Kirtland Temple

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The Kirtland Temple is a registered National Historic Landmark in Kirtland, Ohio, USA, on the eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Owned and operated by the Community of Christ, the house of worship was the first temple to be built by the Latter Day Saint movement. The design mixes Federal, Greek Revival and Gothic Revival architectural styles. [1]

Contents

[edit] Present day

Each year tens of thousands take tours of the temple. Members of various Latter Day Saint traditions also travel to the temple to hold 40 to 50 worship services and educational events each year. There are also community Thanksgiving service, Christmas Eve, and Holy Week services that are held at the Temple each year.

A new Spiritual Formation and Visitor's center has been constructed and recently opened by Community of Christ. This center, opened in March 2007 and set to be dedicated on 9 June 2007, will enhance the worship, educational, and administrative ministries of the Temple by providing classroom space, worship space, a multi-use theater, offices, and historical and contemporary exhibits relating to the Temple, the Later Day Saint Movement and Community of Christ today. The center's basic layout has been described by some as reflecting a dove. The center reflects various characteristics of the Temple in is visual appearance.

[edit] Construction

Beginning in 1831, members of the Church of Christ under the direction of church founder and president Joseph Smith Jr., began to gather in the Kirtland area. On May 6, 1833, Smith reported that he had received a revelation from God, directing members of the church to construct "a house... wholly dedicated unto the Lord for the work of the presidency," "dedicated unto the Lord from the foundation thereof, according to the order of the priesthood." Directions were given to build a "lower court and a higher court," and a promise given that the Lord's "glory shall be there, and [his] presence shall be there." (LDS Doctrine & Covenants Section 94:3-9).

Construction commenced soon thereafter, quarrying Berea sandstone from the base of Gildersleeve mountain[1], near Chillicothe Road, and gathering lumber from the surrounding area, especially the gravel pits of on the other side of Gildersleeve mountain along Hobart Road. The first structure of its kind to be built by the Latter Day Saint movement, the Kirtland Temple is very different in purpose than the Nauvoo temple built in the 1840s. It is different in both design and purpose of the temples built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints portion of the movement in latter years as they embraced and grew from Nauvoo temple theology.

The lower inner court is used primarily for various worship services. It has two sets of pulpits, one set on either end, and the pews featured an adjustable design which allowed the audience to face either end. The second floor was designed for education, and was to house a school for church leaders known as the School of the Apostles. Use of the third floor alternated use between general academic classes during the day, Church quorum meetings in the evenings, the Kirtland Theological Institution, the School of the Elders (possibly an enlargement of the school of the prophets, and may have been destined to become the school of the apostles), Church offices, including that of Smith, were also located on the third floor. At the time of construction, none of the ordinances associated with LDS temple worship, such as baptism by proxy, had been instituted.

Truman O. Angell recorded in his journal that about this time Frederick G. Williams, one of President Smith's counselors, came into the temple one day during construction and related the following:

"Joseph received the word of the Lord for him to take his two counselors, Frederick G. Williams and Sidney Rigdon, and come before the Lord and He would show them the plan or model of the house to be built. We went upon our knees, called on the Lord, and the building appeared within viewing distance. I being the first to discover it. Then all of us viewed it together. After we had taken a good look at the exterior, the building seemed to come right over us, and the makeup of this hall seemed to coincide with what I there saw to a minutia." [2]

[edit] Dedication

The temple was dedicated in an eight-hour service on March 27, 1836. A reported "one thousand persons" attended the gathering, which introduced such traditional dedication rites as the Hosanna Shout and singing of the hymn "The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning." Following a two-and-a-half hour sermon given by Church leader Sidney Rigdon, Smith offered a dedicatory prayer that had been prepared by a committee of church leaders,[2] which he indicated was "given to him by revelation."Template:History of the Church, 2:420 Two other church leaders, Brigham Young and David W. Patten, were reported to have been inspired to speak in tongues following the prayer (Messenger and Advocate (March 1836)). Truman O. Angell recorded in his journal the following account:

"When about midway during the prayer, there was a glorious sensation passed through the house [Kirtland Temple]; and we, having our heads bowed in prayer, felt a sensation very elevating to the soul. At the close of the prayer, F. G. Williams being in the upper east stand- -Joseph being in the speaking stand next below--rose and testified that midway during the prayer an holy angel came and seated himself in the stand. When the afternoon meeting assembled, Joseph, feeling very much elated, arose the first thing and said the personage who had appeared in the morning was the Angel Peter come to accept the dedication."

[edit] Visions and miracles

On January 21, 1836, before the temple was completed, Smith reported the first of several visions received at the temple. As he and his associates performed a feet washing and anointing ritual, he claimed to behold "the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof... [and] the blazing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son." Smith also reported seeing Adam, Abraham, and three family members who had previously died; this experience of Smith was canonized by the LDS Church as revelation and published as such for the first time in 1981.

Not long after the dedication, several more visions were reported. On April 3, Smith had his scribe, Warren Cowdery,[3] write down in his personal journal an account of a personal spiritual experience Smith and Oliver Cowdery had while praying in the pulpits. In this experience Joseph states that he and Oliver saw Jesus Christ "standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit." According to Smith's account, Christ accepted the Church's dedication of the temple, and promised blessings according to their obedience. Following the conclusion of this vision of Christ, the account goes on to tell of Smith and Cowdery then receiving visions of Moses, Elias and Elijah. The account in Joseph Smith's Journal is the only known telling of this occurrence during Smith's lifetime. The LDS Church cannonized it as section 110 of their Doctrine and Covenants in 1876.

[edit] Shifting ownership

Smith's time in Kirtland after the temple came into use was limited. In 1837, he became involved with the foundation of a bank known as the Kirtland Safety Society. The failure of this bank was a factor that caused a schism among Latter Day Saints in Kirtland. The dissenters were led by Warren Parrish, Smith's former secretary, and included Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. Parrish's group took control of the temple and other church property. By the beginning of 1838, Smith was forced to flee the state, relocating to Far West, Missouri with hundreds of loyalists. After the Mormons moved west in 1838, the Temple was used by the Western Reserve Teacher's Seminary. Parrish's group dissolved and by 1841 the remaining Latter Day Saints in Kirtland had come back into communion with the main body of the church, which had subsequently relocated to Nauvoo, Illinois.

A period of confusion followed the assassination of Smith in 1844 as rival leaders and factions vied for control of the temple. In 1845, the Kirtland Latter Day Saints under the leadership of S. B. Stoddard, Leonard Rich and Jacob Bump organized their own Mormon church in opposition to Brigham Young, James J. Strang and other leaders. This group later merged with a faction led by William E. McLellin whose president was David Whitmer, another of the Three Witnesses.

By 1848, another Latter Day Saint faction led by James Collin Brewster was organized in Kirtland and maintained control of the temple. This faction also dissolved and most of the members who were in Kirtland eventually joined the Community of Christ (Then known as Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) led by Joseph Smith III.

In 1880, the Community of Christ took part in the Kirtland Temple Suit in an attempt to gain clear title to the temple. The court opinion stated that the Community of Christ was the lawful successor of the original church, but ultimately dismissed the case. Therefore, the case had no legal bearing. Ownership of the temple, however, was secured via adverse possession by 1901 or earlier. From 1874, the Community of Christ has maintained the temple, which is open to visitors.

The local Community of Christ congregation met in the building on a regular basis for Sunday worship till the 1950s. Due to preservation concerns, a new church was built across the street (for the congregation) and the temple saw more direct management and funding from the world church. Today, the building is used for approximately 40 worship services or special events through out the year by various Latter Day Saint denominations.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chiat, Marilyn, North American Churches, Publishers International, Ltd.: 2004, p. 71.
  2. ^ Oliver Cowdery's Kirtland, Ohio Sketch Book as reprinted in BYU Studies 12:4 (1972). [Saturday, 26 March 1836] "This day our school did not keep, we prepared for the dedication of the Lord's house. I met in the president's room, pres. J. Smith, jr. S. Rigdon, my brother W. A. Cowdery & Elder W. Parrish, and assisted in writing a prayer for the dedication of the house."
  3. ^ Faulring, Scott H., ed., An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987), 156 footnotes

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[edit] External links

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