Taking the sacrament

[beefche]

I think we should take the bread and water with our right hands and not with our left. If you consider the hand with which we make covenants, this makes sense.

What think ya'll?

[pam]

I'm in total agreement with you.

[lost87]

I kinda think that we should take the sacrament fully focused on what it means to us spiritually and the commitments we are making...I think there is a danger in getting down to the nitty gritty details of what hand we take it with...is that really imperative to our spiritual progression?

Of course I'm not one to talk because I really don't udnerstand the sacrament at the moment anyhow, so if anyone wants to throw in more info about the sacrament that would be great!

[bytor2112]

Might be hard if you don't have a right hand.........

[Wingnut]

I don't think it really matters. Some of the covenants we make in the temple involve our left hands. I usually take the Sacrament with my right hand because I'm right-handed and it feels more natural.

[MarginOfError]

I think we should take the bread and water with our right hands and not with our left. If you consider the hand with which we make covenants, this makes sense.

What think ya'll?

I think we should take the sacrament with our left hand because the left hand is closer to our heart, and we should keep our covenants close to our hearts.

[sixpacktr]

Tradition is exactly as Beefche states: there is something symbolic about the right hand, which is we we do a lot of ordinances and covenants with the right hand. This could quickly denigrate into the 'appropriate Sunday dress' thread, so I'll leave it at that.

I think that, in the age we live in, we have forgotten symbolism. We tend to live in a 'real' world, where the thinking is more along an actual experience (can I see, smell, hear, taste, touch it? If not, it isn't real) rather than the symbols behind things. And yet our world is full of symbols. These black letters are simply symbols of the sounds we make, a red light means stop, green go, right arrow means right turn, etc. (you see my meaning).

IMO (warning, my OPINION) there are reasons for the symbols and symbolic things that our HF has us do. Names have power and special meanings, the right hand in ordinances has a special meaning, etc. So while there is no out and out stipulation in the CHoI stating it, we may want to consider what the tradition is rooted in, was there some reason that we have since either lost or we somehow consider those things 'silly' now because we don't understand what the original meaning was??

I don't know. I was taught use the right hand, and it has stuck. We taught our daughters the same thing, but if they for some reason used their left we didn't banish them to the basement to consider their sin....

[pam]

I think we should take the sacrament with our left hand because the left hand is closer to our heart, and we should keep our covenants close to our hearts.

What if my right arm is longer than my left?

[Vort]

I agree, and I always take the sacrament with my right hand if I can. But I see this as bottom-of-the-barrel priority, along the lines of "wear a white shirt and tie to Church" but even much further down the ladder of importance. For example, I require white shirts and ties for my sons and dresses for my daughters. In contrast, I believe I have suggested to them the symbolic significance of taking the sacrament and passing the tray with the right hand, but I don't recall ever having "corrected" them for using their left hand.

If our leaders were to mention it as a point of priority, I would take more notice. As it is, it's something I do personally but don't think about beyond that.

EDIT: The one exception to my rule of non-interference in such minor matters is in the Priesthood administration of the sacrament. I have told Aaronic Priesthood holders under my instruction that they should handle the sacrament tray with their right hand, when possible. I don't harp on it or make it a big deal, but I have taken the time to point that out to them.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Vort

[Wingnut]

I was taught use the right hand, and it has stuck.

I was taught that, too, but the reasoning was "Because" -- nothing more than that.

What if my right arm is longer than my left?

Wouldn't that then make your right hand even farther away from your heart than your left hand?

[Danite]

I believe this idea goes back to the Old Testment were right hand was used to bless and the left to curse

[pam]

I was taught that, too, but the reasoning was "Because" -- nothing more than that.

Wouldn't that then make your right hand even farther away from your heart than your left hand?

Okay okay I meant the other way around. Kind of like the amputee thing right? Don't mess with me MOE.

[MarginOfError]

What if my right arm is longer than my left?

In fact, your right arm is longer than your left. But only by a little. It’s longer because the heart is more towards the left side of your chest. Regardless, your right hand wouldn’t be closer to your heart unless your right arm was significantly shorter than your left.

[Wingnut]

Okay okay I meant the other way around. Kind of like the amputee thing right? Don't mess with me MOE.

I'm not MOE.

[MobyMule]

I think we should take the bread and water with our right hands and not with our left. If you consider the hand with which we make covenants, this makes sense.

What think ya'll?

If that is the most important thing that someone is worried about then they must be living some kind of good. Most do it that way but honestly I don't think it will be a make or break issue.

[pam]

I'm not MOE.

haha sorry wingers. Here I am talking to MOE on msn about my horrible sleeping and work schedule. And he mentioned harrassing me on this thread. It appears it is showing. My lack of sleep that is.

[MarginOfError]

I think that people are making a good point when they say that we need to focus on the symbolism of our ordinances. It can also be instructive to know of the origins of that symbolism.

In Arab cultures, it is customary to greet a person with your right hand. They also eat and drink using the right hand, and never touch food with the left hand. In these cultures, the left hand is considered to be unclean. It has been this way for thousands of years.

This significance of clean and unclean has also had cultural implications. Things that were to be favored were associated with the right hand. Accordingly, things that were found to be in disfavor were associated with the left hand. Hence the Savior’s reference (don’t ask me where, I’m not bothering to look it up right now) to those on his right hand being saved and those on his left being damned. Many other such culturalisms have similar origins.

The reason that the right hand became the ‘favored hand’ has mostly to do with water. In ancient times in the Middle East, the landscape might have been more fertile than it is now, but access to water was still an issue. Furthermore, without the miracle of plumbing, retrieving water meant work. For this reason, it made sense to try to conserve water as much as possible. In order to cut down on water usage, the Arab nations developed a custom by which they could go about their day, use less water, and still be sanitary when eating. The custom was that the right hand was used to handle food and drink, and the left hand was used to clean one’s self following the execution of the various bodily functions. In this manner, they were able to prevent contamination of their food and drink while reducing the amount of water (and work) necessary to wash up.

Although the custom may have survived, it’s relevance and importance is shrinking. As plumbing has spread throughout the world, access to water has required less effort and there are advantages to be gained from washing both hands regularly outweigh the savings in water. The custom may survive, but it is purely cultural now, and no longer a practical rule.

So, at the end of the day, what we need to remember is that we should take the Sacrament with our right hand because we wipe our butts with our left.

Edited August 18, 2009 by MarginOfError

[Guest missingsomething]

I think we should take the bread and water with our right hands and not with our left. If you consider the hand with which we make covenants, this makes sense.

What think ya'll?

What if someone is left handed?

[beefche]

MOE, is that why we make covenants with our right hand? Because old tradition says our left hand is unclean?

Wingy, without going into too much detail, I do believe we make covenants in the temple with our right hand. The left hand is used for other things.

[Vort]

Personally, and without wishing to go into graphic detail, I don't believe that the ancients were in the habit of wiping their nether regions with the fingers of either hand. They may indeed have performed some sanitary functions left-handed, but the idea of the left hand being the "poop hand" strikes me as somewhat absurd. I suspect it's a modern misinterpretation of ancient practices.

[Misshalfway]

I thought it had to do with being on the right hand of God.

Does anyone know of a definitive source? I don't have a problem at all with the ritual of the right hand. I teach my kids to do it that way. If anything it seems to reinforce the idea that the ordinance is sacred andd that we should respect it.

[Wingnut]

So, at the end of the day, what we need to remember is that we should take the Sacrament with our right hand because we wipe our butts with our left.

Lovely.

Does anyone know of a definitive source? I don't have a problem at all with the ritual of the right hand. I teach my kids to do it that way. If anything it seems to reinforce the idea that the ordinance is sacred andd that we should respect it.

From Russell M. Nelson:

The hand used in partaking of the sacrament would logically be the same hand used in making any other sacred oath. For most of us, that would be the right hand. However, sacramental covenants—and other eternal covenants as well—can be and are made by those who have lost the use of the right hand, or who have no hands at all. Much more important than concern over which hand is used in partaking of the sacrament is that the sacrament be partaken with a deep realization of the atoning sacrifice that the sacrament represents.

(emphasis added by me)

Source: LDS.org - Ensign Article - I Have a Question

[Misshalfway]

Thank you Wing. (on both counts) I have decided that you are the resident encyclopedia. :)

[Wingnut]

I have decided that you are the resident encyclopedia. :)

Haha...I'm so not. But thanks.

Go read the article -- there's a lot more than what I quoted. That paragraph is just the most direct.

(There are a few questions addressed in that article, so to get to this part, you'll need to scroll down a little.)

[MarginOfError]

Personally, and without wishing to go into graphic detail, I don't believe that the ancients were in the habit of wiping their nether regions with the fingers of either hand. They may indeed have performed some sanitary functions left-handed, but the idea of the left hand being the "poop hand" strikes me as somewhat absurd. I suspect it's a modern misinterpretation of ancient practices.

If this were just a modern misconception, it would like be very easy to disprove with a cursory search on the internet. However, I can’t seem to put together any combination of search terms that brings up anything that contradicts that the left hand was used in Arab cultures in the way I’ve described. The complete lack of anything to contradict this interpretation makes it very likely that it is in fact correct.

However, I did also come across a couple of other points (I didn’t bother to keep the references, sorry—I know, I’m a worthless bum). One that I’ve heard before is that in latin, the word for left was related to the word for sinister, or evil. I suspect that this association was chosen, however, based on previous custom and not on anything profound. The language probably reflects the existent attitudes of the time. It would seem folly to assign the left hand as the evil hand by causation of latin doing so. What’s more, this association is probably an artifact of earlier custom spreading from the Middle East.

The other thing I ran across is that the Hebrew word for right is related to the word for strong. So to say your right hand would be to say your strong hand. Under this paradigm, we should take the Sacrament with our right hand because the majority of Hebrews were right handed.

I wonder at times if we get too caught up in the symbolism of which hand to use and forget the principles of “clean hands and a pure heart,” or “a broken heart and a contrite spirit.”