The Temple Square
For all who work hard (??) for 5/6 days of a week, Sunday is a special day. But unfornately, I loose most of my Sundays just thinking that It is special and doing nothing special at all. I'm sure, I'm just not the only one who falls in to this bucket :)
Yesterday, I happened to visit the famous Temple Square in Salt Lake Downtown. I had been there a couple of times before. But yesterday was something different. We decided to take a guided tour within the Church. Two Mormon sisters took us around and explained the historic events associated with the Mormons (Commonly called as the Latter Day Saints). I have never heard about Mormonism in India. When asked about this to one of the sisters, I was astonished to note that she was a french.
I came to know that there were close to 120 churches across the globe. The sisters were not sure whether they had their denomination in India, they had to check their internet site to know about that.
In India, we call all the christian places of worship as churches but the Mormans have a church and as well as a temple, both of which are different. The church is a place for sunday worship and the temple is a very sacred place, where not everyone is allowed to enter. The temple is more meant for individual worship and meditation. One has to get a letter of recommendation from the leader of the church to enter the temple. For that the person should be chaste and should be following the Ten Commandments religiously. Rather than calling it a letter of recommendation, i would call it a certificate of conduct.
Before the temple is dedicated to the Lord, the Mormons celebrate an Open House in the temple when the general public is allowed to enter the temple. We had a chance to go in to the church where a concert was just getting over. I was taken by awe when I saw the Altar. I couldnt believe that it was built in the 1800s. The pioneers (the first people who came from the east to settle in utah) came to the "Promised Land" (Salt Lake) on the July 24th, 1892. This day is still celebrated in Utah as the "Pioneer's Day". The Altar and the inside architecture of the church was so colorful and flawless, that no one would have believed it be built 100 years ago!
Apart from enjoying the architecture and history of the church, I felt a kind of peace that I wouldnt have got, had I been to some other place!
For all who work hard (??) for 5/6 days of a week, Sunday is a special day. But unfornately, I loose most of my Sundays just thinking that It is special and doing nothing special at all. I'm sure, I'm just not the only one who falls in to this bucket :)
Yesterday, I happened to visit the famous Temple Square in Salt Lake Downtown. I had been there a couple of times before. But yesterday was something different. We decided to take a guided tour within the Church. Two Mormon sisters took us around and explained the historic events associated with the Mormons (Commonly called as the Latter Day Saints). I have never heard about Mormonism in India. When asked about this to one of the sisters, I was astonished to note that she was a french.
I came to know that there were close to 120 churches across the globe. The sisters were not sure whether they had their denomination in India, they had to check their internet site to know about that.
In India, we call all the christian places of worship as churches but the Mormans have a church and as well as a temple, both of which are different. The church is a place for sunday worship and the temple is a very sacred place, where not everyone is allowed to enter. The temple is more meant for individual worship and meditation. One has to get a letter of recommendation from the leader of the church to enter the temple. For that the person should be chaste and should be following the Ten Commandments religiously. Rather than calling it a letter of recommendation, i would call it a certificate of conduct.
Before the temple is dedicated to the Lord, the Mormons celebrate an Open House in the temple when the general public is allowed to enter the temple. We had a chance to go in to the church where a concert was just getting over. I was taken by awe when I saw the Altar. I couldnt believe that it was built in the 1800s. The pioneers (the first people who came from the east to settle in utah) came to the "Promised Land" (Salt Lake) on the July 24th, 1892. This day is still celebrated in Utah as the "Pioneer's Day". The Altar and the inside architecture of the church was so colorful and flawless, that no one would have believed it be built 100 years ago!
Apart from enjoying the architecture and history of the church, I felt a kind of peace that I wouldnt have got, had I been to some other place!
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