In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,[1] most often simply referred to as the sacrament, is the ordinance in which participants eat bread and drink water in remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
The leftover bread and water are discarded.Latter-day Saints believe the bread and water to be symbols, not the actual body and blood of Christ, and that it is meant for those who have been baptized to "renew their baptismal covenants," although any person of any or no faith is permitted to partake, and it is common for children under the minimum baptismal age to partake as well.
[8] Deacons and teachers did not originally take part in the preparing or passing of the sacrament, a practice which was first adopted in 1898[9] and was widely implemented in the 1920s or 1930s.
[16] According to the sacramental prayers, a person eats and drinks in remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus, promises to always remember him, take his name upon them, and keep his commandments.
The sacrament is considered the most sacred and important element of normal Sabbath day observance and as such is approached by Latter-day Saints with reverence and in a spirit of penitence.