What Do These Stones Mean?
Joshua 4:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-7
July 1, 2007, Fairmount Avenue Church
Rev. Michelle Hargrave
I come to you from Duluth, where, in the summertime, we take the boys to the lake several times a week. We would watch the bridge go up and down, get a snack of some kind, and then go to the water’s edge and do what all children do: redistribute the rocks. Throwing the rocks into the water seems to be required.
It is so satisfying to pick up a rock. They feel so permanent, so old, so solid. Yet so many of them, and certainly the ones we love the best, are rounded and smooth, worn down from years of wind and waves and ice. This rock is smooth, fits in my hand quite nicely, and has the suggestion of a heart shape.
So I come to you as one who is grounded in what is old – the church, even more in God, yet as one who has been smoothed by life, one with a heart to love you.
~~~
The people of Israel had been wandering in the desert for 40 years, which in the Bible means “a long time.” A whole generation had passed, and this new generation was about to cross into the Promised Land. Moses had died and there was a new leader: Joshua. He was not as great a leader as Moses, but he was appointed by God. To cross into the Promised Land the people needed to get across the Jordan River during the high water time. Joshua told 12 priests carry the ark into the Jordan river, and when their feet rested in the waters the water stopped and stood in a heap. And the people crossed over while the priests held up the ark. (Holding up the ark all that time was another miracle, if you ask me.) After the entire nation crossed the Jordan Joshua had another twelve men, one from each tribe, gather the stone that each priest had stood on, take them out of the river and set them up together as a sign.
And when the children asked, “what do these stones mean?”
the people would tell the story how the stones were a sign that God had been with them and had led them to this new home.
~~~
Stacking stones like that is something deep in us. Cairns of stones are all over the world, signifying one thing or another. Gravestones mark the places we are laid to rest. And our buildings are, in a way, piles of stones and bricks, meant to be permanent signs, permanent places for us.
We choose this text at the merger meeting a few months ago. I asked everyone, “How shall we celebrate this merger?” and people talked about how it has been a journey for everyone involved. The people of Cleveland Avenue have been on this journey for a few years now, trying to determine how best to continue their passion for ministry in St. Paul. You have done a beautiful and graceful job. The journey began to include the people of Fairmount Avenue a few months ago, and it has been a whirlwind process since then. And today we are all one church, strong in tradition but with something new moving among us.
One thing that happens in a merger is the realization that, even though we pile stones and bricks together to make something permanent, God’s spirit is still moving. Cleveland Avenue’s spirit no longer lives in the same stones it once did. That is a painful thing. But God calls us forward, and reminds us that the church is not in a building. And if the people of Fairmount Avenue think the building is a fortress here, remember when the ceiling fell in downstairs? God was shaking the bones of this place a little bit. We will care for this building and it will continue to be a blessing to the community, but these bricks are not just signs of the past; they are a living sign of a living church.
~~~
The early followers of Jesus understood that the stones could no longer hold their history, or their worship, or their hope. They lived in a time when their buildings were being torn down, the temple was destroyed for the last time, and they could not build wonderful buildings to worship in because they had to hide. They also knew, however, that Jesus had been killed, but that new life had arisen out of his death. And in that belief they began to see the new life in themselves. And they talked about not worshipping in stones or near stones but being living stones themselves, living with the undying presence of Christ, living with the Spirit of God, living stones that God could build a church out of.
We have stones for you to take today, stones as a remembrance of this day, when God has brought us all to a new place. These stones have been polished by strong forces but still carry a deep strength. Take one of the stones after communion today,
and when the children ask,
“What do these stones mean?”
“These are a sign that God has been with us on this journey,
What do these stones mean?
God has brought us to a new home.”
What do these stones mean?
God has a dream for us in this place to be living stones!
Amen.
July 1, 2007, Fairmount Avenue Church
Rev. Michelle Hargrave
I come to you from Duluth, where, in the summertime, we take the boys to the lake several times a week. We would watch the bridge go up and down, get a snack of some kind, and then go to the water’s edge and do what all children do: redistribute the rocks. Throwing the rocks into the water seems to be required.
It is so satisfying to pick up a rock. They feel so permanent, so old, so solid. Yet so many of them, and certainly the ones we love the best, are rounded and smooth, worn down from years of wind and waves and ice. This rock is smooth, fits in my hand quite nicely, and has the suggestion of a heart shape.
So I come to you as one who is grounded in what is old – the church, even more in God, yet as one who has been smoothed by life, one with a heart to love you.
~~~
The people of Israel had been wandering in the desert for 40 years, which in the Bible means “a long time.” A whole generation had passed, and this new generation was about to cross into the Promised Land. Moses had died and there was a new leader: Joshua. He was not as great a leader as Moses, but he was appointed by God. To cross into the Promised Land the people needed to get across the Jordan River during the high water time. Joshua told 12 priests carry the ark into the Jordan river, and when their feet rested in the waters the water stopped and stood in a heap. And the people crossed over while the priests held up the ark. (Holding up the ark all that time was another miracle, if you ask me.) After the entire nation crossed the Jordan Joshua had another twelve men, one from each tribe, gather the stone that each priest had stood on, take them out of the river and set them up together as a sign.
And when the children asked, “what do these stones mean?”
the people would tell the story how the stones were a sign that God had been with them and had led them to this new home.
~~~
Stacking stones like that is something deep in us. Cairns of stones are all over the world, signifying one thing or another. Gravestones mark the places we are laid to rest. And our buildings are, in a way, piles of stones and bricks, meant to be permanent signs, permanent places for us.
We choose this text at the merger meeting a few months ago. I asked everyone, “How shall we celebrate this merger?” and people talked about how it has been a journey for everyone involved. The people of Cleveland Avenue have been on this journey for a few years now, trying to determine how best to continue their passion for ministry in St. Paul. You have done a beautiful and graceful job. The journey began to include the people of Fairmount Avenue a few months ago, and it has been a whirlwind process since then. And today we are all one church, strong in tradition but with something new moving among us.
One thing that happens in a merger is the realization that, even though we pile stones and bricks together to make something permanent, God’s spirit is still moving. Cleveland Avenue’s spirit no longer lives in the same stones it once did. That is a painful thing. But God calls us forward, and reminds us that the church is not in a building. And if the people of Fairmount Avenue think the building is a fortress here, remember when the ceiling fell in downstairs? God was shaking the bones of this place a little bit. We will care for this building and it will continue to be a blessing to the community, but these bricks are not just signs of the past; they are a living sign of a living church.
~~~
The early followers of Jesus understood that the stones could no longer hold their history, or their worship, or their hope. They lived in a time when their buildings were being torn down, the temple was destroyed for the last time, and they could not build wonderful buildings to worship in because they had to hide. They also knew, however, that Jesus had been killed, but that new life had arisen out of his death. And in that belief they began to see the new life in themselves. And they talked about not worshipping in stones or near stones but being living stones themselves, living with the undying presence of Christ, living with the Spirit of God, living stones that God could build a church out of.
We have stones for you to take today, stones as a remembrance of this day, when God has brought us all to a new place. These stones have been polished by strong forces but still carry a deep strength. Take one of the stones after communion today,
and when the children ask,
“What do these stones mean?”
“These are a sign that God has been with us on this journey,
What do these stones mean?
God has brought us to a new home.”
What do these stones mean?
God has a dream for us in this place to be living stones!
Amen.
posted by Michelle at 8:16 PM
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This is great info to know.
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