John Hamer Mourns the Kirtland Temple

we want to begin by acknowledging the sense of loss and grief experienced by many disciples in our community at the news that the World Church Leadership Council which includes the presiding councils of the church has sold many of our most treasured relics and sacred spaces including the Kirtland Temple itself this news came as a complete shock to me as to most all of you when I tried to film a pastoral video reflecting my thoughts earlier this week I was not able to say more than a few words before breaking down and sobbing uncontrollably for many more minutes than I can remember crying at any time in my life I have been operating at that level of elevated grief all this week and I still have more to process our faith has deep roots that extend thousands of years before kurtland existed and many of our spiritual predecessors have experienced loss of this magnitude and more ancient Israel relied on biblical prophecies that the scepter would never fall from the house of of David and yet the Babylonians conquered Judah sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple every tangible thing was lost the Ark of the Covenant the tablets of Moses all gone the sacred Community continued even in Exile the sacred Community grew despite the loss and Exile we are in the middle of our seven weeklong series experiencing the Easter story in the present and I don't really think I need to issue a spoiler alert before I mention that in the weeks ahead the passion story includes a lot of pain and and loss when the disciples flee at Jesus arrest they have not understood what he has been telling them and so when Jesus is crucified they are shocked they are thrown into confusion they experience terrible loss they grieve having lost Jesus In the Flesh they feel they have lost everything but the sacred Community continues the disciples remember jesus' promise that he would always be with them a promise that we felt renewed last week when Linda Booth was here to reflect with us on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper we shared that sacred moment and we felt the living Christ Among Us the living Christ is Among Us now in this sacred community that is unbounded by the walls of any physical location however beloved and holy like the disciples many of us are feeling loss we are in grief with all the forms and emotions that are associated with grief sadness even anger this is a time for us to acknowledge our grief like the first disciples who mourned the loss of Jesus like ancient Israel who mourned the loss of the temple we are in mourning but like them the sacred continue the sacred Community will continue to expand beyond the walls let me take this moment to acknowledge all of you to acknowledge all of you everyone joining today to make up this community hundreds of volunteers and contributors make this ministry possible so that thousands can share together each week I am buoyed up I am comforted by your presence your ministry is a gift that is helping me through this time of grief for that I thank you with all my heart our call to worship Psalm 137 vers 1-6 is lament written by an Israelite poet in Exile in Babylon mourning the loss of the Temple by the Rivers of Babylon there we sat down there we wept when we remembered Zion on the Willows there we hung up our Harps for there our captors asked for songs and our tormentors asked for mirth saying sing us one of the songs of Zion how could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign Land If I forget you oh Jerusalem if I forget you o Kirtland let my right hand wither let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you if I do not set Jerusalem if I do not set na vu above my highest Joy by the Rivers of Babylon there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion amen [Music] the we s down in grief and Bre on our hearts of a z while we there are cap in of us s so we s with staring Vis and the days were and how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange andit can our voices the sorrow oh Lord God here your lonely man let your cross be benic for those B in tyan by the power of Resurrection loosen from [Music] captivity we chose as a name for our church family Community of Christ in part because Community is one of the things we are really good at and get right as a people it may be the only thing we're really good at and get right as a people we experience this sacred Community through another one of our enduring principles unity and diversity I have been privileged in my role here in Canada to facilitate alongside Apostle Art Smith our discernment sharing all voices through our process we identified broadly a dozen different core ways individuals share identity with the church and there are many more ways still some of you have some of you relate most to your individual congre ation whether it's located in a small town a Suburban or an urban environment some experience their primary connection through online Ministries like beyond the walls for many the primary focus of their Church identity is found in our rich and beloved tradition of camping of reunions of Retreats some connect to the church through a sense of calling to promote invitation and inclusion to be a part of an affirming Community where all are welcome some find their identity with the church through experiencing the sacraments and exploring spiritual practices many are absolutely committed to local activism bringing God's Heavenly Commonwealth to their local communities by working to abolish poverty to promote peace for others the core of their Church identity is the connection they experience as a truly Global Community where they can be activists Beyond National borders there are many members of this church who are thrilled to be part of it because of our openness to ongoing transformation always seeking to blaze new trails of mission and there are those who relate primarily to the church's institutional core its sacred Birthright and Heritage committed to stewardship in our time of an inheritance left by our predecessors that we feel called to pass on to our spiritual Hees I have not been experiencing the most profound sense of grief and loss that I have ever experienced in life due to anything as simple as the sail of a building many others in our community are in different stages of similarly profound levels of grief but yes I also understand that when some of us on social media posts things like it's just a building get over it that this may also be a way of processing grief there is no one right way to be Community of Christ and this is why we have all processed this week's loss differently depending on the center of gravity of your church identity this week's news may not have been a big deal to you May many Seekers watching here alongside many lifelong members find the suffering felt by others in the community somewhat incomprehensible I understand there is no one right way to be Community of Christ I would like to ask all of us to try our best this week to do more listening to each other give each member of our community time to process and grieve in their own way walking with them and supporting them the way so many of you have reached out to support me blessings of community is one of the things we are really good at and get right as a people in closing I would like to say that I have devoted many years of my life to the study of our history and to sharing our sacred story that is a Corp part of my church identity I also serve as the 40th pastor of this congregation for me that includes a continual remembrance that I did not build this community I am just a steward of it in this time my office is in our heritage Library dedicated to the memory of my friend Doris Hillyard being in that space continually brings to mind for me the spiritual inheritance with with which I have been entrusted and the sacrifices of all the disciples who came before me my mission has been to facilitate conditions for this community to be relevant in this time to do my best to cultivate the garden and when my time has passed to prepare the way for Spiritual successors I've heard it said that in the rich world of the global North no one is willing to donate tithing anymore that hardly anyone under the age of 65 tithes that hasn't been my experience in the past decade that I've served as an Outreach Minister and then pastor and as Steward of this community the number of households making donations has increased 12-fold from the admittedly small number 21 in 2013 to 270 last year the majority of those donors last year are new to the church and are not even members in my view this has happened because all of our operations here all of our expenditures have been directly tied to tangible resources like our hymn library and to content like our lecture series that disciples and Seekers understand as immediately valuable in their lives creating relevant content is core to our Church's Heritage among the first things the church did after its organization was to establish a newspaper in Independence Missouri Harold publishing house used to be an enormous source of content connecting and nourishing the membership here in Toronto more than a century ago on Sunday evenings this congregation rented out the largest theaters in the city 7,000 seats and more and filled them filled them by providing engaging content in our priest theater preaching Ministry in the 1920s the church established one of the first Christian radio stations and transmitted content that listeners valued in our time beyond the walls has become the largest online Ministry of any church in Canada second only to the Catholic Church's Channel decade ago we were primarily supporting a building and a small Sunday service for our our local members today we have a proliferation of active Ministries facilitated by staff serving alongside so many teams of volunteers the zoom meditation group the prayer group the zoom discussion groups the choir the lecture group and of course beyond the walls itself and our late edition communities I think it is self-evidently clear that the model of putting staff resources towards producing valuable content coupled with sacred stewardship of resources produces results in the 21st century results that people in the 21st Century are eager to invest in I thank you for showing your trust in me and the beyond the walls team as I said at the beginning of the service the love of this community extending around the world drives me your ministry everything you give of yourselves has been my solace I thank you with every ounce of my heart and [Music] soul that

Channel: Centre Place

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Keywords: kirtland temple, community of christ, mormon, historic mormon sites, exmormon, latter day saint, lds, mormon news, lds news, nauvoo, kirtland ohio, kirtland news, importance of the kirtland temple, significance of kirtland temple

Id: MmzSPJCKQhM

Length: 25min 12sec (1512 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 11 2024