ONE BY ONE

Ever seen a Latter-day Saint Chapel building?

Pretty predictable aren’t they.

Or are they?

How about the 1890 purpose-built 19^th Ward onion dome, with detached 1908 Relief Society Rooms?

Or the 1881 Eighteenth Ward Chapel opposite the Capitol Building?

This Romantic Swiss Chateau-style building still houses two Capitol Hill wards, but the old French-style corner chapel of 1907 no longer accommodates church meetings, despite still displaying the LDS name.

Even the old Utah Hotel with its beautiful gardens, now houses an ornate chapel, as part of its new use as Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  











To me it is delightful to see such a variety of chapel styles, all within a short walk of my own apartment.    I like to see variations in design and in thinking, to reflect the exquisite variety of approach that characterises the human race, and allows each of us to be a unique individual.

Active participation brings understanding

In his book ‘The Continuous Conversion’ BYU associate professor of Teacher Education, Brad Wilcox wrote that it is through active participation that people learn most.   

Commenting on both church building design, and the unique potential of each individual, he said (p.167):

‘Several years ago I was asked to escort a noted educator on a tour around Brigham Young University.   I drove him through campus and then to the Missionary Training Centre and the Provo Temple.   He admired the temple, but when he noticed two chapels close by he pointed to the temple and asked, “Why didn’t you just build this one bigger?”

I briefly explained the difference between a chapel and a temple, only to have him point to the two chapels within a block of each other and say, “So why didn’t you build that one bigger?”

“You want to see big?”  I asked.   “I’ll take you to the Conference Centre in Salt Lake [which seats over 20,000 people], but we only use that big building a few times a year.”  I explained that ours is a participatory church.   “We don’t just go to meetings and listen to others lead, speak, and teach.   We do it all ourselves - even the children and teenagers.   Having two chapels next to each other means more people are active instead of passive, participating instead of observing.”

With a broad smile this respected educator responded, “That’s genius ­- pure genius!”   

Brad Wilcox, “The Continuous Conversion”, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, Utah

Music

I am reminded of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.   When they perform they appear perfectly coordinated and orderly, perhaps almost like clones. But just a few moments after their performance it becomes clear they are really 3 or 400 very different individuals, who have chosen to exactly align themselves for just a short time, with the specific purpose of creating extraordinary music.

Recently I had my own choir opportunity, when I joined a small choir singing one of my favourite songs – by Janice Capp Perry and John Pearson, entitled ‘One by One’.   I love the way it underlines how the Saviour loves each of us individually, and offers to minister to us personally, one by one.

A personal atonement

‘At some point the multitudinous sins of countless ages were heaped upon the Savior, but his submissiveness was much more than a cold response to the demands of justice.   This was not a nameless, passionless atonement performed by some detached stoic being.   Rather it was an offering driven by infinite love.   This was a personalized, not a mass atonement.   Somehow, it may be that the sins of every soul were individually (as well as cumulatively) accounted for, suffered for, and redeemed for, all with a love unknown to man.   Christ tasted “death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9; emphasis added), perhaps meaning for each individual person.   One reading of Isaiah suggests that Christ may have envisioned each of us as the atoning sacrifice took its toll – “when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed” (Isaiah 53:10; emphasis added; see also Mosiah 15:10-11).   Just as the Savior blessed the “little children, one by one” (3 Nephi 17:21); just as the Nephites felt his wounds “one by one” (3 Nephi 11:15); just as he listens to our prayers one by one; so perhaps, he suffered for us, one by one.

'President Heber J. Grant spoke of this individual focus: “Not only did Jesus come as a universal gift, He came as an individual offering with a personal message to each one of us.   For each one of us He died on Calvary and His blood will conditionally save us.   Not as nations, communities or groups, but as individuals.”   Similar feelings were shared by C. S. Lewis: “He [Christ] has infinite attention to spare for each one of us.   He does not have to deal with us in the mass.   You are as much alone with him as if you were the only being He had ever created.   When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world.”   Elder Merrill J. Bateman spoke not only of the atonement’s infinite nature, but also of its intimate reach: “The Savior’s atonement in the garden and on the cross is intimate as well as infinite.   Infinite in that it spans the eternities.   Intimate in that the Savior felt each person’s pains, sufferings, and sicknesses.”   Since the Savior as a God has the capacity to simultaneously entertain multiple thoughts, perhaps it was not impossible for the mortal Jesus to contemplate each of our names and transgressions in concomitant fashion as the Atonement progressed, without ever sacrificing personal attention for any of us.   His suffering need never lose its personal nature.   While such suffering had both micro and macro dimensions, the Atonement was ultimately suffered for each one of us.

'Moses’ vision of the world may offer some insights on how the pains and infirmities of countless individuals could be perceived in a relatively short time, perhaps even concurrently.   Moses saw the numerous inhabitants of the earth, but the scriptures make it clear this was not merely some mass panoramic vision, a microsecond panning of the hosts of mankind, like some epic film being run at the speed of light.   To the contrary, the sacred record reads, “There was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God” (Moses 1:28; emphasis added, see also Ether 3:25).   What an awesome, yet comforting thought.   No one, “not a soul” was forgotten or slighted or neglected in the redeeming process.   It was personal, focused, intimate, one-on-one sacrificing and caring for you and me.’

Callister, Tad R., “The Infinite Atonement”, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2000

How will you measure your life?

Interestingly, Harvard Business Professor and author Clay Christensen also came to the conclusion that it is our relationship with other individuals that is most satisfying in life.   Under the heading ‘Finding the Right Metric’, he wrote in his book ‘How Will You Measure Your Life’ (page 202-4):

‘As has been so often the case in the most difficult parts of my life, […] personal confusion precipitated an insight that became the third element of my purpose – the metric by which my life will be measured.   I realized that, constrained by the capacities of our minds, we cannot always see the big picture.

'Let me explain in management terms: police chiefs need to look at the numbers of each type of crime, over time, to know whether their strategy is working.   The manager of a business cannot see the complex health of the company by looking at specific orders from specific customers; he or she needs to have things aggregated as revenues, costs and profits.

'In short we need to aggregate to help us see the big picture.   This is far from an accurate way to measure things, but this is the best that we can do.

'Because of this implicit need for aggregation, we develop a sense of hierarchy: people who preside over more people are more important than people who are leaders of fewer people.   A CEO is more important than a general manager of a business unit; that general manger is more important than the director of sales, and so on.

'Now let me explain in religious terms: I realized that God, in contrast with us, does not need the tools of statisticians or accountants.   So far as I know, He has no organization charts.   There is no need to aggregate anything beyond the level of an individual person in order to comprehend completely what is going on among humankind.   His only measure of achievement is the individual.

'Somehow, after all of this, I came to understand that while many of us might default to measuring our lives by summary statistics, such as number of people presided over, number of awards, or dollars accumulated in a bank, and so on, the only metrics that will truly matter to my life are the individuals whom I have been able to help, one by one, to become better people.   When I have my interview with God, our conversation will focus on the individuals whose self-esteem I was able to strengthen, whose faith I was able to reinforce, and whose discomfort I was able to assuage – a doer of good, regardless of what assignment I had.   These are the metrics that matter in measuring my life.

'This realization, which occurred nearly fifteen years ago, guided me every day to seek opportunities to help people in ways tailored to their individual circumstances.   My happiness and my sense of worth has been immeasurably improved as a result.’

Christensen, Clayton M., “How will you Measure Your Life?” Harper Collins, New York, 2012, 

I am grateful to have discovered much to read and contemplate, in Salt Lake City. 

This morning as I attended ’Music and the Spoken Word’ on Temple Square, I was taken with Lloyd Newell’s message about the importance of love in our lives.   Referring to the idea of ‘Giving and Receiving’, he reminded us that our happiest times are when we feel the security of knowing someone cares about us.   He said that it only takes the three words ‘I love you.’ to let another person know we approve of them, without any niggley conditions.

So, on this Valentine’s Day, may I remind you of that most American, and delightful phrase, ‘Be my Valentine.’   Dorothy Giles, an artistic fellow missionary shared with me this beautiful picture she had created, and I hope you also enjoy it.   Perhaps today you could think of someone you admire, and cheer their day by letting them know it?