Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today’s Epistle lesson comes from 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 1-10. In this part of his letter to persecuted churches in Asia Minor, Peter provides a picture of the holiness into which Christians are called to grow.

Peter compares the living Church to the situation of the Israelites in the Old Testament, who offered sacrifices to atone for sins. Jesus, who was the ultimate fulfillment of that system brings us into a new economy, in which he has destroyed the power of sin and death through his own death.

In this new situation, God is building his people into a “spiritual house,” where each person serves as a living stone, while Christ himself is the “chief cornerstone.” With this architectural image, Peter emphasizes that we are called to be “spiritual priests” and in that capacity we are able to offer “spiritual sacrifices.” No longer are we supposed to offer animal sacrifices, for Jesus has offered himself as the Lamb of God, who is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament system. Instead, we are called to offer “spiritual sacrifices” as members of a “royal priesthood”—an image that connects to Saint Paul’s instruction to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1).

One of the insights from this theology is that the “spiritual service of worship” that Paul speaks of refers to our own worship as the new community of the Church, where we as individuals come together to produce a unified collective. This corporate worship is, among other things, holy, which means it will not look like an expression of the world, either in its form or in its content.

This last idea is immensely practical, and it is ultimately why the nature of liturgy is essentially to be conservative rather than accommodating to broader cultural norms. The observation is true of things like language, rituals, preaching, vestments, and liturgical music. All of these elements are set apart in our worship practices for important reasons.

A wonderful setting that incorporates both passages from 1 Peter and Romans is John Ireland’s beautiful anthem, Greater love hath no man (1912).

You can listen to this anthem here.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin