i
The people offer materials with which to build the dwelling-place of God.
God appoints a head craftsman to fashion these gifts into a home.
The craftsmen come to begin their work.
*
But the people continue to offer materials. They bring their gifts each morning.
The craftsmen say: The people bring…more than enough material for the work.
So it is proclaimed throughout the camp that no more gifts should come.
The gifts stop. The work begins.
*
(The Hebrew phrase proclaimed throughout the camp means: they passed a voice through the camp.)
ii
Here is a community of the steadfast. It brings gifts each morning.
But in the face of such steadfastness, newness is an affront.
That is a trouble for the craftsmen, who look to build something new: a new house to God.
iii
They passed a voice through the camp.
Now words pass through the people.
The mass of the community becomes vibrant and liquid with speech.
Not a solid block, but a block that is rich and living: like good soil.
*
This new fluidity grows, easily, into a new form--into a new house for God.
Now the act of building can begin.
~~~~~