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Who
Craves Rest from “Work” Like This?
By
Sherlene Hall Bartholomew
It is hard to describe in words what anticipation
and excitement we feel when we go to the temple to act as proxies,
participating in sacred ordinances, on behalf of those who have
gone before. Temples are those places on earth where the veil between
the living and dead becomes more thin--we see beyond material things
more clearly, begin to understand that death walks us quite simply
from one room into another. Entrances to new spheres of learning
on both sides of the veil are kept open, by force of love and power
of the priesthood, as we seal our bonds to the living, not only
for time, but for eternity. Thereby fortified, we are positioned
to so link ourselves to past generations, as well.
Temple experience is especially meaningful
when we know our own research has made this binding of the generations
possible. Similar joy comes when we are blessed to help teach or
fellowship living converts who invite us to share their first temple
experience or witness their eternal marriage vows.
While raising our children, I sometimes
tried to explain my feelings about sacred moments in the temple
to them, but felt as handicapped as one might be, trying to explain
something better to someone who has never tasted anything but burnt
Brussels sprouts. How can one put in words, for the uninitiated,
the sensations involved, for example, in sampling chocolate-almond
mousse pie, crowned with whipped vanilla clouds, streaking caramelled-cherries,
in sunset hues, while hot chocolate-fudge, drizzled over all, descends,
serene as night, to blanket tender crumbles of that crisp, double-dutch
brownie crust. Temple ordinance service is one of those celestial
tastes we can’t fully comprehend ‘til we have opened our spiritual
sense to the sublime.
President Boyd K. Packer, less a fan of
chocolate than I, sees more basic nourishment in the temple experience,
as explained in his book, The Holy Temple (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1980), p. 181:
There is something cleansing and clarifying about the
spiritual atmosphere of the temple.
Sometimes our minds are so beset with problems, and
there are so many things clamoring for attention at once, that we
just cannot think clearly and see clearly. At the temple the dust
of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to
lift, and we can “see” things that we were not able to see before
and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known.
I’d drop dead, first!
While I was growing up, my mother’s intrigue
with the mystery, detecting, and capturing of lost ancestors brought
her a lot of teasing from our family. I thought I had a strong
testimony of the eternal value in what she was doing, so encouraged
her efforts by tending my younger brothers and sisters and keeping
up the house, while she was off doing research. Privately, however,
I assigned my own participation in such research to that phase in
life when I would be too defunct to do anything else, with some
hope that I would first drop dead! After all, what excitement could
there be in going off, briefcase in hand, to leaf through dusty
records, trying to find those long since dead. When I stood before
my Lord, I would tell Him that I did all that babysitting so Mom,
acting as my proxy, could dust off those records for me.
A mother’s wit!
One day, after I married and moved away
to Illinois, Mom interrupted my chasing of our two young children,
by calling from Utah, with a special request. She had not been
able to find the marriage date for one of our ancestral couples,
but had good reason to think that information might be in the collections
at the Newberry Library in downtown Chicago. Since we would soon
be moving to New York, could I please get to the Newberry before
we left the state?
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Mentor-Mom Ida-Rose L. Hall,
about the time she made that consequential phone call |
So I hired a babysitter and made the trip
into the City. After several hours of intense research, with only
twenty minutes before I had to return home, I still had not found
that marriage date. It seemed that all this effort had been for
nothing. I said a silent prayer, explaining what our Father, of
course, already knew—that this was the last chance before we moved.
I asked that if He wanted me to find this marriage, it be made apparent
soon. I found the information within ten minutes of that prayer!
Knowing I had just experienced a miracle, I could hardly wait to
get home and tell Dan and my mother all about it.
My mother was, of course, thrilled, too.
I told her I’d type up the documentation and mail it, so she could
have their marriage sealed in the temple. Wise woman that she is,
Mom insisted, “Absolutely not! You found their marriage information,
so you and Dan go do their sealing!”
In those days our nearest temple was in
Kensington, Maryland, so we processed their marriage record, arranged
for the sealing, and drove five hours to the Washington Temple.
When we got to the sealing room, we needed two witnesses, so went
to the Celestial Room to ask a couple we had never before met if
they had time to witness this marriage sealing. They most graciously
complied. After the ceremony, in which my husband Dan acted as
proxy for the groom and I, for the bride, I looked up through my
own flowing emotion to see that our witness couple was also in tears.
“Did you feel that?” asked this sister. “They were here, you know.
I know your ancestors have long awaited this day and did accept
this ordinance. Can’t you feel their joy?” She hugged me, as a
now dear friend, and thanked us for inviting them to be part of
that sublime few moments. I had felt that same spiritual elation,
but having this couple with no connection to my ancestors confirm
my feelings made it even more memorable.
Find ourselves, finding them!
After that, I was hooked. The search for
my ancestors was on! My family will tell you that I would rather
leaf through records and search cemeteries than watch television,
go to movies, attend most social activities, or even go shopping!
I try to keep some balance, but must admit that when I’m on a hot
trail, I sometimes forget to eat or sleep, in excitement for “The
Search.” In the process, I have been to the most interesting places,
met fascinating people, and been amazed at how much the search for
our dead helps us find the living, while on our way to more abundant
living! Our interest, finding our kin, has done much to bond me
with living relatives, and I have also met new cousins I never would
have known existed, but for our joint interest in family research.
These engaging new friends have done much to enrich my life with
their experience and perspectives. Beyond all that, I have been
amazed at how much learning about my ancestors has helped me understand
myself.
Falling for a (wise) crack:
In this month’s January 2004 Ensign,
page 51, S. Michael Wilcox tells how his mother taped
stories, as told by his grandparents, after he, as a child, was
supposed to be in bed. I guess he thought he fooled them, as he
crept to their front room door and opened it a crack, so he could
hear ancestral tales that they were taping. Writes Brother Wilcox,
after sharing some family legends you’ll want to read for yourself:
I loved those stories and felt their ‘welding link’ about
which the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote (see D&C 128:18). I
wanted to know all I could about my ancestors. Their lives strengthened
mine, completed it, and gave me a sense of belonging—a wholeness
that I cannot adequately explain. I wanted to do something for
them, give them back, in small measure, what they had given me.
As I grew up, I learned that I could do something for my ancestors
through the redemptive work of the dead, which reaches its fulfillment
in the temple. When I did the baptisms for my ancestors, a wonderful
temple worker said: “Many of these people for whom you will be
baptized lived hard lives, and many died thinking God had forgotten
them. But you will show them today that He has not forgotten
them. For the first time in many years their names will be spoken
again, here in the Lord’s house, in love, and they will know of
His eternal concern, and yours, for their happiness.” What precious
fruit the temple offers those willing to partake of its sweetness.
Teaching a child about temples:
Perhaps the most effective way to teach
our children about the joys in temple service is to share our own
bliss, found there. Beyond that first exciting experience sealing
the marriage of my ancestors, Dan and I have been blessed to accompany
dear friends, as they came to the temple for the first time or had
their marriages sealed. Photos with and of them, radiating our
joint happiness while still on the temple grounds, were attached
to our fridge, as reminders at home of such occasions. Among favorite
wall hangings in our home are views of the Salt Lake Temple, where
Dan and I spoke our marriage vows. Perhaps such involvement and
visual reminders of it helped inspire our own children to choose
temples for endowment before missions and sealing of their marriages.
One such temple experience involved dear
New York friend Susan Buckles, whose conversion to the Church we
were blessed to follow, as we met her and became friends. We not
only got to attend her baptism, at our Scarsdale chapel, but were
invited to join her in the Washington Temple when she received her
temple blessings there. Last week I came upon a letter Dan wrote
for our family round-robin, April 1979:
A real highlight was our Washington Temple trip with Sue Buckles.
The power and spirit were strong and fresh, as we experienced
them with a friend going through for the first time. We were
privileged to help with sealings for her grandparents, as well.
Daniel and Laura [our children] had fun staying with best friends
at the Inouyes (Bryce) and Osbornes (Michelle), while we were
gone.
Susan later moved to Salt Lake City to work
at Church offices, but recently retired to be more near her parents.
We were deeply moved by her Christmas letter, in which she let us
know how much temples still matter in her life. This year Susan,
for the first time, chose a printed letter format to enclose with
her holiday cards, so she could share more of her life experience
with her family and many friends. Writes Susan:
This
Christmas marks my second one here in my new home . . . My church,
the Hilton Head Branch, is on Hilton Head Island, and our Stake
Center is in Savannah, Georgia. Beaufort is about thirty minutes
north, where I am a volunteer in the Family History Library and
am really enjoying having the time to seek out those ancestors
who have gone before me. I can feel the sweet spirit of those
who have preceded me in life, as they help me in doing this work
for them.
Our
lovely Columbia South Carolina Temple is about in the center of
the State. Going to the temple is always an uplifting and rewarding
experience. In preparing for a temple trip, reservations have
to be made in advance by calling the temple and scheduling an
appointment for all temple work. When you drive up Trotter Road,
you enter a rather secluded wooded area. About a mile up the
road on the left, you will see a portion of the temple jutting
out from the woods, and your heart will be lifted quickly, knowing
that you will soon be inside its magnificent walls. The temple
is the sacred “House of the Lord,” where we complete our genealogy
work by having our deceased ancestors sealed to their families
for time and all eternity.
Another delight for us came when invited
to attend the temple wedding and sealing of Ingeborg Van Westerveld,
a convert I was blessed to help teach, while on my mission in South
Germany. Inge had emigrated to the United States and invited Dan
and me to witness her vows with Swedish-born Elmer Larson, also
in the Washington Temple. Those of you who may have read my Christmas
story “Silent Nights,” published
this Christmas in Meridian, will understand that such temple moments
as this with Inge make every step, knocking on doors, while tracting
in the bitter cold of Germany, well
worth it!
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Ingeborg Van Westerveld, German convert,
March 1973 |
At Christmas the First Presidency gives
a beautifully-bound book honoring words of the prophets to those,
like my husband Dan, who are part of the BYU faculty and staff.
This year, as we return to a study of the Book of Mormon for our
Sunday School course, it seemed appropriate that they chose the
Sermons and Writings of President Ezra Taft Benson, since
he did so much to encourage our reading of this other “Witness of
Christ.” Their enclosed Christmas greeting includes this thought:
“Throughout his ministry, President Benson displayed a firm commitment
to the Lord and His gospel. He taught that a ‘most priceless blessing
available to every member of the Church is a testimony of the divinity
of Jesus Christ and His Church. A testimony is one of the few possessions
we may take with us when we leave this life.’ (Sermons and Writings,
p. 11).”
Endowed with power:
In Chapter 24 of this book, President Benson’s
thoughts about “What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children about the
Temple” are republished from the August 1985 Ensign, pages
6-10. The promises President Benson outlines for “all who can worthily
go to the house of the Lord” are rich, indeed:
- You will receive the Spirit of Elijah, which will turn
your hearts to your spouse, to your children, and to your forebears.
- You will love your family with a deeper love than you
have loved before.
- Your hearts will be turned to your fathers and theirs
to you.
- You will be endowed with power from on high as the Lord
has promised.
- You will receive the key of knowledge of God (see D&C
84:19). You will learn how you can be like Him. Even the power
of godliness will be manifest to you (see D&C 84:20).
- You will be doing a great service to those who have passed
to the other side of the veil in order that they might be “judged
according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the
spirit” (D&C 138:34).
President Benson continues:
Such are the blessings of the temple and the blessings of frequently
attending the temple.
.
. . God bless us to teach our children and our grandchildren what
great blessings await them by going to the temple. God bless
us to receive all the blessings revealed by Elijah the prophet
so that our callings and election will be made sure.
I
testify with all my soul to the truth of this message and pray
that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will bless modern Israel
with the compelling desire to seek all the blessings of the fathers
in the house of our Heavenly Father.
In President Packer’s previously cited book
about The Holy Temple, he also observes, p. 182:
I have the conviction that the Lord will bless us as we attend
to the sacred ordinance work of the temples. Blessings there
will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed
in all of our affairs. We will be eligible to have the Lord take
an interest in our affairs, both spiritual and temporal.
After reviewing these blessings, we might
well resolve to cease referring to our efforts in the House of the
Lord, as “temple work.” When accomplished with the proper
spirit, our experience there involves as much labor as we might
find, savoring a slice of chocolate-almond mousse pie or viewing
a spectacular sunset. Who craves rest from “work” so glorious as
that bound to us with love, as we serve in God’s holy temples.
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