Endowment 2010

Today is Pentecost, the feast that commemorates the disciples being "endowed with power from on high" by the Spirit (Luke 24:49). Two Pentecosts ago, in 2010, I announced my intention to start work on a revision of the endowment along liberal theological lines. It's a quixotic project, since I'm creating it for a liberal Mormon worshiping community that doesn't actually exist--but it's a gesture of faith and hope that someday such a community might come into being.

I've been working on "Endowment 2010," as I've been calling it, little by little for the past couple of years. And now I'm ready to unveil it for anyone out there who might be interested in taking a look:

DOWNLOAD ENDOWMENT 2010

Be advised that the PDF download is over 100 pages long. That's because the revision is heavily annotated. In producing this document, I followed the same policy I did for LDSEndowment.org: I do not include descriptions of those portions of the ceremony that are specifically covered by covenants of non-disclosure, namely the signs, tokens, and keywords. I hold the view that those items of ritual information should be communicated only "live," in the context of performing the ceremony.

The document includes an intro that lays out the principles that guided this revision--or "re-visioning," as I prefer to call it. As a sample of what you'll find in the re-visioned ceremony, here are a couple snippets:

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MOTHER: Children, look—go down to that unorganized matter.

FATHER: Organize it into a world like the worlds we have formed previously. Fill it with all kinds of plant and animal life.

MOTHER: Counsel together in each period of your labors, so that all things are done in wisdom and order.

FATHER: When your labors are complete, return and bring us word.

JEHOVAH: It will be done, Elohim. Come, my brothers and sisters, let us go down.

ADAM: We will go down, Jehovah.

EVE and the MESSENGERS: We will go down.

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ADAM: We are looking for the further light and knowledge Mother and Father promised to send us.

LUCIFER: Oh, you want revelation. For that, you must have a prophet. I can provide you one.

(The PROPHET enters, wearing a business suit.)

LUCIFER: Good day! Are you by chance a prophet?

PROPHET: I have been ordained to that office.

LUCIFER: Then you receive revelations?

PROPHET: (Cautiously) I would say I am susceptible to the impressions of the Spirit of the Lord upon my mind, just as any other good church member might be. (Suddenly emphatic) But I am the Lord’s anointed and the mouthpiece of God, and when I speak, the debate is over.

LUCIFER: That last sounds very promising.