Hello again, everyone! Based on the newest information for the Tokyo Japan Temple, I did some additional digging on my end. I found an article from the Japan Newsroom, dated January 27, which that the new annex for the Tokyo Japan Temple was dedicated 2.5 weeks earlier, on Sunday January 10. Elder Takashi Wada, the Asia North Area president, presided at that event, accompanied by both of his counselors, Elders James R. Rasband and John A. McCune.
Although only the apostles have the doctrinal authority to preside at and officiate in the dedication or rededication of any completed temple, as assigned to do so by the First Presidency and/or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, area presidencies, other General Authority Seventies, area seventies, local congregational leaders, or (in the early days of the Church) temple building missionaries, have been able to preside at temple groundbreakings, the dedication of chapels, etc.
The reasoning behind dedicating the annex last month when the full rededication of the temple proper may not occur for at least 8 months was because parts of that annex will be used by local congregations for Sunday worship, and will also be used as office and meeting spaces for the president of the Tokyo Japan stake and some of the bishops serving in the same stake. and the headquarters offices for the Japan Tokyo Mission and the Asia North Area.
It was also noted that Elder McCune conducted the dedicatory services, with remarks being offered by Elders Rasband and Wada, and a video message of congratulations featuring Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was also shown. Throughout the dedicatory services, it was frequently emphasized that the dedication of the annex would be a stepping stone to the eventual anticipated open house and rededication of the temple in its' entirety.
I would just add a few other observations here: Prior to the onset of COVID-19, the Church had originally planned to wrap up the renovation of the Tokyo Japan Temple and rededicate it last year in advance of the commencement of the 2020 Summer Olympics in mid-July. Conditions related to the global pandemic, along the decision to add the annex to the project, which had not been part of the original plan, delayed that process.
Given the information I have previously shared (indicating that the fall months in the Northern hemisphere are likely the soonest that any temple dedications or rededications may be held this year), the potential timing for any such events may be difficult to determine. That being said, there are parts of Asia and the Pacific, among other regions, that have kept the impact of COVID-19 to a relative minimum.
So whenever temple dedications and rededications do resume, I'd anticipate the Tokyo temple to be one of the first (but likely not the very first) to have an open house and (in Tokyo's case) a rededication. The second thing I wanted to mention is that both Elders Gary E. Stevenson and Gerrit W. Gong have connections to the Asian continent, with Elder Stevenson having served as a member of the Asia North Area Presidency for a few years prior to his call as the Presiding Bishop, which in turn preceded his call as an apostle.
Given the fact that both apostles have connections to Asia, it might be easy to surmise that either of the two apostles could be called upon to preside at the eventual rededication for this temple whenever that might happen. But despite Elder Stevenson's connections to Japan, he was not the one assigned to dedicate the Sapporo Japan Temple in 2016, although he did accompany President Russell M. Nelson, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to that dedication.
If that temple had been dedicated after President Nelson became the Church President, he might have opted to send Elder Stevenson to handle that dedication on his own. But that didn't occur.
In the interim, three years after the dedication of the Sapporo temple, President Nelson, who had since become Church President, started giving his fellow apostles opportunities to officiate at temple dedications and rededications. But for each temple rededicated that year, those were handled by 8 of the 9 most senior apostles (with President Nelson himself not rededicating any of those).
That to me suggests a potential precedent that Elder Christofferson may be the most junior apostle asked preside at a temple rededication. While the President of the Church is free to delegate any task to any other apostle as he is prompted or inclined to do so, until there is an established precedent for any of the 6 junior apostles to be assigned to rededicate a temple, it's my assumption (for the time being) that temple rededications may continue to be presided over by any member of the First Presidency, or any of the 6 most senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
I could, however, see a scenario where the senior apostle presiding takes either Elder Stevenson, Elder Gong, or both, with him to rededicate the Tokyo Japan Temple, whenever that might occur. I need to offer the standard disclaimer here: i do not have any inside track to any information that would corroborate that theory, nor is it within my prerogative or privilege to receive any revelation that would justify that theory.
President Nelson has proven to be a very non-traditional prophet in so many ways, including when it comes to deviating from anything that has been typically a long-time established status quo, and the President of the Church is free to do whatever he is inspired to do. It is his prerogative to determine who to assign to each temple dedication or rededication. So if he is prompted to do so, he could send any of the six junior apostles to rededicate a temple.
But since Elder Christofferson has been the most junior apostle thus far to rededicate a temple, I am not entirely convinced that anyone more junior than Elder Christofferson will be sent to rededicate a temple. The Lord has proven me wrong in the past, and it will surely happen again, but for the time being, my research on recent temple dedications and rededications point me towards that theory.
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.
