Gathering and Scattering

There is a time for everything... "a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them..." (Ecclesiastes 3:5).

I used to watch the news reports of conflicts in the country of Israel and noticed that even the children got involved by throwing stones. Sometimes adults would also throw rocks at other adults. It struck me as sort of strange, even child-like, to be throwing stones.

Then I visited Israel. The first time I was there in 1995, I couldn't help but observe that all they have are stones! Galilee is lush, green and beautiful, but the area around Jerusalem (the area of the most conflict) is dry, dusty and stony. Lots and lots and lots of rocks. In the midst of heated tempers and growing conflict, people would use what they had to attack the other side. And what they have are lots of stones.

Even still, this passage strikes me as a bit odd. There is a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. From spending eight years in a rural appointment, I know how farmers gather stones. Every year, an important step in preparing the field is to clear it, as much as possible, of stones. Stones can tear up the equipment used to plant and to harvest. It's always sort of amazing that the same field, cleared one year, can have many more stones the next. So, as Israel was an agrarian society, I understand the need to gather stones.

But scattering them? I picture a child with a bucket of stones, throwing them out one by one in various locations. Why in the world would the Teacher want that to happen?

In the Old Testament, altars and places to remember God's action were built with stones. Again, that's what they had and have in abundance. And so when you read through the Old Testament, over and over again, God tells the people to remember something, to commemorate something, to celebrate something...and they do it by gathering stones and by building an altar. A place to worship. There is a time to gather stones, a time to bring what you have and come to worship.

But there is also a time to scatter stones. There is a time to remember, and to celebrate, what God has done, but there is also a time to take those bits and pieces of remembrance, that worship, and scatter it into the world. It doesn't do to stay on "the mountaintop," in worship. Peter wanted to do that. When he saw the transfigured Jesus, he wanted to build a place of worship and just stay there. But, as Luke points out, he did not know what he was saying (Luke 9:33). In other words, staying on the mountain wasn't the plan. The people who needed Jesus were at the foot of the mountain. These disciples needed to scatter into the world.

We gather in worship, we scatter into the world. We are the stones. Peter calls us that. He calls us "living stones" (1 Peter 2:4-5). There is a time to gather, and a time to scatter. Both are important. Both are vital. Both we must do.

Be gathered. Be scattered. You are a living stone.