Is Filling The Font A Priesthood Duty?

[bluebell]

But were it I, I believe I'd do some serious study about what is and what is not a Priesthood function.

Lehi

Are you sure we're allowed to touch the trays when they are passed down the isle? Wouldn't want my womanhood to make anything unclean. Hmmm, and maybe women shouldn't be baking the sacrament bread either. Maybe that should be a 'priesthood function' as well.

[KevinG]

Having women clean Sacrament trays is not a sign of disobedience by women, it is a sign of the Aaronic priesthoods failure to do their temporal duties.

[LeSellers]

Are you sure we're allowed to touch the trays when they are passed down the isle? Wouldn't want my womanhood to make anything unclean. Hmmm, and maybe women shouldn't be baking the sacrament bread either. Maybe that should be a 'priesthood function' as well.

over reaction.

No, I'm not sure. I'm not sure (which is why I said I'd really want to study the matter—but as I am not a bishop, I have no need to do so now) where the line is drawn between "Priesthood functions" and "necessity" or "convenience".

I have lived in wards where the requirement was that two (Aaronic) Priesthood holders were assigned to each "route" to receive the Fast Offering. Typically, a Priest or an elder would drive and his brother, son, or companion would approach the member's home. In the ward I live now (in the past), mothers would sometimes drive while their deacon sons performed their duty. Was one right and the other wrong? I don't know, and I'm not the president of the Aaronic Priesthood and Presiding High Priest in the ward, so it's none of my stewardship. But I'd be wary were I to hold these offices of going astray of the guidelines the Lord has set for His Priesthood.

As for baking the bread, I have no recollection of any restriction on who baked the Bread of Presence (Show/Shew Bread) in the Old Testament. I know that Wonder Bread (in spite of having the physical nutrition of sugar) is acceptable for the Sacrament, and the odds of a Continental employee's holding the Priesthood diminishes to vanishing the further from Salt Lake City one sits in Sacrament Meeting. Further, I doubt that most water treatment plant employees are Saints, either.

Lehi

Women could, obviously, participate in ancient Jewish Temple rituals. You all can now, too.

[Duncan]

well, my sister did more then clean the trays! she was helping take down everything until...

[mercyngrace]

Lehi,

Is home teaching a priesthood function? How do you feel about married couples performing home teaching visits? I've seen that done by assignment.

Just wondering.

MnG

PS Did I make a grave error when I retrieved the garbage from the women's restroom and mother's lounge for my deacon aged son? I did get some funny looks now that I think about it...

Edited March 13, 2012 by mercyngrace

[bluebell]

over reaction.

Not an over reaction. An illustration of how goofy the idea is that someone would need to study first before knowing whether or not a woman could clean a sacrament tray.

[mercyngrace]

Not an over reaction. An illustration of how goofy the idea is that someone would need to study first before knowing whether or not a woman could clean a sacrament tray.

Don't be flippant Bluebell, this is a serious priesthood matter.

All hail the sacred loaf!

And bow before her instruments of delivery!

I wonder how the early saints managed to perform the sacrament properly without trays and Wonder bread. That must have been the genesis of the great apostasy.

[Duncan]

Don't be flippant Bluebell, this is a serious priesthood matter.

All hail the sacred loaf!

And bow before her instruments of delivery!

I wonder how the early saints managed to perform the sacrament properly without trays and Wonder bread. That must have been the genesis of the great apostasy.

when I was a teen one of my friends named Clyde brought yellowish onion bread, quite the scene!

[KevinG]

My friend really wanted to use Kings Hawaiian bread. That was nixed by the Bishop. :-)

[Saints Alive]

I've used MRE crackers and water out of a canteen before... Talk about unorthodox.

[LeSellers]

I've used MRE crackers and water out of a canteen before... Talk about unorthodox.

Were it only once!

I'm old enough that I have used C-Rat (and even once with K-Rat) crackers (they were the same, just much drier and more stale).

'Course the C-Rat cigarettes were always good trading currency, even if they were, from what I've been told, even drier and staler than the crackers. I got a whole meal for the three cigarettes. That was unorthodox, although common.

Lehi

[cinepro]

I wonder how the early saints managed to perform the sacrament properly without trays and Wonder bread. That must have been the genesis of the great apostasy.

Little cups weren't even used by the LDS until the early 20th century. Until then, it was just the big, communal goblet. Yum!

The administration of the sacrament is so standardized now that it is easy to forget that we used to do it quite differently. At various times it was standard to pass the water in large goblets, each one taking a sip from the common cup (or taking a deep thirst-quenching quaff, which drew condemnation from the pulpit); or to bless both bread and water at once and to pass them together; to pass the sacrament while speakers were preaching or while music was playing; to pass the sacrament in Sunday School as well as Sacrament Meeting, preceded by a “Sacrament Gem” recited in unison; and other practices that would be unfamiliar today.

Administering the Sacrament

Luckily, entrepreneurial ingenuity came along to save the day!

[LeSellers]

Not an over reaction. An illustration of how goofy the idea is that someone would need to study first before knowing whether or not a woman could clean a sacrament tray.

I'd be interested n seeing a CHI or other reference stating that women can clean thew Sacrament trays. What the CHI does say is this:

8.1.1Teachers, priests, and Melchizedek Priesthood holders may prepare the sacrament. Before the meeting, those who prepare the sacrament ensure that bread trays with unbroken bread, water trays with cups filled with fresh water, and table cloths are in place. After the meeting, these brethren clear away the trays and tablecloths.

If this is done properly, there is no need to "clean the Sacrament trays".

I've been taught that Deacons (even if the Priesthood office the individual holds is "higher") are not allowed to touch (steady) the cloth that covers the elements when the Priests are covering or uncovering the two symbols.

I agree with whoever wrote that having others do such duties indicates an Aaronic priesthood body that is not doing their functions correctly. But that, too, is the bishop's responsibility.

Lehi

[Verum]

Besides not being able to lead, its really unfortunate that women can't even fill the water in the sacrament trays, clean the trays, place bread in trays, be a witness that someone was fully immersed during a baptism, collect fast offerings, and traditionally not pray in GC..

Some of these specific priesthood "duties" should be re-examined because I see no reason why these should be priesthood specific and especially not gender specific.

[BCSpace]

Having women clean Sacrament trays is not a sign of disobedience by women, it is a sign of the Aaronic priesthoods failure to do their temporal duties.

Yes. Without those rascally Teachers, who's going to put Sprite in the sacrament cups to test D&C 27:2?

[cinepro]

Besides not being able to lead, its really unfortunate that women can't even fill the water in the sacrament trays, clean the trays, place bread in trays, be a witness that someone was fully immersed during a baptism, collect fast offerings, and traditionally not pray in GC..

Some of these specific priesthood "duties" should be re-examined because I see no reason why these should be priesthood specific and especially not gender specific.

And how do we keep our balance....?

Edited March 13, 2012 by cinepro

[bluebell]

I'd be interested n seeing a CHI or other reference stating that women can clean thew Sacrament trays.

Do we really need to be commanded in all things, or can common sense be used once in a while? Women clean chapels, they clean temples. They wash the sacrament cloth when necessary. Why does the CHI need to give the go ahead for wiping out a sacrament tray?

I've been taught that Deacons (even if the Priesthood office the individual holds is "higher") are not allowed to touch (steady) the cloth that covers the elements when the Priests are covering or uncovering the two symbols.

Is this idea in the CHI?

I've never heard it before, but have been in many wards where the deacon or teachers have helped to straight out a cloth that folded weird or didn't lay right in place that the priests couldn't reach as it was being used during sacrament meeting. It's never been an issue, which makes me wonder.

[ERMD]

I've been taught that Deacons (even if the Priesthood office the individual holds is "higher") are not allowed to touch (steady) the cloth that covers the elements when the Priests are covering or uncovering the two symbols.

This is not in the CHI, so it is an incorrect tradition.

[ERMD]

Besides not being able to lead, its really unfortunate that women can't even fill the water in the sacrament trays, clean the trays, place bread in trays, be a witness that someone was fully immersed during a baptism, collect fast offerings, and traditionally not pray in GC..

Some of these specific priesthood "duties" should be re-examined because I see no reason why these should be priesthood specific and especially not gender specific.

When you understand section 13 of Doctrine and Covenants, you will understand why the Aaronic Priesthood has specific responsibilities.

[mercyngrace]

Little cups weren't even used by the LDS until the early 20th century. Until then, it was just the big, communal goblet. Yum!

Yup. Delish.

It's at once fascinating and distressing how quickly we turn someone's good idea into divinely inspired policy.

[Cobalt-70]

Besides not being able to lead, its really unfortunate that women can't even fill the water in the sacrament trays, clean the trays, place bread in trays, be a witness that someone was fully immersed during a baptism, collect fast offerings, and traditionally not pray in GC..

Some of these specific priesthood "duties" should be re-examined because I see no reason why these should be priesthood specific and especially not gender specific.

Not to mention preparing and passing the sacrament. There is no scriptural reason who someone who is not a priesthood officer, including women and girls, could not do this too. The only thing they could not do consistent with the LDS canon is say the sacrament prayer.

[ERMD]

Not to mention preparing and passing the sacrament. There is no scriptural reason who someone who is not a priesthood officer, including women and girls, could not do this too. The only thing they could not do consistent with the LDS canon is say the sacrament prayer.

When you understand section 13 of Doctrine and Covenants, you will understand why the Aaronic Priesthood has specific responsibilities.

[cinepro]

When you understand section 13 of Doctrine and Covenants, you will understand why the Aaronic Priesthood has specific responsibilities.

He didn't say the Aaronic priesthood shouldn't have any specific responsibilities. He was just pointing out that many of the things we have the Deacons and Teachers do are assigned because of policy and tradition, and not scriptural mandate.

[Bikeemikey]

Had to use chocolate and orange juice once. We got stuck in the mountains an extra night on a youth trip.

(null)

[mtomm]

Sprite? I heard vinegar.