Did congregations used to kneel during sacrament prayers?
Answer
For many years Church members knelt during the sacrament prayers, but the practice was discouraged in the late 1800s for a variety of reasons, some of which President Joseph F. Smith addressed at the Weber Stake Conference in Ogden on 19 July 1893:
I would like to call the attention of the congregation, especially of the Bishops, to the mode of administering the sacrament. The book of Doctrine and Covenants [20:76] teaches us that the Elder or Priest who administers the sacrament 'shall kneel with the Church.' Of course, it is quite difficult, and probably inappropriate, for a whole congregation to kneel while the blessing is being asked upon the bread and upon the water. The confusion and noise incident to kneeling and rising again would be inappropriate. Besides, the construction of our meeting houses, and the size of the congregations generally, would make that practice rather impracticable. But there is nothing, that I know of, that would make it inappropriate for the Elder who asks the blessing to kneel, as the word of the Lord requires.
James Allen, who was the Assistant Church Historian at the time this was printed, made the following statement:
The practice of having the whole congregation kneel during the sacrament prayer was not uncommon during the nineteenth century, though it was not required, either. In 1902, President Joseph F. Smith approved an Improvement Era editorial that observed that it had been the custom “when the congregations were not so large as they are now” for the whole congregation to kneel, and that it was still not improper. This was in response to a question about whether more than one of the brethren administering the sacrament should kneel during the prayer. “This matter, however,” the editorial concluded, “may be regulated by the presiding authority, according to local surroundings, circumstances and conditions.” (Improvement Era, 1902, 5:473–74.)
- Allen, James B. "I Have a Question," Ensign, March 1978, p. 23. Church website.
- "Questions and Answers." Improvement Era. April 1902. Pages 473-74. Internet Archive.
- Smith, Joseph F. "Remarks." Deseret News. August 19, 1893. Page 281. Utah Digital Newspapers.