statues

In the past weeks we have watched as statues all over our country and world have been torn down by protesters who wanted to make a statement.  Many of these statues were of confederate leaders or other public figures seen to represent racism (Christopher Columbus for example has gone from celebrated explorer to hated in my lifetime because of his treatment of the native people he met on his journeys).
 
I am not going to comment on this issue directly, but do want to talk about the idea of statues in general.
 
Statues are there to celebrate something or someone and to remind us of what has happened in the past.  They are there to help us remember those who came before.
 
In the Bible we don't see many statues, but we do see lots of altars that served much the same purpose.  Some of these were set up to worship false gods, but many were set up (even commanded by God to be set up) to help remember something great that happened or a miracle God did.
 
My favorite one of these was after the Israelites crossed the Jordan river and crossed into the promised land.  After this great miracle, God commanded the people to gather large stones from the bottom of the river (smoothed by the movement of the water over the years to prove where they came from).  Then God told them this, "In the future, when your children ask you, 'what do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.  When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.  These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." (Joshua 4:6-7)
 
We are supposed to remember to tell the stories of what God has done and we don't need a pile of rocks in order to do it (though they can be helpful reminders).  Have you told your children and your grandchildren about what God has done in your life?  Have you told the stories of God's goodness and faithfulness?  Let us not neglect the call to pass on the miracles of God to others so that they will know.
 
What is your pile of rocks?  Where was God faithful in your life?  Can you think back to the places where you saw the hand of God at work?  If so, tell the stories and share with others so that they will know and maybe start to seek God as well.

In Christ,
Pastor Scott