We were here.
Now we are not.
Even “here” is gone.
What we have known as life
Now we will know as history
While tomorrow remains only hearsay
We would set a stone if we could
A marker to say, “Here was change”
A memorial to acknowledge, “Here were others”
But there is no cemetery
for relationships and homes and structures
that have defined our comings and goings for so long
So we pray to Jacob with his fondness for stone-markers
to share his life lessons in consolation through change
to show us how to grieve without sacred burial grounds.
Rachel, this touched me especially today. Thank you.
Thank you, Sharon.
Thank you – this is just what I need this summer. I’m wondering if this is related to the Jewish custom of placing a stone when one visits a grave.
Thanks, Peg! I believe there are multiple meanings to the custom, but my (limited) understanding is that the use of stones as a marker is one aspect of the tradition.
Love this. This meets me right when I am today.
Thanks, Sarah.
I feel like I am “pre-grieving” the death of the institutional church as we have known it, as we see that so much of it no longer serves people, and God does a new thing with us. This litany feels like it should be read at the church’s funeral, articulating that this was something we loved, but it will not and should not live forever. Thank you for this.
Thank you, Whitney. I too was thinking about churches (and the Church) dying, along with other life changes and transitions. Honoring what has been (institutionally and individually) seems an important act of both gratitude and confession.