If I Could Change One Thing About the Church's Temple Endowment Ceremony

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 presentation in lieu of an on-screen performance on a widespread basis; I say "widespread" because, at least prior to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this live theatrical aspect is still employed at the Salt Lake City and Manti temples in Utah (Have Questions about the Salt Lake Temple Renovation? Find Answers to FAQs Here; Manti Utah Temple).

The original teaching model was theatrical presentation, and it was applied on two fronts:

1. to the candidate who is the receiver of information, and
2. to the actor/actress who memorizes the part(s)

I remember the first time that I went through the Church's temple endowment ceremony; it was in the Mount Timpanogos temple in American Fork, Utah. The advice that I was given by my father just before I was endowed in the temple was something along the lines of "don't try to memorize everything today; just enjoy the experience, and you'll be able to learn everything in time as you continue to return." That was wise advice, because if I had tried to memorize and learn everything as it was being presented, I would have just gotten confused and overwhelmed myself. I returned to the temple often to do proxy endowments, and got to learn more bit-by-bit, line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept.

When I went through my Masonic initiation degrees, the information presented was equally overwhelming for each ceremony (there are three). When I later watched the Masonic degrees of other candidates (as a spectator instead of as a participant), I started to get familiar with the ceremonies and their contents bit-by-bit; though, I feel that it was on a superficial level. However, I began to internalize the principles of Masonry once I started being a part of the degree cast teams by memorizing[†] parts in order to present them. It's one thing to hear a part that someone else is delivering; but to present a memorized part results in having it internalized on a deeper level.

Instead of just watching the story, one becomes part of the story. And yes, candidates are technically a part of the story too, but with minimal lines when compared to all other parts.

Immediately after having gone through my own Masonic initiation to become an Entered Apprentice, I could not even comprehend everything that had been presented, much less remember it all. As my mentor and current worshipful master of my lodge has often said, our degree ceremonies are very much like trying to take a sip from a water hose due to how much information is presented; I personally find this comparison applicable to the Church's temple endowment ceremony as well. 

I recall reading a book (I cannot remember which one) in my late teenage years about either the Nauvoo period or the Salt Lake period of the Church that detailed an occurrence when Orin Porter Rockwell was asked by a Church leader to fill in for the antagonist character role of the theatrical story that's used in the Church's temple endowment ceremony. I didn't understand at that point what this meant because I had not yet been endowed. I had so little knowledge about the endowment at that point that I was not aware that there was a theatrical presentation associated with it. That Porter could just be asked to fill in indicates that he had already memorized[‡] at least that specific role. I have to wonder if he (like any other actor/actress in the endowment ceremony) experienced any insights as a result of physically acting out that part that I have not had (or may never have) the opportunity to experience.

As I understand it, the Church originally introduced the on-screen experience because some temples could not get enough members to assist in the theatrical cast work; these were temples outside of the United States in places where the Latter-day Saint population was just high enough to have a temple, but low enough that it was difficult to get a full cast together every day for the endowment ceremony to be presented. Modern temples are built around the concept of on-screen performance rather than in-person, so it likely is not feasible for an in-person performance of the theatrical portion to be adopted again (at least on a widespread level).

Even though this will likely never be the case, I would love to be able to be a temple worker someday once this pandemic is resolved. Perhaps I'll make it a goal to be a temple endowment ceremony cast member for Salt Lake or for Manti. What a thrilling and fulfilling experience that would be.

                                                                                    

[*] I use the term "restored" here a bit differently than most members of the Church. Christ stated that the temple endowment had been "hid from before the foundation of the world" until it was revealed to Joseph (D&C 124:40-41). However, each and every one of us who have been or will be born into mortality agreed to Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation (God Provided a Plan of Salvation So We Can Return to Him). Given that the Gospel includes saving ordinances to be carried out during certain times (i.e., the temple endowment for these latter-days), it logically follows that these would have been included in the Plan to which we all agreed. For this reason, the endowment has been restored to us not because it was practiced in ancient times, but rather because we had knowledge of it before this life.

[†] In Freemasonry, we have a standardized ritual (which is secular in nature) for just about everything, including opening/closing lodge meetings, installing officers, etc. Our degree ceremonies are completely ritualized. Most (I'd say about 98%) ritual in Masonry must be delivered from memory. In Utah specifically, this is written into our constitutional code. We are not allowed to use our ciphered ritual books during lodge meetings or degree ceremonies (Section 3-8-14) nor can we deviate from the standardized ritual for degree ceremonies (Section 3-8-2; hence my use of the term "standardized").

[‡] Porter Rockwell was illiterate (Burrows). This is one of the reasons why we know so little about him and why there's so much speculation about his life; unlike most of the Saints during his time, he did not keep a journal. The fact that he could not read makes his memorization of any lines (whether for a prominent role in the Church's temple endowment ceremony or for his role as the tyler of Nauvoo Lodge, U.D.) is incredibly impressive to me.

Works Cited

Burrows, Russell. “The Mormon Samson: Porter Rockwell.” Weber—The Contemporary West, vol. 21, no. 3, 2004, weberstudies.weber.edu/archive/archive%20D%20Vol.%2021.2-25.2/Vol.%2021.3/Burrows%20Ess.htm.

By-Laws and Regulations of the M:. W:. Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Utah. The Masonic Code of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Utah, Rev. Dec. 2019, p. 70

“God Provided a Plan of Salvation So We Can Return to Him.” Come Unto Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, www.comeuntochrist.org/beliefs/purpose-of-life/plan-of-salvation.

“Have Questions about the Salt Lake Temple Renovation? Find Answers to FAQs Here.” Church News and Events, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 23 Apr. 2019, www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/have-questions-about-the-salt-lake-temple-renovation-find-answers-to-faq-here?lang=eng.

“Manti Utah Temple.” Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, churchofjesuschristtemples.org/manti-utah-temple/.

Smith, Joseph. The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1981, Gospel Library, www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament?lang=eng.