At our church, when a boy turns 12 years of age, he is able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood, which is named after Moses's brother Aaron. The Old Testament tells how Aaron and his sons served in the temple and served in different aspects of God's church.
In the Aaronic priesthood there are 3 offices; deacon, teacher and priest. The 12 and 13 year old boys are deacons, the 14 and 15 year old boys are called teachers and the 16 and 17 year old boys are called priests. When a boy/young man grows up, at the age of 18 or older, he receives the Melchezidek priesthood (named after Melchezidek spoken of in the Old Testament who is the King of Salem -now known as JeruSALEM). In the Melchezidek priesthood, a man is either an Elder or a High Priest.
As a 12 and 13 year old boy called a deacon, he has responsibilities of passing the sacrament (the bread and water-tokens of Christ body and blood) to the congregation on Sundays, collecting fast offerings (money donated to the poor by giving up food 1x a month) and being a home teacher (visiting other families in the congregation to check on them) and being a messenger for our Bishop (the leader of our congregation) when needed.
Prior to boys receiving the Priesthood for the first time, they have a special meeting to go over with them the importance of receiving the priesthood. The priesthood by definition is the "power to act in God's name". It is something we do not want the boys to take lightly and we want them to realize that receiving this priesthood is a lifetime acceptance to assist God in whatever and whereever he calls.
Dallin and Dallin W were the two boys present at the priesthood preview. Pete C., Jason K, and the Bishop and Primary leaders were in attendance along with the parents. It was a wonderful event to focus on the importance of this sacred calling is for these boys and to let them know how proud we are of them.
The day of the priesthood preview, I took a picture of the kids outside on the front porch prior to their leaving for church. It was a spiritually uplifting day!
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