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Stand By The Door

Stand by the Door

During the administering of the Sacrament it is common practise for a priesthood holder to stand by the door to keep it from being opened by Members who are late and may cause irreverence. Now, the question is... Does the person standing by the door have to be a priesthood holder? Could it be a man, without the Priesthood? Could it be a Sister? What is your doctrinal / policy reference for your answer?

Lastly, how was it decided that Teachers prepare the Sacrament and Deacons pass it, but not prepare it? It certainly does not say that in D&C.

Door The Stand

It seems like no one else knew about the set ages either. Here is what I found:

In 1908 the General Priesthood Committee made definite age groupings for Aaronic Priesthood Offices.

I wonder why this was the decision of a Committee and not directly decided by the First Presidency. I also wonder how they came to the conclusion that a Deacon should be at the age of 12. I know in the early days of the Church only adult men held these offices.

Stand By The Door Studies Doctrine Mormon

I always wondered why must be a Priesthood holder at the door at the time of the Sacrament, I do not know of any policy that states this or even that stops a sister from doing it...I think is just a matter of "tradition".

Door The Stand

Honestly, I don't believe it to be a matter of doctrine, but of policy. For example, women were allowed to pray in sacrament, but then suddenly they weren't allowed to pray in sacrament meeting for 11 years around the 70's or so. Then that "Policy" was done away with and women are now allowed to pray in Sacrament again. There was a time Brigham Young wouldn't allow ANYONE in the church to take the sacrament for months on end. We used to do baptisms for the sick in the temples' baptismal fonts until we accidentally drowned one lady who was trying to be baptized to get better. Now we no longer perform them.

Along these lines, I agree with the comment above that it is simply tradition, or a policy. You don't find it in the scriptures/standard works because it is not a set/necessary "Doctrine" by God. He does give our leaders leeway to run this church as they best see fit. JRClark once said that he followed and did what he felt was best unless the Lord intervened or specifically told him no. Even Bruce R McConkie didn't actually ever pray to ask the Lord if he should marry his soon to be wife. He chose a girl, made his own decision and proposed without asking the Lord if she was right (though that was probably a little extreme...and he says for such an important issue he'd generally recommend praying about it, but he was making a point that the Lord doesn't tell them EVERYTHING they should do for the church). The Lord left it up to the leaders to decide how to handle "the door issue" like the Lord told the bro of Jared to figure out on his own how to handle "the light issue". Since it didn't matter a whole lot, they probably just allowed the committee to decide how to handle and the policy just stuck. There is nothing stopping a woman from doing it anymore than there was a reason for only allowing men to pray in sacrament for those 11 yrs. It was just simply a "policy" of how to run the church.

As for the comment about how Deacons used to always be old men"¦yes, but again, that was a temporary policy. The Lord had never specified it for the brethren, so they apparently assumed they should give it to the old men. I believe it was Brigham Young who decided on the age thing for offices in the Priesthood. Priesthood offices were pretty"¦well, not stable at first. Elder was even an office in the Aaronic Priesthood for like 2 or 3 months until we got the Melchizedek Priesthood. Elders in the Aaronic Priesthood were even reordained as Elders in the Melchizedek Priesthood once it was finally received by Joseph.

In summary"¦I agree with the post above"¦I think it's just tradition and policy. We could easily change it if we wanted to. But Policy is as good as doctrine (we"re held accountable for our adherence of it as if it WERE doctrine from the Lord, since they speak for Him as D&C 1 makes quite clear) until the First Presidency changes it.

Door The Stand

Tidejwe, those are some good points. I do wonder why some of these policies are not properly documented though, because if we can read about them then a lot of misunderstandings would be settled. Consider as an example my first question... you know how I found the answer... by playing 'Jots & Tittles' with my wife and getting a card that talked about it. Now you may say it is not important, but consider the situation where a Young Man who is only a Deacon (12) asks why he cannot prepare the sacrament since the D&C does not specify an age? Well, now I know why, other than that I would be wondering myself.

It reminds me of the General Handbook of Instructions, there are many policies in there, but often bulletins are received that change some of those policies, I think there should be a way to access these bulletins as they are of themselves part of the policy and as you mentioned, become part of our stewardship.

Stand By The Door

Tidejwe, I agree with all your points. Personally, I think we should make more emphasis on those "policies" that really matter, sometimes we get caught in the little things and we miss the bigger ones. I just wonder what would happen if I get up just before Sacrament and stand by the door. I bet a Priesthood holder would ask me to sit down! but then it is only tradition, I could do the work in the same way, even more if I see (as I did many times) that no Priesthood holders really interested in standing by the door.