passage above reminds us that Jesus is our central living stone; the one around we are all built; who positioned himself right in the middle of us; of people. In some ways it’s an oxymoronic metaphor – how can something that is dead be alive? How can something that is heavy move with dynamism in response to the work of the Spirit?

One way that we can begin to answer that question is to think about our beautiful Anglican ecclesiology. We have been gifted a church which is beautifully place-based. We aim to be present as a dynamic beating heart in every community. And although our buildings are part of that, we know deep down that primarily the call of Jesus was to the living stones, the people. That familiar whakatauki has it right: He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.

I firmly believe that the call to be living stones is our collective responsibility as God’s people here at this time and place. If you’re on a parish leadership team at any level, I encourage you to talk to your parish leaders and team to sign up to the upcoming Leading Your Church into Growth hui. Whether you have discerned a plan for your area and are putting it into action, or you’re wondering what the Spirit might be calling you to next, this is an opportunity to work through this in a practical way. It’s a chance to ask each other: what does it mean to be living stones in our place of ministry? Hope to see you there!

+Justin