In the name of the God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In 1868, as the state of Illinois went from being frontier country to one of the great states in the Union, they built a State House to mark this rise in stature. And as you often do when you begin to build such an auspicious building, you first lay the cornerstone. In the case of this Illinois State House, the state newspaper noted that it was a “handsome specimen of limestone” and was eight feet, by four feet, by three feet. Quite an impressive stone. The newspaper even records the words that were etched onto this foundational stone.
There was only one problem – just a few months later, no one could find the cornerstone. Now, you’d think that such a stone would be impossible to lose, after all, an entire building was built around it. Nevertheless, the cornerstone appeared to be lost.
Do you have a cornerstone in your life? You know, that bedrock which serves as the foundation for everything that you do? As today’s Collect prays “Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.” I’ve been thinking a lot about that image of the cornerstone lately, pondering what it means that Jesus Christ is our cornerstone.
There was a time before laser guided levels and advanced surveying equipment when the cornerstone was absolutely the most crucial part of the building. The cornerstone, appropriately named because it joins two walls coming from different directions, would define the outer dimensions of the building. The stone that was selected to sit at the corner had to be strong and level so that it could ensure that all of the subsequent stones would be able to stand without toppling over.
Today, we tend not use cornerstones as an architectural guide for our buildings, but rather we have cornerstones for prestigious buildings. The cornerstone laying ceremony is often an important one in the life of the community. As that cornerstone is dedicated, we express our hopes and desires for the building to be a symbolic foundation in our community. So when we dedicate the cornerstone at a school, we express our hopes that it will become a place of learning and growth for our children. At a hospital, we hope it to be a place of healing. At a church, we pray for a place of refuge and mission.
And there is often fanfare associated with the laying of the cornerstone. Dignitaries give speeches and sometimes symbolic offerings are made. In the Masonic tradition, oil, corn, and wine, representing refreshment, nourishment, and joy are poured upon the cornerstone. In the context of a church, often the Eucharist is celebrated when the cornerstone is laid.
It would seem that cornerstones are a really big deal, as they provide not only architectural alignment, but also symbolize our identity and calling as a people. How then, do you just lose a cornerstone? I’m sure that this building that we’re in right now has a cornerstone – and I’d guess that it sits at one of the four corners – but I have no idea where it is. I’ve probably walked past it hundreds of times and never noticed it. And I can’t help but wonder if both the importance of the cornerstone and our losing of it isn’t a metaphor for faith in our modern context.
Cornerstone imagery can be found throughout Scripture. In Isaiah, God says “See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.” As Christians, we have come to see that God is not interested in a building made with human hands, but rather is building a kingdom in his son, Jesus Christ. The story though doesn’t continue smoothly. Jesus, quoting a Psalm, says about himself that “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”
We reject the cornerstone that God intended to build upon, instead, we build upon other stones – the stones of success, of political party, of consumerism, of being right, of fear. We reject the cornerstone of our faith because it’s not the stone that we would have chosen. Maybe we think that the stone that we were given has a crack in it. That’s actually what happened at the Illinois State House. Years later, in 1944, a journalist was determined to find the location of the original cornerstone. So he went back to the text, pulling old newspaper articles to see what he could determine – and the truth greeted him right on the page. A newspaper article written just a few months after the cornerstone dedication ceremony noted that the original cornerstone was discovered to have a crack in it. So, without any fanfare, they buried the original cornerstone in the front lawn and brought in a new one.
Who would have ever thought that the Messiah would end up crucified? Who imagined that Son of God would hang out with the poor, the outcast, and the sinful? And who wants to follow a Christ who asks us to take up a cross in order to follow him? So we reject that cornerstone. Sure, maybe we still come to church and act like fairly nice people, but how aligned are we to that cornerstone? After all, we say, Jesus might give us a nice vision, but we have to be practical – so we have to build up institutions, and 401ks, and status in order to build up our society. We dedicate ourselves to other cornerstones, finding alignment for what happiness looks like from magazine covers or stories from Hollywood. We build upon the cornerstone of self-actualization or human progress.
There’s also, of course, the cornerstone of the nation that we sometimes build upon. In just a few days, this nation will celebrate its cornerstone – the Declaration of Independence, which claims life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as our foundation. As we heard just a few weeks ago in the reading from 1 Samuel – the people wanted a king. God warned them that building upon the foundation of a king wouldn’t be a good idea, but they insisted and God relented. It ending up not being a good cornerstone to build on. That’s the temptation in our American democracy, to think of ourselves all as kings. We think that we can find the American Dream, but what many of us experience is nothing short of a nightmare. Whether it’s intractable partisanship, an opioid epidemic, the growing divide between the wealthy and everyone else, the plague of suicides and gun violence, the people of Flint, Michigan who still don’t have clean water, or the immigration crisis at the border – it seems to me that the whole wall is about to topple down because we’ve been building on the wrong cornerstone. Are we building for country or for Christ?
As we heard in today’s Gospel passage from Mark, Jesus heals a hemorrhaging woman and restores life to a little girl. The question is whether or not we trust that this power of God can be manifest in our lives as well. Is peace possible? Can enemies become friends? Can love conquer death? Is there be enough for you and for me? Is God with us or not? Jesus says “Your faith has made you well.” Is that a cornerstone that we’re willing to build on?
Just as the laying of cornerstone is accompanied by rituals, we too have dedicatory rituals. As stones, we were cemented to our true cornerstone in Baptism. In that ritual, we were forever cemented to Jesus – the cornerstone that we buried but rose in grace and glory. Baptism unites us to his Death and Resurrection and makes heirs of his kingdom. This is the sure foundation upon which to build – of God’s abundant and saving grace. And to remind you of and nurture in your growth on this foundation, we celebrate the Eucharist each week. We bring gifts of money, bread, and wine to the altar, our liturgical cornerstone, seeking to be renewed and rededicated to our cornerstone of our faith: Jesus Christ, the cornerstone who has been broken for us. And just as a cornerstone unites walls that come from completely different directions, holding all things together, the Eucharist unites us all, regardless of how different we may be. And in that union to the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, we remember what is most central, true, and worthy of being built upon: love, forgiveness, humility, peace, compassion.
This is our foundation and when we build upon Jesus Christ, we will encounter the alignment, the direction, and the strength that only he can provide as our chief cornerstone. Now, this doesn’t mean that the storms of life won’t still batter your walls, but being built on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, your footing will be sure. So as you go forth today, take with you the words of one of the great hymns of the Church. Use these words as a reminder of your cornerstone and build upon them. Take these words and use them as a mantra, as a prayer, as a rededicating of the cornerstone of our lives and faith: Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ the head and cornerstone, chosen of the Lord, and precious, binding all the Church in one; holy Zion’s help for ever, and her confidence alone.
