In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     It is indeed, exciting, to be thinking about and planning for--building! Every Sunday that we have to run folks out of the Atrium so that we can convene Adult Class; every time I see the little ones meeting at a round table crammed into the downstairs kitchen for Sunday School; every time we pack ourselves into the Atrium for a congregational potluck I think about how badly we need space for education, fellowship and ministry. Did you know that this year we're having our annual fundraiser for the Children's Center, outside, as a carnival, because we've outgrown our building? There's no place here where we can have a big dinner for the Children's Center, just as there's no place in our building where we could seat and feed more than about 100 of our members for a congregation--that in a congregation of over 500! I guess we just don't expect all our members to ever come for a congregational event. Because if everyone came--if half our members came, we wouldn't have enough room to sit everyone down at a potluck. So--we're responding to the great need, by getting ready to build.a two-story building of about 9000 square feet, with a wonderful multi-purpose fellowship hall upstairs, with a balcony to the southwest, giving us a striking view of the mountains and downtown--and downstairs, additional classrooms for Sunday School and daycare, so that we can have an infant room, added toddler spaces and more rooms for our kids on Sunday--as they come to learn about Jesus and His love. It is exciting--and yet, I also know there's always the concern for money and funds--so, we are trying to be frugal and wise. We are looking at alternative building materials so that we might be able to reduce costs and make the building more affordable. For example, we're thinking about using traditional forms for the foundation, but instead of filling them with cement, we're considering Jello. It's lighter, it still sets up and gets harder, and think of all the colors! When you take off the forms, you don't even have to paint. Instead of building with wood 2 by 4's, or steel, we're considering something easier to work with--styrofoam--while they do tend to crumble, you can cut them with a pocket knife. Believe me, we're looking at all the latest products and inventions as we prepare to build--the only problem will be, of course, that a building with Jello foundations and a styrofoam structure, may not last as long as we'd like.

     I'm being facetious, obviously, to prove a point. No one would build a church using Jello for the foundation, or styrofoam for the structure. In Lutheran churches, Jello has it's place, as does styrofoam in building--but you wouldn't build a church building with these materials for obvious reasons. It wouldn't hold up! It wouldn't stand the test of time! The kids would be eating the Jello! And yet, isn't that how we might characterize our denomination, the ELCA today? I was at a retreat with our conference pastors last Monday, and our bishop, and one of the pastors mentioned letters he's been getting about how wishy-washy our church has become, and how we don't really seem to know or to be able to affirm what we stand for anymore. Now, we have a recommendations coming to our church-wide assembly in August that suggests we retain our historic, biblical policy with regard to marriage and sexuality--that outside of marriage between one man and one woman, all are to live chaste and pure lives--but we're not really going to hold pastors and bishops and congregations accountable to this policy. Does that not sound like shaky ground? If our denomination is going to change church teaching, then change it! But don't say we're going to keep our historic teaching, but not live by it! Another of the pastors at our gathering last Monday said, "Well, that's what it means to be Lutherans--we struggle a lot; we question the Bible; we're not always as sure and confident as some other Christians seem to be." Can you believe that--from a Lutheran pastor? Can you believe that from one who is supposedly in the same lineage and order of ministry, as Blessed Martin Luther, who said, "My conscience is captive to the Word of God.Here I stand.I can do no other!" Whatever happened, in Lutheranism, in our particular corner of Lutheranism, to the proclamation, "A Mighty Fortress is our God.a bulwark never failing"? What's happened? It appears we're no longer build on solid rock, but on sinking sand. It seems we're no longer concerned about how we build, or on what we are building--we're trying, instead, a softer approach, a nicer approach, an approach that is more flexible and adjustable and comfortable. Kind of like building with terrycloth, or foam rubber--materials that won't chafe, or rub, or bruise. They just won't hold up--to the winds and the storms that will beat upon the Church over time. They just won't remain standing as the Church is beset, as Peter writes, with the fiery ordeal that will come upon it. What building materials ought to be used, in building up the Church, which is the Body of Christ? In our second lesson, Peter makes it quite clear--we are to be used in the building of this spiritual house that is the Church--but we are not to be Jello, or styrofoam, or foam rubber, we are to be living stones--living, breathing stones!

     Now why in the world would Peter talk in such a way, about the Church of Jesus Christ, being built of human beings? We humans are weak, frail beings, are we not? We shake in our boots, we tremble when we are afraid, we cut and run when something frightens us. But, could Peter be saying, it doesn't need to be that way--we, don't need to shake and tremble with fear? It would appear, from what Peter is proclaiming in his epistle, that those who receive pure, spiritual milk-- pure, unadulterated teaching, we may indeed grow into living stones.yes, we are to be living, breathing beings, but Peter wasn't kidding when he points out that we are to be stones--solid, sturdy, unwavering, dependable, confident. How in the world could Jesus build his Church on Christians who aren't really sure what they believe--on Christians who aren't being nourished on pure, spiritual milk, but on the junk food offered by our culture of death? Jesus Christ, himself, is the cornerstone, rejected by the religious leaders of his own time and a stumbling block still, for many in our world today. But He is the cornerstone, chosen and precious in God's sight--and we are to let ourselves be built into this spiritual house--to be a holy priesthood--a holy nation, God's own people, in order that we may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness, into his marvelous light. Yes, we want to be part of that spiritual house--we want to be built into Christ's body, the Church; but here's the thing: we need to feed, only on the pure, spiritual milk; and we need to become, living stones. We need to become confident in our faith; we need to live with the strength and power of the resurrection; we need move away from self-defeating fear, to courage for living as resurrection people. We need to live boldly as the holy priesthood we are--a holy nation, God's own people, not unsure and uncertain and wavering, but firm in the faith we've been given. But how do we do that? How does that transformation take place in us?

     Jesus said to the disciples, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me." In our first lesson, as Stephen was about to be stoned, filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." And this, vision, this gazing upon Jesus risen and glorified, gave him the strength and the power and the courage to overcome, yes, even the horror of death by stoning. And we too are strengthened, empowered, encouraged, by focusing our eyes on Jesus, risen and glorified--believing in God the Father, and believing in the Son, Jesus Christ. This is what gives us a strong and unshakable faith! This is what strengthens weak knees! This is what makes of us, not bowls full of jelly, but living stones--living stones that can be built into the house of the Church, the body of Christ--to withstand the winds of change and the beating of the storms of life--to be able to stand, steadfast, against the fiery ordeal--the temptations and the persecutions and the trials that come upon us. To focus our eyes, and our lives, upon Christ, the solid rock, the chosen and precious cornerstone--is to receive power and strength for living--because we are standing on the sure foundation which is, Christ Jesus, who is, our salvation. May He give to you, today, surety of faith, confidence of belief, strength to withstand, and courage to live, as the living stones that you are--through faith, in Him!

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.