“Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 27:4-6). When we meet together to worship God, we come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of rough edges. Our upbringings and our backgrounds, our gifts and our talents, our challenges and our struggles, our doubts and fears, and our faith and hopes may all be very different from each other. But what are we to do? Should we take a chisel to all of the parts of each other that aren't “normal” or that make things awkward or uncomfortable for certain members of our group? No. God wants whole stones to make up His altar. It is OK if there are gaps or wobbles in the altar as the whole stones are gathered together, because God has prepared a plaster that can fill in any gaps and make up any differences that prevent us from fully working together as one solid, cohesive altar of worship. As we fully commit to forgiving everyone their rough edges and irregular shapes and the gaps and rifts that their differences may cause with us, and as they make the same commitment to forgive us our rough edges, then we can let the miraculous power of the Atonement cover up and plaster over the things that come between us and bind us together more and more strongly. I remember visiting an ancient castle one time and they told us that when they were trying to do some restoration work, the plaster had become so hard - much harder, even, than the stones they held together - that they had to chisel out the stones first before they could try to get at the plaster. If we will allow Christ to be a part of our relationships, especially with people with whom we have so very little in common, then the plaster that He provides to join us together despite our differences will become one of the toughest and most enduring parts of ourselves. I am so grateful that we all get to be whole stones together and that Christ's plaster can make us one solid altar of worship that is far far stronger than any of us would be on our own.
