A little over two years ago, I wrote a post explaining that our current rule that only priesthood holders can pass the sacrament has no basis in scripture. D&C 20:58 explicitly says that teachers and deacons lack the authority to “administer the sacrament”; ergo, if we allow teachers and deacons to prepare and pass the sacrament, those things must not be part of the administration of the sacrament.
And if they’re not, then the Handbook’s requirement that only “[d]eacons, teachers, priests, and Melchizedek Priesthood holders may pass the sacrament” is based, not on scripture, but on tradition. Now, tradition is certainly not always a bad thing, but the Book of Mormon warns us that tradition can potentially impede our ability to know and understand God. I think that’s doubly true when the tradition actively harms a person or group of people by, for example, not allowing them to participate and serve fully in our religious community.
In the intervening two years, a couple important things have happened. First, at the grassroots level, some bishops have allowed girls to provide a limited amount of sacrament-passing. In Hyde Park, here in Chicago, a bishop started having deacons take the sacrament to the nursing room, where they passed the trays to girls who took the trays in.
A year later, Pres. Nelson announced that women would be allowed to witness temple marriages, and women and girls would be allowed to witness baptisms. This was another duty that had been limited to priesthood holders base on tradition rather than scripture. And the change, it turns out, doesn’t require revelation or new canonized scripture; all this kind of change requires is a careful look at scripture and tradition, and an announcement. We’ve shown we can do it, and I hope that we do. Soon.
As a follow-up, there’s also no scriptural or doctrinal reason that Sunday School presidencies or ward clerks need to be priesthood holders. Again, it’s in the Handbook, but it’s not justified by anything except tradition. And as with the tradition requiring priesthood to pass and prepare the sacrament, this tradition is harmful to the body of Christ.
A new church handbook goes live tomorrow. I have no idea what it will say, but it seems like a perfect opportunity to reassess and remove these gender-based barriers to serving in the church. I hope my daughters will be able to pass the sacrament on Sunday. And if not this Sunday, I hope the Sunday when they do comes soon.
Image from page 465 of “The Relief Society magazine : organ of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” (1922). No known copyright restrictions.
