We often say that the sacrament of our Lord’s supper is the renewing of our baptismal covenants. This focus has lead me to take a solitary perspective of the ritual. It is my communion with God, my penitence, my rejuvenation. This singular perspective lead me to tacitly refuse the sacrament to my children. However, over the last two years my perspective has slowly shifted and today as I ate the bread of His body, I experienced a different ritual.
I left work early on Friday to stop by the store for some last minute soda and bread. I drove across the floating bridge only to read in the car outside my friend’s home. It was a quick hour and when his minivan arrived it was full. The rest arrived later that night.
I spent this weekend with a group of friends from across the world. I gorged myself on them and drank their spirit greedily. They are all so different and the same and we gathered for no other reason than that we chose it. And after two days, because time is a luxury, we met one last morning and sat together in a chapel that was built a generation ago.
I have always loved going back to my parent’s ward. The siblings within driving distance always come and we sit together and sing. Today we similarly approached the table of our Lord’s supper. This is a meal. We eat it together. It shows Him that we are His. I also claim them and they claim me. We are a people. A quorum. Kin.
February 26, 2007 at 7:05 am
There are times when the participative parts of sacrament meeting are a powerful, communal thing for me–praying with my ward, singing with my ward, receiving the bread and water as part of the body of Christ. I teach my children “You’re a member of the congregation. Singing and praying are how you do your part in the meeting.” Too often, however, I ignore this experience as it is happenning.
February 26, 2007 at 7:48 am
Amen. This was a communal meal. I love this entry from Erastus Snow’s Autobiography/Journal regarding the Kirtland Pentecost:
“& in the evening they eat the Passover & feasted upon bread & wine untill they were filled and after these things were over the deciples went from house to house breaking bread & eating it with joyful hearts being fill with the spirit of prophecy & the sick were heald & Devels were cast out.” (Autobiography, page 30, emphasis mine)
February 26, 2007 at 9:40 am
What? No rousing call for the sacrament not renewing the baptismal convenant? Where have all the revisionists gone?
February 26, 2007 at 10:47 am
I love that excerpt, Sam. I think that that is what we ultimately can experience (though there some modern hurdles).
Jon in Austin, that is actually an interesting snark. Sacrament as a renewing of Baptismal covenant is a fairly late development in the Church. It is for that reason that Brigham Young was baptized a score of times or so. A development that is worthy of its own post. The roots for the modern emphasis were always surely there, though.
February 26, 2007 at 11:59 am
Thanks, J. I love this.
February 26, 2007 at 12:02 pm
JS,
You should post on the discountinued practice of multiple baptisms. IE before a wedding, prior to a mission etc. Kind of like the orthodox jewish Mikvah ritual.
Good Stuff.
February 26, 2007 at 12:02 pm
In the early Christian church, the emblems of the Lord’s supper were a part of a larger, actual communal meal, called the agape, or “love feast.” Eventually the Eucharist/Communion/Sacrament was separated from the full meal, but I still like to think of it in that context.
February 26, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Very nice. I was in a very small branch on my mission — only 12 active members. We sat in a large circle during sacrament meeting and passed the sacrament around the circle. It heightened the communal feeling of the experience. (My companion thought it was apostate, but hey, I was the branch president.)
February 26, 2007 at 2:30 pm
I guess I’m the only one who is left scratching my head over this post J… You used to refuse the sacrament to you children? Was there some sort of family reunion? What’s the deal with the soda and the bread and sitting in front of your friends house? Sorry — I am just so confused by this.
February 26, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Alas, Geoff, my writing typically elicits such responses. Back in the day, I never refused to give my kids the sacrament (hence the “tacitly”), but I never gave the bread and water to my infants and if my two or three year old wasn’t paying attention I didn’t stop what they were doing so that they could have a bite and go back to their activity. I mean, if infant baptism is bad, why isn’t infant sacrament?
We had a group of friends in the area and spent the weekend with them. We had sacrament and it reminded me of the times I go back to my family’s gatherings.
I struggled over this post because I am probably being over sentimental. I was hoping to draw the difference between being alone and part of a community and having the meal as a symbol of that community.
February 26, 2007 at 3:21 pm
J., I think you hit just the right note, and I don’t think you are being overly sentimental. I especially liked the detail you added – where you had to stop off for some soda and bread.
I think weekends like the one you describe are some of the greatest things life offers us, and it’s too bad we don’t have more of them.
February 26, 2007 at 3:36 pm
J, Yes, I was snarking due to lurking on the prior post on lack of an actual renewal of the convenant. However, consider it snarking for snarking’s sake as I’m abivalent as to renewal one way or the other. Another post along those lines would be highly interesting though…
February 26, 2007 at 7:43 pm
I actively refuse the Sacrament to my kids until they are baptized. It has been a point of consternation for some Sacrament passers (as likely to be a HP as a deacon in my branch). I do this because when I was growing up in the Church, the Sacrament was a snack to me (albeit a communal one) and I want my kids to look forward to taking it and to have a better understanding of it.
What do you think? Apostate?
February 26, 2007 at 7:51 pm
a spectator, I’m not sure that it is “apostate,” but the church policy is to let children take the sacrament. Back when primary was separate, I believe they used to have the sacrament for them and Joseph F. Smith commented on it back at the turn of the century that it was ok. For the reason I hopefully explained in the post, I am more personally in accordance with that perspective.
February 26, 2007 at 9:52 pm
A spectator: my friend is the same way, she doesn’t let her children take the sacrament when they are young. I let my children take the sacrament, but I remind him each time what the bread and water represent (I’m not sure he understands it all the time) and that helps me think that he thinks of it as more than just a snack.
February 26, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Stapley: I have to agree with Geoff. I think I get it now but I was beyond confused at first. And: “I gorged myself on them and drank their spirit greedily”? Ick.
February 27, 2007 at 12:02 am
“Well the water, it’s like miwk. And the bwed… it’s jus’ bwed.”
From the most spiritually significant Mormon movie ever made.
February 27, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I thought that the following was church policy.
“The duty of the members after they are received by baptism.– The elders or priest are to have a sufficent time to expound all things concerning the church of Christ to their understanding, previous to their partaking of the sacrament and being confirmed by the laying on of the hands of the elders, so that all things may be done in order.”
Does the 20th section of the Doctrine and Covenants no longer apply? Was Christ mistaken in the order of things?
February 27, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Amanda, I’m not sure I understand your question. I’m pretty sure J. is talking about going church with his friends… Reread the sentence about the chapel.
February 27, 2007 at 1:33 pm
J. Stapley:
That was Junior Sunday School, not Primary. Back in the good old days, Primary was at 4:00 on Wednesdays.
And the sacrament was administered in the Junior Sunday School, even though all but the oldest class (the 8-year-olds) were too young to have been baptized).
February 27, 2007 at 1:40 pm
It was my dream to be a deacon and bring the sacrament to junior SS. It just seemed so cool. And then we went to consolidation months before my 12th birthday. Argh.
February 27, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Yes, of course. I just did a quick skim and I have found evidence of that well into the 19th century (i.e., sacrament to Sunday School children).
February 27, 2007 at 2:44 pm
you’re not alone, spectator. our kids don’t take the sacrament not only because we think it’s “a big deal,” but also because it prevents the fighting and fussing and delays that sometimes we see in other pews. part of this is likely due to my catholic upbringing, but my lifelong member o’ a husband agrees with me. our kids know they get to take the sacrament when they are baptized and it’s something that my oldest likes to talk about and look forward to.
February 27, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Our unbaptized children don’t take the sacrament either because I’ve never heard an explanation for doing so that made sense to me. J. Stapley, could you provide a reference for Joseph F. Smith’s teaching on the matter?
February 27, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Hey John, I went through my notes and it is just a reference to the Sunday School sacrament. The most common justifications come from his son JFSII (in Answers to Gospel Questions vo. 2 and 5) and BRM. These latter in depth explanations leave me wanting in a way that the ideas of communal meal as symbol doesn’t.
February 27, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Thanks for the post Jonathan. I approach so many Mormon musings from a maternal perspective rather than an academic one these days, so I approached this post using my maternal eyes. I have always made sure my children partake of the sacrament, even though for years they had little idea of its significance. As my oldest son began his pilgrimage into the fringes (and then out) of the church, he continued to take the sacrament–even if that was the only thing he did on a Sunday. He said that it was a vital part to his inner peace. I have quit trying to get my kids to church on time, but have insisted that we get there in time to partake of the sacrament. When my daughter has not been ready, I have attended another ward with her so that she could partake. If nothing else, the message my children get is, “The sacrament really matters to Mom.” Later, I hope (and assume) they will come to it with their own understanding and commitment. For now, they see that it matters to me, and they incorporate it into their own weekly rituals as a habit they will not easily break.
February 27, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Margaret, your weblink appears to have been coopted by the market in some tricky way. I prefer to think of the sacrament as a holy meal rather than simply a renewal of baptismal covenants. My wife and I have even been talking back and forth about having some kind of a regular worshipful meal (along the lines of the agape), but we worry about such an endeavor slipping into sanctimony or heresy. I hope my children feel connected to Eucharist in the way you describe.
February 27, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I always meant not to let my kids take the sacrament until they were baptized, but they felt left out, especially since many of their friends were allowed to take it. So my completely arbitrary standard became that they had to know all the verses of “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” and be able to whisper me a story about a Jesus as we waited for our turn. I felt like they then were able to follow the injunction to partake in remembrance of Christ. This has made the sacrament a very sweet time for me and I think for them, and has also led to teaching opportunities as they’ve gotten old enough to remember ahead of time and ask for help thinking of a story on the drive to church.
February 27, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Sam MB–the Spanish for sacrament is “santa cena” or “holy meal.”
I should mention that we celebrate Passover every Easter Sunday and use a really beautiful haggadah. This is an important ritual for us as well, though much less frequent, and I believe it helps my children understand the sacrament better, since they know that Jesus ate the Passover meal on the eve of his betrayal, knowing that many of the symbols represented him. “This is my body…”
February 27, 2007 at 10:01 pm
“This is a meal. We eat it together. It shows Him that we are His. I also claim them and they claim me.”
I recently came to that same realization, especially after reading the central chapters of John. Where the other gospel writers briefly describe partaking of bread and wine, John describes a lengthy, multi-layered discourse by Jesus on unity in the Church, culminating with the eloquent prayer in John 17. I now see that unity as relating to the sacramental “meal.” Would that we had time for a real meal together every Sunday.