Cornerstone

 

“Behold, I lay a stone in Zion, a precious cornerstone, a firm foundation.”  (Isaiah 28)

In 1924, one hundred years ago, the cornerstone was laid at the site of what would be the new campus of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. A time capsule was placed inside which included a German Bible, an English Bible, a Hebrew Old Testament, and a Greek New Testament. There were other items such as a map, a coin, medal, and photographs. But the most important were the Sacred Scriptures, the firm foundation, the sole rule and norm for faith and life.

My grandfather was a student at the seminary at the time, and was there two years later when the new campus was dedicated in 1926. It was a grand affair, with around 80,000 people in attendance. President Franz Pieper gave the address that day (in Latin), and as he spoke an interesting thing began to happen. A bi-plane came around and flew over the campus. It was a big deal at the time as flying and airplanes were still quite new and exciting, so everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up. It seemed that just as America was entering into a new era, so was the Church.

That day was the beginning of a new era for my family as well. My Grandpa Lange was about ready to graduate from the seminary, and he had a lot of people praying for him. He went on to become a pastor and marry one Selma Lohoefner, my Grandma Lange. She said that when she was a young woman, she prayed that God would allow her to marry a pastor, and that she would have seven sons who would all become pastors. 

She got the seven sons all right, along with one daughter, but only four out of the seven became pastors. God likes to answer prayer in his own time and in his own way, so even though only four of the seven sons became pastors, seven of the grandchildren would go on to become pastors or missionaries as well. 

My father went on to attend Concordia Seminary, as did I. As you walk from the parking lot toward the campus, you pass by the old log cabin that served as the first seminary, the first building built by the Saxon settlers in Perry County. A few steps later, as you stand in front of Luther Tower and look up, you see certain words chiseled into stone. Grace, Faith, Scripture. And as you look down, you see the stone with the year 1924 carved into it. That’s the stone that was laid one hundred years ago, but that’s not the real cornerstone. The real cornerstone is Jesus Christ.

When my father and I were in Jerusalem a few years ago, we stood before the Western Wall, admiring the large stones. The smaller stones at the top of the wall are from the time of the Crusades, the next level (slightly larger) are from the time of Herod, and the huge stone slabs at the bottom are from the time of Solomon and the original temple. As impressive as those stones are, they pale in comparison to the lithos, the real and true Rock of our Salvation, the Living Stone, Jesus Christ. From Jerusalem to Rome to Wittenberg to St. Louis to every little church on the prairie, the gospel continues to go out, as Christ crucified is preached, and forgiveness is delivered. The crucified and risen Christ comes to renew, restore, and build up. So who does Jesus come for? In the Gospels Jesus comes for Jews, Greeks, Romans, Pagans, Canaanites, Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, widows, orphans, lepers, the disabled, the weak, the strong, the young, the old, the poor, the rich, the sick, the dying, and even the dead! Jesus comes for everyone. Jesus comes for you. “As you come to him, the living Stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house. ‘Behold, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2)

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