Latter-day Templar

Before delving into this thought, I would like to make a clarifying distinction between the temple endowment  and the temple endowment ceremony . The Church's temple endowment is conferred upon us via a series of covenants which we make with God therein; it also uses doctrine to illustrate the spiritual parent-child relationship that each of us has with God as our Heavenly Father. The ceremony  is the vehicle whereby these covenants are made and the information/doctrine is delivered to us. The temple endowment itself is the same today as it was when Jesus Christ restored[*] it to us via Joseph Smith, Jr. The ceremony, however, has undergone various changes; in other words, we receive the same endowment in a different way today than the early Saints of this dispensation did. I love the Church's temple endowment and see no reason for it to change. With that clarification made, if I could change one thing about the its ceremony, then it would be to bring back the live theatrical

My lodge held its last regular stated meeting for the year last evening. I was privileged to be able to give an educational. For those of you who do not know, an educational in Masonry is exactly what it sounds like: an educational lecture or presentation. It is typically related to Masonry, having to do with Masonic history or Masonic principles; it is not unheard of and is completely appropriate, however, to have an educational in lodge that has nothing to do with Freemasonry. For example, back in 2019, we had non-Masons come in from a local high school's debate team while our lodge was "at recess." They gave a presentation on the pro's and con's of our local area (Washington County) building a water pipeline from Lake Mead to address our drought (given that we live in a desert area). Both sides of their debate team brought up excellent points and were very impressive. Once their presentation was completed and we thanked them, they left and our lodge "retu