Temples and Tears

I've been sick for over a week. Not so sick that life can't go on, but sick enough that business as usual has left me straight up exhausted. I'd wake up in the morning when the girls got up for school but go back to bed after they left and take a morning nap. Then I'd go to work only to come home and nap for another hour or two.  And then I'd go to bed later in the evening and fall immediately to sleep, which is not like me at all. Needless to say, it's been a rough week and I've needed every single minute of extra sleep I've been able to squeeze out of this weekend.  

But it's also been a great week because I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting  and I got to spend a lot of time over the last six days focused on studying and preparing to speak to our ward about temples. This is what happens when you mention in a ward council meeting that you feel as if the members of your ward aren't attending the temple nearly often enough. I do have quite strong feelings about this topic, but I didn't expect to basically cry my way through the entire thing. Really though, that's what usually happens when I speak so I shouldn't have been so surprised by how emotional I felt. This was something different and a whole new level compared to my previous chances to speak in church and I was not prepared for it. Still, while I was giving my talk I felt really good and strong and I just hope and pray that my message made an impact on even one person, despite all the tears. 

Anyway, here's the transcript of my talk, the preparation of which occupied most of my thoughts this week and almost all of my free time. I'd love to hear what you think!

Temples have always been specifically set apart for service to the Lord. They are buildings where sacred rites and ceremonies are performed. Almost as soon as the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage they were commanded to build a tabernacle to the Lord. Eventually, the children of Israel stopped wandering in the wilderness and a more permanent temple was built by Solomon in Jerusalem.  In 2 Nephi 5:16, we learn that soon after Nephi and those who followed him separated themselves from Laman and Lemuel they built a temple "after the manner of Solomon."

In the latter days, the church began to plan for the building of a temple and in March 1836 the first temple of modern times was dedicated at Kirtland, Ohio. After settling in Missouri and finally in Nauvoo, the early Saints again began to build a temple. It was dedicated on April 30, 1846, but even before the completion of the building, the people had begun fleeing the city.

So why the history lesson? To illustrate that temples have always been central to the gospel and of greatest importance to the Lord. And I would argue that if something is important to God, it should definitely be important to us.

We live in a time when the Lord is hastening His work. We have the responsibility and opportunity to contribute to that effort. I’ve personally noticed the pace of the work accelerating over the last twenty-five years. I’m sure there are even earlier examples than the ones I’ll share today. However, looking back on only the past quarter century it was easy for me to see the emphasis the Lord, through his prophets, has placed on temples as a central part of that work.  

On June 6, 1994, the day after Howard W. Hunter was set apart as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he shared this message:  “I … invite the members of the Church to establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred covenants. It would be the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the Church be temple worthy. I would hope that every adult member would be worthy of—and carry—a current temple recommend, even if proximity to a temple does not allow immediate or frequent use of it.  Let us be a temple-attending and temple-loving people. Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow. Let us go not only for our kindred dead, but let us also go for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety which is provided within those hallowed and consecrated walls. The temple is a place of beauty, it is a place of revelation, it is a place of peace. It is the house of the Lord. It is holy unto the Lord. It should be holy unto us.” President Hunter was the prophet for just nine months, and his focus during that short time was that each member of the church would qualify for and hold a temple recommend and then use that recommend to worship in the temple “as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow.”

Temple construction increased significantly under the direction of President Gordon B. Hinckley. In 1995, when there were less than 50 temples operating throughout the world, he said: “I have a burning desire that a temple be located within reasonable access to Latter-day Saints throughout the world. … The work is moving about as fast as we can go. It is my constant prayer that somehow it might be speeded up so that more of our people might have easier access to a sacred house of the Lord”.  When he died in 2008, the Church had 124 temples in operation, with 13 more announced. President Hinckley had been involved in the planning and construction of most of these, and he had personally dedicated 85 of them and had rededicated another 13. We are blessed to live just over 100 miles from the London Temple - I would consider this to be a distance that gives us “easier access to a sacred house of the Lord.”

During President Monson’s administration, announcements of new temples to be built throughout the world continued. In 2013, the introduction of online resources to help members find their ancestors resulted in an 11 percent increase in family names submitted by members for temple ordinances in what was called “a banner year for family history.” I believe that the construction of temples and the advancements in family history work are further evidence that the Lord is hastening His work. Genealogy and temple work are inseparably connected. FamilySearch and other tools have come to the earth at a time when members of the church, especially the youth, are comfortable with technology. Their aptitude and skill with technology make our youth a central part of the work of salvation.

I would, however, like to point out that the phrase we use for this important endeavor in the church is temple AND family history work, not temple OR family history work.  Both family history and the blessings of the temple can be meaningful in our lives, but the real power comes when we combine them.  Let’s not ignore the message today though; the priority is still the temple. Family history CAN bring us closer to the Lord. Going to the temple WILL bring us closer to the Lord.  Going to the temple is the priority of the two. The history lesson I shared before didn’t have the saints building Family History libraries and then a temple. The temple always comes first.  Does it in our lives?

Our prophet today has placed great emphasis on the necessity of spending time in the temple. At the end of the October 2018 General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to build 12 new temples. In addition to this being the largest number of temples ever announced on the same day, the news brought the total number of temples operating, announced or under construction to 201.  At the time of that announcement, he said, “We know that our time in the temple is crucial to our salvation and exaltation and to that of our families. After we receive our own temple ordinances and make sacred covenants with God, each one of us needs the ongoing spiritual strengthening and tutoring that is possible only in the house of the Lord. My dear brothers and sisters, the assaults of the adversary are increasing exponentially, in intensity and in variety. Our need to be in the temple on a regular basis has never been greater. I plead with you to take a prayerful look at how you spend your time. Invest time in your future and in that of your family. If you have reasonable access to a temple, I urge you to find a way to make an appointment regularly with the Lord—to be in His holy house—then keep that appointment with exactness and joy. I promise you that the Lord will bring the miracles He knows you need as you make sacrifices to serve and worship in His temples.”

The Europe Area Plan for 2019 asks us to Follow the Prophet, Invite a Friend to Sacrament Meeting, and to Take An Ancestor to the Temple. You can easily do two of the three by going to the temple (which our prophet is pleading us to do) and completing ordinances there for your family members who have gone before.

Any sacrifice we must make is worth it to get to the temple. We hear so many stories of families giving up so much just to go to the temple one time. I believe that temple service is not a sacrifice but an investment. And it’s an investment with guaranteed and untold eternal dividends. We’ll never be able to give back to the Lord, through our temple service or other forms of service, the blessings He gives to us. And, like many other aspects of the living the gospel, we are blessing others through our temple service but we’re also receiving blessings by faithfully serving in the temple.

Personally, I love being in the temple because it’s where I feel closest to my Heavenly Parents and it’s where I go to learn about the potential I have as their daughter. In the temple, I feel peace no matter what is going on in the world or in my personal life. Serving in the temple gives me strength and spiritual resilience. The temple is a place to learn and it’s a place to go for revelation and spiritual guidance. I’m so grateful for the sweet experiences I’ve had as I’ve served in the Lord’s house and received personal revelation. I usually go to the temple without a specific question or concern and so I’m sometimes surprised by the thoughts and impressions that come to my mind. But I shouldn’t be surprised because that’s one of the blessings we are promised for being in His house. - Doctrine and Covenants 110:7-8 “For behold I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. Yea, I will appear unto my servants and will speak to them with mine own voice.”  The Lord truly does know our needs and we can find direction as we go to the temple.

Temples are where we receive what have been called the crowning blessings of the gospel. Are we showing the Lord our gratitude for those blessings by returning to His house as often as we can? The temples that now dot the globe are magnificently beautiful structures. But building beautiful temples is not the end goal - the whole point of these wonderful temples is that the members of the church go and serve and worship there. In Matthew 13 the Savior said, “For whosoever receiveth, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever continueth not to receive, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” To truly receive and keep the blessings of the temple in our lives we must not only go and receive our own ordinances, but we also must “continue to receive” by returning to the temple and performing ordinances in behalf of our kindred dead.

“Building and maintaining temples may not change your life, but spending your time in the temple surely will,” President Nelson said. “To those who have long been absent from the temple, I encourage you to prepare and return as soon as possible. Then I invite you to worship in the temple and pray to feel deeply the Savior’s infinite love for you, that each of you may gain your own testimony that He continues to direct this sacred and ageless work.”

I know that what our prophet has said is true because I’ve seen it in my own life. Spending time in the temple has changed me. It’s made me a better wife and mother and, most importantly, a better disciple of Christ. Everything in the Church — the meetings and activities, the missionary work, the lessons and the hymns on Sundays — they all lead to the work done in holy temples. I know that as we do all we can to be part of that work the Lord will bless us in all aspects of our lives.