Let a Stone Be a Stone?

In which an Ebenezer appears in this sermon’s starring role. An Ebenezer is a stone erected in remembrance of a person or an experience or a place where something special happened. In 1 Samuel, the Hebrew people set up an Ebenezer to memorialize their experience of God’s presence with them as they were victorious in battle against enemies. And when a preacher reflects on a poet’s reflection on this memorial stone she wonders her way a stone that stands for the end of it all, so that a stone may live its best life as a “mere” stone. Are you confused by this summary? Curious piqued? Listen in and come along for the ride…

Sermon begins at minute marker 4:29

Scripture: 1 Samuel 7.7-12

Resources:

• Poem: Jesse Nathan, “Stone of Help,” Drawing Near: A Devotional Journey with Art, Poetry & Reflection, ed. Eileen R. Kinch and John D. Roth (Herald Press, 2025), 65. 
• Melissa Florer-Bixler, Fire by Night: Finding God in the Pages of the Old Testament (Herald Press, 2019), 73.
• InterPlay, from which the “I can talk about…” practice comes.
• Image: detail from Matthew Regier, “The Ebenezer Stone,” Drawing Near: A Devotional Journey with Art, Poetry & Reflection, ed. Eileen R. Kinch and John D. Roth (Herald Press, 2025), 64.
• Hymn 563 Come, Thou Fount Text: Robert Robinson (England), 1758, A Collection of Hymns [. . .], 1759 Music: American traditional (USA), in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, 1813. Public domain.