Through the Camera Lens:
A Compensation for Their Tears
The Dedication of the Nauvoo Temple (Part Two)

Text by Maurine Jensen Proctor
Photography by Scot Facer Proctor

Note: Click on photos below for enlargements.

During the first dedication ceremony, the prophet wept, so overcome by the Spirit, that he could not stop the tears.

President Hinckley has a way, when deeply moved, of lowering his head, clearing his throat and coughing a bit, to control his emotion. Several times, he lowered his head, but the gesture could not stop the tears which flowed freely.

Tears flowed freely throughout Nauvoo. Greetings were warmer. The veil seemed thinner-as if ears and hearts were opened to invisible realities. It was like the sweet fragrance of blossoming trees that filled the very air of Nauvoo. It was palpable. It was powerful. It was peaceful.

Catherine Camfield said through her tears, "There aren't words to describe what it means to be here today. We all knew that someday the Nauvoo Temple would be rebuilt, but I don't think any of us believed it would happen in our lifetime.

"It's an experience of healing from the past. Every time you come to Nauvoo, it's so wonderful to be here, but I felt like something was missing. And now there's no hole left. The void is filled."

Beverly Sorenson also had the tears rush to her eyes, "There's 72 of my family here. They wanted to do whatever it took to be here. I keep thinking of my great grandfather John Taylor who left this temple he had loved."

The tears were not just for the poignancy of the story. Certainly we feel for those ancestors who made such vital sacrifices for the temple they would leave. Their tears burn in our cells. We love Joseph and Hyrum, and we cry because they went as lambs to the slaughter. Yet, what brought the tears that rolled down the faces of the singers in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and melted the hearts of the people who couldn't tear themselves away from the temple lot is a heavenly power we never successfully find words for.

It is as if we get a glimpse of eternity as a breeze blows back the veil for a moment, and we are whole.

"Then all that was promised the Saints will be given," the people sang at the coverstone ceremony.

From Thursday, June 27 at 6:00 p.m. to Sunday, June 30, 13 formal ticket-only dedicatory services for Church members were conducted. The dedication has been broadcast via satellite to approximately 2,300 locations in 72 countries, far exceeding the reach of any previous satellite broadcast by the Church and the first temple dedication to be broadcast on an international scale.

Because God had commanded it, Joseph wanted to build a temple, but the Saints were driven from their temple in Kirtland. He laid cornerstones in Independence and again in Far West, but the temples were never constructed. Mobs came against the Saints, and they had neither a house for God, nor a roof over their heads.

It is no wonder then that stretching his hand toward the uncompleted temple in Nauvoo, Joseph said, "If it should be the will of God that I might live to behold the temple completed and finished from the foundation to the top stone, I will say, 'Oh Lord, it is enough. Lord let thy servant depart in peace.'"

So for Joseph and for those millions of us who witnessed the Nauvoo dedication, our joy is full and it is enough-for we can hardly contain any more. Yet, ironically, suddenly we want to do more and give more and be more.

I asked President Hinckley at the Nauvoo Temple press conference, what had been the urgency to finish the temple. It had been done on a fast-track construction, workers had often labored long hours, six days a week. He quipped, "I feel an urgency. You see this cane? I don't use it to walk so much. I use it as a threat."

He continued, "I wanted to see this temple dedicated on the 27th of June, 2002 on the anniversary date of the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage. Now we are not going to dwell on that at any length. We're not going to look to the sorrows of the past unduly. We're going to look to the present and the future. This church is in a hurry to get its work done. We've got a big job to do. We've got to do work for the whole world, and we don't have forever to do it. We're in a hurry."

Click here to read Part One of this article.

(All photographs Copyright 2002 Scot Facer Proctor)

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Scot and Maurine Proctor at the Southeast Cornerstone of the Nauvoo Temple on June 27, 2002.

Scot and Maurine Proctor have taught Institute classes for sixteen years, have published numerous books on Church History and scripture studies, are the former editors of This People Magazine, and are speakers in the Church Education System circuit (including Know Your Religion and BYU Women's Conference).