Going Where She's Never Gone Before

Gracie and her friend sit down at opposite ends of the kitchen table and get on hotel Internet sites for the Kirtland area in Ohio.  They even get the same hotel with different prices – how can that be?  It doesn’t make sense to either one of them. Hotel, booked. Breakfast planned. Alarm clock set.  Out the door by seven a.m.  Logistics.

Gracie is excited about going to Kirtland, as many of her friends and family have visited this unique town, which in 1830 was on the frontier at the edge of civilization.

At the beginning of the 19th century in America, many religious splinter groups formed, challenging the accepted major Christian denominations. "... believers from the era hoped to restore “the ancient order of things” and... end all sectarian strife.”* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arose out of this religious turmoil after Joseph Smith, Jr., then 14 years old, had a visionary experience in prayer. The Saints, as the members of the new church called themselves, went to Ohio because of persecution in New York.  It makes one wonder why anyone would bother persecuting an obscure young farm laborer, his family and a ragtag group of fellow-believers. Gracie’s mind can’t wrap around this, as it seems illogical to pick on a nobody.   Nonetheless that is what happened to Joseph Smith ( 1805-1844) and as persecution escalated,  he and his followers migrated to the sparsely inhabited area in and around Kirtland. 

Gracie heads to the main attraction of the city, The Kirtland Temple, a National Historic Landmark.  The Saints built the Temple because they believed they were told to do so by God. A revelation received in 1833 states:

 119 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

 120 That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High.**

This was a huge undertaking, particularly for a group of impoverished settlers, such as the Saints.  Their difficult economic situation was one factor that delayed construction.  However, another revelation (D&C Section 95) given later in 1833, made it clear that the Lord expected the Saints to obey his earlier commandment:

2 Wherefore, ye must needs be chastened and stand rebuked before my face;

 3 For ye have sinned against me a very grievous sin, in that ye have not considered the great commandment in all things, that I have given unto you concerning the building of mine house;

The revelation continues with very specific instructions on the building’s dimensions and structure, which were unlike anything previously built on the frontier.

LDS.org

This reminds Gracie of some her own behaviors over the years when she knew to act and didn't.  She is grateful for her second chances and for those forgiving souls who gave her a second chance.  She is sure that the saints were as well once they eventually began the two-year construction process.  The Saints built their temple with sweat, sacrifice and determination.  Contemporary journals record that people smashed their china to add to the mortar, though some would argue they were too poor to have china.  Gracie is not one to dispute someone’s Grandmother’s journal, so china it is in her book!  The Temple glistens because of this even today.  They also mixed the mortar with both human and horse hair, which was a common construction practice at that time.

A mere two years after the Temple was dedicated, the persecution which had driven the Saints from New York eventually caught up with them in Kirtland and, combined with local hostility and internal dissension, forced them to abandon their homes, farms and Temple and move yet further westward.

After the Temple was abandoned, it eventually became the property of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS), now the Community of Christ, which continues to maintain it as a sacred place today. 

The Temple tour guide’s love of the edifice is apparent as she talks about some of the events that occurred within its walls, such as the appearance of God the Father, Jesus Christ, ancient prophets such as Moses, Elijah and Elias, and angels.  During one glorious manifestation, people recorded that a bright light shone upon the roof and some townspeople thought the Temple was on fire.  She says that people heard heavenly singing and suggested that we might wish to sing a hymn or two.  We sang “I Am a Child of God” a cappella.  At the guide’s request, someone played the hymn “The Spirit of God”, which was sung at the Temple dedication in 1836.  The time spent in this Temple was quiet, moving and serene.  All present, regardless of religious affiliation, seemed touched by the holiness of the place. We spoke in whispers as we left the building.

What remains? Gracie is impressed with the atmosphere of the area; it remains a sacred place not just because of what happened there but what is happening there.  Two religious groups  (The Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) care for, maintain, and cherish the history of Kirtland, which is their shared history.   They have the same historical roots, yet parted ways in 1845 after the death of Joseph Smith.  The Community of Christ retained possession of many Church sites in the eastern United States, simply because they stayed and cared for the properties there.

Gracie asks representatives of both groups:  “Why should someone come to visit Kirtland?” Both groups respond in like manner: 

 “To feel the sacredness that resides here, to learn that these people made a city flourish and thrive, to learn of a people that sacrificed for their beliefs, and to learn how these groups affected the history of the United States for good. Come to feel the Spirit.”

Gracie feels the same way as these groups have set aside differences for a higher belief, which is engraved upon the Temple; for both these groups it truly is the “House of the Lord.” 

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* Kirtland Temple Web Site

** Doctrine & Covenants, Section 88

Copyright © 2015 Martina Sabo