As service is an important focus of our tour, we spent Saturday morning in Atlanta, Georgia (the city "too busy to hate") at the temple.
In devotional on the bus, Caleb Kohn, a tenor and a graduating senior, and Bonnie McMillan, a hardworking chaperone, shared perspectives on the meaning of the temple.
Caleb, drawing from the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple offered by Joseph Smith, reminded us that when we leave the temple, we come out armed with the power of Christ and we give His angels charge over us:
We ask thee, Holy Father, that they servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory round about them, and thine angels have charge over them. (D&C 109:22)Bonnie urged us to remember, pointing out that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of repetition. As we partake of the sacrament every week, we remember our covenants. The more we repeat the temple ordinances, the better we remember them. Spencer W. Kimball said it this way:
When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be "remember." Because all of [us] have made covenants . . . our greatest need is to remember. That is why everyone goes to sacrament meeting every Sabbath day -- to take the sacrament and listen to the priests pray that [we] . . . "may always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given [us]." . . . "Remember" is the word. [Circles of Exaltation [address to religious educators, Brigham Young University, 28 June 1968]Our fondest hope is that the memories made, the people served, and the covenants renewed this day and on this tour will not soon be forgotten.
