Easter 5 ~"A Holy Nation" 1 Peter 2:4-9 ~ Rev. Richard Eslinger, PhD

There are some songs and hymns that were made for certain occasions. In fact, it would be an odd Midnight Mass in which we did not sing “Joy to the World” at Christmas. Then, too, on Easter morning, we do expect to sing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” But now we are well into the Great Fifty Days of Easter, and we turn to St. Peter’s letter to the new churches up in Asia Minor. It would be equally odd, given the focus of this epistle, not to sing:

Christ is made the sure foundation,

Christ the head and cornerstone,

chosen of the Lord, and precious,

binding all the church in one. 1

This hymn was written in 1861 based upon an ancient Latin text. It belongs on this

Sunday in Easter. (Sentence could be deleted if the hymn is not employed in the

liturgy.) After all, Peter spoke in our epistle of our Lord as God’s chief cornerstone.

Singing this hymn and hearing this epistle in these days, though, comes across differently than in previous times and in prior generations. The North American Church is now more like those little churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) who received the Letter from the Apostle. For both us and for the faithful in those churches that received this letter, the “world” is not benign and happy to the faithful. Rather, our culture is increasingly indifferent to persons of faith or outright hostile. It is not surprising to watch late-night TV comedians treat the church with sarcasm. And for many communions in the U.S., the last decade

or two has been marked by a steady, almost inevitable decline. There used to be

a term for dominant Protestant churches in the U.S.— “mainline.” But most every

such denomination is now “formerly mainline.” The membership down year after

year. You don’t need to venture far from home in some places to see this decline

up close and personal. The route to the mountains is dotted with small towns all

the way to the high pass. Drive this route these days and you can spot the church

buildings, now a store selling bicycles, another a hardware store, and, of all things,

a restaurant calling itself “The Abbey,” We are moving closer and closer to the

church situation in the age of the churches of St. Peter’s letters. Both minorities.

Except they were experiencing rapid growth in this Gentile region while we seem

to be following the opposite arc. Of course, for the Catholic Church in the United

States, such a decline is thankfully overridden, for instance, by the rapid growth

among Hispanic Catholics. Still, the days of a previous business-as-usual North

American Church are ended. In recent polling, about half of Gen Z, those born

between 1997 and 2012, answer that they have no religious practice. The “Nones.”

So while we are coming at the question of context from different angles, we do

have this in common with the little churches who received the two Petrine epistles: We are both living out our faith within a larger culture that dominates and is non-Christian.

A further commonality between ourselves and the churches of the Petrine

epistles is that both communities of the faithful are claiming a deeper interest in

Holy Baptism and the ways in which those seeking faith and baptism need to be

prepared, educated and formed into disciples. The entire letter of First Peter is

grounded in the meaning of Holy Baptism and the instructions to the newly

baptized. “A strong case can be made that 1 Peter incorporates an early written

sermon-instruction to the newly baptized,” one Catholic scholar remarked. 2

Our Lesson from 1 st Peter today certainly speaks to our identity as those baptized in Christ. He is the cornerstone and we are those “living stones” who

being “built up into a spiritual home.” There is a “choosing” in play here, a Divine

action on our behalf. Our gracious God has chosen Christ as the chief cornerstone

of his people and Peter announces that “we will never be put to shame.” All these

things were part of the baptismal identity of Christ’s people in those little churches.

Now see the striking parallel with our current church situation. Something very

old is being recovered and lived out with vigor in our parishes across this land.

The bishops at the Second Vatican Council declared that “The catechumenate for

adults, comprising several distinct steps, is to be restored.” 3 Some eighty years

later, the adult catechumenate has been restored and the making of new Christians is again at the heart of our vocation in Christ. (You may refer here to adult elect baptized at the recent Vigil.) The reason should be equally clear on this day. A church that believes it is secure within the folds of a “Christian culture” sees little or no need for the making of new, adult faithful. But now, things are different and one of the primary markers of a church no longer comforted and supported by the world is the restoration of the adult catechumenate. We could say without much error that the Church entered this new age when the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy was promulgated in 1963. Now, the Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults has been restored and our Easter Vigil, with its baptismal center is at the heart of our faith and our identity. The Paschal Mystery once again is lived out in the darkness and in Christ’s glorious light.

So, this Fifth Sunday in Easter continues our mystagogy, our instruction to

the newly baptized as to what their sacramental death and rising in Christ fully

involves. And those of us baptized as infants can overhear what Peter tells the

newly baptized, there in those little new churches.

You are a chosen race,

a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

a people of his own,

so that you may announce the praises

of him who called you out of darkness

into his wonderful light.

Amen.

1 See: “Christ is Made the Sure Foundation,” Worship: A Hymnal and Service Book for Roman Catholics, Chicago, IL: GIA Publications, 1986, 617.

2 Thomas J. Burns, “1 Peter’s Baptismal Message to Communities Under Siege,” The Catechist Café, April 21, 2020, https://www.catechistcafe.com/scripture/1-peters-baptismal-message-to-communities-under-siege.

3 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), Vatican, December 4, 1963, ¶