www.WhyMormons.net: The Common Sacrament Cup

How They Used To Do It

LDS Sacrament Service
Equipment Advertisements
You're Not Likely
To See Ever Again

If you are or ever have been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you will know that the central purpose of meeting each Sunday is to participate in and partake of the ordinance of the sacrament.

And to try your hardest to make it through all three excruciating hours of 'church.'

But, we all forget what might possibly be the greatest blessing to ever befall a Mormon congregation.

The Blessing: Individual Sacrament Cups.

That's right. For almost 100 years, LDS congregations have enjoyed a mostly sanitary way of sipping that delicious sacrament water, in 'remembrance of the blood of' Jesus Christ himself, from their own individual sipping cup. (Cont'd)

This has not always been the case, unfortunately.

Before 1912, Mormon congregations did what every other Christian church did. They passed around a common sacrament cup, or goblet. A rather large cup.

As this large cup was passed down the pew, each person would take their humble sip from the cup - usually turning it to avoid the large slather of saliva from the previous sipper.

At times, those who were particularly thirsty would take a couple of gulps from the cup, doing what they could to avoid detection from fellow drinking neighbors and leaders on the stand. These thirsty and generous drinkers were often met with looks of condemnation.

Children weren't allowed to partake of the sacrament. But the Mormon God wasn't without a sense of humor. As if colds and other diseases weren't already spreading enough throughout the adults, the First Presidency issued an invitation on July 11, 1877, to have all of the children drink from the cup, too. (James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols., Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–75, 2:289.)

Encourage the behavior while they're still young and they're more likely to repeat it when they're older, right?

Now, more than ever, folks were hoping to avoid the cup AFTER it had seen the snotty faces of certain young children. I'm sure many prayers were uttered in silence to have the cup come from a different side of the pew so as to drink BEFORE the young snotling had his opportunity to spread his germs into the cup.

Then, in March of 1912, the First Presidency sent out an invitation to all Mormon congregations asking that they discontinue the use of a common sacrament cup.

Within no time, a new market for state of the art individual sacrament service equipment was being advertised. I came across these advertisements some time ago and felt a desire to share them with you.

This 1914 Sacrament Service advertisement boasts of an easy and quick service allowing you to fill 144 cups at once. It's endorsed by the First Presidency, so it should be a no-brainer, right?

This second 1914 advertisement by the same folks above plants the marketing doubt: Is Your Ward Up-To-Date? We'd hate to be caught using any equipment that's not up-to-date.

This 1929 Sacrament Service advertisement boasts of a 'New Line of Sacrament Trays,' and don't they look elegant? Guaranteed never to tarnish or lose its luster. The glasses are made of lead making them less likely to break. Hm... if these were marketed today they'd have to be recalled because of the lead.

This 1930 advertisement boasts of an 'improved sanitary sacrament set.' Just click the image to enlarge. Oh, and we get a free trial offer - 30 days satisfaction or we get our money back. Sanitizing products sold separately. According to the advertisement, by this time in 1930 there were more 'Daynes' sacrament sets in use than all others combined.