Salt Lake Temple busier than ever as closure nears
Six weeks away from the closure of the Salt Lake Temple for a renovation project that will last more than four years, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are flocking to attend the temple in record numbers.
Temple patrons are reporting that endowment sessions have been filled to capacity not only on Saturdays but also on weekday mid-mornings. Similar attendance has been reported for baptisms and sealings.
“The Salt Lake Temple is one of the church’s busiest temples worldwide, and now with the upcoming closure on Dec. 29 due to its renovation, it is experiencing higher volumes of patrons,” church spokeswoman Irene Caso confirmed.
Dedicated, downtown Salt Lake City members always have kept the temple busy, along with Latter-day Saints who want to experience the largest and one of the oldest temples in the church and its live endowment sessions.
Additional pressure on the temple’s capacity could occur when the Jordan River Utah Temple closes for the regular, semiannual cleaning and Christmas holidays from Dec. 9 to 25.
The original decision to build the Salt Lake Temple was announced on July 28, 1847, four days after the Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Temples were completed in St. George, Logan and Manti, Utah, before the Salt Lake Temple was completed and dedicated in 1893.
The endowment is a course of instruction about doctrine in which members receive ordinances and make covenants. Baptisms in the temple are performed only for deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity for baptism in life. Sealings or temple marriage allow a man and woman to make covenants that can create an eternal family.
Temple worship is different from Sunday worship. Temples, considered the most holy places on earth and the house of the Lord, are open on weekdays and Saturdays but closed on Sundays, when members attend church services in meetinghouses. |
|
Here is a Q&A on what to expect before and during the Salt Lake Temple closure:
Q: When will the Salt Lake Temple close?
A: The temple will close on Dec. 29. Learn more here.
Q: What does that mean for the annual display of Christmas lights on Temple Square?
A: The famed Temple Square Christmas lights, which draw hundreds of thousands of people each year, will continue to shine every year, though they will be limited to the west side of the square after this December. The lights turn on as usual the day after Thanksgiving. Crowds for the lights also may be larger this year because it will be a good time to avoid the construction that will clog the area beginning in January.
Q: What does it mean to decommission a temple?
A: The day after the temple closes, it will be decommissioned and renovation work will begin, according to Brent Roberts, the church’s director of special projects. Once it is decommissioned, it is no longer a dedicated temple.
“Monday morning on Dec. 30, we’re going to decommission the temple,” Roberts said. “So that means we go in and we take out the sacred emblems of the temple. We pull out the furniture, and we salvage and save everything that we anticipate that we will need to save. Then we begin demolition on the annex and the South Visitors’ Center. We’ll also begin our excavation at that time.”
Earlier this fall, I spoke with a man who recently went through the decommissioning process at another, smaller temple. He provided a fresh perspective on what it means to the faithful who rely on their local temple.
“It’s really been a very hard thing for us,” said Andreas Kleinert, an investment banker who lives close to the Frankfurt Germany Temple.
“It was hard to remove everything from inside the temple,” he added. “On a Saturday, we were doing endowments for our ancestors. Then we came back the next Tuesday and it was no longer a dedicated temple. We moved all the things out, like the couches and chairs. We took the altars out of the sealing rooms. And at the time, we thought the renovation would take just two years. But it was a huge reconstruction. The only things left were the outer walls and the stained glass.”
Work finished earlier this year and the temple was rededicated last month. The inside of the Salt Lake Temple will not undergo as thorough of a renovation. However, the decommissioning will be similar.
“Immediately after the last session on Dec. 28, the temple presidency and assigned staff begin the decommissioning process,” said Caso, the church spokeswoman. “They will remove the sacred items from the temple over several days. The month of January will be spent removing all furniture, lighting and other items to prepare the building for construction.”
Q: Why does the temple need to be renovated?
A: The biggest part of the job is placing hundreds of seismic shock absorbers underneath the enormous temple. I wrote this story about how the system will protect the temple from earthquakes.
Q: When will the Salt Lake Temple reopen?
A: The temple is scheduled to reopen and be rededicated sometime in 2024.
Q: How will the public learn about progress during temple construction?
A: “We plan to be fully engaged with neighbors and the community in sharing updates about the construction process and important developments that affect them,” church spokesman Daniel Woodruff said. “We are also working on an electronic solution to notify guests, employees and neighbors of day-to-day events or changes so people can plan their day.” |
|
What I’m Reading ... One of the very best journalism writers I know is my friend Jesse Hyde, an editor at the Deseret News. He also writes freelance pieces for national magazines and websites and occasional pieces for us. You might remember his awesome story about traveling to China to interview former NBA player and BYU basketball star Jimmer Fredette. Jesse’s latest piece dropped yesterday, and if you like good writing on a major topic of the day, read his story about visiting the Amazon rainforest.
One of the reporters on Jesse’s team at the paper, Ethan Bauer, talked to Jerry Falwell Jr. about the goal of the school his father founded, Liberty University, to become like BYU in football and other sports. Ethan’s story is a must-read for football fans and those interested in religion in America.
Tim Layden is a fantastic writer. He writes smartly and poignantly about horse racing, which is mired in controversy. He recently published an eloquent overview of the issues as horses are dying and activists and racetracks are trying to respond. He also included a link to a famous piece of American sportswriting, about the death of a racehorse, that I’d heard of but never read.
Jackie MacMullan is one of my favorite sportswriters. She has a super piece out about how a female college women’s basketball coach gave up her well-paid head coaching job at Cal to make less as an assistant coach in the NBA.
I had not heard of this donation by the church. |
|
 | | President Nelson greets Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and other dignitaries before the April announcement that the church would renovate the Salt Lake Temple in a project that will last more than four years. This picture was taken in the Salt Lake Temple North Visitors' Center with the temple in the background. |
|
 | | Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and I both wanted to recreate a shot in front of the Frankfurt Germany Temple in September. On the left, I am with my mission companion, Elder James Thornton, in August 1987, during the temple's original open house. On the right, I am with Elder Uchtdorf reenacting a photo he has from 1987 when he was interviewed by a radio reporter in front of the temple. The photos show some of the differences in the outside appearance of the temple after the renovation completed earlier this year. Elder Uchtdorf rededicated the temple on Oct. 20. Elder Uchtdorf, like Andreas Kleinert as mentioned above, was grateful to have the temple renovation completed after an unexpectedly long four years. |
|
|
|
|
