IGNITE: DAY 29

SCRIPTURE READING - DAY 29


Psalm 118:22-24

The stone the builders rejected has
become the chief corner stone; this is the
LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day the LORD has made; Let us
rejoice and be glad in it. (NASB)


MEDITATION BY Samantha Baker Evens


When I was 16, I was privileged to actually watch the process of the placement of a cornerstone. I was in Kenya and the builders carefully squared off a large stone using a chisel, hammer, and a plumb line.

They then placed the stone in the corner of the building, checking each side and adjusting the placement. The entire process for placing the corners of two buildings took the majority of a day, but as soon as they were done, the walls went up quickly, each stone in line with the cornerstone.

Watching the builders at work, it was easy to see what would cause a builder to reject a stone. The builders looked for rocks that were large, weight-bearing stones, not flawed or cracked—rocks that were already roughly square to save themselves from having to chisel too much.

Jesus as the formerly rejected cornerstone was not flawed, but he did come in an unexpected shape and in atypical circumstances. Born in a manger and raised as the son of a carpenter, Jesus, the oddly shaped stone, didn't immediately heal the obvious ills of the world, but forgave sins and reconciled us to our Creator. He ushered in a Kingdom that is similarly odd and surprisingly shaped. Donald Kraybill memorably called it “The Upside-Down Kingdom.” In the Kingdom of God, the first are last and the last are first. Luke tells us that the wealthy weep and Matthew says the poor boast and are blessed. Giving a small donation can mean more than giving a large one; and James shows us that wealthy, talented, or important people are not shown partiality.

In the Kingdom, we look forward joyfully to those seasons when we are suffering and we do nice things for our enemies and those who actively try to hurt us, but we leave our family and our aged parents behind. Instead of worrying about not having enough, we give away what we have. Jesus said the more we lose ourselves, the more we find ourselves. And the Kingdom is not far away in space or time, but is already among us (Luke 17:21). We, too, try to live our lives according to Jesus' teachings, aligning ourselves with Christ. The challenge is to not avoid but to try to practice Jesus' continually uncomfortable words over the course of our entire faith journey.

A key spiritual discipline, therefore, in the upside-down Kingdom of the oddly shaped Christ is the practice of doing out-of-the-box Kingdom things. When we respond to Jesus' example and actively step out of our comfort zone—the status quo, what is expected, and what is normal—on a regular basis, we give God the opportunity to gradually chisel away attitudes and habits that are not life-giving and to bring our values and life practices in line with the Cornerstone.




REFLECTION


Consider doing one or more of the out-of-the-box Kingdom acts listed here:

Give money anonymously and directly to someone from a developing country who you will never meet or gain anything from and who can't thank you.


Spend some time this Lent offering different aspects of your life (work, family, home, school, theology, recreation, church, etc.) up to God one by one and give him permission to call you outside of what is comfortable or the status quo in each one.


Do something kind, with no expectation of return, for someone who really bugs you, or go through the uncomfortable and lengthy process of forgiving someone who has hurt you. (For help on this, see Linn, Linn, and Linn's book, Don't Forgive Too Soon: Extending the Two Hands that Heal.)