Living Stones

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like 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. ~ I Peter 2:4-5

 If it weren't for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song. ~ Carl Perkins


I love paradoxical metaphors, and a "living stone" has always been one of those for me.  Jesus and us as Jesus followers as living stones.  What does that look like?
What are adjectives you'd ascribe to a stone? Strong? Sturdy? Steadfast? How is something so hard and still and immovable, and yet also pliable and animated? 

 And a living stone? What's that like?
Are there stones or rocks that you've seen that seem alive to you?  Ayers Rock perhaps in the Outback of Australia? If you Google it and look at images, you can see how the sunlight plays on the rock to bring it to life.
Or perhaps Mt. Rushmore or the still-being-worked-on Crazy Horse memorial in South Dakota.
Or the marble that Michaelanglo turned into David or the Pieta.
Or the mysterious rocks of Stonehenge or the great statues of Easter Island.
For me, a rock is one of the most powerful images of the work of the Holy Spirit.  I have a small riverstone that I hold in my hand sometimes in prayer.  It has had carved into it the word "Love," but even before a human hand carved the word, time and water smoothed the stone into the polished form it has now.  Just as the Holy Spirit works over time on me and you and the life around us.
A rock might not seem at first to be the best image for life.  It might seem the opposite.  But as we know, God - who is strong and steadfast - often uses unexpected and sometimes contradictory things or people to bring about new life. 
Can a rock - rejected by mortals - be chosen and precious? 
What rocks are pointing you to signs of new life?

God of earth and stone, mold me in ways unexpected and previously unimagined that I might be fully alive in you.  Amen.
Thoughts for engagement:

- What makes a stone chosen and precious? 

- What "stones" are pointing you to signs of new life?
- Look up other parts of scripture where rock or stones appear. What is happening in those passages?

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