Is Filling The Font A Priesthood Duty?

[Duncan]

I was filling the font yestarday for some baptisms and had to run out to get me lunch at a local eatery and bring it back to the Church. There was a primary thing going on and I just asked a friend of mine to check the font just in case it overflowed, kids swimming in it or someone drops something in etc. Anyways while I was gone she checked on it and it had encountered some problem which she fixed. Anyways at Church today someone who saw her doing this chided me a bit and reminded me that filling the font was a Priesthood duty. I believe if you can give it you better sure as heck can take it so I said where in the world did he hear that and he said that its "always been like that" so whatever I blew it off but was wondering if anyone else has ever heard this? I wasn't aware that turning a lever and making sure its not overflowing et al was a Priesthood duty!

[Jeff K.]

Being of service is a priesthood responsibility, buy it's also a Relief Society responsibility. Until filling the font is considered an ordinance, I would hesitate to call it a priesthood responsibility so much as a tradition carried ou by the priesthood.

[rpn]

No it's not a priesthood duty. But it surely as been one of the assignments given to men in the church (much like many families make lawnwork the man's job in a family). My retort would have been, "And boy didn't she do that just as good or better than I could have."

[bluebell]

My companions and i frequently filled the fonts for baptisms. The only thing we usually needed the priesthood for in that regard was to get the key to open the box which operated the faucet (since it was always the ward mission leader who had it).

[Duncan]

My companions and i frequently filled the fonts for baptisms. The only thing we usually needed the priesthood for in that regard was to get the key to open the box which operated the faucet (since it was always the ward mission leader who had it).

that's been my experience as well, I hadn't ever thought of that there are some who think it's a Priesthood thing until Bro. Barfbag said so! Can you feel the love?! don't have keys for that I just have two sets of door keys and library keys-Just as an aside I recall when I was a newly ordained teacher I was taking down the sacrament by myself and my older sister helped me!, Sparks flew that day!!

[blackstrap]

Sparks..... or lightning?

[Duncan]

Sparks..... or lightning?

sparks mostly as I recall, my sister doesn't suffer fools gladly, I am amazed I am still here! haha! but I love her! Not to derail the thread she also yelled at a General Authority in a kitchen once and kicked him out! now lightning hit our house that day courtesy of our Mum!

[zerinus]

I was filling the font yestarday for some baptisms and had to run out to get me lunch at a local eatery and bring it back to the Church. There was a primary thing going on and I just asked a friend of mine to check the font just in case it overflowed, kids swimming in it or someone drops something in etc. Anyways while I was gone she checked on it and it had encountered some problem which she fixed. Anyways at Church today someone who saw her doing this chided me a bit and reminded me that filling the font was a Priesthood duty. I believe if you can give it you better sure as heck can take it so I said where in the world did he hear that and he said that its "always been like that" so whatever I blew it off but was wondering if anyone else has ever heard this? I wasn't aware that turning a lever and making sure its not overflowing et al was a Priesthood duty!

I wouldn't call it a "priesthood duty;" what she probably meant was that it is a man's job rather than a woman's job! Personally, if I was given an assignment like that, I would want to do it myself, rather than pass the buck to someone else; because if something went wrong, I am the one who would be held responsible, not someone else. What if she forgot, and it overflowed; or a child fell into it and got drowned? Did you think of that?

Edited March 12, 2012 by zerinus

[Gohan]

They've got those huge old panes of glass in front of most of the fonts now, so it'd be a tad difficult to fall in.

I've never heard of it being a priesthood duty, just almost always as a calling, one that I've seen both men and woman hold.

[rongo]

You know, I've thought the same thing, Duncan. We've done detailed building cleanings with the youth for service project (above and beyond the typical Saturday cleanings), and some have balked at young women cleaning the font or sacrament trays. I have responded similarly (where does it say they can't help clean them?). Cleaning implements has nothing to do with the actual exercising of priesthood involved in blessing, preparing, or passing the sacrament or performing the ordinance of baptism, and I think that it's completely appropriate for girls/women to help with this, if needed. Since the handbooks don't directly address this specifically, there will probably be variation in this, depending on the orientation of the local leader. In that case, what he says goes for his jurisdiction, because he holds the keys.

[Saints Alive]

So do men have to fill the bath tub for their wives now too?

I can't imagine it being a priesthood duty, since baptism can technically be done in any body of water. Better make sure it was a priesthood holder who dug out and filled that man-made lake if you intend to use it for baptisms

[zerinus]

They've got those huge old panes of glass in front of most of the fonts now, so it'd be a tad difficult to fall in.

If it is possible to baptize into it, it is possible to fall into it.

[Lachoneus]

I have served as the ward mission leader twice, as a stake missionary and as a member of the stake mission presidency (when they had such things) and I have NEVER heard that filling the font was a priesthood only duty. The last time I was the ward missionary it was my duty, shared with the other ward missionaries, to fill the font on the first Saturday of the month. One of the ward missionaries (a former ward Relief Society President) was the wife of the other ward missionary (a former Bishop). She often helped us watch over the font while it was being filled and drained -- an all day affair when you have 11 wards needing to use the font on a single day. No one ever told me there was anything wrong with her helping us.

[Duncan]

You know, I've thought the same thing, Duncan. We've done detailed building cleanings with the youth for service project (above and beyond the typical Saturday cleanings), and some have balked at young women cleaning the font or sacrament trays. I have responded similarly (where does it say they can't help clean them?). Cleaning implements has nothing to do with the actual exercising of priesthood involved in blessing, preparing, or passing the sacrament or performing the ordinance of baptism, and I think that it's completely appropriate for girls/women to help with this, if needed. Since the handbooks don't directly address this specifically, there will probably be variation in this, depending on the orientation of the local leader. In that case, what he says goes for his jurisdiction, because he holds the keys.

well, I have the ear of one of the Stake Pres. and he told me not to worry about it or him so, make me no nevermind! he hadn't ever heard of anything like that either.

[LeSellers]

some have balked at young women cleaning the font or sacrament trays. I have responded similarly (where does it say they can't help clean them?). Cleaning implements has nothing to do with the actual exercising of priesthood involved in blessing, preparing, or passing the sacrament

The Aaronic Priesthood is still the Priesthood of God.

In the days of the tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, there were orders of Priests (like our Deacons, Teachers, and Priests) each with specific functions—some dealing with the services and ordinances of the Temple, and others with the "implements" thereof. No woman or non-Levite could participate in even putting poles in the sockets that hold up the walls of the tabernacle, or coiling the ropes that held them in place. .

I know of no young woman who has died cleaning sacrament trays, but it was precisely because he touched something he was not called to touch that Uzza died, "steadying the ark.

You are correct, if the bishop, whose stewardship it is, directs young women to clean the sacrament implement, it will be on his head, not theirs. But were it I, I believe I'd do some serious study about what is and what is not a Priesthood function.

Lehi

[ERayR]

I was filling the font yestarday for some baptisms and had to run out to get me lunch at a local eatery and bring it back to the Church. There was a primary thing going on and I just asked a friend of mine to check the font just in case it overflowed, kids swimming in it or someone drops something in etc. Anyways while I was gone she checked on it and it had encountered some problem which she fixed. Anyways at Church today someone who saw her doing this chided me a bit and reminded me that filling the font was a Priesthood duty. I believe if you can give it you better sure as heck can take it so I said where in the world did he hear that and he said that its "always been like that" so whatever I blew it off but was wondering if anyone else has ever heard this? I wasn't aware that turning a lever and making sure its not overflowing et al was a Priesthood duty!

IMNSHO it is something that can be done by anyone who can put in the drain plug and turn on the water.

[Duncan]

IMNSHO it is something that can be done by anyone who can put in the drain plug and turn on the water.

precisely!

[LeSellers]

IMNSHO it is something that can be done by anyone who can put in the drain plug and turn on the water.

precisely!

Just as anyone, man, woman, or unclean child could drive in a tent stake.

In fact, as I recall, it is the women of nomad tribes who erect the tents, because the men are in a defensive perimeter to protect them from other nomads. I don't know if Israelites women pitched their tents in the Sinai, but they sure as sunrise could have. So why were they forbidden from putting up the Tabernacle? The stakes were, after all, just "implements".

Lehi

[Saints Alive]

Just as anyone, man, woman, or unclean child could drive in a tent stake.

In fact, as I recall, it is the women of nomad tribes who erect the tents, because the men are in a defensive perimeter to protect them from other nomads. I don't know if Israelites women pitched their tents in the Sinai, but they sure as sunrise could have. So why were they forbidden from putting up the Tabernacle? The stakes were, after all, just "implements".

Lehi

I think it was institutional sexism that was originally policy but was continued in the desert for 40 years because nobody knew who started it.

[LeSellers]

I think it was institutional sexism that was originally policy but was continued in the desert for 40 years because nobody knew who started it.

Smiley noted and discounted: we know exactly Who started it.

It lasted substantially more than 40 years, until "Reformed" Judaism with its female rabbis, and even now they still recognize that the Cohens are all men, if I read correctly.

Lehi

[Saints Alive]

I was speaking spicifically about the tabernacle tent pegs. I believe they stopped using those some time ago. In any case it was my half hearted attempt at satire.

[LeSellers]

I was speaking spicifically about the tabernacle tent pegs. I believe they stopped using those some time ago. In any case it was my half hearted attempt at satire.

I know it was.

However, even with the tabernacle, it was a lot longer than 40 years—Solomon didn't come along for five centuries after Joshua.

Lehi

[cinepro]

It's definitely a priesthood responsibility to put the porta-font together.

[Duncan]

It's definitely a priesthood responsibility to put the porta-font together.

best.thing.ever.!

[BCSpace]

In our Stake, it's the duty of whoever is willing to wake up early enough to get it filled on time. It is so slow that the water has enough time to cool considerably while it's filling.