Rejected Stones

Every human society
Is an unsteady stone structure
Built from fewer stones
Than are actually at hand

The landscape outside its walls
Is littered with rejected stones
Wrong shape, wrong size, wrong color
Deemed expendable by the architects

There is Mark, the would-be writer
Who instead uses his words
To hustle passers-by
For his daily bread

And Jeannie, the beautiful artist
Young, vivacious, talented
Struck with schizophrenia
At the age of twenty-eight

And Buck, the wounded veteran
Disabled and out of work
Hero for a day
Then forgotten for a lifetime

And Jesus, the great Reject
Whose design for a kingdom
Never did fit in
With the plans of the architects

The day that the Lord has made
Is a day of salvation
Which is to say a day of salvage
A day of reclamation

Of reintegrating these stones
Not from some misguided charity
But out of the true recognition
That they are indispensible

Misplaced cornerstones
Essential if we are to construct
The temple of living stones
The community designed by God

But they lie unnoticed and invisible
Because they are unwelcomed
For it is as Jesus said
You will not see me until you say

Blessed is the one who comes
In the name of the Lord.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

Psalm 118