The fifth element is probably one of my favourite even though it took a while to get to grasps with it.
Miracles: Matthew 13:58 "And He did not do many miracles there [in Nazareth] because of their unbelief."
Within the physical city Lynch identified "nodes" as the fifth element. "These are like strategic entry points, primary junctions, places of break in transportation, a crossing or convergence of paths, a moment of shift from one structure to another."
Miracles are like nodes, strategic entry points. Entry points are an the opportunity for change, potential for a miracle to occur, a movement from one level to another. Marianne Williamson, the author of a book called Return to love says, "Sometimes a miracle is a change in material conditions such as physical healing and other times it is a psychological change or emotional change. It is a shift not so much in an objective situation although that often occurs as it is a shift in how we perceive a situation. What changes primarily is how we hold and experience in our minds how we experience the experience."
I believe that sometimes, the miracle is all the ministry you need to fulfil your purpose, the miracle continously radiates from your life to touch so many others. Every miracle has the potential to be that significant.
In todays world, we still experience miracles but many have become so civilized, so desensitized, they would not believe if it occured right before them. Its in the little things and the big things, if we really paid attention we would know we have in someway been part of a miracle.
Consider a place or moment in time where paths or systems meet, every thing we do culminates in a particular decision or choices that need to be made. When we tell a lie, we unconsciousy made a decision almost to tell another in other to cover that lie and thereby building on a structure that is weak and collapsable at any point in time. Your particular journey brought you to a specific moment and at that point your faith or lack therefore activates a decision in your life and sometimes those decisions are flawed because the are based on fear rather than faith.
Cities are built on strong foundations. Any gaps in a city's walls or foundation is like an entry point for a thief or an enemy to come in and overwhelm the city when they least expect it. What are those entries points to your city you have left unattended or refused to seal up because of a lack of discipline or simply a lack of faith?
Miracles are so fragile because they are dependant on our faith. Applying Marieanne's theology, it suggests that something as simple as a change of mind would be a miracle for some.
There will always come a time in the life of a city when it needs to make critical decisions, these are turning points as a result of conditions out of its control, natural disasters such as an earthquake, hurricanes, tsunami, a health pandremic like the one we have just been through, war etc. These occurences affect the stability of the city because of the crossroads, critical decisions these conditions present and many entry points are revealed in such situations. At these crossroads we can chose to fall back and expose ourselves to the attack of the enemy or we can chose to plant seeds for a stronger defence and stimulate growth.
The city of Sardis was one of the prestigous Roman cities featured in the bible. It was attacked and overcome due to a laxity in it defence system, a simple opening in the wall discovered by an enemy soldier. We see some of that attack on America today given the harsh realities and massive loss from the covid pandemic. We watched the darkening crevice exposed in their political system and the justice system and we are still watching. We can see some of that same attack on the monarchy in England regarding race. How they each respond and "how they identify" opportunites and take steps to move forward succesfully is a critical entry point and decision that could culminate in a miracle of sorts or otherwise.
Miracles are like a place of worship or recognition of the supernatural. Sometimes we have to intentional create these moments, some people have daily devotional times or "golden times" when they allow God to come and speak to them in quietness, where there is no interruption but actually where so much of you is pliable and changeable to His will. An essential meeting point, a convergence of spirit is created to enable happenings that would ordinarily not happen. This is why when a people are in crisis, there is a call to worship, there is a hunger for gathering to pray and anticipation of a miracle.
If we go in the true spirit of worship into these golden junctures of our day we allow a planting, we allow entrance for the supernatural to be cultivated and manifested because true reflection , right thinking changes you and prepares you to experience a miracle.
The first miracle Jesus performed was at a wedding! And it happened because of the decision his mother made, she decided to believe. Mary had faith in her son, she knew what she had carried all those years back. Seeing the juncture her hosts had come to in the wedding ceremony, she arranged the situation so it was conducive for the miracle to occur - she said to the servants serving the wine, "Whatever He asked you to do, do it."
For me, it begs a question ....when did the miracle occur? Was it when she ordered them to do whatever Jesus asked them to or was it when he spoke the works. Its almost as if those two things needed each other for the miracle to happen, the miracle needed Jesus to speak but it also required his mother's faith and the obedience of the servants.
The miracle at the wedding in Cana confirms yet again the importance of the bride and the groom, the wedding, the procession. I imagine Jesus knew of his bride even then and in his anticipation he confirmed and celebrated the earthly one through this miracle...quite possibly intentionally saying "the wedding celebration will not stop."
The elements of the city are some of the most fascinating truths I have explored on cities and specifically the city of light. Yet not all cities boost of every single one of these elements and you might be one of those cities trying to restore the shine to the jewel that you are. The next episode in my series explores the concept of restoration and renewal.
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