In each ward communion is distributed weekly by young priesthood holders, using water instead of grape juice or wine along with the bread. Weekly frequency was a mark of the Protestant restoration movement that arose just before Mormonism and gave birth to today's Churches of Christ, "instrumental" Christian churches, and Christian Church–Disciples of Christ.

Mormons call communion "the sacrament," but theologically it is an ordinance of reminder and remembrance, not a rite to bestow spiritual grace as that term is used in mainstream Christian churches. The sacramental prayers enjoin Mormons to "eat in remembrance of the body" and to "do it in remembrance of the blood." The traditional Christian words of institution used by mainstream churches from Luke 22:19, "this is my body" and "this is my blood," are never spoken in the Mormon sacrament. The two prayers recited before distribution of the bread and the water are virtually the only fixed liturgy in Mormon ward worship. The wording was part of the Native Americans' Christianity, as reported in the Book of Mormon (Moroni 4:3 and 5:2). If even one mistake is made in the scriptural recitation, the LDS officiant must repeat the entire prayer.

The sacrament meeting in the Northridge ward of Sandy, Utah, is typical. It is the first Sunday of the month, so the Saints have skipped breakfast and lunch in order to give the equivalent expense as fast offerings for the needy. Three wards use this meetinghouse; a typical block is from 9:00 a.m. to noon or from noon to 3:00 p.m. The required schedule includes an hour each for sacrament meeting, Sunday school for all ages, and priesthood sessions for males with simultaneous auxiliary meeting for females. Families will eat their evening meal together.

Clothes are formal Sunday best; even the littlest boys wear shirts and ties. Since this is the first Sunday of the month, it is also testimony meeting. A red-haired twelve-year-old Scout talks haltingly of having been on a mini-trek, and cutting himself while whittling, and says he is "grateful to be in a neighborhood where so many people go to church." Next comes a five-year-old blonde in a blue dress who adjusts the mike with aplomb and announces: "My name is Amy. I'd like to say I know how to obey the Scriptures. I know this church is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." A stream of young teenagers follow, then the mother of a missionary currently serving in Germany. A pony-tailed seven-year-old gives thanks for her family, ending, like all the others, with the formula, "I know the church is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

A well-dressed and attractive mother of eight children comes next to testify with tears, "I want my children to know how grateful I am for them." She reaches into the tissue box judiciously located on the podium and dabs at her eyes before continuing. "I want them to know I have a testimony. I know Joseph Smith was the true prophet. I feel overly blessed."

Another woman in her fifties takes a tissue as she begins talking about family matters, including a recent death, thanking the ward for love and support. "We are not left alone. We are carried by our Father's love. I am grateful for trials that have helped me see the hand of the Father." Another parade of teenagers follows, varying considerably in polish, some indicating awkwardly that their priesthood leaders had done some pump-priming in getting them to speak. They talk about being thankful for believing friends, their families, the gospel, the prophet. They know the church is true.

The members carefully use the thee/thou second-person pronoun in their prayers, as required by denominational policy. Even on non-testimony Sundays, there is never a prepared sermon delivered by an educated professional, as would be the case in most other churches. Instead, there are brief amateur talks by ordinary local members that provide a mixture of personal testimony and inspirational advice.

The Sunday school lesson comes next, divided by age. The adult class this Sunday covers II Kings 2, taught by Patty Howells, the wife of Utah Jazz basketball manager Tim Howells. She rotates teaching duties with a male teacher. The lesson is interrupted by twenty youngsters coming in to sing lustily for the grown-ups, "Follow the Prophet." After Sunday school the sexes separate into priesthood and auxiliary meetings.

Although Northridge is home to the Mormon upper crust, the expanding church incorporates many kinds of neighborhoods. The mission branch in Bayonne, New Jersey, is in a working-class area with Spanish signs, storefront Pentecostal churches, and neat if aging frame houses. In one of these modest homes the Saints gather for their Sunday morning services, an abbreviated two-hour version of the Sunday bloc. A Spanish congregation of similar size will meet there in the afternoon.

About forty people squeeze into the tiny living room of this rental home occupied by the married missionaries Elder Kent and Sister Loujean Walker. The Walkers left their nine children and twenty-eight grandchildren in the Intermountain West to accept this mission call. Sister Walker has shed a few tears this week: she has missed her family tradition back home of giving the first bath to each new grandbaby. Her oldest daughter will be her stand-in for the newest arrival while she stays at her New Jersey mission post.

For the morning's English service, Paul Prestwich is at the Yamaha keyboard. Hymns include some familiar to Protestant Evangelicals, such as "I Stand All Amazed" and "How Great Thou Art," but others are unique to Mormons, including "Families Can Be Together Forever" and the children's song "I Am a Child of God," with its reference to preexistence in the line. "I'll live with him once more." Frankie Salcedo, a thirteen-year-old priesthood holder of Puerto Rican and Dominican background, helps distribute the sacrament. This morning's talks are given by a local member and by a visiting missionary who describes the activities at the nearby genealogical branch center.

Those in attendance include Sonia Molina, a single mother here with her teenage son. She moved from the Bronx to Bayonne a year ago, seeking a safe area for her son. Some time back she had been baptized Mormon in Puerto Rico, then drifted away, but here in Bayonne she was drawn back into the church by a pair of young missionaries. Four young elder missionaries assigned to the area are present.

Most of those attending today's service are wearing Sunday best, the four elder missionaries in their trademark suits and ties, but one man is in a leather jacket, and another is dressed in a windbreaker imprinted with the logo of a neighborhood deli, worn over a plaid flannel shirt. A young black man in a wheelchair is carried up the concrete stairs into the house and back to the street. Worshippers are invited to attend the baptism of a new convert in the baptistery at a Union City meetinghouse later in the day. After a Sunday school lesson on the Holy Spirit, a young Hispanic couple thank people for bringing them meals the preceding several days. It has been quite a week for them: they were baptized just the previous Sunday, and they are here today with their four-day-old newborn in their arms. In several weeks the newborn will be given the traditional infant blessing during a testimony meeting.




Copyright © 1999 by Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling

From Mormon America by Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999). Used by arrangement with HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.