We arrived at our Airbnb last night in the dark. We woke up to see this as our backyard. Made us wish we were staying a little longer, especially since it dawned rather cold this morning!
Then off to Kirtland.
In 2003 I attended a BYU Semester at Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo was a headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840's and is rich with its history. As then might be expected, church history was the semester's focus of study.
Kirtland was also an early headquarters of the Church before Nauvoo in the mid to late 1830's. We visited Kirtland on a tour and that visit left an indelible impression on my soul. This is my first time back to Kirtland since 2003 and I've had no small sense of anticipation.
We first visited the Kirtland Temple. The Kirtland Temple is currently owned and maintained by The Community of Christ church. When Joseph Smith was killed in Carthage, Illinois in 1844, the Church split many, many ways. The two most significant churches still in existence today are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ.
I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to the Community of Christ church for their stewardship of this structure. I know it's easy for Latter-day Saints to have a bit of a "it-should-be-ours" or "we'll-get-it-back-someday" attitude about it. Some feel the temple is somehow defiled because of the Community of Christ ownership. I'd like to kindly but unequivocally denounce such attitudes.
I believe the Kirtland temple is as much a temple of God as any other on this earth. Its dedicatory prayer is part of the scriptural canon of our church. As for me, I add my personal spiritual witness, as firm as any I can offer, that Christ appeared here to the Prophet Joseph Smith. They spoke face to face. Other heavenly messengers also appeared here with the specific intent of conferring Priesthood Keys necessary for the final dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth. I would sooner affirm these truths than I would the reality of my physical experience. Is it any wonder then that this temple, this city, this history, hold a special place in my heart? The Kirtland temple is a house of God.
Family up in the pulpits
The entry and stairs
It was a cold day outside. We warned kids it would be. Not all heeded the warning! :-)
Our tour guide through the temple was fantastic. He grew up here and even lived in Joseph Smith's old home as a boy. He grew up here and this temple has played a key role in his life including, if I remember correctly, his blessing as a baby, his baptism (there's no font, so I'm not sure how that worked), and his wedding! He shared his testimony of this structure and shared some of his personal spiritual experiences with us. I loved him for sharing these with our family.
He also shared some fun tidbits like why, in the lower hall, they decided to seal closed some access panels in the pillars. These housed access to pulley systems to lower large curtain dividers, part of the original design so that the two large halls could be divided for separate groupings as needed. It turns out that little boys would like to hide their toys inside them each Sunday and leave them there. How does he know they did this? Well, because he was one of said little boys!
After our temple tour, we headed to "Historic Kirtland" where the old downtown was. This is an area owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When we arrived, we hadn't eaten our picnic lunch yet, so the missionaries (it's all run by volunteer missionaries) there kindly opened up the old school house for us to eat in.
The kids had some fun with it, playing school.
This isn't my pic. I have no idea why or how I missed taking a picture of the Newel K. Whitney store, but alas, I did. I got this one off the churchofjesuschrist.org website.
Newel K Whitney and his wife were praying to know about God's truth and His church. They were told it was coming and to wait for it. Soon, missionaries arrived and a few months later (if I remember my timeline right), Joseph Smith arrived. He entered the store, walked up to Newel K Whitney and said "Newel Whitney, thou art the man." Newel said "You have the advantage of me sir as I can not call you by name as you have me." Joseph replied "I am brother Joseph, the Prophet. You prayed me here, now what do you want with me."
Newel K. Whitney's store and upstairs space became a place of many significant occurrences during the Kirtland period.
We loved Kirtland. When you get home reminded me to share the notebook that was made for Elder Ballard when he came for a tour. We spent the night there with the Missionaries that were over the area.
ReplyDelete