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Rejecting the stones Acts 4:5-12  Our Volunteers In Mission team was in the jungle of Bolivia in 2005. Our main task was to build a brick dormitory for boys at the Rio Colorado Technical & Agricultural School. The unusual, heavy bricks were not alwaysy regular in shape and size. Some were even a bit twisted, and were hard to put down without having to go to extra trouble to keep our rows even. It was simpler to just toss them aside. Soon we had a large pile of imperfect bricks, ostensibly to be used for lesser jobs or otherwise simply to be discarded. Halfway through our work project, we ran low on bricks, and we went to purchase more from the supplier. His ‘business’ was far away, in the middle of wide open fields, close to a small jungle stream. There, Felix and his wife made those bricks – by hand. He had to dig the dirt from the streambed, water it down, cover and let it sit for days, dig it out with his bare hands, cart it to his rough-hewn workbench, where he made bricks two at a time in his wooden mold. After that, the bricks had to dry in the sun, finally to be fired in the homemade kiln. Last, Felix and his wife had to stack them up on top of the kiln, ready for someone to buy their product. We purchased several hundred of the bricks hand-made by Felix and his wife, and he was paid 5 cents per brick. Five cents.   A strange thing happened when we were back at our job-site. Not one single brick was added to the discard pile. Not one person grumbled when we had to add a bit more mortar here and there in order to keep the rows level and straight. In fact, some of the bricks on the reject pile were soon recycled, and became part of the dormitory walls. Those bricks were now invested with humanity, you see. These were bricks hand-made by our friend Felix and his wife. We had seen them, and they were now real and personal for us. We knew that their skill, their craftsmanship, their sweat was present in each and every brick, regardless of the final shape and size.   I think there’s a lesson in all of this, especially for us people of faith. The Acts passage includes the statement about people rejecting Jesus, who in fact was - and is - the cornerstone of our faith and salvation. Like the folks who rejected Jesus, we are still quick to reject one another. The discard pile grows bigger all the time. Those on the discard pile are hand-made, by God. Maybe we should take another look at them, and work a little harder to have them fit into our building scheme. Just a little extra mortar here and there.   Felix was present in that discard pile. So is Jesus.  - Pastor Piet - May 7, 2006