God builds us into a spiritual house, centered around Christ our Cornerstone.
Erik C. Nelson
3 May 2026
Texts: Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14
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Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Today’s gospel reading is a beautiful one, one that I’ve heard many, many times at funerals.
It’s a beautiful reminder to hear from Jesus that the reason why he has to leave was to go prepare a place for us, with his Father.
When we hear Jesus say this, we have hope of heaven, eternal safety, and security. And I want to affirm again and again that this promise from Jesus is true, and that when our time on earth comes to an end, God promises that we will be welcomed into an eternal home with our Heavenly Father.
But when Jesus talks about this eternal home, I don’t think it’s meant to be only heard about at funerals or interpreted in eschatological terms. It’s not just about the end of the world or what happens to us when we die. The hope that Jesus gives us isn’t only for the future.
The hope that Jesus offers us has meaning for us today.
Jesus says that he’s going to prepare a place for us in the Father’s house, and he says that with an eye toward Pentecost.
He talks about how the Father dwells in him and he dwells in the Father. And then in the verses just following today’s reading, he says, “I will ask the Father, and he will send you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth.”
Jesus’s promise to go prepare a place for us in the Father’s house can’t be separated from his promise to send the Holy Spirit.
And Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit indeed came true. It came true in a huge way at Pentecost, which we will commemorate in a few weeks.
And it came true at our baptisms when we, just like Meredith this morning, heard, “You are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”
The Holy Spirit came down to us then, and the Holy Spirit continues to come down to us all the time, in constantly surprising and unexpected ways.
And our reading from 1 Peter invites us into another surprising and unexpected thing.
Peter describes us as living stones. Which is simply impossible. Stones by their very nature are not alive. And yet it is the truth because as the Holy Spirit is living in us, nothing is impossible with God.
I think it’s kind of wonderful that Peter is the one who tells us this.
Peter is the one who heard Jesus make this promise about going to the Father’s house, and Peter is the one who wrote this letter about living stones and a spiritual house. Peter, whose name means “rock,” surely had plenty of time to think this image through.
I’m convinced that the home that Jesus goes to prepare for us isn’t only our eternal dwelling place where we’ll go when we die.
But it’s a current, present thing. Our Psalm today is one, among many, that describes God as our fortress. God is our stronghold. God is our home.
But this fortress of God isn’t merely a metaphorical thing. Peter tells us how we ourselves are the living stones out of which this fortress of God is built.
Our Triune God is all about relationship. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in an eternal intertwining dance. And the miracle of the Incarnation, of the coming of the Holy Spirit, of the truth of these living stones, is that we are invited to join that dance.
We are enveloped in God’s very being. Just as Jesus is in the Father, the Holy Spirit is in us. God made us for relationship and brings us into the dance.
And so as Jesus promises to go to prepare a place for us with the Father, we are in that place now.
The presence of God is with us in this room.
God will be with us in the bread of communion, the body of Christ that makes us the body of Christ.
And God is already here. The Holy Spirit is living in each of us.
The Holy Spirit is here, enlivening our bones, making us living stones.
And when you bring all these living stones together, the family of believers becomes the house of God. Peter invites us to think of ourselves as the spiritual house, a dwelling place for God, a shelter to rest secure.
This house is built around Christ, our cornerstone. The cornerstone is the first stone laid, and ultimately, the one on which all the rest lean and depend.
So we, as the family of God, we lean on each other through difficult times. We share each other’s burdens because ultimately, Christ is the one we all lean on together.
Christ, our precious cornerstone, carries the burden for us all.
And a cornerstone also is the one that determines the angle, the direction for the rest of the house. Christ is the one who leads our way.
Because this house of God, remember it’s made of living stones. It’s alive, it’s not stationary. It doesn’t just sit in one place. But because it’s alive, because it is animated by God’s presence, it moves through the world.
This house of God is a perfect network of imperfect people, joining with Christ to bring the reign of Christ into this world.
Jesus goes to prepare a place for us eternally, and at the same time, we are invited to join in that work of preparing a place here, for God’s eternal reign.
As we are built together in God’s house, we are invited into God’s way, God’s truth, God’s life.
Jesus is the Way who shows us how to live — a life of self-giving love and care.
Jesus is the Truth who tells us about God’s truest nature — love itself, coming down among us to stay.
Jesus is the Life who carries us through death and into eternal life, and in his love, he makes us stones come to life.
So when we follow Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life, the impossible becomes possible. Enemies become friends. Wars are made to cease. The poor and the downtrodden are lifted up and put in a place of honor.
Stones come to life. Babies and elders are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.
We live in the presence of God. And we are the presence of God.
May it be so.
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In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
