Giant's Stone, West Burrafirth

At West Burrafirth in the Shetland Isles I left the car to walk up a track. I was hoping to find the Giant’s Stone, a large standing megalith overlooking the inlet from which the ferry to Papa Stour makes its regular crossing. Unusually, the large stone had been built into the side of a building or enclosure, or rather the building/enclosure was attached to the pre-existing stone.

The reasons for the erection of these stones remains a mystery. I suspect it was a boundary marker, or an ancient place of meeting which those ancient sons of Japheth saw fit to raise. Interestingly, the walls which were built by it are long decayed and fallen down; the great stone remains, a silent witness to ancient mystery and forgotten lore. When our own civilsation falls, except at Christ's return, that stone shall still stand, impassive and impervious, indifferent to whatever human endeavour is, and is to come. 

Human civilisations come and go. Technologies develop, and are surpassed. Cultures wax and wane. Yet the old, old gospel, the plan of redemption forged in eternity, promised in Eden and executed at Calvary, remains.

In holiness You stand secure

Through culture's shifting sands,

Unchanged by all the vanities of man;

And as the nations rise and fall,

Your sovereignty remains:

You are, You are, You are the one true God.

-Brian Steckler & George Rowe. Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Integrity Music