DAVID B. TIMMINS 2416 "I" Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 April 9, 1990 Elder Neil Maxwell Council of the Twelve Church Office Building 47 East South Temple Salt Lake City, Utah Dear Elder Maxwell: It's been a good year for Lola and me. The Department bestowed its Superior Honor Award on Lola. She was also selected to attend the Foreign Service Institute's six months Systems Analysis Course, the first woman to achieve this distinction. I have had half a dozen articles published; and we are both studying Mandarin full time to prepare for our upcoming assignment to Beijing. Yesterday our Priesthood and Sunday School classes in the Washington, D.C. Second Ward so impressed me that I'm sitting down to commit to paper some thoughts which I've for several years been contemplating writing as a paper, but which I decided yesterday might be better put down in a letter to a General Authority for private consideration. Our Priesthood instructor, Brother Dick Hunter, who is among the best students of the Gospel I've ever encountered, was stressing as we entered Holy Week the importance of the Passover and its symbolism as central to the Exodus, to the Passion of Christ, and in the Restoration (where he cited the Vision received in the Kirtland Temple). We'd just come from a Gospel Doctrine class in which the instructor had been explaining the importance of symbolism in transmitting new knowledge, and how the Master Teacher constantly used simile and parable in conveying the gospel message -- from Adam to Enoch to Abraham to Moses to the Apostles to the Restoration. As an educator, you'll be aware how vital it is when one is learning, to be able to relate past knowledge to the new material being acquired. A great deal of Leviticus, our lesson of yesterday, is devoted to symbolism intended to instruct Israel regarding the coming of Christ and the transcendence of his universal sacrifice, introducing the law of sacrifice, as with Adam, as a central symbolic teaching tool regarding the coming mission of the Son of Man. Our Priesthood group, being a rather sophisticated and widely traveled bunch, was later discussing why Mormonism alone among Christian denominations does not comemorate the great symbolic holidays dating from the days of Primitive Christianity: Advent, Pentacost, Holy Week etc. Brother Hunter reminded us that the Prophet Joseph as part of his instructions to the School of the Prophets cautioned that these symbolic, commemorative events had been so corrupted by the "practices of man" that the Saints should abstain from following them. Instead we were to commemorate April 6 as the birthdate of Christ and the Restored Church. As the discussion continued, it was decided that most of the important symbolic instruction imparted in our day is confined to the Temple, only baptism and the sacrament being observed as external teaching ordinances. In the old days (i.e. when we were kids) the sacrament used to be introduced by group repetition of a "sacrament gem", usually a brief extract from an LDS hymn containing an explanation of the symbolism of the sacrament. We agreed that, unfortunately, with the shortening of the Sunday School service and abandonment of the sacrament gem many young people (and converts) may not be receiving the instruction necessary to make the taking of the sacrament the symbolic help to memory it was intended to be, i.e. a weekly (or more frequent) reminder that we are adopted children of Christ, having taken upon ourselves His name, that we take the bread in remembrance of His broken body and the water in token of His spilled blood given in Eternal sacrifice for our sins and redemption. (Let me recount that one of the administrators of the sacrament in yesterday's meeting, a recent convert from North Africa, virtually prostrated himself, putting his head to the floor in pronouncing the blessing on the bread -- a manner of prayer I'm sure he'd observed in practice among the Muslims of his country of origin as I have elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East. I have no problem with such small variances in practice among new converts. Indeed, I found this charming, while questioning how it would be viewed in more traditional wards not made up of 40 Per cent blacks, twenty per cent Hispanics, a substantial number of African converts, and a core (assigned by our Stake President Bill Marriott) of well-seasoned senior members. And it used to be that before every baptism a short talk was given explicating the symbolism of the ceremony: the taking upon ourself of the name of Christ as a son (or daughter) by rebirth as we emerge from the water; the likeness of universal death as we are buried in the water; and the resurrection promised by Christ as we come forth out of the watery grave. The only baptism talks I've heard in recent years have been restricted to missionary work, prayer to gain a testimony, and the Book of Mormon -- all worthy subjects, but leaving an eight year old or a new convert rather hazy about the folderol of the ceremony. Good things are also happening, however. In concluding our Priesthood session yesterday, the Quorum President had arranged for a talented black convert to lead us in singing "Go Down Moses", our black brother voicing the verses and the Quorum joining in on the chorus. As a conclusion to the story of the Exodus, I found this a stimulating learning experience. And it made use of the talent of a new convert and furthered interracial brotherhood. But Neil, we don't even commemorate April 6 anymore. Conference this year was held at the end of March! I know this was done for the greater convenience of all. But symbolism is important in transmitting any knowledge. And the connection between the birth of Christ, his death at Passover, and the Restoration of His Church are not unimportant matters. The Lord, as Master Teacher, has made use of so much symbolism in the effort to ensure the uncorrupted transmission of important Gospel principles, that I wonder whether our New England heritage of emphasizing preaching the more or less arid word without reinforcing symbol or ceremony might not start running into difficulty as the majority of the members of the Church come from other traditions less based on austere Yankee Protestant tradition? Which brings me to the point of my letter: It was agreed in Priesthood class that the major center for detailed instruction in Gospel symbolism today is the Temple. Yet only the most mature and confirmed adults participate in temple service. While the current generation of youth is noble, and we have more missionaries in the field than ever, the fact remains that we are losing our youth in the thousands and almost forty per cent of even temple marriages end in divorce! I think Brigham Young had an answer. In the Journal of Discourses he is recorded as having said in a Conference Address that the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood should rightly be conferred only in the temple. That, as with baptism for the dead, which the Church was permitted to perform outside the walls of the temple only during the days of our poverty, the time would come when sufficient temples would exist that the priesthood could be bestowed within the temple, the Aaronic Priesthood participating in the temple ceremony up to and including the administration of the oath, and the conferral of the sign, and tokens of that priesthood. I've thought for years how reinforcing it would be as a symbolic rite of passage for LDS youth to be allowed to proceed beyond participating in proxy baptisms after the age of eight, twelve year olds being not only permitted but required to receive their ordination as deacons within the sacred walls of the temple. I suspect that most Deacons, Teachers, and even Priests have only the haziest understanding of the import and solemnity of the Oath and Covenant. Taking it full-fledged in the temple would rectify this deficiency. How powerful an experience. How unforgettable. How reinforcingly solemn an event. I certainly will never forget my first temple experience. Then to return, age fourteen, for the next stage in one's priesthood advancement. And again at sixteen -- just the years when young men (and women) require every bit of reinforcement possible in holding to righteous principles. With nearly fifty temples worldwide, located conveniently for almost every major concentration of Saints, do you think the time may have come, or be approaching, when the Lord will signal that this important moment has arrived? Exceptions may have to be made where temples are still distant for certain congregations to continue as at present. And it is certain that we may end up not being able to ordain some youths who might have been given the Aaronic Priesthood had their bishop and stake president held them to strict temple standards (but should such ordinations be taking place anyway?) Oh boy, how I'd've felt as a parent to have been present with my sons for their ordinations in the Swiss Temple. And instead of jacking parents up to get their lives in order in time to accompany their children to the temple for a wedding, this would provide at least three preceding target dates for fathers and mothers to straighten out their lives. What teenager, having participated in such a solemn and transcendant spiritual experience could lightly yield to temptation, knowing that a renewal would be coming up in another couple of years. I think it could provide a series of handholds on the "iron rod" that could be very useful in bringing up our LDS kids in these unprecedentedly troublesome times. Anyway, there's the idea that's been running around in my head for almost forty years seeking some form of expression. Don't know if writing you is appropriate. But I was moved by yesterday's parallel messages in Church and feel that putting my thoughts before a General Authority I know and feel close to is better advised than putting it in the form of an article for Sunstone or Dialogue . We'll be finishing up our Chinese on June 29 and hope to be in Salt Lake for the week of July 4th, maybe spending a few days at our Brighton cabin with some grandchildren before proceding to Beijing. We may give you a call when we get to town. Lola and I'd love to be able to stop by just to say "hello" if your schedule permits. May the Lord continue to bless you in your high calling. Best wishes to your wife Colleen. As ever, David Timmins