Mormon Reflections

So, as I've mentioned Mark, Bronwyn and I paid a visit to the Mormon Temple in Hamilton, or as it's more formally known, the temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The temple has been recently renovated and was open for public viewing for the first time in 64 years. Normally, you only get to go inside if you're a member of the church, or with a specific recommendation card. So, this was a unique opportunity to see inside, without having to become a member.

The temple was built back in the 1950s, with its first dedication in 1958. It's built on a semi-rural site in the south-west outskirts of Hamilton, in the eponymous Temple View area, built atop a hill, with some great views of farmlands in the surrounding plains.

Interestingly, there seems to be a lot of residential construction going on in the surrounding streets. I'm guessing they're hoping to make the area a bit of a tight-knit community with housing available to church members.

The visit required booking tickets online in advance, although once we arrived we didn't actually need to show tickets to enter.

Arriving at the temple for the visit I was surprised by the number of people there. This was a pretty major event, given that the temple had been open for public visit for about 3 weeks, there were certainly plenty of people wanting a tour.

They'd set up a marquee as a holding area before entry. This area seated about 200 people, and we had to wait there for about 30 minutes before we finally entered. There were quite a few young people there, many of Māori or Pacific Island ethnicity. Many were dressed up for the occasion!

So, before entry we were informed that it was a sacred place. There would be no photography or video inside - damn! I guess you'll have to rely on my descriptions instead.

Before entry, we had to get disposable footwear covers fitted over our shoes. Once we got inside, the reason for this was clear. The place was carpeted with very light-coloured carpets - which would have easily been trashed with thousands of people walking through in even slightly soiled footwear.

We were taken inside in a group of about 15 people, and a clearly devoted and enthusiastic older woman, a member of the church, led our tour.

First stop was the rear entrance room. Upon entering I got a feel for the place: very ornate, lots of wood panelling and tile, lots of impressionist religious artwork on the walls (surprise!). It certainly had a 1950s America feel to it.

We were led down a corridor which gave us a view over the baptismal font. The font is used for baptism of the dead (more on that later) and was built as a set of stairs down to a medium-sized spa-like pool. The whole structure was supported by a set of 12 golden oxen sculptures, representative of the 12 tribes of Israel, we were told.

Then it was on to a “sealing” room. Sealing is the term they use for a marriage ceremony. They have various sealing rooms in the temple, of varying sizes, to accommodate family and guests for the ceremonies. The emphasis is strongly placed on binding a couple together for eternity. In the centre of the room, there's a fairly simple and small padded altar, with a surrounding kneeling pad which the couple kneel down on and hold hands across the altar. The room features a pair of mirrors on opposite walls which look into each other. We were encouraged to stand and look into one mirror to see the infinite reflections of the other mirror - thus representing the idea of “eternity”.

Next came a theatre-like room, probably seating about 50 people. This room was for learning about the mission of Jesus Christ and God's plans for us, presumably filtered through their leaders' interpretations. The front of the room featured heavy curtains, behind which, I'm assuming, was a screen. The back of the room, up high, had a pair of lenses visible, so I'm assuming this was the projection equipment, though the curtains were never opened for us to see. (“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”, I thought to myself!)

We then made our way though more corridors and into a room focused on sealings, and then through to a room which contained a set of fairly industrial looking changing rooms, not that different from the fitting rooms in large department stores! This is where ceremony participants will get changed into the special attire - and much emphasis was placed on the bride wearing a pure white dress, with accompanying white slippers. From research online it does appear that brides have the option of wearing a special dress instead though.

After that, it was up some stairs into the celestial room - which was meant to symbolise heaven. There was to be no talking in this room, though of course the number of young children on the tour ensured that didn't happen. The room itself was quite large, with a very high ceiling, and subtle images of palm trees on the walls. No ceremonies are performed in the celestial room - it's just for quiet contemplation of heaven.

Once we exited the room, it was back down the stairs and out the front entrance of the temple. So, we'd gone through it backwards, really.

For such a large building, it actually felt quite small on the inside - sort of a reverse TARDIS. There were no large spaces that we've come to expect of traditional churches, just a bunch of smallish rooms. But, it was an interesting tour - good to get an insight into the insides of the church.

Associated with the template is a museum and shop, open to the public. We could take photos here, and I did.

The church has spread itself around the Pacific, with quite an emphasis on the various Pacific Island nations. One display had a map with fold out plaques showing the membership size of the church in each country. We're unfortunately punching above our weight compared to Australia, with about 115,000 members here, compared to about 150,000 in Australia, given the relative population sizes.

The smaller Pacific nations see quite impressive membership - Niue, with a population of about 1,600 having a membership of about 300!

The museum also contains a theatre, which shows Mormon propaganda material. While waiting to enter the theatre (for the next scheduled video) we got talking with a couple of young women from Sydney who were on their mission in Hamilton. Gone are the days, I guess, where a mission would send you far afield to an exotic destination, as we see in the Book of Mormon. Anyway, they were nice enough young women, both of whom had been in the church their entire lives, having been baptised through their families membership. As Mark is wont to do, he gave out his address in Wellington as an invitation to visit for a talk. I'm sure he'll report back if that invitation is ever taken up.

The video emphasised the family nature of the church, and how families are together for eternity. The video also talked about the baptism of the dead, where ancestors can be made into members, posthumously. The lack of consent by the dead bothered me, but they immediately covered this off by saying that the dead get a notification in the afterlife, and have the option as to whether to accept the baptism or not. How they know this is beyond me, and there was no detail as to whether the acceptance or decline of the posthumous baptism makes its way back into this life! I guess we'll never know.

Finally, the museum has an associated shop - known as Distribution Services. Alas, the shop was closed by the time I was there, though Mark informs me that there's a big collection of Mormon underwear, or template garments, on prominent display! I'm guessing you have to be a member to purchase.