‘I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’ Luke 19:40. To set the scene, this took place shortly before the Easter weekend. The disciples of Jesus started to shout out His praises. Predictably the Pharisees objected. Then Jesus utter that even inanimate stones would cry out His praises if the crowd kept silent.
That cry of praise was taken up by the disciples and throughout the book of Acts in the early church. The shout has continued during the centuries. As the hymn says, ‘the voice of prayer is never silent, not dies the strain of praise away.’ John Ellerton from The Day thou Gavest. As one continent goes to sleep another wakes up and praise continues; year after year, decade after decades’, ‘Blessed is the King.’
Throughout time nature is joining in the song. Listen to the dawn chorus as the birds wake up and sing their songs of joy. The gurgling brooks join in plus the crashing seas. The grandeur of the mountains tell of the majesty of our God. The remaining stones of our old abbeys and monasteries are stones that cry out in praise to God. . They remind us of past years of worship.
What of today? Are we living stones to God? May our shouting be heard over the clamour of the world. May we be individual stones built into one large edifice, the church. Our God is alive, He reigns for ever and ever. May Jesus not need to weep today.