Hello again, everyone! Breaking news has just been shared through another official letter from the First Presidency. Effective at the thime of their closures tonight, all temples of the Church worldwide will temporarily close in continued response to COVID-19. After a couple of temples were impacted by the attandance of one or more patrons who had COVID-19, this is the next logical step in the Church's ongoing COVID-19 response. The letter notes that this is a temporary and precautionary measure, and that the First Presidency is looking forward to the day when all temples can resume normal hours. This supercedes anything which has previously been noted on this blog about temple closures.
With all temples now closing for the time being, more time and attention can be devoted to other worthy pursuits, particularly indexing and more fully preparing for the upcoming April 2020 General Conference, which, insofar as I am aware, still scheduled to go forward as planned with the arrangements most-recently announced. It was wonderful to hear the hope conveyed in the letter, and I am grateful that the First Presidency is willing to take this next step to help protect the Saints and citizens of the world during this continuing COVID-19 crisis.
That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: All Operating Temples Will Temporarily Close at Midnight Tonight
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
8 comments:
In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A sister in my Ward who serves in the Boise Temple was told that the temples will be closed until May 5th.
ReplyDeleteScott, I appreciate you stopping by to comment. I have attempted for the better part of the last half-hour or so to respond in the most appropriate way possible. So I hope this comment is received in the same spirit in which I am trying to offer it. I'd be interested to know where exactly this sister is getting her information. Insofar as I am aware, the First Presidency has suspended temple work indefinitely in a similar manner to the way they have suspended congregational worship services until fourther notice. I have a hard time believing that the First Presidency would not publicly share an opening date in the official releases and articles if one was established and some individuals were privy to the information. For that reason, my encouragement to all my readers is to take any specific dates that have not been officially confirmed with the proveribial grain of salt. I hope with all my heart that the information is accurate, but I won't be shocked either if May 5 comes and goes without temples reopening and normal worship services resuming. I mean no offense, and I hope none is taken. Thanks, Scott.
DeleteI was surprised about the date as well and for the same reason. But she was told that date by the Temple President when our temple closed. That date my only apply to the Boise Temple, or it could be the date thst is currently hoped for and will be revisited as it comes closer.
ReplyDeleteHey, Scott. Thanks for those additional details. My reply here is something I have needed to rework a few times as well. First, I don't doubt that a temple president would be in a position to know personally when the temple over which he has stewardship would reopen. And I think you may be right that it is a tentative date for all temples in general or yours in particular.
DeleteBut I also know that, among the many memories I have of my own six-year stint as a temple worker, there were at least a handful of incidents where a member of our temple presidency would give the best answer he could in the moment, then later provide or have another member of that presidency provice clarification or correction on the answers that were previously offered.
I can also see a scenario where the temple president in this case saw that the workers with whom he was speaking were concerned about a closure for which there was no definitive end specified, and, in order to instill hope and encourage optimism, offered a tentative date, even if one was not solidly set, which would give worried workers in such a case the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel", even if there is no current indication that the temple will be able to reopen on that date.
Of course, I am offering all of these thoughts solely based on these analogous personal experiences I could compare this situation to. It seems as though the COVID-19 situation, and, as a consequence, the Church's response thereunto, can rapidly change multiple times per day in several different ways. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time ever the First Presidency has put weekly Church meetings and regular temple worship on hold indefinitely, so in any case, it's unfamiliar territory for all Church members.
But I am glad that, in the midst of the current situation, we have President Nelson as the Lord's prophet right now. While I am sure any previous or future Church President could guide the Church through this with equal skill and inspiration, the more I think about it, the more I realize just how much President Nelson's prowess in pioneering medically-innovative measures that saved lives has more than sufficiently prepared him to similarly pioneer spiritually-innovative measures to ensure the success and strength of the Church and its members remains intact in the midst of an unparalled and unprecedented global medical crisis.
With all of that said, I've probably droned on more than long enough for now. But since you have weighed in on this latest development, I wanted to know: Do you have any other feedback to offer on my predictions for the upcoming General Conference? If you do, please feel free to weigh in on those in the threads of my previous post that covered that. That invitation is also extended to anyone reading this comment. Thanks again, Scott, for what you've shared in the threads of this post. I hope you know how much I always appreciate hearing from you.
Hello again, everyone! Major updates have been reported by the Newsroom and the Church News, with most of those updoates being made in relation to the Church's ongoing COVID-19 response, but one or two of which are unrelated. More changes and adjustments have been announced to the missionary program:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/further-adjustments-missionary-service-march-26-2020
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-03-26/coronavirus-covid-19-missionary-changes-shortened-service-178522
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-03-26/coronavirus-covid-19-impact-missionary-work-global-178402
And even in the midst of the ongoing crisis, top leaders of the Church are still making themselves available for interviews with the Church News. President Ballard, who is currently the Church's longest, actively-serving General Authority, sat down with the Church News to give his perspective on the current situation. That interview took place a couple of weeks ago, but is being published now in the midst of ongoing changes and adjustments that have become necessary in these circumstances:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-03-26/coronavirus-covid-19-president-ballard-hope-encouragement-latter-day-saints-178413
Also, at some point yesterday evening, a significant development that is not related to COVID-19 has been reported. With the Church having released a digital version of its' one-volume universal handbook for all leaders and members earlier this year, they had noted other updates would be made to the digital volume as time and circumstances allowed. The Newsroom has accordingly reported that updates have been made to the sections for Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and their leaders, Young Women classes and their leaders, and Primary-aged children and their leaders. Those updates include details on implementing the new Children and Youth intitiative, the revised version of the Young Women theme, ahd the text of the recently-introduced young men theme. The updates are well worthy of your time and attention. Although I have not personally read them in their entirety, I have read enough to know that these updates have been weel carried out. You can read more specifics on these updates in the following article:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/handbook-update-primary-young-women-aaronic-priesthood-march-2020
Aside from these updates, there does not appear to be any other news to report for the moment. But I will monitor all Church news and temple updates on an ongoing basis, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such things. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
This is definitely under the "take with a grain of salt" category but when I was on my mission in Arizona in 2013, a member said that his dad (who was in the stake presidency) was told in a meeting with a general authority to prepare their people for the day when temples would be closed for up to 3 years. He then referenced the dedicatory prayer for the Salt Lake Temple when Wilford Woodruff prayed for the people when they would no longer be able to go to the temple.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and in no way am I trying to say that actually took place (the comment by the GA, not the temple prayer). Just wanted to share.
That's interesting. Without knowing who the general authority in question might have been or under what circumstances that statement was given. my first thoought on this is that it may have been in reference to times when nearby temples were closed for renovation, as the renovation process for most temples takes 2-3 years. I myself personally do not believe that the closure of all temples and the temporary suspension of all Church meetings will span 2-3 years. I'd be very much surprised if COVID-19 was still a factor 6-8 months from now. I'm no expert on pandemics such as this, and we'll have to see. In any case, thanks for stopping by to share this comment. I appreciate hearing from you.
DeleteHello again, everyone! The Newsroom has also shared the following COVID-19 updates:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update#distribution-stores
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update#missionary-work
Additionally, 8 new couples have been called to assume leadership for temples
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-03-26/read-about-these-8-new-temple-presidents-and-matrons-178245
One of the new temple presidents is a former area seventy and current executive secretary for the Utah Area and another is a former counselor in the presidency of the same temple for which he will be assuming oversight (Raleigh North Carolina). A couple of other interesting notes: The first presidents were called for the Yigo Guam and Winnipeg Manitoba Temple. The article also mentioned that all new temple presidents (except the first for the Yigo Guam Temple) will begin their service in October, one month earlier than has typically been the case.
You can find my updated list of temples for which a new president has been or may yet be called this year at the following web address:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qcf4P9oxAlBJ7Mh20Ixy11WQ7BQGxOtgqIRwnFhSn6A/edit?usp=sharing
My thanks once again to you all.