Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, July 19, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I collect rocks when I’m at the lake. This 12 x 4 mile expanse of clear, blue water kicks up a cornucopia of color and pattern onto our narrow strip of beach. I spend hours just staring at them, waiting for my eye to be caught by a particular hue or the way powerful forces have made this or that stone perfectly rounded or delightfully striped. I use these treasures to make picture frames in which I put…wait for it…pictures from up at the lake. Each stone is lovingly chosen, precious in my sight.
And so we are in the eyes of God, who sees in us a delightful riot of color and pattern, who recognizes the way the forces in our lives that batter us also shape us, who chooses each of us lovingly as a precious treasure to be used in building a spiritual house—a community of infinite beauty and variety, mutually supportive, in which God is fully present.
What does it mean to me to be a living stone that is part of a spiritual house?