Page 1 of 3

Sitting with family after sacrament

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 7:22 am
by vaugdavi
I have been sitting on the clerks stand for the entire meeting since I was called. My father who has been a ward clerk told me that he returns to sit with his family after the sacrament is passed and he has taken the count of members attending sacrament meeting. He said this was in a directive from the church he thought. Does anyone else do this? I would rather do this as I have six boys and my wife could use the help.

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 7:32 am
by RossEvans
In none of the wards I have belonged to the past dozen years has the clerk sat on the stand at all. I notice that the clerk does sit there in my father's ward, but I don't recall whether it is for the whole meeting. I have just assumed it was all a matter of local custom.

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:13 am
by opee
I never sat on the stand as a clerk. To my knowledge there is no church policy or directive in the Handbook that says a clerk has to sit on the stand. What is important is that as a Clerk you take the attendance numbers and data that is needed for your calling. Whether that is done sitting on the stand, sitting at a bench or standing up and walking around, I think that is up to you. My $0.02.

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:29 am
by KAnderson
We received a bulletin making this change a number of years back, I know that those bulletins are supposed to be available online but I can't find them.

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:32 am
by lajackson
vaugdavi wrote:I have been sitting on the clerks stand for the entire meeting since I was called.
New meetinghouses being built do not have a clerk's table on the stand.

Our clerk sits with his family and does the count either at the beginning of the first talk or during the closing hymn.

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:51 am
by aebrown
KevinAnderson wrote:We received a bulletin making this change a number of years back, I know that those bulletins are supposed to be available online but I can't find them.
The stake/district president (and no one else) has access to the Official Communications Library (OCL).

However, note that many official communications sent prior to 2006 were superseded by the 2006 edition of the Church Handbook of Instructions (CHI). Because of that, many old notices were deleted from the OCL, and priesthood leaders were instructed to destroy the old notices. (Also note that the term "bulletin" has not been used in this context for many years :).)

So on this topic, look to the CHI. If the issue is not explicitly addressed (and I don't think it is), then local priesthood leaders determine the practice.

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:51 am
by marianomarini
opee wrote:I never sat on the stand as a clerk. To my knowledge there is no church policy or directive in the Handbook that says a clerk has to sit on the stand. What is important is that as a Clerk you take the attendance numbers and data that is needed for your calling. Whether that is done sitting on the stand, sitting at a bench or standing up and walking around, I think that is up to you. My $0.02.
This is what we have done here in Vicenza, Italy from the beginning (1975).

Wow, old tradition

Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:32 pm
by johnshaw
Utah, Toronto Canada Area, Kansas City, at least 15 different stakes, and at least as many wards and I haven't seen clerks sitting on the stand in over 20 years, this seems a very outdated practice.

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:25 am
by jbh001
I doubt that this was a church-wide directive since there are so many different chapel configurations, even within Utah. This was more likely a directive from the stake or area presidency in an attempt to increase reverence in the meeting.

Personally, since our current meetinghouse has no designated "space" on the rostrum for the clerk to sit, I would sit in the choir seats for a good vantage point until after the sacrament was passed. When the priests left the sacrament table, I would go with them and complete the count as discretely as possible, and then return and sit with my family to help my wife manage our children.

Other ward clerks simply sit in the congregation until after the sacrament is completed, and then get up and do the count as unobtrusively as possible, and then return to their seats. It's not hard to guess what they are doing since they are carrying around a clipboard during the process.

Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:11 pm
by MorettiDP
In my home stake, the ward clerk sits on the stand in all wards since the beginning in 1960s, in all of our wards. We don't have tables for clerks in our meetinghouses after renovations and reconfigurations in the past years. I always sit after the bishop, as an assistant during the meetings to send messages that can be important, check the attendance, and help with other things (like ventilators, light or audio problems).