The Blueprint

Day 2: Ephesians 2:19-22

Hello, tektons! Yesterday we talked of how we are called to be constructive: building up and repairing lives and relationships. But before you build, you need a plan. Nobody wants to live in a house that was improvised or made up on the fly. First you need a blueprint. You need to know how the home is going to look when its finished or you might leave out something important, like a door or a staircase or a bathroom.

We do have a picture of what we are building: a temple or spiritual house in which we are, in the words of 1 Peter 2:5, living stones. That means we have to, as Paul says, fit together. Stones are carved in order to fit, which typically makes them look uniform. But when I was in Ireland, I saw the Gallarus Oratory,

where stones were shaped but still retain their individuality. Unity doesn't require uniformity. What is important is that each stone is in its proper place and that they all support one another. So it is with the church.

But God has a grander plan in mind. He is interested not just in restoring the bits of the world where the church is but eventually all of creation. In Revelation 21 it says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with humans, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, no pain, any more. The first things have passed away. He who sits on the throne says, 'Behold, I make all things new.'” (Revelation 21:1-5)

This is God's goal. In a way, it is a return to his original design. He created this world as a paradise. We have turned it into hell on earth. He is determined to make it a paradise once again. It's right there in the Lord's Prayer: “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Earth is to become heavenly. That is what the symbolism of the new Jerusalem descending from heaven is all about. In the Old Testament, the Temple in Jerusalem was the place where heaven and earth meet. As it says in Isaiah, “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.” (Isaiah 66:1) The Temple was where people went to meet with God.

Jesus is both fully God and fully human. He is now the meeting point between humans and God. He is the cornerstone of what God is building. And we are all “living stones,” part of the plan. How? We will look at that tomorrow.

Let us pray: Lord God, King of the Universe, Heavenly Father, we are awed by your creation as it is and wonderstruck at your plan to rebuild your creation, and even more astonished that you invite us to be part of what you are doing. Shape us and help us to find our place in your work. May we support each other in this and all we do. We ask these things in the name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and through the power of your Holy Spirit, who live and reign with you, Father, one God forever and ever. Amen

(picture courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)