A City Built With Precious Stones
Amanda MacQuarrie
November 30, 2023
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Revelation 21: 9-14 (NRSVA)
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ 10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
At the tops of mountains and hills in Scotland, you often find cairns. Collections of random stones, carefully placed over the years, as way markers at path junctions and as a sign that you’ve reached a significant point on the path or the top of the mountain.
Nothing in particular marks those stones out as special, but together they shine out on the horizon or in the wilderness that others have walked this way and that you’re on the right path. They become a beacon to the community.
Precious stones,
Placed one by one,
To build more than a cairn,
To build a city,
A glorious shining city that speaks to all of the majesty of God,
The glories of God’s kingdom.
Is that what you’re calling me to be a part of God?
To be a co-creator of? To participate in?
You really think that much of me that you want me to lay down, take my place,
Fill the me-shaped gap in the community you’re creating,
The glorious city on a hill
Shining for all to see,
Leading all to you.
Lord, let me see myself as you see me,
Precious, shining,
And full of your glory!
Amen
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