Sacrament (LDS Church) - Changes in Sacrament Administration

Changes in Sacrament Administration

• Weekly administration of the sacrament did not begin until sometime in the 1850s. There is no known revelation commanding the weekly practice to have been adopted, but rather the custom developed and spread throughout the church over time.
• Until the late 1890s or early 20th century, the entire congregation generally knelt during the sacramental prayers. Modern practice is that only the individual giving the prayer kneels while congregants remain seated.
• Deacons and teachers didn't originally take part in the preparing or passing of the sacrament, which seems to have been first encouraged in 1898 and was widely implemented between the 1920s or 1930s. Previous reluctance to involve them was probably due to the following verse from the LDS Doctrine and Covenants:

But neither teachers nor deacons have authority to baptize, administer the sacrament, or lay on hands. (Doctrine and Covenants 20:58, LDS edition) The term administer has since been interpreted as reading the sacrament prayer, which deacons and teachers still do not have the authority to do.

• Individual water cups, instead of drinking from a common cup, were introduced in 1911.
• Passing the sacrament first to the presiding church authority was emphasized in 1946.