When the Foundation Is Enough

In September 1710, the congregation of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, gathered not inside their new building but around it. The walls stood only four feet high. There were no windows, no roof, no pulpit. Rain had pooled in the unfinished nave the night before, and mud clung to everyone's shoes. Yet Reverend Rowland Jones led them in a hymn of thanksgiving right there among the scaffolding and limestone dust. He did not wait for completion. He praised God for the foundation.

This is exactly what happened on the plains outside Jerusalem when the returning exiles laid the foundation of the second temple. They had no gold overlay, no Ark of the Covenant, no glory cloud filling the chambers. What they had were rough-cut stones, calloused hands, and seventy years of longing finally given shape. And Scripture tells us they sang to the Lord, "He is good; His love toward Israel endures forever."

Notice what they celebrated. Not a finished cathedral. Not a restored kingdom. A foundation. Raw, incomplete, promising.

There is a theology embedded in that shout of praise. It says that God's faithfulness does not require our finished projects. The Almighty who carried His people through Babylon and back again deserved worship at the first laid stone, not just the last. Sometimes the holiest ground you stand on is still under construction.