"If the Stones Cried Out.."

"Not only did God redeem our [ancestors] from Egypt! We, too, were redeemed. We. too, were with them in spirit. Each of us living today is a beneficiary of the struggle of ages gone by." (Concise Family Seder, Rabbi Alfred J. Kolach, p.12)

At UCC Bayberry yesterday Bob Welcher introduced his Children's Message by handing out some stones. He invited the children to hold the stones to their ears and listen. "What do you hear?" he asked. "Nothing," was the reply.

I must admit that, although I am increasingly becoming hard of hearing, the stones were speaking to me.

They ground against each other under the city of Port Au Prince. I felt them burning and spewing forth from the volcano melting the glacier in Iceland. I felt them pelting through the air, bouncing off the soldiers' shields in East Jerusalem and Tehran. I heard them crunching under the feet of those seeking illusive sources of water in dry lands, of those trudging across our own borders to seek a better life, and of those running away from militias that seek ethnic cleansing in the Congo and spiritual cleansing in Afghanistan.

I sensed the hardness of my heart, too. I thought of how, unlike God, I have had occasion to give a stone instead of the "bread" of a little mercy, grace and love to those in need .

In recounting such events spiritual directors are wont to ask those that seek to grow in every way into the Divine purpose for us, "How did you experience God at that moment?"

Indeed! The old stories live in us today as we think of how God is present for us and with us: speaking a word of justice and peace, of stewardship of the earth and help to the poor, the hungry, the dispossessed, of hope to the desperate and joy to the disconsolate.

In looking over the city of Jerusalem Jesus responded to the disciple that gazed in awe at the Temple, "Yes, it's beautiful now, but soon there will not be left one stone upon another." And then, he offered this lament for God, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murderer of prophets and other voices that I have sent to you. How often would I have gathered you up like a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not."

If the stones were to cry out, I would suspect that they would cry for the seekers of freedom in our midst that we dismiss as being illegal. I think the stones would cry out for justice for those whose lands are usurped by the powerful and unscrupulous. I know that they would cry out for the poor, for the women and children, for the refugees, for the countless millions in need of a little of what we abundantly hoard.

The stones lead me to pray during this week, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for you are my refuge, O God." (Ps. 61:2) Lead me to the Rock where there is protection for all of God's beloved, all of God's creation lovingly brought forth by God's good pleasure and sustained by God's providence. Lead me to the Rock where salvation lives to bring true freedom, peace, justice and joy to the world. Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.

Holy Week Blessings,

Rick Cowles