You are the Stone Not the Builder

In this message for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Rev. Dr. Charissa Clark Howe explores the counter-cultural imagery of 1 Peter 2:2–10. We live in a world that builds monuments to the powerful and the victorious, and it is easy for the church to fall into the exhausting trap of trying to be a pristine monument made of perfectly polished bricks. But what happens when we realize our foundation is a cornerstone that the empires of the world rejected and discarded?Using the metaphor of running a marathon—where things rarely go according to plan and the true beauty is found in the shared camaraderie of the struggle—Pastor Charissa reminds us that God doesn't demand perfection. Instead, we are called to be "living stones," brought together with all of our rough edges, painful blisters, and dying earbud batteries. Tune in to discover the immense freedom of letting go of worldly status to embrace the messy, beautiful reality of running the race together and offering radical solidarity to those the world pushes to the margins.