(2) Cairns and the Eben-ezer
Living in Scotland one can't help to have come across a cairn at some point in ones journey. We find them at the top of hills, along paths in the wilderness, on beaches and places of historical significance. For those of you unfamiliar with them, cairns are way markers. They can be a pile of stones at the top of a mountain (usually carried up from the bottom by walkers), standing stones or even an intricately balanced rock column.They are erected to mark a significant point on a journey, for many it is a place of spiritual significance or to mark a time in history where something happened for a community. In the old testament one finds references the Israelites erected 'eben-ezers' (stones of help) along paths.
There is something in this idea of placing markers along a journey. There is a memory attached to each of these and it is something one can re-visit. In many ways they can be anchor points for people to find there way. If we were to apply this principal to our lives, which are journeys in themselves, setting up markers in our lives can be an important tool for keeping us on our path, or even helping us remember lessons we learned at different times. Last summer two friends of mine were married and they used cairns at the theme for their wedding. The day itself was a cairn in their life, a day they would look to, a day that many people participated in and one that can be re-visited in sorts. There is something active in purposefully marking points on a journey and makes memories and stories present in the every day. Below is a modern cairn on the Isle of Eigg marking the day the island came into community ownership, a time where the community became both liberated and tasked with communal responsibility followed by a hymn that may take on new meaning.
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.'
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