Shout 'Glory!' through the bung-hole.
The great Methodist preacher Billy Bray once proclaimed, “The Lord hath brought me up out of a horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings, and hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto my God.” I was a new man altogether.”
One of the most striking things about Billy Bray was his continual excitement and joy after his salvation. At the time of his conversion many religious people Billy saw were often gloomy and sorrowful. “If they were truly born-again,” Billy Bray thought, “you would never have known it by their lives.”
Billy Bray was famous for his cheery disposition. On one occasion a passer-by stopped to object to his dancing and shouting in joy. In response he said, “If you were to put me in a barrel, I would shout glory out through the bung-hole.” Billy Bray built three chapels – the only remaining one is in this parish of All Saints, between Baldhu and Threemilestone. Kerley Downs Chapel.
This Sunday we looked at what it means to be living stones (1 Peter 2:4-10) and whether we keep Jesus as our Cornerstone.
Peter (1 Peter 2:4-10) was talking to the early Christian Church in Asia Minor, now modern-day Turkey. He was encouraging his fellow Christians who were often shamed, publicly mocked, and even persecuted for their faith to lean into God, to give themselves wholeheartedly and more fully to Him who is the Cornerstone. The message is the same for us today. Even though we aren’t persecuted in the same way, life is still often full of things to worry about, and it is our tendency in the face of challenge to think that other things can help us bear the weight. What Peter is teaching us is that nothing apart from him who is the Cornerstone can carry the load. He is the only one. Nothing can bear the weight other than him. In the words of Billy Bray- we must have our feet set firmly on the Rock.
We may think that other things that are perceived to be more tangible will do the job and resolve our worries, such as our profession, finances, health, relationships, accomplishments, or any number of things. And of course, they can help and bring a lot of comfort, but not in the same wholistic salvific sense that Peter is suggesting. He is stating a core truth of the Christian life, that nothing else, no one else is capable; only Jesus the Cornerstone, the stone that all other stones rest upon; only He can hold up your life in fullness.