Family ONLY prayer circle?

[EQ_Guy]

I'm not sure if it's wrong to talk about this, so if I'm wrong, I'm sorry and I'm sure someone will let me know. I was recently at the Temple and the first row in the endowment room appeared to be full of young adults and figured they were all together. I was the only person NOT in their "party." After the officiator asked for the witnessing couple to get up, he then asked for, I think, 3 other couples, so I thought I'd wait to see how many men got up. 2 others got up, so I thought, "hey, they need one more" so I got up as well. After a couple seconds another guy decided to get up and a few seconds later stepped close and said, "we're all a family and would like only us in this circle...." I nodded and was going to sit down, but then the officiator said they needed about 3 more women, so I stayed there. By-the-way, a girl in their "party" was being endowed.

It took what seemed like a couple minutes for the women to show up, but it felt uncomfortable by what they guy said to me. One of the women seemed friendly and just looked at me and smiled. The guy who said that to me seemed a bit odd, he seemed hyper. After we sat down I noticed that he just seemed like a jumpy person. He even acted a little "different" in the Celestial Room as well. And all of them were playing something like musical chairs in the Celestial Room... 6 of them squeezed on one couch, then one going to another seat, followed by another person squeezing in on the couch. Is that some kind of thing that people do in the Celestial Room???

Ps. I've really appreciated the warm replies you guys have given me about this post and odd experience.

Edited July 16, 2010 by EQ_Guy
Adding a line or two.

[gabelpa]

People are people wherever we go.

[Gwen]

i've never heard of anyone doing that. in fact given the instructions i've been given i'd say it's not acceptable and he was doing that of his own accord, not with the officiators permission. i would probably call the temple and report it. that kind of thing hurts the spirit of the temple and they need to know if ppl "planning" that kind of thing is going on.

sounds like they need better monitoring in the celestial room. yes it sometimes gets louder than it should when a family member is going through for the first time and there are a lot of relatives there that are "celebrating". one time we had a lot of family in the temple and we were standing close together trying not to be noisy and we were asked to separate into smaller groups.

[EQ_Guy]

i've never heard of anyone doing that. in fact given the instructions i've been given i'd say it's not acceptable and he was doing that of his own accord, not with the officiators permission. i would probably call the temple and report it. that kind of thing hurts the spirit of the temple and they need to know if ppl "planning" that kind of thing is going on.

sounds like they need better monitoring in the celestial room. yes it sometimes gets louder than it should when a family member is going through for the first time and there are a lot of relatives there that are "celebrating". one time we had a lot of family in the temple and we were standing close together trying not to be noisy and we were asked to separate into smaller groups.

What thing are you saying I should report? They weren't loud at in the Celestial Room though. The thing that got me was him saying what he said to me. Nobody else in the endowment room seemed to have any idea of what he said. I wondered was he going to sit down when he had that option at that "certain" moment, but he didn't. It did bug me though. I wasn't constrained by time and decided to stay longer. I did some sealings and then went to another endowment. I really didn't want to end my Temple visit with that experience being the last thing that happened there.

During my own endowment they had to bring in more chairs. A nice group of people came from my ward and another sister was being endowed also, didn't know her. I was talking about the Celestial Room with someone a couple days later and they said, "... it's not normally like that in the Celestial Room, it was like a party." I don't remember it being loud or anything there though, but there was over 50 people in there, closer to 60 I bet.

I'm SO not the type to report things, but if you suggest it, maybe I will.

[applepansy]

People will be people regardless of where they are. Even in the Celestial room at the temple. It always surprises me when something like this happens. I think you handled it correctly. It is not common for something like this to happen and often the temple workers are unaware. They cannot monitor everyone's behavior. Even if you report the behavior there is not much that can be done about it. The man who asked you to step out of the circle isn't there and the temple workers have no way to identify him.

What is appropriate is for a family to make arrangements to use a sealing room and have a family prayer around an altar. This type of prayer does not need to follow the typical prayer circle. Its just family kneeling together around the altar, usually the eldest priesthood holder is voice (but that is up to the family).

In the Salt Lake Temple there are rooms with altars whose doors open up to the Celestial Room. In these rooms it is not uncommon to see families together.

I have often seen a subdued party-like atmosphere in the Celestial Room. What better place to rejoice in a family being sealed or a loved one being endowed. It is important for members of a group who are rejoicing in a blessed event remember there are others present and to keep it quiet. But smiles, happiness and rejoicing are very appropriate in the Celestial Room.

Edited July 16, 2010 by applepansy
addition

[MisterT]

To exclude other member of the Gospel in the prayer circle is just retarded. "Family only," huh? I guess he never referres to someone in the church as "Brother" or "Sister."

[Gwen]

i would report the request made in the prayer circle to the temple pres. not to get him in trouble but so the temple pres is aware it's going on.

[EQ_Guy]

People will be people regardless of where they are. Even in the Celestial room at the temple. It always surprises me when something like this happens. I think you handled it correctly. It is not common for something like this to happen and often the temple workers are unaware. They cannot monitor everyone's behavior. Even if you report the behavior there is not much that can be done about it. The man who asked you to step out of the circle isn't there and the temple workers have no way to identify him.

What is appropriate is for a family to make arrangements to use a sealing room and have a family prayer around an altar. This type of prayer does not need to follow the typical prayer circle. Its just family kneeling together around the altar, usually the eldest priesthood holder is voice (but that is up to the family).

In the Salt Lake Temple there are rooms with altars whose doors open up to the Celestial Room. In these rooms it is not uncommon to see families together.

I have often seen a subdued party-like atmosphere in the Celestial Room. What better place to rejoice in a family being sealed or a loved one being endowed. It is important for members of a group who are rejoicing in a blessed event remember there are others present and to keep it quiet. But smiles, happiness and rejoicing are very appropriate in the Celestial Room.

After the prayer circle thing, seeing like 6 or 7 of them squeezed on one couch just seemed all the more "special" to me... like they were all sitting on a bench at a national park or something for a picture. :)

[applepansy]

After the prayer circle thing, seeing like 6 or 7 of them squeezed on one couch just seemed all the more "special" to me... like they were all sitting on a bench at a national park or something for a picture. :)

I guess some families like to be close :)

[EQ_Guy]

i would report the request made in the prayer circle to the temple pres. not to get him in trouble but so the temple pres is aware it's going on.

I think maybe I WILL report it. What's funny is I walked right past him yesterday and smiled at him. I have good memories of him, he gave me that talk about garments and just happened to be the person on the other side of the veil when I was endowed.

[EQ_Guy]

I guess some families like to be close :)

Yeah... close.

[NeuroTypical]

A temple is God's house, where His spirit dwells. I'm very grateful He is willing to put up with the constant flow of error-prone, fallen, strange-habit-having, struggling sinners that come visit His house. If He ever decides to raise the bar on who can visit, I'm not sure I'd be able to go any more.

LM

[MichaelCraig]

That WAS a little wierd. It takes all types I've been told to make up this diverse world of ours. This mans thinking is what I ponder about. I'd like to be able to ask him....ah...excuse me sir but...why? Just to hear his reasoning behind it. Close family prayer in the home, when no one else is there I can understand but in a Temple, Church etc? When we pray if we could get everybody in the entire city to hold hands and pray together no matter what thier faith, I think it woud be the most awesome thing...but, I'm just one person with my own opinions. :)

[EQ_Guy]

That WAS a little wierd. It takes all types I've been told to make up this diverse world of ours. This mans thinking is what I ponder about. I'd like to be able to ask him....ah...excuse me sir but...why? Just to hear his reasoning behind it. Close family prayer in the home, when no one else is there I can understand but in a Temple, Church etc? When we pray if we could get everybody in the entire city to hold hands and pray together no matter what thier faith, I think it woud be the most awesome thing...but, I'm just one person with my own opinions. :)

I'd love to know his reasoning too. He was in his early 20s I think. I could get in contact with them I think if I tried. I mean I remember the session and time. In reality they'd maybe not tell me and just contact his Stake Pres. or something. You REALLY got me thinking now, I'd looooove to hear his answer.

[Dravin]

It's possible he was just thinking, "This is a special family day." and he just wanted to make it kinda a private family affair. It wasn't necessarily appropriate or well thought out but I don't think it is that completely out there as far as desires and sentiment goes. It'd kinda like wanting to just be with your family at Carthage or maybe the Sacred Grove, just a personal spiritual experience with family.

Note that doesn't mean I support him asking you to sit down, just as it wouldn't be appropriate for me and my family to ask folks to leave a Church historical site so we could experience it with just us.

[Gwen]

i would guess he was thinking how neat and extra spiritual/special it would be to just have the family in the circle. some kind of bonding thing. i know some that think very highly of the prayer circle, i guess it's been a very spiritual thing for them. it's never been my favorite part.

[EQ_Guy]

It's possible he was just thinking, "This is a special family day." and he just wanted to make it kinda a private family affair. It wasn't necessarily appropriate or well thought out but I don't think it is that completely out there as far as desires and sentiment goes. It'd kinda like wanting to just be with your family at Carthage or maybe the Sacred Grove, just a personal spiritual experience with family.

Note that doesn't mean I support him asking you to sit down, just as it wouldn't be appropriate for me and my family to ask folks to leave a Church historical site so we could experience it with just us.

I see. I just think it wasn't right though. I asked people in my ward if it would be possible to have only people in my ward at my endowment, but they said whoever was waiting for an endowment would be able to come in. I NEVER would have dreamed of asking someone to wait for another session or anything like that. I may have secretly hoped they'd not come, but I never would have said anything out-loud. And now that I looked back on it, it was a good feeling to have the endowment room full of people and to slightly look back and see them bringing in additional chairs.

[pam]

Just a friendly reminder. While the posts in this thread have remained appropriate, it is still about things that happen in the temple. Let's just not let it go past what we know we shouldn't discuss outside of the temple.