One of my favourite places is Findochty, up on the Moral coast. Sitting above the fishing village is the Parish Church, a building which has been there well over a century and a half. Every time I see it, built on the rock, I hear again that strangely reassuring promise, "On this rock I will build my church…"
That time when Jesus said to Peter, "You are Simon. From now on you shall be called Rock, and on this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not overcome it..ever!" Not the shifting sand that was the volatile Peter, as if such fragmented liquidity could bear the weight of the mission of God. The Rock of faith, embedded in what is revealed. That's what Jesus meant. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God", said Peter. True enough, said Jesus. But flesh and blood haven;t revealed that to you. It was my Father in heaven.
So brilliant as his insight was, it wasn't Peter's genius that made the penny drop. It was God, opening the mind to understand, opening the ears to hear, and opening the eyes to see, and opening his heart to the truth and demand of Jesus. That is the rock on which the church is founded, secured, rooted and grounded in the love of God. The church is made up of people; fallible but forgiven, human but called God's children, as far as the world is concerned, followers of Jesus are daft and deluded, but in truth, they have found a truth that unlocks life and opens up possibility.
Faith is not certainty; it is risk, but it is trustful risk. Faith is not something we work ourselves up to, as if it was about will power; faith is that strangely disruptive responsiveness to something that calls us beyond ourselves, to a different way of looking at the world, and a changed way of living.
Poor Peter, brilliant Peter, big-mouth Peter who spoke first and tried to edit it later. As soon as he had blurted out that impossible truth about Jesus, he's told he's got a new name, a different identity, a changed purpose for life, and he is called to a new faithfulness and obedience to this travelling carpenter Rabbi.
Such faith, risk, trust and obedience has a durability and stability that goes beyond flesh and blood. It's like granite. It lasts and endures and bears enormous weight of circumstance and change and challenge. It's a rock, and on that kind of rock-faith, Jesus said, I will build my church.
(This is the first of several reflections on the church set on a hill and built on a rock.)
Leave a Reply