By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
[Slideshow of Additional Photos from the Event Below]
With the completion of massive renovations to the Mormon Temple in Surrey Hills, crowds flocked to the structure for tours.
The temple open house was held from April 28-May 1 prior to the temple’s upcoming dedication for parishioners. Guests were welcome to enter but were forbidden to take photographs and were required to wear shoe covers to keep the white carpet clean.
“We’ve had state lawmakers and a Jewish tour, an interfaith tour and the most beautiful thing about this is when we focus on what we have in common, in the end what we’re all trying to do is help people be their best selves,” said Temple spokeswoman Becky Wilkinson.
Several similarities to other faiths include the idea that a loved one can be redeemed after death, the use of symbolism to convey beliefs and water baptism.
The temple bears the mark of local culture in its stain glass windows and crown molding. Murals of Oklahoma landscape cover the walls of some rooms.
“All temples have a local aspect that reminds us of where we live. If you look in all the corners of stained glass you will see the Indian Blanket, the Oklahoma state flower, the side with the screen is symbolic of wheat and the feather pattern,” Wilkinson said.
The temple is a sacred place where believers in the Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter Day Saints make promises to God, each other and celebrate personal and corporate communion with Christ. There are two buildings, the church building and the temple.
“On Sunday we have worship services and everyone’s welcome,” Wilkinson explained. “You take the sacrament and such. When we come to the temple it’s a little bit different. Before people come to the temple they meet with their local clergy and he explains what’s going to happen and talks to them about it because we come here to make promises, on top of our covenant which is a two-way promise to God of baptism, we make promise to live as better people, to be morally clean, to share our time with the church and with other people.”
Only those who have received a recommendation from their clergy will be allowed to enter. They are received at the temple “recommend” desk at the front of the temple entrance.
Several rooms make up the temple including chambers where men and women change from their daily clothing to white garments.
“There’s symbolism in white, as in purity but also equality,” Wilkinson said. “You can come in here in an Armani suit, which I don’t own, or a dress from Walmart and we all walk into that room and it equalizes. We all look just the same.”
Temple gatherers enjoy doctrinal instruction with each instructional room placed higher than the other to denote higher understanding of how to be closer to God. There is a room for couples to be eternally “sealed” similar to weddings, but the most hallowed room is the celestial room.
“The celestial room represents heaven,” Wilkinson explained. “It’s not heaven, but it feels like heaven. On the earth, it’s where we feel we can be and feel closest to God.”
There are no ceremonies in the celestial room which is reserved for quiet reflection and personal prayer time.
The temple will be run by 500 volunteers who will keep it open from Tuesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“Everything in our church is run by volunteers,” Wilkinson said. “There’s no paid clergy.”
The Mormon church designs temples to last until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and are renovated every 40 years. The Surrey Hills temple was found to have an “architectural” defect after 20 years since it was constructed.
“They took it all the way down to the two by fours and built it again,” Wilkinson said. “It had to do with stone and moisture, so we didn’t want to have a problem with mold.”
The temple is a wood and steel frame construction with Moleanos limestone cladding.
Woodwork throughout the temple is plain sawn mahogany mostly from Honduras.
One of the most noted features of the building is the angel that stands on top of the temple with a horn.
