Have you ever tried to build something amazing with Legos, only to have someone accidentally step on it? Crunch. All your hard work, all those hours of building, turned into a pile of pieces on the floor. It feels pretty discouraging, doesn’t it? You might even feel like just leaving the mess there and walking away.
Well, that is exactly how the people of God felt a long, long time ago. For seventy years, they had been living far away from their home in Jerusalem. They had been dreaming about going back. They imagined the beautiful city, the golden Temple, and the strong walls.
But when they finally arrived... it wasn’t like their dream. It was a nightmare.
Jerusalem looked like a giant junkyard. The city walls were knocked down. The gates were charred black by fire. And the Temple—the most beautiful building ever made—was just a massive pile of grey, broken stones. There were weeds growing between the rocks. There were no songs. There was only silence and dust.
The people stood there, looking at the mess. I bet the kids looked at their parents and said, “Is this it? Is this the place you told us stories about?” They felt small. They felt tired. They felt like hope was buried under a million tons of rubble.
Now, when you have a mess that big, you can’t fix it all in one day. You have to decide where to start.
The leaders of the people—men like Ezra and Zerubbabel—knew that they couldn’t build the whole city yet. But they could build one thing. They decided to build a place to say “Thank You” to God. So, they built an altar right in the middle of the mess.
They didn’t wait for the city to be perfect. They didn’t wait for the rubble to be cleared. They worsipped right where they were.
The Bible tells us that everyone helped. The priests, the families, the grandparents, and the kids. They rolled up their sleeves. They got dust in their hair and dirt under their fingernails. They were “Together in Hope.” Hope that one day Jerusalem would be a city to be proud of.
Imagine them passing stones down a long line. Pass. Catch. Set. Pass. Catch. Set. They weren’t just moving rocks; they were moving their hearts back toward God. They built that altar, and even though the rest of the city was still broken, they started to worship. They realised that you don’t need a perfect building to worship a God of hope.
After they built the altar, they started on the foundation of the Temple. They laid the first big cornerstones. And when the work was done, they decided to have a celebration.
The priests put on their special robes. The musicians brought out their trumpets and their cymbals.
Ta-da-da-daaa! went the trumpets. CRASH!!! went the cymbals! And then, the most incredible sound in the Bible happened. It was a strange sound. It was a “mixed-up” sort of sound.
The younger people—the kids and the teenagers—were looking at the new foundation. They were so excited! They were cheering and whistling and shouting at the top of their lungs: “God is good, His love for us endures forever!”
But at the same time, the older people—the grandmas and grandpas who remembered what the old Temple looked like before it was destroyed—they were crying. They were weeping loudly because they remembered how much had been lost. They were sad for what used to be.
Imagine the sound. On one side, you have people shouting for joy. On the other side, you have people crying with loud broken sobs.
The Bible says that the noise was so loud and so “together” that you couldn’t tell the difference between the shouting and the crying. It was just one giant, massive sound that echoed off the mountains and could be heard from miles and miles away.
That is what “Together in Hope” is really like.
Sometimes, hope is a loud, happy cheer because something new is starting.
And sometimes, hope is a quiet tear because we remember something we lost.
But when we bring our cheers and our tears together, God makes a sound that the whole world can hear. The neighbours around Jerusalem heard that noise, and they knew: “The people of God are back. And they are not giving up.”
As we finish our time here at Big Camp, look around at this stage. You see your friends. Look out there—you see your parents and their friends.
We aren’t here because everything in the world is perfect. We know there is “rubble” in our lives sometimes. Sometimes things are broken or sad.
But we don’t stand in the rubble alone. We stand Together. We pick up the stones Together. We build our lives on Jesus Together.
So, whether you are shouting because you’re happy, or whether you’re a bit quiet because things are hard—remember this: You are part of the “Rubble Shout.” Your voice matters. Your hope matters. And when we lift our voices together, our Great God hears us, and loves us. Because, He is always with us.
