Temple Psalms

Yesterday was my last day serving as a temple worker in the Columbia, South Carolina Temple. For the last two and a half years, I’ve had the privilege of helping those who come to worship at the temple to have an uplifting spiritual experience during their visit. The capstone of my day was when three friends from Charlotte arrived to participate in baptisms for the dead, one of whom was only baptized three days earlier! As I sat with a member of the temple presidency to review my service, I told him that I never had a bad day serving in the temple. For me, every temple day was a good day, and many of them were filled with tender mercies: small miracles which helped me feel that I was in the right place.

For example, three weeks ago, I was asked to assist a young man who was receiving his endowment. As I met him and his parents at the door, I noticed that he was wearing a missionary name tag, and I asked where he would be serving. He responded that he had been assigned to the Chile Santiago South mission, which is the exact mission I served in, many years earlier. It was a small thing, but it helped me feel a bond with this missionary who would be serving among people whom I had come to love so much during my missionary service.

During my temple service, I’ve gravitated to several psalms which celebrate the joy of serving in the house of the Lord. Here are a few passages that express the joy I feel:

• Possibly the best-known psalm, Psalm 23, speaks of the Lord as our shepherd. It describes pastures and valleys, but it builds to the following declaration: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
• The following psalm illustrates the fact that a temple is a gathering place for people who are trying to be holy. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?” David asks, “or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord” (Psalm 24:3-5). Much of the joy that I feel in the temple comes from being surrounded by people who are seeking after holiness. They’re not perfect, but they’re striving to draw closer to God, just as I am.
• One of my assignments in the temple has been to sit at the front door, welcoming people as they arrive. As I sit there, I often turn to Psalm 84, in which the psalmist declares, “A day in thy courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
• Psalm 100, often called the Jubilate Deo (Latin for “Rejoice in God”), is a brief expression of joy at drawing closer to God. “Serve the Lord with gladness,” it says. “Come before his presence with singing. … Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”

Several significant events in the Book of Mormon happen at the temple, but none more significant than the visit of the resurrected Jesus Christ. The scene opens with “a great multitude gathered together … round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful” (3 Nephi 11:1). Even the name of the place is significant: after experiencing the destruction which coincided with the death of Jesus Christ, these people gravitated to a holy place in a land whose name means “plenty” or “abundance.”

When Jesus descended from heaven and invited them to examine his wounds, one by one, they cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God!” (3 Nephi 11:17), which is an apparent adaptation of the following passage in Psalm 118:25-26:

Save now [Hebrew: hoshianna (הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא)] …
Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

Today, I will express my gratitude and joy for the privilege of serving in the house of the Lord.