Earliest Church Service

[andypg]

I was wondering, how we're the early Sunday church services performed in the time of Joseph Smith and the beginning of the Restoration? How has the service (I'm tempted to call it "liturgy") changed over time to get to what we have today?

[Palerider]

I know that while in Nauvoo they held services in the place called "The Grove". This was only if the weather was permitting.

[Suzie]

I was wondering, how we're the early Sunday church services performed in the time of Joseph Smith and the beginning of the Restoration? How has the service (I'm tempted to call it "liturgy") changed over time to get to what we have today?

 

In the early days, the Saints met on the Sabbath following the tradition of most Protestant Churches at that time. They held two services, one before noon (the preaching service) and a second after lunch (sacrament meeting), usually outdoors if the weather allowed it or in member's homes or even schools. In Nauvoo, the gathering was often times too large to accomodate in a normal meetinghouse or home and they were forced to meet outdoors.

 

The first recorded sacrament meeting was just two months after the Restoration (June, 1830) then a few months later, the hymns were added. It wasn't uncommon to hear the sermons while they were passing the sacrament or hear Saints singing, or playing an instrument. All of these things stopped around the 1940's when the leaders counseled reverence and no distractions during the service.

 

Twenty years after the Restoration and up to early 1900's, we started seeing a few changes. Meetinghouses, sacrament meetings in every ward, stake conferences, etc. Also up to around that date, fasting was held on the first Thursday of the month and changed to the First Sunday. In the 1930's Priesthood meetings were also changed to Sunday mornings previously held during the week.