Sacrament etiquette
 

From the other thread...

Do you let your unbaptized children take the Sacrament?

Do you always take it and pass it with your right hand? Is this important? If so, why?

If you came late and missed the bread, do you still take the water?

Have any of these things been outlined in the handbook or discussed by church leaders?

There are no rules, just traditions.

Personally when our children were unbaptized, we let them take the sacrament, and encouraged right hand use (why? tradition), but if we come late we usually don't just take the water, but I can't see how it would hurt.

The handbook is silent on all the things you mentioned. My answers for those questions:

- Yes
- I take it with my right hand because I am right handed. If passing or handling the sacrament tray then I use either hand. Some of my kids are leftys and I let them take it with either hand. To me, the choice of which hand to use is completely unimportant.
- I have never been late enough to have the bread already been passed. In my entire life I can't remember being that late to a sacrament meeting that I was planning on attending (it helps when your meetinghouse is never more than a block or two away). Personally, I think it is bad form to ask the Deacon to go back and get the bread. I think it is the height of arrogance. If I ever do find myself in the position of being that late I would prefer to skip the week rather than ask the Deacon to go back for the bread tray just for me.

I remember as a kid visiting my grandma's ward in Idaho and they did some strange passing technique (something like when the tray was passed to you, you held it so the person that passed it took the sacrament; then you passed it to the next person who held it for you--very inefficient). Totaly freaked me out. I was so nervous about not screwing it up, and then my mom goes and screws it up and our family throws the whole row off. I bet the Idaho Mormons just looked as us, silently muttering under their breath about how corrupt The Church in Utah had become.

My mom said she was in a branch where an investigator was about to take the sacrament and the Branch President ran full-speed and grabbed the tray right before he was about to partake. Apparently, to him, you had to be a member to partake.

Wow.

While on my mission, the branch president in Palermo encouraged investigators to take the sacrament because as he pointed out, "the Savior died for them too."

I agree that would be absurd. The main difference is that a nonmember does not make the covenant made by partaking but there's NO harm for anybody other than an unworthy member in partaking.

Didn't the Savior die for the unworthy member, too?

You could argue that someone who is not baptized is not worthy.

You could but I won't. Refraining from participating is the agreed upon repentance process.

I consider myself a non-believer, but I usually take the sacrament when I attend church. I think of it as a nice little appetizer before I break out the candy. I always tell my wife that I wish the pews had drink holders. ;)