"The Cornerstone of the Household" given May 14, 2017

 Do you know about the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol Building? At a certain spot in the Capitol Building is a plaque that reads: "Beneath this stone is the original cornerstone for this building." For years everybody assumed that the tablet was correct. Published reports of George Washington's presence at the cornerstone laying ceremony led researchers to place the plaque at that particular site.

It was believed that all you would have to do was dig beneath two centuries of additions and debris and modifications and foundation and somewhere at the bottom of all that has been added onto the original building-- there would be this single precious rock. Maybe there’d even be a time capsule loaded valuable historical artifacts. Who knew what might be encased in such a treasure trove? The flag flown at Valley Forge? A first draft of the Constitution? An autographed copy of the Federalist Papers? The minds of Historians boggled at the possibilities.

But as it turns out, the cornerstone isn't there. They can't find it. They've been looking for a few years now. They've used all sorts of advanced scientific instruments--X-rays and Radar, and Sonar and MRIs and CAT scans-- whatever it is that you use. They've dug up the slopes of Capitol Hill. They've done everything possible short of actually dismantling and excavating the Capitol Building itself.

And the result? No cornerstone. No time capsule. No original copy of James Madison's Inaugural address. Not a even a copy of Dolly Madison's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I think the absence of a cornerstone serves to underline all the anger and divisiveness present on Capitol Hill nowadays. The squabbling has been going on for so long now, that we’ve come to take for granted all the party in-fighting and the culture wars going on daily in the Capitol corridors. Disorder and disunity reign because our leaders lack a cornerstone of shared values and priorities beneath them. Their rancorous instincts to cut this and over-fund that, to one-up and out-macho each other, to glad hand and back-stab even those of their own party-- is symbolized by with their back-hoe operators coming up empty!

Cornerstones have always had a symbolic as well as a structural importance. They mark. They signify. The join together other stones at a crucial point. A cornerstone by its nature, is always located in the foundation-- never on the roof. When the cornerstone is missing below, the foundation will be shaky, and when the foundation is shaky, the building is inherently unstable.

Often a cornerstone bears the history and name of a building, so in a sense, a cornerstone is also a touchstone—it reminds us when the building was built, and who built it, and it reveals the original purpose of the building. That’s true for people as well.

If we were to think about it, I’m sure you and I can come up with a list of people who, based on their behavior, would seem to lack a cornerstone for the living of their lives— no center, not purpose---not faith, nor family, nor country, nor tradition, nor vocation.

There are people who just seem to drift through existence— they might be in a family—but sooner or later that will fall apart. They might end up married three, four, five times and have so many kids and step-kids and kids of their partner’s ex-partner’s partner that the kids need a program to sort out the relationships.

They might get an education—but it’s just a job ticket so far as they’re concerned. They might go to church—but their real religion is short-sided self-interest. They might find a profession, they might not, but in neither case are they committed to it. The idea of finding meaning in work is totally alien to them— work is drudgery—that’s why it’s called

“work”. Jobs are there to make you money to indulge yourself in whatever whim of the moment catches your fancy.

They probably have a garage full of expensive big people toys—many of which they don’t use very much anymore. They might indulge in immorality, or compulsive behavior or substance abuse or inappropriate relationships— whatever feels good at the moment. They might claim to believe in something bigger than themselves. They might even appear to work for that bigger something--a gang or an ethnic group, a cause or a crusade, a tradition or a philosophy. But at but at bottom they participate in such efforts exactly as long as they see those efforts as serving them.

They mock what others believe, but really believe in nothing at all themselves. The key thing about people without a cornerstone is that they have no respect for

themselves. Why? Because they have no conception of who they truly are. Consequently,

they have no respect for the rights, or values, or feelings, or convictions of others.

They use others—for pleasure or convenience, because, so far as they’re can tell, the only reason other people are around is to be used. No relationship is equitable or permanent or of value. They fear old age and curse death—but life itself holds no deep meaning for them.

Without a cornerstone, a building has no inherent stability—nothing holds it together. Without a cornerstone-- nothing holds our human existence together either.

What’s true for buildings and people is also true of churches as well—both local congregations, denominations, and the church universal as the Body of Christ.

In this morning's Second Reading the author of I Peter writes,

"Come to him, a living stone ...a cornerstone chosen and precious

...the stone the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner."

Is there any other text in Scripture that is says so much about our understanding of what it takes to be fully human—much less Christian? Or what it takes to be in and build Christian community?

The Book of Acts paints a portrait of the early church as the house of Scripture and witness-- even in Stephen's case-- witness unto death. In the passage from I Peter the faithful are exhorted to become (pillars of the church) "living stones" in the structure which is the house of God.

Actual stone of course, is not alive. So it's a different kind of stone-- living stone-- that we are called to become-- building blocks in a house that is both spiritual and eternal-- and Christ is our cornerstone, Christ is our foundation.

In this morning's Gospel, Jesus, our cornerstone speaks of the interior of that spiritual household that we call the church. At the Last Supper, He speaks of the house of God, our Eternal Parent. There are dwelling places within that house, Jesus tells us. Mansions--many of them—enough for all of us. Not only will He return to God in order to prepare a dwelling place within that house for us, but He, Himself is that dwelling place of the faithful with God.

The disciples in the Upper Room that night might well have been surprised to hear Jesus use that house imagery. This was a man, who, as best we can infer, never built or owned a house of his own. After leaving his parent's home in Nazareth at age thirty, he seems to have always been a guest in someone else's house-- Bethany, Capernaum, and elsewhere. He hadn't even been born in house-- he was born in a barn!

All this wasn't mere chance. He made it very clear to them that His homelessness was intentional. "Foxes have holes and birds have their nests, but the Son of Humanity has no where to lay His head."

Maybe Jesus had wanted to witness that none of us really has a home in this world, that we're all pilgrims, sojourners, people on the way. Maybe He had been trying to say that none of us should consider ourselves as settled in this unjust and unsettled world which is not yet a true home to so much of suffering humanity.

But now Jesus was speaking of a home-- the house of God—who loves humanity more than any human Mother or a Father. It would be, and is, a house open to all humanity, all peoples and tongues and races and cultures.

"I am the way." Jesus told them. "I am the truth. I am the life." Jesus, his teachings, his ministry, his resurrection-- is the way that leads to the reality of the Creator's House. He is the truth about the one family of the Eternal Parent. His is the life that shows us what human life can and should be about.

We all know this world in which we live—or rather sojourn. It's a world of violence, a world of injustice, a world in which it is impossible for any of us to enjoy a fully human life—because so many of our brothers and sisters must endure such wretched existence. It's a world in which children die of hunger daily and innocent bystanders are massacred in our schools by any under-aged Neanderthals with the price of an automatic rifle. It’s the same world in which Radical so-called Christian Fundamentalists regard women and children as property rather than people. It’s a world in which Radical Fundamentalist Muslims blow up buildings and Radical Fundamentalist Zionists steal land that’s been in other peoples families for centuries—all in the name of God. It’s truly a world without a cornerstone.

Yet it's also the world in which Jesus showed us how to live out the truth and worked great wonders. This is the same world in which our Creator planted us. This is the same world in which Jesus left us with His Spirit, His example, His sacraments, His community. He calls us to form a household-- built of living stones-- to form one body, one family, one home-- making true and complete life possible for all-- working even greater wonders than He did.

The household of God is being built within each of us every day with love. Every unselfish deed, every freely offered kindness, every prayer for someone else, every wrong forgiven, every cup of water offered in Christ’s name, every shut-in or prisoner visited, every hungry person fed, every child protected and nurtured, every witness for justice, every act of compassion, every prayer for peace, every endeavor for the sake of Christ’s Shalom is a brick of that house.

Sisters and Brothers, ask yourselves. What is your life about? Does it have a center? What’s your cornerstone? Is Jesus Christ and his teachings and ministry really its cornerstone? Do you live for yourself, or for Him? Have you built your life in this world around Him?

It's a home in which Christ and the Creator dwell with us. It’s a house, whose foundation is built within your and my inner hearts, a mansion whose walls stretch out into this world around us, and whose roof is literally heaven itself. Amen.