Raise My Ebenezer

Sunday we sang as one of our hymns, a favorite of Kristy's. It has a line in the second verse which is, "Raise my Ebenezer." I have wondered for a long time exactly what this could possibly mean. I have floated several suggestions but they, while goofy, did not enlighten me any further on this question. Do you the reader have any idea?

The other night I called my brother Gary and his wife Donna to wish them happy birthday. Their birthdays are close together so I usually call sometime in between to wish them a happy day of celebration. Gary is, among many other talents, an ordained minister. So I asked him what this expression might mean. He said you can replace the word with alter. He went on to comment that many churches have Ebenezer in their official name, such as the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached for many years. I think Gary has it right. After these many years my question has been answered.

After researching this topic a bit more on Google, I discovered that Ebenezer also means a stone of hope and was placed in a particular location in Israel after they got their Ark back from the Philistines. You can see why a Church might want to have this word in their name if their church is to be built upon a rock of hope. Happy travels.