Stone of Help
Our pastor, a dear friend and leader, recently moved to a new job in the United Methodist Church. His work in our lives was powerful, sincere, and full of compassion and grace. He was a servant to so many people - and deserving of a parade, skywriting, or made-for-tv-movie. His humility, and our church budget, didn't allow for those accolades, however, ---- so we gave him a pile of rocks instead.
Rocks are powerful. They appear throughout the Hebrew Bible as demonstrations of strength, promise, and solidity. Of of my favorite moments is when Samuel sets a stone in the ground as a marker of the help God has provided.
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, "Thus far the LORD has helped us." (1 Samuel 7:12 NRSV)
God's help is worth marking -- with a word of thanks, a quiet prayer, a party, a worship service, a barbaric yelp, an altar, a covenant, an act of service... or a vase full of rocks.
Ebenezers can look any number of ways. Our lives of course, built on the rock of our strength (Psalms 62:7), are the greatest offering we can raise.
The rocks in this vase are the symbols of each individual member of our congregation -- and they carry very specific prayers for our pastor and his family. They are mighty -- and the "strongest" gift we could give a man who has poured himself out for us.
On this Father's Day -- I want to mark with gratitude the love of my pastor, my incredible father, my amazing husband, and the God who created us to live in relationship with one another.
Here I raise mine ebenezer, hither by thy help I'm come...
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