When Temple Worship Isn’t Possible

By Lauren Madsen

Perhaps we have never had a temple recommend before, but we would like to. Or maybe we don’t have a current one. Maybe the closest temple to us is several hours away. Maybe the cost to get to the nearest temple is more than we can afford. There are many reasons that being in the temple isn’t always feasible. Below are some things worth considering.

Visit Temple Grounds

If not having a recommend or having a physical limitation is your current reality, and you can still get to a temple, the temple grounds are special spaces we can visit when we aren’t able to go inside to perform ordinances.

I’ll always remember the sound of the collective gasp when President Henry B. Eyring poked his head into one of the endowment rooms at the dedication of the Saratoga Springs Temple. Surrounded by my husband and three of my four children (our youngest hadn’t turned eight yet), my heart couldn’t have been fuller. President Eyring smiled and waved to everyone in the room, we all waved back, and then he was gone. Minutes later we saw him on the screen in front of us as he said the dedicatory prayer over that newest House of the Lord. 

During the prayer I was struck by a particular sentence: “Bless all who even step onto the ground upon which [the temple] stands. Bless them to feel Thy presence and to leave with a sense of hope and a desire to draw closer to Thee and to Thy Son.” I have served as a temple worker in the Saratoga Springs Temple since its dedication for almost two years now, and I think about this sentence often as I see marriage guests waiting for their friends or family members to come out of the temple after their sealings. It is also a fairly common sight to see someone, often dressed in street clothes, sitting alone on one of the benches around the temple grounds, hands clasped and head bowed. They come to feel something, and I believe they do.

Back in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when all the temples were closed, my husband and I ordered some dinner to-go and headed over to the Mount Timpanogos Temple. We parked and opened the back of the car to sit and eat and enjoy the view. We weren’t the only ones! Other couples came with similar ideas, and then there were the families on picnic blankets, and individuals who were writing, drawing, and reading books. None of us could go in, but we knew we would feel that familiar feeling of peace, so we came. And we did.

Study About and Keep Covenants

In April 2021, as temples were slowly reopening as local government regulations would allow, President Nelson encouraged us, “Keep your temple covenants and blessings foremost in your minds and hearts. Stay true to the covenants you have made.” Later that year as he again invited us to focus on the temple, he invited, “Should distance, health challenges, or other constraints prohibit your temple attendance for a season, I invite you to set a regular time to rehearse in your mind the covenants you have made.” Here is a good resource.

Strive to Obtain a Current Recommend

I am inspired by the story Elder Rasband shared about his father-in-law. Though he was “nearing the end of his mortal journey” he asked his bishop to come and interview him for a temple recommend. He said he wanted to go “recommended to the Lord.” 

Elder Rasband reflected, “In your interview you have the opportunity to search your soul about your personal faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. You have the blessing to express your testimony of the restored gospel; your willingness to sustain those whom the Lord has called to lead His Church; your faith in the doctrine of the gospel; your fulfillment of family responsibilities; and your qualities of honesty, chastity, fidelity, obedience, and observance of the Word of Wisdom, the law of tithing, and the sanctity of the Sabbath day. Those are bedrock principles of a life devoted to Jesus Christ and His work … To be ‘recommended to the Lord’ is to be reminded of what is expected of a covenant-keeping Latter-day Saint. My father-in-law, Blaine, saw it as invaluable preparation for the day when he would humbly stand before the Lord.” 

If you don’t have a current temple recommend, work with your bishop and the Lord toward that goal. Whether or not you will be able to use that recommend to enter a House of the Lord, you will be blessed by being “recommended to the Lord.”

Remember the Lord Knows the Thoughts and Intents of Your Heart

In Doctrine and Covenants 33:1 we read: “Open ye your ears and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose word is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the divide asunder of the joints and marrow, soul and spirit; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Thankfully, no matter the challenges we face in getting to the temple and performing ordinances, Heavenly Father and His Son know our hearts, our desires, and our sacrifices. They know us, They see us, and They are with us.