Quick Summary:

Today we have a strange and wonderful assortment of texts, and running through the first and second lessons and the psalm (and maybe even the gospel if we’re creative enough...) are images clustered around rocks and stones.

The first lesson tells of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, stoned to death because of his testimony about Jesus. Stones, we see, can be instruments of judgment.

But Psalm 31 shows us another side: LORD BE MY STRONG ROCK, A CASTLE TO KEEP ME SAFE, FOR YOU ARE MY CRAG AND MY STRONGHOLD.

When placed according to God’s gracious design, stones can become places of refugee and protection.

Historian Phyllis Tickle, writing about the great change cycle we in church and society are caught up in right now, has dubbed it THE GREAT EMERGENCE. If there is a danger that something precious will be lost as the church evolves to keep in touch with the shifts and changes of our larger culture, is there not also a danger that the church will become a museum piece? A fossilized relic?

Whatever else we are called to be about during this second decade of the 21st century, we are certainly being challenged to engage our imaginations in our approach to theology and mission.