And it’s OUR story, every single one of us, individually. I love that, too, about the temple rituals, the fact that we perform them one by one, one precious soul at a time, one name, one spirit. We are each of us on our own journey, endowed with gifts and powers both universal and unique. We are saved by the grace of God one by one. We are loved and cherished, fought for and bought with the blood of the Lamb, one by one. We can’t claim the gifts of salvation and exaltation except we do it through our own will and desire. No one can say YES for another. And finally, when our call to glory is made sure, our election to the kingdom secure, we are welcomed into that mysterious Oneness that is God.

I love the temple – any temple – because I feel most at home there. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like the only one who is out of place here on earth. The world has never felt quite right to me, though I don’t spend much energy trying to identify and name every ill of the world. The earth itself, however, I love. I love its stony places, its arid, hot regions, its soft greenness. I love the seas and the clouds and the fish and the fowls. And in the temple, I learn why my connection to the earth is so strong. Its destiny matches mine.

I love the temple because God shows up for me most reliably within its hallowed walls. He answers my questions, clearly and undeniably, as I sit in the celestial room – sometimes for hours. He asks me pertinent questions and gently demands response. We talk, me and God, there in His house, and I emerge most blessed.

I often feel purged, cleansed of the world’s stain, by spending time in the temple. I am not always alert and attentive; they turn the lights out for the filmed part of the endowment session. Sometimes I simply rest. And I am cradled and comforted in the peace and security of Home. I’m not trying to be literary. It really feels like that.

I describe the temple to non-LDS friends as a portal to heaven. Like a stargate. There is power there, both in the ordinances and in us, that transcends all limitation. I don’t profess to be able to explain or even access it all. I just know it’s real. And I hunger for it, because it is a power that has nothing to do with the world’s ideas of power. It’s the real thing. And like love, you’ve got to experience it to know it.

I believe there is a divinely-orchestrated reason that we are building more and more temples. We, the people of God, need that power. You can feel it even if you can’t yet participate in the temple ordinances. I have received important revelation on the freeway as I drove toward the temple. And in the parking lot. And in the lobby. Even the dressing room. It’s as if the temple exudes power and truth, like God is seeking the seekers.

It’s just a building, the temple, but one that is dedicated, consecrated to the Lord. And maybe that’s why what goes on inside has such power to sanctify both the building and us. We are made holy through our consecration to the Lord. No matter where we are in our spiritual journey – which is what the temple ordinances are all about – it’s our daily commitment to Christ that moves us Home, one step at a time.

Claire, welcome home.

How has the temple blessed your life?

Related posts:

1. Pioneer Day Fatigue
2. Curious about Mormon Temples? Go to a believer
3. Sometimes, Always, at the Temple

Editor’s note: This is a question that we addressed a few years ago, but since there is another temple dedication today in Kansas City, we thought some readers might be curious about what happens at a Mormon temple dedication. We’re reposting the information from this archived post. For more information about the significance of temples to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, see the website Mormon Temples, or see links to other articles on our site at the bottom of this post.  

After the construction on a temple is completed, the Church holds an open house so that anyone interested can walk through and see the inside of the temple, and learn a little more about what happens in temples and why temple worship is so important to us as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Once the open house is completed, a dedicatory service is held. The service includes the singing and performing of sacred music, discourses from Church leaders, and a special dedicatory prayer. Members of the Church ages 8 and above are given the opportunity to participate in the services. In a sense, we are presenting the temple — which for Mormons signifies one of the most sacred places on earth — to God and to His Son, Jesus Christ. We ask Heavenly Father to accept the temple and bless those who serve therein.

We bring white handkerchiefs to participate in what is one of the most moving and memorable parts of the service — the Hosanna Shout. This is a sacred moment for us, when we join our voices in unison, praising God and His Son, Jesus Christ. This is reminiscent of the praises voiced at the triumphal entry of the Savior (Matthew 21; Mark 11; John 12). There are also times in the Old Testament that are similar in this spirit of praise, where rejoicing was part of the sacred rituals of the tabernacle. We also see such sacred use of a cry of “Hosanna” when the Savior visited the American continent after His resurrection and ascension in Jerusalem, as recorded in the Book of Mormon.

Temple dedications have always been important to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the first latter-day temple dedication in Kirtland, Ohio,

“[h]undreds of Saints came to Kirtland for the dedicatory services; some traveled long distances to attend. There were nearly a thousand seats inside the temple, but many more people wanted to attend the dedication. The Prophet told the people who could not get seats in the temple to hold a separate meeting in the schoolhouse nearby, and the next Thursday the dedication service was repeated so these people could hear it…. [This illustrates the reason that multiple dedicatory sessions will be held, thus allowing many people the opportunity to participate in the sacred event.]

While the Kirtland temple dedication was more extensive than dedicatory services held today (it lasted over seven hours!), reading about it can give an idea of what happens each time a temple is dedicated:

The Prophet Joseph Smith read the dedicatory prayer, which had been given to him in a revelation. This prayer is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 109. In the prayer the Prophet thanked Heavenly Father for the blessings he had given the members of the Church. Joseph prayed that the temple would be a place of prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, and order (see D&C 109:8, 16) and that those who came to the temple would grow in faith and wisdom (see D&C 109:14–15). He asked the Lord to accept the temple and make it a holy place (see D&C 109:4, 12–13). After the prayer the choir sang “The Spirit of God” (Hymns, no. 2), which had been written by William W. Phelps for the dedication of the temple. The congregation then…ended the service by giving the sacred Hosanna Shout: they raised their hands above their heads and shouted three times, “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb, amen, amen, and amen.”

Temples are dedicated today following the pattern of the Kirtland Temple dedication. The prophet (or someone he chooses) gives the dedicatory prayer, “The Spirit of God” is sung, and the entire congregation gives the Hosanna Shout.

(All quotes above were taken from this lesson.)

For more information on our site about the topic of temples, see the following articles:

What can you tell me about Mormon temples?
What the Temple Means to Mormons
Why Mormons Build Temples

***Please note: The answers in “Ask a Mormon Woman” and (other content on this site) reflect the thoughts and perspectives of the administrators at Mormon Women. Although we strive to have our content consistent with the Church’s doctrine and teachings, we do not speak officially for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For official information about or from the Church, please visit www.mormon.org or www.lds.org.

We went to the temple tonight.  After doing a session, I went into the dressing room, and I saw a woman sitting on a bench with a very glum look on her face.  I said to myself as I passed, “Self, she looks like she needs a hug.”  Then the still small voice spoke to me.  Go back and give her a hug.  I immediately went back and sat next to her.  “You look like you could use a hug,” I told her, and I gave her one.  She told me she had been waiting for her locker to be freed up.  Then she asked me, “Were you reading my mind?”  I told her I wasn’t.  She told me that seven years ago from tomorrow her husband had died, and this was the first time she had attended the temple near the anniversary of his death.  So I guess my being told to give her a hug was one of those tender mercies from the Lord to her to let her know that He was mindful of her.  I’m very glad I obeyed the prompting immediately. 

Thanks to Danielle Tumminio for this article about her experience visiting the new temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Missouri. (The temple open house continues this week until Saturday, April 28. The open house is free to the public, but tickets are required.)

She visited the Mormon temple with some questions in mind:

What does a Mormon temple look like, and what happens inside it?

Would I feel God’s presence in this space, even though it’s not a space that’s sacred for me?

Before I go any further — and because I know it’s the question at the front of your mind, dear reader — no one tried to convert me. In fact, everyone was very welcoming. Members volunteered en masse, clad in pressed suits and dresses. They offered guided tours, bent down to put protective boots onto my feet so my shoes wouldn’t dirty the carpeting, and offered me a chewy snickerdoodle at the end of the tour. They showed me every space from changing rooms to sealing rooms where marriages take place and answered every question I asked, no matter how challenging or controversial.

Mormons go to temples to be close to God….

I sat in the hospital waiting room reading celebrity magazines, a guilty pleasure I rarely indulge in. My husband was in an operating room in Boston having a pin installed in his hand to help heal a fractured bone. In the great scheme of things, it wasn’t too big a deal.

Another family walked in and sat on the couches in a different corner of the room. We had a short exchange of pleasantries, after which one of that group said:

“Yuh not from around heah, ah yuh” – which, being translated, means: “You’re not from around here, are you.”

I told them I grew up in Illinois.

“You roll yuh ahhs.” (“You roll your “r’s.”)

After we had placed each other geographically by mother tongue, I learned that their loved one was having heart surgery. It was serious and life threatening. I settled back into my chair, and they carried on their own quiet conversation.

I started thinking about the room we were in. I had the sense that the walls and furnishings were thick with the love, grief, hope and longing absorbed from the intensity of all who ever had reason to be there. It was as though there were stories, weeping and prayers infused into the wallpaper just waiting for someone with “ears to hear” – if there were anyone who could bear up under the weight of it all.

This experience came back to me recently when I was given a new assignment as part of my morning shift at the Chicago temple. A new project was to train ordinance workers to handle office duties as well as the other mix of services we provide (from priestly functions to folding the laundry – all holy work in my opinion.) My assignment that day was to transcribe names from the prayer roll recording.

Besides being able to write down the names of dear ones with “afflictions” or concerns on paper at the temple itself, people can call the temple and leave names (spoken clearly, and spelled out, please) on an automated temple roll recording. Those names are then transcribed and made available with the handwritten ones for prayers on the altars of the temple.

As I transcribed the names that day I had a similar sensation to what I’d had in the hospital waiting room years before. Each slow syllable was potent and loaded with so many layers of love and concern and crisis. The voices varied (that day they were all women) – chipper, aged, matter-of-fact, anxious, many with Western glosses or Midwestern rolled “r’s.” Each of those voices represented loving, gentle thoughts or powerful tsunamis of turmoil on behalf of the person whose name they had just pronounced.

As I heard name after name after name, I felt a sense of awe. Of course I wasn’t privy to the particulars – just as the silent waiting room never shared its confidences. Each name I heard represented a specific child of God grappling with a challenge along the thorny spectrum of mortal experience. Each name was spoken by a thoughtful soul longing to connect that person with the energies of prayerful mortals and the compassionate Divine.

This litany became a prayer of its own – holy, charged, drenched in pleading. And that litany, that list of names – but so much more – made its way to the altars of our God, seeking the mercies of Him who surely “hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” (Isaiah 53:4)

Related posts:

1. Pray for me; heal my heart
2. That Thing That is of Most Worth
3. Sometimes, Always, at the Temple

Editor’s note: Many thanks to Micah for writing this piece for Mormon Women. You can also read about Micah on her Mormon.org profile, which we found while getting this post ready! You can also find Micah at her blog, Captain Micah.

Growing up, I simply got used to my family laughing at me when I would run outside to see what was flying overhead. After all, I had known since I was six years old that I wanted to be a pilot. What had started such a dream? Was it the helicopter pilot who landed at the elementary playground for a school assembly when I was in the first grade? He did look pretty cool in that flight suit. I was drawn to every aspect of aviation, and after my introduction to it as a youngster, I desired to do nothing else for work. I loved the idea of flight. Why being in command of a giant pressurized metal tube soaring through the sky ever appealed to my childhood heart, I may never know. I do know that I love what I do, and I am enjoying every second of my job as a corporate jet pilot.

Growing up in small-town Utah didn’t offer many chances to interact with aviation. To overcome that, my mom gave me a wonderful present for my fourteenth birthday…an aviation day camp at the local university’s flight school. After completing a day covering airplane systems, weather, and flight planning, I got an entire half-hour flight in a tiny single-engine airplane. Exhilaration doesn’t begin to describe how it felt to finally be at the controls of an airplane! The smile didn’t disappear for weeks. I was hooked.

Since that wonderful day, I have attained my Private, Commercial, and Airline Transport Pilot Certificates, along with my Instrument, Single-Engine, and Multi-Engine Ratings. I am also a Certified Flight Instructor for basic, instrument, and multi-engine, so I can not only fly it all but teach it all as well. (Pilots are really humble creatures, in case you were wondering. And I know from experience). I really enjoy sharing aviation with easily-excited kids just like me. And the term “kids” is used very loosely there. I am a type-rated Captain in the Hawker Beechjet 400 and flew one for five years before recently switching to a new job flying an Embraer Phenom 300. And, yes…it’s as cool as it sounds.

I am the one in the back of a commercial airliner, hoping that the flight attendant asks, “Does anyone know how to fly this airplane?”

Most weeks for work, I leave on Monday and get home on Friday. Every week is different, which is one of the many aspects of my job that I love. Destinations change constantly, and I get the chance to explore different parts of our beautiful continent. With this new gig, there is even talk of traveling to Europe and the Caribbean. I could be bullied into such situations, if it was absolutely necessary. I am a team player, after all.

I have a blast at work but also enjoy time at home with my loving Hubby. We’ve been together since 2008 when we met in our singles ward and married in the Mesa LDS Temple. It was nice to know that we had the same goals and ideals before we even began dating! Marrying in the temple means I will be with my husband not only for this life, but for eternity. We’ve been promised that things properly sealed here on earth will be sealed in heaven, and I can’t imagine life without my sweet man.

And he does the dishes.

Though I am in love with my occupation of flying a private corporate jet for now, we have goals to grow our family in the future. My incredible mom wasn’t able to be at home to raise her four children, and I am hoping to provide a stay-at-home-atmosphere for my kids. We’re going to have two boys and a girl, in case you’re wondering.

Hubby doesn’t dare hold newborn babies yet, so we aren’t in any hurry. And I’m having a lot of fun flying a jet around the skies, so that doesn’t help, either.

In my spare time (snort), I bake cupcakes with two friends from church. We cater weddings and special events with the most decadent (and not healthy in the least) cupcakes one can imagine. It is fun working with such neat gals and having a creative outlet at home. Using it as an official excuse to eat chocolate doesn’t hurt my feelings, either.

The greatest appreciation for my work comes on late-night flights when I am so close to the beautiful stars in the sky. I marvel that we get to learn and grow in this life and be happy. I know that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ leads to happiness, and that my life is fulfilled and meaningful when I follow the example of my Savior. I feel blessed beyond measure to know that I can kneel in prayer and converse with Him. He knows me personally, and I strive every day to know Him.

I welcome comments and questions on aerodynamics, flight school preferences (North Dakota all the way!), and how to bake cupcakes to perfection. I feel so blessed to live this life and love every second of it. I can’t wait to get to know all of you better, so bring it on.

Yesterday we were at the temple. While my children and I were waiting outside for my wife to come out, I asked my children if they wanted to peak inside. There is a little waiting room just inside the entrance; a person does not have to have a temple recommend to sit in the waiting room or stand just inside the front entrance. My oldest daughter shook her head, “No, I do not want to go in.” I quickly realized it was because she did not feel comfortable entering the temple wearing her play clothes. I asked if she would go in if she was wearing church clothes and she nodded and said, “Yes.”

I was touched by her sensitivity, her discomfort at the idea of going in the front (even at my suggestion) in her play clothes. This reminded me of a story from Joseph F. Smith’s life. Quoting Pres. Hinckley’s rendition of the story:

“While serving [in Hawaii Joseph F. Smith] experienced a remarkable dream. I quote from his narrative concerning this. Said he:

‘I was very much oppressed [when I was] on a mission. I was almost naked and entirely friendless, except [for] the friendship of a poor, benighted … people. I felt as if I was so debased in my condition of poverty, lack of intelligence and knowledge, just a boy, that I hardly dared look a … man in the face.

‘While in that condition I dreamed [one night] that I was on a journey, and I was impressed that I ought to hurry—hurry with all my might, for fear I might be too late. I rushed on my way as fast as I possibly could, and I was only conscious of having just a little bundle, a handkerchief with a small bundle wrapped in it. I did not realize … what it was, when I was hurrying as fast as I could; but finally I came to a wonderful mansion. … I thought I knew that was my destination. As I passed towards it, as fast as I could, I saw a notice [which read B-A-T-H], ‘Bath.’ I turned aside quickly and went into the bath and washed myself clean. I opened up this little bundle that I had, and there was [some] white, clean [clothing], a thing I had not seen for a long time, because the people I was with did not think very much of making things exceedingly clean. But my [clothing was] clean, and I put [it] on. Then I rushed to what appeared to be a great opening, or door. I knocked and the door opened, and the man who stood there was the Prophet Joseph Smith. He looked at me a little reprovingly, and the first words he said: ‘Joseph, you are late.’ Yet I took confidence and [replied]:

“‘Yes, but I am clean—I am clean!’

“He clasped my hand and drew me in, then closed the great door.” (April 2007 General Conference).

Joseph F. Smith in his dream came upon a mansion. Before entering it, he prepared himself – even though he was in a hurry – by bathing and changing into clean white clothing. He took the time to be prepared to enter the mansion. Joseph Smith softly chided his nephew Joseph F. for being late but Joseph F. was there and clean. Just as Joseph F. Smith felt in his dream that he needed to take a bath first and become clean, my daughter recognized that she would only feel prepared and ready to enter the temple if she was dressed more appropriately. I learned a lot about reverence from my daughter’s example.

Related posts:

1. The Mountain of the Lord’s House – An LDS Perspective on Temples, part 4
2. The Mountain of the Lord’s House – An LDS Perspective on Temples, part 3
3. Lessons from Life Part 5 – The Beach

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