They complete the temple at Jerusalem.  Read Ezra 6:14-18.

They celebrate with joy.

Assume lots of fanfare; trumpets blaring, cymbals crashing, people singing and shouting and chanting; joy!

They dedicate with joy.

They offer the temple to God, probably with some psalm or litany or liturgy - probably with pomp and procession.  They probably borrowed a Psalm of David and tweaked it to fit their day and situation.

They offer sacrifices to God.

A hundred bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, 12 goats as a sin offering (imagine some moments of reflection and repentance and humility).

They take their places.

Priests in their divisions, Levites in their groups; they're ready to get on with it - a renewed life with God. 

The story of our sanctuary

• Our history
• A budding dream
• An applied team
• A conscientious effort

The sanctuary is completed (basically).

• The Balcony
•  The refined and updated décor is more timeless and classic, and yet fresh and warm.  The new design borrows arches from Julia Morgan works around California.  The paneling is retained but updated and improved and the windows actually stand out more.  All of it is more evocative for worshipers, more attractive to visitors, more inviting for brides and wedding goers and other community events.
• The sound and light is radically improved.
• The narthex (lobby) is brighter and friendlier.
• The carpet and floors, long overdue for replacement, are refreshed and are warm and regal.
• The organ will be reinstalled after refurbishment and will play at a greater capacity since wood encumbrances have been removed and only a fine cloth stands between us and the pipes. We'll have more and better sound to rumble our innards and awaken our praise.
• The altar or platform area is enlarged to give room to our growing cast of worship leaders.
•  A permanent ramp for people with disabilities not only makes us legal, but the ramp and some strategic spaces for wheelchair seating speak with clarity about our values and visions for welcoming and serving God beside people with disabilities.
• We have two unisex bathrooms upstairs with diaper stations.
• We have a cry room behind a one-way window, with speakers and comfortable seating so that parents or grandparents with small children can worship without fear of disrupting or being disrupted, and the ushers will be prepared to assist you up the stairs with stroller or diaper bags.
• Windows all around open up the environment especially between the entry areas and the sanctuary, so that people can observe and enjoy from the lobby.
• Subtle things, like new storage earmarked for user groups, and stairwells that you no longer have to duck into and out of and wider taller doorways make things more inviting and functional.
• A prayer room awaits people with a need for a quiet place after worship, and represents our driving vision to be a church more committed to prayer.
• The pews have been refinished and re-padded to foster more comfort for people who need comfortable seating in order to worship in an unencumbered way.
• The same cross that has been a focusing point for our worship has been refinished and placed in its original spot, but now freestanding or free- floating.
• The communion table is a replica of the smaller version in the chapel. 
• This pulpit was the original pulpit used in the chapel in 1920, dedicated to Jane Farwell, 1850-1922, now refurbished.
• You'll notice that the cross, the table and the pulpit stand alone in matching dark and distressed wood, and represent the centrality of the cross, Holy Communion and the spoken word in worship.

All changes are tied to values, including excellence and beauty and a belief in the arts as a viable expression of worship.  There just isn't much here that is an accident.  Thought, prayer and the obvious giftedness of a team of people devoted to making this a place where God's church can gather for community, comfort and inspiration.

"Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not neglect the assembling together, as is the habit of some, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as we see the Day approaching."  Hebrews 10:24-25.

"I rejoiced with those who said to me, "let us go to the house of the Lord…" Psalm 122:1

So what do we do now?

We celebrate and dedicate.

• Particular prayers
• Congregational prayer

Then we offer sacrifices.

• Not bulls or rams or lambs or goats – the one perfect lamb has given his life so the bloodshed can stop.  So we apply ourselves to the art of self-giving love, taught and modeled by our Lord.  "Therefore, I urge you, brethren, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship."
• Romans 12:1
• We self-present. And this is the place where the question is called every week, and we lay down every interference and take up every encouragement and tool and present ourselves to God again for another week.

We take our places.

• The work isn't done.  The church flourishes when we all play our parts. 
• The world suffers less and people come to Christ when we live our values out loud.

So what isn't finished?

• In the room, a few things obvious to all, and many things on a punch list that will take weeks to complete.
• More than all that, our broader and higher and deeper values.
• Zechariah, the prophet, told the people in the day of Ezra to "finish the sanctuary.  But don't forget what's really on God's heart. "Administer true justice, show mercy and compassion… Do not oppress the widow or fatherless or alien, or the poor.  In your hearts, don't think evil of each other. "The classic prophetic call to make the world a better place is especially for those who need real help.