Hosanna to God and the Lamb

Temple Dedication Tickets

Today we had the privilege of participating in the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple. All regular meetings for wards in Utah were cancelled and members were able to participate in the dedication by going to Stake Centers where the dedications were broadcast. It was a wonderful experience.

I have had the opportunity to witness several temple dedications. We were in the celestial room of the Seattle Temple when President Spencer W. Kimball dedicated that building. We also were able to be at the Portland Temple dedication when President Ezra T. Benson dedicated that one. We have participated in the broadcast of other temples as they were dedicated including the Bountiful Utah Temple, , Mt Timpanogos, Utah Temple, Palmyra New York Temple, the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple, the Nauvoo Illinois Temple, Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, Brigham City Temple, Ogden Temple (rededication), Each temple is dedicated to be The House of the Lord and is Holy.

The first LDS temple built was in Kirtland, Ohio in 1836 and there are now 150 dedicated temples around the worldwide, 15 temples currently under construction, and and another 17 temples that have been announced or publicly proposed (Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

The Provo City Temple was built from what was left of the Provo Stake Tabernacle that was originally built in 1898 and was destroyed in a fire in 2010. David W. Madsen, Provo City Temple Presidency First Counselor compared our lives to the how the Provo City Temple was born of the ashes of the old Tabernacle. He said we all must rise out of the ashes of our old lives and become new by going to the House of the Lord and make covenants with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It is in the Lord’s House that we learn what we need to do to return to live with them as eternal families.

At the end of the dedication everyone participated in the Hosanna Shout. The Hosanna Shout began with the Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles and was a part of the celebration remembering the 40 years that Israel wandered in the wilderness. Shouts of hosanna were given as the congregation waved palm branches. When the Savior entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowd waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” (Matthew 21:9). Today is Palm Sunday when we remember his triumphal entry into Jerusalem prior to his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, his crucifixion and eventual resurrection. What a beautiful way to celebrate Palm Sunday than to dedication a temple, the House of the Lord, and to participate in the Hosanna Shout. At the dedication of the new LDS conference center on October 2000, President Gordon B. Hinckley led the congregation gathered there in the Hosanna Shout. Before doing it he explained the purpose of it. He said:

“Now, my brothers and sisters, in a moment I shall offer the dedicatory prayer, in which all of you are invited to join. Immediately at the close of the dedicatory prayer, we invite each one of you who may wish to participate to stand and join with us in the Hosanna Shout. This sacred salute to the Father and the Son is given at the dedication of each of the temples. It has also been given on a few occasions of historic importance, such as the laying of the capstone on the Salt Lake Temple and the celebration of the centennial of the Church in the 1930 general conference.

“We feel it is appropriate to give the shout here, as we dedicate this great building, the likes of which we may never undertake again. Any mention of this by the media should recognize that for us this is a very sacred and personal thing. We request that it be treated with deference and respect.

“I will now demonstrate the shout. Each one takes a clean white handkerchief, holding it by one corner, and waves it while saying in unison, “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb,” repeated three times, followed by “Amen, Amen, and Amen.”

What a wonderful tribute to our Lord Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father? As we enter the Easter season and contemplate what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us by providing for us his infinite atonement and his resurrection from the dead my whole frame shouts with the heavenly hosts “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb, Amen, Amen, and Amen.

From Ashes to a House of the Lord

The public has a rare opportunity to see a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Provo City Center Temple’s open house opened to the public this past Friday, January 15^th and goes through March 5^th. Tickets are free and you can get them here. Tickets must be in high demand because when I went there there were no tickets available. The web site promises that more will be available soon so if you want to go you need to check often. They do allow a limited number of visitors that do not have tickets to wait in a different line for a tour, so it is possible to go without a ticket. I remember going to the tabernacle on a few occasions when I was a student at BYU and loved the detail and beauty of the building.

December 17, 2010 was a devastating day for those that live in Provo or for anyone that had lived there in the past. The tabernacle was gutted by fire and it was a total loss – except for the outer walls.

Provo Tabernacle before the fire

Built in 1883 the Provo tabernacle was one of the oldest buildings in Utah. For 127 years many church meetings were held there and even a few presidents of the United States visited and spoke in the tabernacle. In the October 2011 General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson announced that the gutted tabernacle would be rebuilt as a temple. Construction began on May 12, 2012. An article about the reconstruction of the tabernacle to a temple described the work that it took to preserve what was left of the building:

“In the early hours following the fire, contractors were able to execute an engineering feat that had never been done before to preserve what was left of the tabernacle. An innovative lattice structure was created to stabilize the building.

"That in itself was miraculous," described Roberts. "Nothing had ever been designed that way. They built it and designed it at the same time."

“Over several weeks we removed 14 tons of debris from the site,” Dickamore said.

Once the project got the green light, the building was strengthened by removing two of five layers of brick from the interior and securing the remaining layers with steel ties. A two-layered grid of rebar was then installed inside the perimeter and filled with concrete.” (“Provo City Center Temple Ready for Public Tours”)

The following are a few pictures of the Provo Tabernacle fire, the reconstruction and the finished temple. The pictures of the fire are from a Deseret News article published the day after the fire. The pictures of the completed temple are published by the LDS Church and can be found here. At the end of the blog is a seven-minute video clip published by the LDS church of the fire and reconstruction project. It is well worth the time to watch it. It is a blessing for those living in the Provo area to have the church preserve the original look of the building and have it stand as the House of the Lord for the next millennia.

All that is left of the Provo Tabernacle are the outer walls

Inside of the wall have a cement face to preserve the walls

Construction begins on the new temple of the Lord

The Provo City Center Temple Completed

Ordinance Room

Stairs in the completed Provo City Center Temple

Celestial Room