Canadian Mennonite
Volume 11, No. 06
March 19, 2007
A meditation on stones
Look, the prophet says: “The stone shall cry out of the wall.”*
What do our stones cry out? Warning and wonder?
We are people of earth, all sizes and strengths:
small, large
light, dark
smooth, rough
individual, universal.
Rocks with messages bearing life from former worlds.
We brought these stones from farmlands of southern Ontario:
from Wellington, Waterloo, Wilmot
(from beyond these boundaries, from Appalachia, even from East Jerusalem).
They once impeded our plowing...
now they are lifted as a lesson in memory.
Founded on a Rock, on many rocks,
like fieldstone altars of covenant,
we live in confession and communion.
Seamless we are not, but lovingly trowelled, we touch each other
with promises to be bedrock to any who need us.
We are material of Art:
fabrics, like wall hangings, covering cold stone,
heralding seasons of Advent, Passion, and Easter—
the stone rolled away.
We celebrate and rejoice,
honouring a milestone of art and edifice.
Thanks be to God!