The Last Stone

During Lent, we (Wednesday and Sunday) immersed ourselves in the idea of building an altar.  We shared thoughts on God's desire to provide us space to encounter, embrace and worship Him.  It was a time of depth, self-searching and lots of "holy conversation" as we gathered for worship and Bible Study.  This week I want us to think about the last stone on the altar.  What will "top off" this season of reflection and send us off in our journey from Easter to Pentecost?

I had two thoughts about this idea of a final stone to express our love and devotion for Jesus, our Lord and savior.  The first thought is to look into what Jesus did as He also made the journey to the cross and beyond.  Jesus provided a beautiful example of being "all in" to life with His Church, His foot soldiers and His ambassadors.  Jesus laid Himself on the altar.  We heard about it during Holy Week as we remembered.  We cried on Good Friday, as we thought about Jesus carrying our sins and the weight of our transgressions to the cross.  We heard His voice as he cried, "It is finished!"  Jesus' final stone on the altar of total devotion to the Father was Himself!

The second thought (for those of us following "Wake-Up-Call") revolves around Paul's expression of God's love in Ephesians 3:14-21.  In this passage, Paul expresses his desire for the Church to "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."  Paul wants us to spend time investing in knowing this Jesus that loved us so much He laid His own body down in death to rescue and redeem us.  Paul considers this endeavor a life-long laying down of self so that he can become more and more rooted in Jesus.

While I don't particularly like the song, the first words of "Are Ye Able" capture Jesus' question to the disciples in Matthew 20.  The song says, "are ye able, said the Master, to be crucified with me?"  In Matthew 20:22, Jesus says, "Are ye able to drink of the cup I drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"  I think Jesus is asking, "are you willing to get up on that altar with me, sacrifice self and become what I am making you?"  In doing this, we can become so rooted in Jesus that everything else becomes unimportant.  Everything else becomes secondary.  Everything else is placed in its proper priority, and Jesus takes the place He deserves ... first.  By placing yourself on the altar, and giving your will to Jesus, "the things of the earth become strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

We (I, me, self) are the last stone!  Randy