The Initiatory

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There are 2 parts to the Endowment. 

1. The Initiatory Ordinance

2. The Endowment Session

Watch this video:

What is an initiatory: 

Latter-day Saints are ritually washed, anointed, clothed, and named. In this ceremony, participants are blessed with spiritual, mental, and physical health, and are also anointed to become kings and queens, priests and priestesses unto God.

What is the definition of INITIATE?

The initiatory is quite literally, an initiation to prepare to enter the Lord's presence.

As we are Endowed to become kings and queens, priests and priestesses to Him, our Initiatory is like a Coronation.

A beginning.

A "proper admittance".

Watch this 4 minute video to see what a Coronation Ceremony looks like. 

The Process of the Initiatory

The initiatory room is partitioned with curtains, into 4 sections that you move through during the ordinance.

Washing ceremony: 

 An example of ritual washings is baptism.

It's a symbol of rebirth.

We are ‘washed clean’-symbolizing internal purity.

READ Exodus 40:12

We are washed to prepare to serve in the holy temple.

The washing portion of the initiatory can symbolize: 

Preparation & transformation, rebirth

It is done as we are washed symbolically with a drop of water on the head.

Anointing ceremony:

READ Exodus 29:7

Anointing is connected with priesthood and having authority to act in God’s name.

READ Exodus 28:41

It can represent HEALING: Oil was thought to have restorative and cleansing properties.

In the church today, consecrated oil is used to bless the sick and add sanctity to the ordinance.

It symbolized CHRIST:

 Many are familiar with the explanation that Christ means “anointed one.”  

Jesus was Anointed to perform the Atonement. 

Jesus was Anointed to be the Savior. 

The layers of symbolism in olive oil goes very deep. One reason we use olive oil is to remind us of Jesus Christ and his Atonement. 

• Anointing can symbolize:
• Consecrate Priests
• Status and Honor
• Healing
• Light
• Appoint Kings
• Preparation for Burial
• Symbol of the Atonement

Clothing in the Temple Garment:

When you enter this section of the room, an officiator will tell you that you are now formally authorized to wear the temple garment. That’s it. The officiator will also give instructions about taking care of it, and the blessings associated with wearing the temple garment.

Garments:

In the initiatory we are authorized to wear the Garment of the Holy Priesthood.

The garment represents many things:

The Atonement of Jesus Christ

His grace 

Our covenants-marks on garments

Modesty

Remind of the power we are endowed with

Many more!

Scriptural History: 

When Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden, they were naked, which represents their child-like innocence. But just as infants aren’t meant to stay infants, Adam and Eve had a greater purpose to fulfill and had to move beyond this child-like innocence.

And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron. (Exodus 29:5)

And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen. (Exodus 28:39)

And thou shalt make them [the priests] linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach. (Exodus 28:42)

The naming ceremony-

Everything about the initiatory foreshadows and anticipates something greater in the future. The Washing cleanses us and prepares us to receive the rest of the ordinances of the temple. The anointing sets us apart as a future priest and priestess in God’s kingdom. The clothing is a first precursor to greater clothing and symbolic glory to be received later. The naming ceremony is likewise one piece of the greater puzzle.

*It represents a NEW IDENTITY in God.

Example in the scriptures:

1. Jacob had a powerful experience with God and then was named Israel

2. Simon made a covenant to follow Jesus and then was named Peter

receiving a new name, marks a momentous spiritual event in your life. We see examples of it in scripture. 

1. READ Genesis 17:5 - "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee."

2. READ Genesis 17:15 - "And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be."

New names can show how God sees us or our potential. 

New Names also Represents CREATION:

In the creation of the world, a creation was not complete until it was given a name. 

 JESUS even received a new name:

Even Jesus received a special name from God to signal his identity and covenant with the Father. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus’s baptism is seen as a sort of initiation. He’s initiated into God’s divine council, and this moment marks the beginning of Jesus’s journey as the Messiah and Savior of the world.

READ Mark 1:9–11-”And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 

*He is washed, symbolically anointed, he witnesses to a sign in the form of the dove, and is granted a new name, “Son.”*

More symbolism of a new name: 

• New Identity
• New Relationship/Belonging
• Source of Power (call someone to life)
• Elite Status
• Representation of Keys
• Sacred Identifier