We’re told in 1 Samuel 7 that it means stone of help. It was set up as a monument, or a memorial for what God has done.
Last week Emily and I spent a lot of time looking at monuments and memorials. We were on vacation in Washington DC, and there are a lot of them to look at there.
It’s one of the reasons that I love DC. There is so much there, and so many things to see, and so many things to learn. There are the traditional places to go like:
And there’s the museums to go to. This trip we only made it to two of them: Air and Space, and Natural History.
And there’s always a couple of non-monument things that are going on that also tell a story. Like where we were staying down on the wharf. Which is an area that has a long history and is now being revitalized for a new generation. And of course, a new story that is beginning for friends of ours
For all of that, there are a couple of memorials that stick with me. These are two of the newer ones in DC, and their stories are powerful.
One is the World War II memorial that is situated between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. And is a powerful statement of sacrifice and coming together as a community in the face of the extreme challenges that were being faced. Remember this idea of being between two places.
The other is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Of all the monuments that I’ve been to in DC, it is the one that most clearly takes us back to that line in Scripture out of 1 Samuel. Dr. King is carved out of the stone, and on the side of the stone is inscribed:
From the scripture reading, Samuel is just starting as Judge over Israel. And he is going to occupy that place where the time of the Judges is coming to and end, but the time of the Kings hasn’t yet started. Samuel is between two important periods in Israel's history.
While Samuel places an Ebenezer as a monument to the help that they have received from God, he is a living Ebenezer. Remember Samuel’s story.
He was born as a gift from God to his mother and father who were childless together. At his birth, he was dedicated to the temple. He grew up in the temple learning to be a priest of the Lord, and when his time came, he takes over as Priest and Judge for Israel at a time when things were uncertain.
He is the one who is a reminder of what God has done in the past, but is also now hope for what is still to come. This is what the Ebenezer does. Its not just about remembering the past help that God has given, but it is also hope for the future that God is still a part of.
In many ways we are living in the same kind of time. For us, Dr. King occupies a similar place. His memorial is a monument to the past and what had happened, but this line that is inscribed on the side of the stone, comes from his "I have a Dream" speech, where he lays out his hope for the future, for the future that God is leading us to that is not bound by the rules of man, but is brought together as a community of faith.
This is our place as a church. Are we ready to take it? Are we ready to stand in the middle as a monument to what has come before us, and as a stone of hope for the future that God is leading us to?
We can see all around us monuments and memorials for things and people that have come and gone and are scarcely remembered anymore. Are we going to join them? Are we going to go by the wayside and only be remembered by tourists as something that once was? Or are we going to sing:
This is not the easy place to be. Samuel struggled until the day of his death to do God’s work in bringing hope to Israel. Martin Luther King Jr was killed for his beliefs as he was doing God’s work. What makes us think that we can be any different?
We can be different, because we can know the same thing that those men did, and so many others who have come before.
That our work is never done here. The work of the stone of hope is always ongoing and does not rely on us, because our God is not limited to us.
The greatest stone of hope, our rock and redeemer, comes in Jesus Christ our Lord! God come down to earth, to take on a human body so that we could find that hope that we never had before.
He is the one that stands in the between place taking us from where we were, to a new place he is leading. A place where we are not bound by the rules of man, but brought together as a community of faith that is open for all people!
As a monument, Jesus calls on us to remember. To remember that we don’t get it right on our own, to confess our sins, wrongdoings, and mistakes. But that is only the first part of the journey. Because in the words of assurance, Jesus takes us in a new direction that transforms us from monument and memorial, to Ebenezer and Sacrament.
When I first preached this sermon it was on a communion Sunday. The first part of our communion practice is always a confession and pardon, or confession and words of assurance. Its those words of assurance that are key.
In the words of assurance Jesus starts taking us to a new place. One that we can’t go to on our own, but that is full of hope, and for that we give thanks.
What takes us from only a monument to a sacrament is what Jesus does with his disciples. Where he shows them that there is a mystery that they cannot understand, but where he brings them together.
Jesus gathered them in the upper room, the place where he was going to start setting his Ebenezer for them, and for us. He takes bread and wine, gives thanks to God, and then gives them to his disciples.
Through that he shows us a pattern to follow where we lift what we have up to God, and we give thanks, and then it is shared with all those around us.
The Ebenezer is set into place through Jesus crucifixion and his resurrection. It is in that moment when we see Jesus do what no other has done before him or since. That stone of hope that is the Lord’s help, doesn’t end in that moment, but continues on for all eternity.
As a church, as a people of faith, we are always in the "in between" place. That is our role. We are the ones who help to remember the help that God has shown us in the past, but we are also the ones who can preach the hope we have for the future through our faith in God.
After you read this, go be an Ebenezer, and help others see what is possible.
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