| Today, Sunday August 14, 2022, the Washington DC Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being re-dedicated. We are thrilled, excited, and walking on air, feeling so blessed to be here for this special event. |
President Russell M. Nelson, president of the church, will dedicate the temple through the power of the priesthood, saying a special, inspired prayer. His two counselors, Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring will also participate, along with other church authorities. There will be three dedicatory sessions so that many members of the church in the temple district—which includes Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia (and maybe other areas I am not aware of) may attend within the temple walls. These meetings will also be broadcast over closed circuit to chapels throughout this area, and Elder Holm and I will attend at our meetinghouse in Potomac, MD. Our friend and bishop’s wife, Eme’ Martin, will speak in the session we’re attending.
The DC Temple was built in the 1970s and dedicated in 1974 by President Spencer W. Kimball. We’ve been re-reading the prayer he said at that time, which is inspiring and prophetic.
I’ll explain why we are so profoundly moved—to help friends who may find this all a bit confusing. First, we believe in modern day prophets, who guide and bless God’s children on earth. Moses told the Israelites to “make you clean” to prepare to hear the word of the Lord. I hope If I lived then, I would have obeyed. I want to hear and ponder every word that is said today, especially the dedicatory prayer. If counsel is given on how to live in this crazy 2022 world, I hope to remember it and follow it.
Second, we believe that through the priesthood given by Jesus Christ to our prophets and leaders, we can be sealed (joined by covenant) as husbands and wives, parents and children, for eternity. That happens in only in our temples. Elder Holm and I were sealed 45+ years ago in the Idaho Falls Temple.
Third, we believe that it would be patently unfair for US to be able to be sealed while those who went before us, our ancestors, don’t have that privilege. We research and connect our family lines, then within temples, we stand as proxies (substitutes) for the people whose names we have found, as we are perform their baptisms, marriages and other covenants. We believe all people have the freedom to choose, and that after we die, our spirits are eternal. Those who have died may choose—in the spirit world, which we also believe in—whether to accept the work done for them in temples.
We loved visiting this temple during the public open house. We went five or six times during April, May and June. That joy seems thin compared to the joy Elder Holm and I will have in three weeks, when we return to assist our departed family members.
I can’t say it better than President Kimball did in 1974:
“Our Holy Father, hear our pleadings; accept our penance; forgive our sins; and help us in our endeavors. Let thy blessings flow from thy heaven where thou sittest enthroned in glory, honor, power, majesty and might, dominion, truth and justice, judgment, mercy, and an infinity of fullness from everlasting to everlasting.
“And now, our great and kind Father, accept this house, we pray. We dedicate it unto thee for thy holy and righteous purposes and put upon it thy name. Let us sing hosannahs to thee and the Lamb, and let these, thine anointed ones, be clothed in salvation, that thy Saints shall shout for joy.
“And now, our Father, we ask thee to accept this house, the workmanship of the hands of thy servants, this house in which thou canst dwell forever.”
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