Meditation for Worship: August 24, 2008

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it

Father,

This morning we confess to you that our faith is nothing like Peter’s.
Or even Thomas’s.
So often it feels like we are standing on sand, not rocks.
Life is shifting all around us.
Jobs disappear, our bodies weaken and fail,
Our families are fractured, our spirits are ready to snap.

Then we hear your word:
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

All around us we hear voices crying, “We like Jesus but not the church!”
And some of us have felt that the rock has turned us to stone.
We want to smash those rocks, and start over.
We want to be free to build a new and better church!

Then we hear your word:
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Break our stony hearts, Lord, and release your Spirit;
not merely to collect us together but to form us into the building that is your Holy Temple.
We confess that Christ is our Chief Cornerstone.
And we thank you for the rocks that you have already given us.
Rocks named Peter, and Martha,
Teresa and Francis,
Dietrich and Jim,
Clive, Wang, Oscar, Martin, Saji…
Make us living stones, like them;
Fixed upon the firm conviction that
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

Then we will be your church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.