Light in the Window- April 12, 2022
Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” (Luke 19:40)
Within the brief gospel texts describing Palm Sunday, we see many examples of prayer- singing, shouting, waving palm branches, quoting scripture, and creation joining in praise. I don’t know the shape of your prayer life, but I find that I sometimes need reminders to pray. This week, I’m using a stone to recall the stones strewn through the gospels, to ground me in the beauty, the suffering and the terror of Jesus’ last week.
I’ll remember Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness to turn a stone into bread and pray for God to save me from temptation. I’ll think of the woman caught in adultery and the intervention of Jesus when those around her picked up stones, and I’ll be grateful for how God has forgiven me. I’ll hold an ordinary stone from my yard and pray for those who need healing and hope. On Good Friday, I’ll think about the large stone that sealed Jesus’ tomb. Prayers of praise, thanksgiving, intercession, and silent contemplation keep us grounded in God’s grace as we walk with Jesus through this Holy Week.
My husband and I are avid hikers and we’ve had our share of being lost on the trail. Despite the old adage- not all who wander are lost- we really have been confused on paths in the wilderness. Thankfully, there is always someone or something to show the way. Another traveler, or occasionally a cairn. The word cairn originates from a Gaelic term that means “heap of stones.” Cairns have been used to mark routes to safety, to food, to villages, and to mark gravesites.
What stones line the paths you travel? When have you held a stone in your hand and whispered or shouted a prayer? When have you been hiking in unfamiliar terrain and just as you were feeling lost, you saw a cairn to mark the way? On the hills and in the rivers of our sacred places, in the very structure of our Church, on the pavements of our daily paths, on the headstones marking the passing of the ones who go before us, what do these stones have to say about us?
Only a few days remain until the joy of Easter. Even if your spiritual life has fallen short of your Lenten intentions, it’s not too late to spend some time contemplating the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here at Covenant, you can join us for 7:30 pm Maundy Thursday, 12:00 pm Good Friday and 10:00 am Easter Sunday. Let’s help each other find the way on the path of faith, stone by stone.
Now you are coming to him as to a living stone. Even though this stone was rejected by humans, from God’s perspective it is chosen, valuable. You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual house. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I Peter 2:4-5
