The taking of communion is a long-standing tradition in the Christian faith. It symbolizes taking upon oneself Christ’s sacrifice in our behalf and accepting the blessings and responsibilities that go along with it. The Catholic church is perhaps the most well-known for this practice, although it is done in other churches as well.
Mormons have their own version of communion. We call it “taking the sacrament.” Fully one-third of our Sunday services are spent in what we call “sacrament meeting,” wherein the sacrament is passed to the congregation.
It begins with bread and water being brought out and prepared for consumption. Young men who are sixteen years or older who have been ordained to the office of a priest break up the bread into bite-sized chunks and place it on trays. The water is poured into small disposable cups which hold about two teaspoons, and those cups are also placed in a tray specially designed to hold them.
Then the bread and water are blessed by those young men. The prayer is first said on the bread, and reminds the congregation of the body of Christ which He willingly sacrificed for us. This is done symbolically only—we don’t believe that we are actually partaking of Christ. Then the blessing is said over the water, in which we are reminded of His blood which He spilt for us. We symbolically partake of the water.
Young men who are at least twelve years of age and are known as deacons pass the trays. They are taught to act reverently while performing this act, showing the Atonement the respect it deserves. This is a great teaching tool for these young men, to help them learn appropriate times to be reverent and that we can be more lighthearted another time.
We believe that as we partake of the sacrament each week, we are recommitting ourselves to keeping the commandments and to striving to have the Spirit with us. By taking the sacrament, we are renewing our baptism covenants and reminding ourselves of the promises we have made.
The sacrament is a sacred thing and we look forward to it every Sunday. It’s a wonderful opportunity to evaluate how we are doing and to make goals to draw nearer to the Lord over the course of the next week.
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