Stonehenge

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, "To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. - Acts 17:22-25

Stonehenge stands in the middle of a field in the Salisbury plain, surrounded on three sides by grazing sheep and, unfortunately, on one side by a major highway. Still, the ancient site holds a huge draw to tourists, historians and conspiracy theorists alike. While I had already been here once, we decided having a guest in town was a good reason for us all to go.

The site is now carefully fenced off and direct access to the stones is only allowed by specially approved groups, occasionally tourists but usually school groups. During opening hours, paying visitors are allowed to get within about 50 feet of some of the stones. This is to prevent not only the usual vandalism, but also attempts to pull down and destroy the stones. As it turns out, Stonehenge carries with it all sorts of legends and rumors about who built the circle and why - as you can imagine, most of them involve myths about pagans and the devil. Some have taken these myths so seriously that they want the place razed.

The thing is, building on Stonehenge began in 3100 BC and didn't finish until 1500 BC, long before Christ was even born, much less Christianity existed. Even the ancient Hebrew faith had a long way to go before it could even think of spreading; for that matter, the British Isles are a long trip from the Middle East. In other words, these people had no way of being Christian, much less anti-Christian. Instead, what they built was simply representative of what they had at the time, whether it was their ancient religion or a way to follow the seasons.

Something about the careful construction of the site, delicate selection of obscure stones, and astronomical line-up of its stones speaks of some kind of recognition of a higher cause. After all, working for over 1500 years on the same site seems to indicate its importance to the people of that time. Its correlation with movements of the sun seems to reinforce its possible religious indication. When humans build things worthy of a higher power, humans want those things to be significant and glorious.

In many ways, the ancient people that built Stonehenge are not much different from us today. In one very big similarity, they were clearly searching for that power greater than them that created all things and guides all things. Somehow, they were searching for that God which we now know throughout history and in the person of Jesus Christ. This might be dangerously universalist for some, but I don't see it as such. Just as Paul knew that the Athenians were searching for the final, true identity of God, perhaps the ancients at Stonehenge were doing the same. Today, people reach for money or fame as illusive gods, looking for anything to fill the void that only the Creator can.

I admire Stonehenge for the immense work these ancient people put into it, building their altar to an unknown god, with great respect for the ways humanity has tried to recognize its Creator. I lift up my prayer that one day, we will all be joined together in faith on the last day.

God of all things, we are constantly searching for you. Sometimes we go astray and put other gods - whether material or immaterial - first in our lives. Let your Holy Spirit guide us to truth and remind us that you are always greatest and first in all things. Let the searching of others teach us how to better see and hear you in our daily lives. We pray all these things in Christ's holy name, Amen.