Tech Forum

I can't find anything in Handbook 1 or 2 concerning the disposal of Sacrament bread. I suspect there is no standard policy, so we are free to toss it in the trash or give it to the birds. We do not have any policies concerning consecrated host, as other churches do.

Did you ever receive an author active reply. I was considering this matter today.

I'm wondering this same thing. It seems disrespectful to me when I see young men taking leftover sacrament bread and eating it by the handfuls after sacrament meeting like it's just a snack. After the bread and water are blessed, they are sacred and represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Just because the sacrament meeting is over, that doesn't null and void the blessed bread and water, does it?

If there were a Church-wide policy, it would almost certainly be in the handbook. Absent that, instruction is likely to vary by ward/stake/... Just one recollection: during my AP days or perhaps more recently, one bishop instructed that once the ordinance is over any sacredness of the edible physical objects is gone. If a youth feels it would be disrespectful for him to consume leftover bread by the handful, he can abstain.

GHB 18.9.4 is pretty thorough in the steps to administer the sacrament. The last bullet simply states that after sacrament meeting, the unused bread should be removed. I agree that if there was a desired Church-wide policy, it would be included here to ensure the policy was followed.

I expect that even when a Bishop's local policy may allow for the eating of the bread after sacrament meeting, he can also instruct the Aaronic Priesthood holders to give proper respect to the other church members around them, who may feel quite strongly about the sacrament emblems if they were eaten in public after the meeting. I know when I was a teenager I wasn't as aware as I should have been, and discretion wasn't my strongest suit...

I had this same question, because ive always believed we are supposed to dispose of extra bread. And have looked everywhere I could to find an answer and I just found it. In the family guidebook - priesthood ordinances and blessings - sacrament it says "The sacrament should be cleared from the table as soon as possible after the meeting. Any bread that remains may be used for food."

In the family guidebook...

I note that while the Family Guidebook is indeed referenced as an official resource in a few places (for example, in the Additional Resources section of the "My Calling as an Elders Quorum President" webpage), I think that not everything in this guidebook is necessarily current. For example, in the "family guidebook - priesthood ordinances and blessings - baptism" section, it states the witnesses must be two priests or men holding the Melchizedek Priesthood, which as we all know is not current policy.

I'm not saying the quote you referenced about the sacrament is incorrect, just my perspective that what's listed in this particular guidebook may not be as official as other materials the Church has available.

I think the operative word from the Family Guidebook is "may". It simply extends an option. I don't see it as closing off any other options.

BrianEdwards wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 10:31 pm

In the family guidebook...

I'm not saying the quote you referenced about the sacrament is incorrect, just my perspective that what's listed in this particular guidebook may not be as official as other materials the Church has available.

The guidebook says what was in the General Handbook of Instructions at the time it was originally published many years ago, but is no longer in the newer handbooks.

I know the books not as official, and for sure is a bit outdated, but has really the only information I've been able to find on it. So I feel like until the church makes another book with more info on this, this is really the information we have to go off of.