Sunday Talk, The Temple: A Source of Revelation

 

Two weeks ago I was asked by my Branch President to give a talk at an upcoming Sacrament meeting. Each Sunday Mormons go to church for three hours. One of those hours is dedicated to partaking of the sacrament and other purposes. One of the purposes of Sacrament Meeting is to “provide gospel instruction” and to “strengthen faith and testimony” (Administering the Church [2010], 138). The instruction given during Mormon Sunday services, unlike other religions, is not monopolized by church leaders. All members are given an opportunity to instruct their congregation and share their testimony. My Branch President asked that I give a talk, 12-15 minutes, on the topic of temples, specifically about the temple as a source of revelation.
Here’s most of the talk I gave. The introduction I gave and the testimony at the end of the talk I didn’t script (sorry), so they are excluded:

            Michael and I were able to attend the temple at the beginning of the month. While we waited for the right people to be rounded up so we could perform sealings, we were given a short tour. Just like the rooms in our homes are set apart for different purposes, the rooms in the temple follow suit. During the tour I was shown a room I have never seen before: the nursery. That is place assigned to little children, not born in the covenant, to wait until they are sealed to their parents.

            In the nursery there are plenty of snacks, church movies, copies of the Friend magazine and other wholesome materials to pass the time. There are also closets with white apparel for boys and girls, there is a room occupied with cribs for naps, but what I really want to tell you about is the room our tour guide dubbed the “separation room”. It is a room designated for children who are in need of some, well, quiet time.

            Now, I am a mother of two boys, two very different boys, and my boys have quiet time in our house daily because they just need to be separated from each other (and sometimes even they need to separated from me) in order to keep peace in our household. Yet the idea of such a room in the temple being needed startled me, and maybe you felt the same way as I relayed this tour to you. But as I have thought about the topic given to me for this talk, it makes perfect sense to have a room in the temple where a child might go to separate herself or himself from any commotion, where they can regroup and refocus.

            The topic I have been assigned to speak on is the temple as a source of revelation. As the Church’s website so eloquently puts it, “From the days of the Old Testament, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples- sacred structures where He could teach, guide, and bless them. When the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in the early 1800s, the Lord again commanded His people to build temples. Regardless of the place or time period, temples are the most sacred place on earth-a place where earth and heaven meet and where we feel close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.”
            Brothers and sisters, I am a questioner. That is how I learn. So it was not a surprise as I began to prepare for this talk my first thought was about the different questions and concerns I have carried to the temple. I’ll admit that at times those questions or concerns were so heavy the carrying felt more like lugging. The second thing I asked myself was: Why did I bring those questions and those concerns to the temple?

            When I am qualified, I can receive revelation anywhere. So why did I choose to go to that place to receive answers? The word “place” as I thought about it seemed to strike me as incorrect. And I am quite the stickler for diction, so it bothered me until I read the following quote by James E. Faust: "Each temple building is an inspiration, magnificent and beautiful in every way, but the temple building alone does not bless. The endowed blessings and divine functions…come through obedience and faithfulness to… the covenants made." The temple is not just a place where answers are dispensed. The contents of the temple, the covenants and ordinances performed there for the living and the dead, are a source of revelation. We only qualify for those spiritual experiences when 1. we live worthily, 2. prepare, and 3. attend. 

1. LIVE WORTHILY

            I have been very fortunate as I have prepared for this talk. I have been given opportunities that really allowed this talk to form itself. I visited the temple, I substituted a youth Sunday School class, I was present at my Relief Society Sunday meetings, and I was able to attend a RS Presidency meeting, all of these events junctured to me giving this talk today.

            The three youth I taught last week learned about “Remembering the Sabbath Day, to Keep It Holy.” The lesson was from my favorite Church manual to teach from “Preparing for Exaltation” if you haven’t had a chance to look at it- take a peek sometime today. It is marvelous. But what we learned as a class last Sunday was that keeping the Sabbath holy, like many commandments,  is not just about showing obedience. Keeping the Sabbath is but a stepping stone to the paramount, the temple. There are many correlations between Sunday practices and Temple propriety.
            By striving to keep the commandments we are not only qualifying ourselves, but conditioning ourselves for temple attendance. Elder Hales mentions that “it is difficult for youth to understand how present actions will prepare them for or disqualify them from future service opportunities.” In the context of temple service, I think (regardless of age) many may be shortsighted. Let us make a resolve to allow our choices to qualify and condition us to attend the House of the Lord.

2. PREPARE

            As we read about our scriptural counterparts we learn how to prepare to receive revelation at the temple. A pattern emerges quickly:

·         Jacob, in the Old Testament was instructed to “Arise and go up to Beth-el and dwell there.”

·         Nephi, was told to “arise” and get himself into the mountain.

·         Hannah “rose up” to petition at the temple.

·         Joseph Smith “retired” to the grove near his home.

We prepare by going to the temple by arising, emerging from our frailties and the frailties of the world and having hope of a better world. “Arise” is a great word, but I adore the word “retire” as used in Joseph Smith History.

            In retelling of the First Vision we learn that Joseph “labored” and “reflected” on his salvation (a great concern of his) before retiring to offer up the desires of his heart to God.

 

At the Palmyra temple the windows are etched with foliage similar to those found in the Sacred Grove, suggesting the temple itself is a Sacred Grove. A place we can retire and communicate with God.  In my experience I have come to know that a revelation received from exhausted efforts will probably not “wow” anyone- do not expect a grand vision, and don’t expect others to even understand the answer you receive. However, the reception the resultant revelation will have in our heart will be grand. To labor we must be searching the scriptures, pondering, and praying.

3. ATTEND

            Also, as it reads in Joseph Smith History, “After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go…” Not only did Joseph Smith search the scriptures and had pondered, but he put forethought to where he would go to inquire of the Lord. We must make the temple a place we design to go and schedule regular visits to the temple. Elder Scott suggests: “When a temple is conveniently nearby, small things may interrupt your plans to go to the temple. Set specific goals, considering your circumstances, of when you can and will participate in temple ordinances. Then do not allow anything to interfere with that plan.” Setting dates to attend the temple has benefited our family whenever we have done it. I have to admit we have fallen off that wagon a couple of times.

            President Benson gave this great testimony and promise about temple attendance, he shared that "Temples are places of personal revelation. When I have been weighed down by a problem or a difficulty, I have gone to the House of the Lord with a prayer in my heart for answers. The answers have come in clear and unmistakable ways. I promise you that, with increased attendance in the temples of our God, you shall receive increased personal revelation to bless your life as you bless those who have died." A recent quote by Elder Scott from this past conference supports that promise, he said, “When we are acting as instruments in behalf of others, we are more easily inspired than when we think only of ourselves. In the process of helping others, the Lord can piggyback directions for our own benefit.” Temple attendance and the work performed there on the behalf of others conduces personal revelation.

           

            During the dedicatory prayer of the Boston Temple, President Hinckley implored for the members of this very branch and other members in this area, he prayed, “We pray that Thy people in this temple district may make themselves worthy of every blessing to be found here. May they come, pure in heart and clean in hand, to the House of the Lord with gratitude in their hearts for the marvelous blessings to be gained here. May they be endowed with power from on high and be granted a knowledge of things sacred and divine. May the covenants which they make be binding upon them. Keep them always in the way they should walk. May they sense the wonders of the blessings of eternity to be gained here and here alone.” Brothers and sisters, have you sensed those wonders? Have you sought after them?

            Before I conclude with my testimony, I want to share with you a passage of scripture. It came to mind as I pondered that room in the temple nursery, the separation room. The temple is very much our separation room. It separates us from our toils and spinnings for a moment and allows us to refocus. It also reinforces God’s love and His plan for His Children. As I have made temple covenants, and have made the temple my separation room, I have learned and been persuaded, as Paul in this passage has, that there is one thing I cannot be separated from.
Romans 8: 35-37, 39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[Testimony]

Want to learn about Temple worship? Check out this webpage  or, you know, you can always ask me. ;)