A New Way of Understanding Temple Worship

By Hollie Wells

Although it was given a year ago, I often think about D. Todd Christofferson’s talk titled Worship and try to align my Latter-Day Saint living with what he taught. To summarize, he described that worshiping is more than just going to church or going through the motions. Our worship consists of our actions and attitudes and is consummated in our efforts to try and become like Jesus Christ. 

It was not until recently that I made the connection between the principles of this talk and the phraseology of “temple worship” that we often use to describe what we do in the temple. I had only been applying it to what happens at church and home, but I felt this great desire to make my time in the temple more worshipful. 

So how is what we do in the temple worshipping? 

We worship by how we dress, everyone united in the color white and by sacred ceremonial clothing. We worship by going to a dedicated space, joining in mighty prayers (both silent and aloud), and by our reverent, quiet speech and conduct. We worship in our quiet pondering and reflecting, listening to the Spirit with extra sensitivity. It is worshipful to actively try to learn more about the Plan of Salvation and nature of God, which we can learn about in abundance in the temple. 

More than anything, the covenants and work we perform in the temple are helping us become like our Heavenly Father and His Son. Christofferson said, “True worship means loving God and yielding our will to Him,” and I can’t think of any better way to do that than by making covenants to obey, sacrifice, and consecrate our lives to the will of God. Additionally, we step into a role that typifies the Savior when we perform the ordinances for those on the other side of the veil. Proxy work is a type of Christ, and becoming saviors on mount zion (Obadiah 1:121) helps us become more like our Savior. 

As I pondered these thoughts, I also asked myself how I can make my temple attendance and routine more worshipful? Some things I thought of are arriving early to ensure an unrushed experience, intentionally listening to the soft organ music in the chapels, staying later than you normally would to spend a quiet moment in the Celestial Room, bringing someone with you who may not get to go very often, and an extra focus on the symbols of Christ and His Atonement. 

Temple worship, much like our worship at church, looks different each time you go. Sometimes you go in great need of hearing the Spirit and feeling peace. Sometimes you go just to serve, other times you go with hunger to learn about the Plan of Salvation and nature of God. Sometimes it is just to rest from your burdens and the world. In the end, we should strive not only to attend the temple, but to make our time there worship.