Scripture: Isaiah 51:1 – “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.” (NRSVue)
As you all probably know by now, my son is heading off to college in the fall, and I look back on my own college experience. I attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and I remember my first week. After a Dartmouth Outing Club trip out, we went to the campus and were taught the Dartmouth Alma Mater song.
My father attended Cornell University and liked to tease people about the different schools they went to, calling the clown colleges. And as I sang the Alma Mater, which speaks of how Dartmouth stays with you when you go out into the greater world, I read these lines: “They have the still North in their hearts, / The hill-winds in their veins, / And the granite of New Hampshire / In their muscles and their brains.” My heart sank, because I immediately knew what my father would laugh and say, that people from Dartmouth have rocks in their heads! (I was right, of course).
Now, I don’t think granite in the brain was meant to indicate stupidity, but rather strength of mind and character. Rock can be dense, but it is strong and enduring. Rock is a name for God, as in Psalm 18: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Jesus called the fisherman Simon “Peter”, which in Greek means “Rocky”, because of the steadfastness of his faith. Having rocks in your head may not be so bad after all.
I also remember something my mother said as I was heading off to college. She said that I was like the giant Antaeus from Greek Mythology. He was invincible, and yet Herakles (aka Hercules) had to defeat him. The trick was that Antaeus could not be harmed as long as he maintained physical contact with his mother, Earth. So, Herakles lifted him off the ground until he was vanquished. My mother said that I needed to return home to get my feet back on the ground from time to time, to draw strength from it to recenter myself, ironically very similar to the sentiments of the Alma Mater I would later sing.
The prophet Isaiah spoke to the Jewish people in hope that they would return home from exile. He wanted them to go back home and regain their lost strength. He said, “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.” God shaped us from stone, to be strong but also to be uniquely formed. We are called to seek righteous in a broken world, but never to forget our roots.
We face struggles every day. We have seen loved one go one before us. We have family living far away. We find ourselves in places—physically, mentally, emotionally—which seem very far from home. But God shaped us for times such as these. When we are afraid or lost or worried, we just need to reconnect to that quarry from which we were created. We need to draw strength from God and find the courage God placed in our hearts… and even the rocks in our heads.
Prayer: God, make me bold to seek righteousness in the world and comfort in you. Amen.
Yorumlar