I
remember when I was a youth, our ward had made it the responsibility of the Aaronic
Priesthood to bring the bread. They
rotated among Deacons, Teachers and Priests - at least I think that's how it
was. I might not have even thought about
it, but I remember several times when my brother Patrick would announce that it
was his turn to bring the bread. I don't
know if this was really a ward thing or if it happened in every church at that
time or when it changed or if it changed.
I don't hold the priesthood myself.
I
don't know who was responsible for bringing the bread during my married years. I don't think it was the Aaronic priesthood
however as I don't recall being in the position of bringing bread - which we
would have done almost weekly as our boys made up 60% of the Aaronic Priesthood
- at least when we first moved in. I
think the bishopric was in charge when we lived in our last ward as it seemed
we were contributing at least one loaf a month.
The Aaronic Priesthood was sparse.
I remember when a youth was finally ordained to the position of
Deacon. It was quite a while before we
got our second one - and by then he had moved on to being a teacher or
Priest. It was mostly a geriatric ward in
which 70% of the members were over 65 years of age.
I
always like it when the bread tastes like it is homemade. The bread today
tasted sweet. Roland thought it tasted
like the Hawaiian rolls.
Interesting. That was pretty much
the taste.
When
we were living in our last ward, I would usually stock up on bread that I would
buy at the second hand bakery near Jenna's school. One time I remember picking up a large
unmarked loaf which I assumed was wheat.
It was a large sized loaf and I sent it to church with Roland as I
figured it would last a couple of Sundays.
It was used only that first week as it turned out that it wasn't wheat,
but rather a light rye. I would have
never guessed as every time I have seen Rye it has been darker than what I had
purchased and has always been a smaller loaf than the standard loaf of bread.
I
didn't notice the expressions that I'm certain the bishopric got to witness -
especially with the youth who made faces as they chewed on the bread. Roland was told that the church is suppose to
use either wheat or white - never rye bread.
So there was more than half a loaf let and it should have come home, but
those who stayed afterward (such as the some members of the bishopric and
clerks) ate the remainder of the bread.
I thought that was quite a lot of bread for just four people to each.
There
was a humorous story shared on LDS Living or another site (I apologize that I
am unable to locate the reference now) with a congregation located somewhere in
Africa (again, I apologize for the lack of detail) in which it was realized
that there was no sacrament bread. A
sister who lived near the ward building volunteered some bread that she had
recently baked. Her husband was sent home
to get a loaf but apparently didn't even think to look at the loaves and grabbed
the first one. Something worse than rye
in the above example is the surprise they received with jalapeño. I know that would be a lot more traumatic for
my mouth.
