The Cornerstone

Since 1833 at Kirtland, the ceremonial laying of a cornerstone has been an integral part of Mormon Temple construction and dedication. Cornerstone ceremonies are also important to Freemasons, and the building of public structures in general. These construction rituals go back to Solomon, and beyond--to the Sumerians and the Egyptians. Often they are accompanied by much fanfare and jubilation, as in the laying of the foundation of the Second Temple: "And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid." (Ezra 3: 11) Such sentiments reach back to the foundation of the earth. In biblical thought, the earth was conceived as a building set on foundations, built according to plans and specifications. God asks Job where he was, "when I laid the foundation of the earth...[when I] laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and the heavenly beings shouted for joy"? (Job 38: 4-7) Because of the New Testament, we are used to thinking of Jesus as the cornerstone of the household of God, the foundation of Zion (see Ephesians 2: 20). This passage in Job (caveats aside--see On being a Mormon biblicist) becomes for me a beautiful statement on the centrality of Christ in the universe, and our own joy as his atonement was established for the earth. Our Temple cornerstones, then, should be a salient reminder of whose House it is. Jesus is at the centre of the Mormon Temple experience, both in the symbolic design of the building, and in the sign of his sacrifice that draws us through the Veil and binds families together. Something worth "shouting for joy" for.