Last week we spent a lovely few days walking through the extraordinary rock formations of the Dolomites So I’ve seen a lot of rock recently. In one place the path had collapsed and we spent an hour scrambling down a newly hollowed out gully and back up the other side to return to the path. In places, these gigantic rock formations are breaking up into stones and the stones are crumbling into sand.
The reading for last Sunday from Matthew’s Gospel was the story of St Peter acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah. In return Jesus designates Peter as the rock on which he, Jesus, will build his church. And at the end of his address at Marlborough Road Methodist Church last Sunday, Deacon Nigel Perrott pointed out that lighthouses are invariably built on rocks and not on sand. How, we might ask, can the light of Christ shine out from us if we are not securely grounded?
Well, on Sunday at Marlborough Road there was a powerful feeling that in worshipping together, we are a rock formation. Our two faithful congregations, together, felt stronger. Together we are even more of a rock, and the light of Christ can shine out all the brighter.
So Jesus built his church on the rock of Peter, and in succession we are that rock too. But the Church is founded on Jesus Christ. In the words of the hymn written, appropriately, by the Revd. Samuel Stone:
The church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is His new creation,
by water and the word.
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