Hope & Glory

Hope

Last Sunday in church we finished the service with the modern hymn In Christ Alone. Here’s the first verse.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand

I don’t know whether you are facing challenges today. But, if you are, I believe that Jesus Christ is the answer to everything. I wanted to write something today to give Jesus the glory.

Firm through the storm

This world is replete with bad news. I’ve found myself reading too much of it because I recently needed to rest, as I have been feeling “under the weather”.

The temptation to fill up my tired senses with news, YouTube shorts and other unedifying things took me out of focus. It actually became quite addictive, although I didn’t want to admit it. It was subtle. Hope started to submerge. I woke up each morning feeling tired and a bit depressed.

This Cornerstone

I don’t really know the function of a cornerstone, so I’m going to look it up on Google now. I just like the sound of the word. It sounds like a solid thing. Especially in the song with the strong rhythm assigned to it.

Architectural meaning 

• The cornerstone was the principal stone, often the largest and most solid, placed at the corner of a building. 
• It served as the foundation for the entire structure, with all other stones and measurements aligned to it. 

Like Living Stones

Although not specifically mentioned in the song above, followers of Jesus are described as “living stones” being built around Him, God’s chosen Living Stone – the Cornerstone.

“As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: ‘See, 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 ‭2‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭‬‬quoting
Isaiah 28:16 NIVUK

Being Built into a Spiritual House

We “are being built into a spiritual house”. The building work is being done by God on the foundation of Jesus, His Cornerstone. We’re not responsible for the building work! I know that, if we were, it would be out of true. But we can rest in the assurance that this is God’s building work, not ours. He is never out of true. He is the plumbline!

To be a Holy Priesthood

We are “to be a Holy priesthood”. I find this simply expressed revelation extraordinary. When we think of the church today with all its various presentations, denominations and differences, this is simplicity itself. The qualification for this priesthood is in coming to Jesus, the Living Stone, the Cornerstone of God’s own spiritual house, and being built together in Him, beyond any “buildings” that man has made.

In Christ Alone

Kate Stanway October 31, 2025

Note: We would love to hear your comments on this post or any of the others we have shared.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

I’m always a bit nervous of stating things in such a way that they sound like teaching as opposed to a personal reflection, so after I had drafted this I had a look at a website called http://www.gotquestions.org – you may use it!

Here is a very good summary that I discovered.

https://www.gotquestions.org/living-stone.html