7. What is the meaning and significance of the sacraments?
The sacraments are an “outward sign of inward grace.”[1] It is through these means of grace that we express the grace of God that is already at work in and around us. Through the use of physical elements and the liturgy we share, we re-present the story of God’s unfailing love for us and the whole world. When I have the opportunity to officiate over a baptism or when I share Holy Communion with the body of Christ, I can feel how connected we are with God through the pouring of the water or the sharing of the bread and cup. The sacraments are not ways that we earn our salvation, because salvation is a gift we receive from God that cannot be earned by our works. However, the sacraments are gifts given to us so that we may live in and grow in divine grace.[2] When we participate in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, we are following the commands that Jesus gave in the Gospels.[3] By participating in the sacraments, we connect ourselves to the universal church throughout all of history.
“Baptism is the sacrament of initiation and incorporation into the body of Christ.”[4] Through the sacrament of baptism, persons are brought into the covenant life with Jesus Christ. The physical washing with water is a physical sign of our sins being washed away through Christ. Baptism is a sign of God working in and through us. Even though we present ourselves or our loved ones for baptism, the action of baptism is God bestowing God’s grace in our lives. Presenting ourselves also incorporates our children as families bring infants and children for baptism. It is a sign that we place ourselves into the covenant of baptism. By baptizing children and infants we signify that God’s covenant is for all and as the infants and children grow, we are instructed to teach them about this covenant so they will be able to make their faithful response to what God is already doing in their lives.
Through baptism, we participate in a loving covenant with our Creator. This covenant connects God, the community of faith and the person being baptized.[5] Each part of this covenant is vital to the sacrament. God extends God’s love and grace to all creation. God’s love initiates all action in the covenant, as we say in the confession of sins, even though God’s love is faithful, we fall short. The community of faith plays an important role because we help support one another in our journey of faith. It is through the community of faith that we hold each other accountable and provide love and support in our journey of faith. Finally the covenant is completed by the person being baptized. By submitting to the act of baptism, we say yes to the grace of God already active in our lives. It is a covenant made with God stating that we will continue in our growth and love of God and love of neighbor.
Because God’s grace permeates through the sacrament of baptism, we do not practice rebaptism. When I visited the Holy Land this past year, we visited the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan River. While we were traveling on the bus to that site, I had a conversation with a person on the trip about the possibility of being rebaptized where Jesus was baptized. While he was thinking about being rebaptized, he asked me what I thought about the opportunity. I told him that while it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the Jordan River, our baptism is a once-in-a-lifetime expression of God’s love for us. I encouraged him to join us in a rededication of our baptismal vows, affirming what God has already done in our lives. We reaffirm our baptismal covenant to remember the grace that God has given to us so we’re reminded that God will never break God’s covenant with us.
Through the sacrament of Holy Communion, several activities are taking place. Holy Communion is an act of thanksgiving, fellowship, remembrance, sacrifice, action of the Holy Spirit and eschatology.[6] When we take from the bread and cup, we give thanks for all that God has done. We are especially thankful for the giving of grace and God’s son Jesus Christ so that our relationship with God may be restored. It is an act of fellowship because the sacrament has been shared through the centuries all over the world connecting the body of Christ through Paul’s words in 1st Corinthians: “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ..”[7] When we share in the breaking of the bread and drinking of the cup, we understand that we share in communion with all of those who desire a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.[8]
Holy Communion is an act of remembrance, but it is much more than just recalling what Christ did. It is anamnesis which connects us to Christ’s sacrifice, but it shows that Christ is risen, alive here and now. When we remember Christ’s sacrifice, we then participate in the ongoing redemption, reconciliation and justice for all of God’s creation. We recognize that by partaking in Communion, we not only remember Christ’s sacrifice, but in the words of the ritual, “We offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us…”[9]
The work done through communion is made possible by the work of the Holy Spirit. Within the communion ritual, we pray for God to, “Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.”[10] We ask for the Holy Spirit to use the bread and cup to strengthen us, so that we may then go out to the world as the body of Christ.
Through Holy Communion, we remember that God will see us through to the end of history. We say in the ritual that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”[11] While we partake of Communion as broken people, we proclaim that we will share in this meal with Christ at the end of history. Through Christ, all things are made new and Christ has victory over sin and death.
Finally, because of what Christ offers in Holy Communion, we celebrate an open table because the table belongs to Christ. The table is open so that all persons may respond to the grace and love that is poured out for us by Jesus Christ our Lord.
[1] John Wesley Means of Grace Sermon
[2] This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, Nashville, TN: The General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church 2004 p. 7
[3] Luke 22:19b “Do this in remembrance of me.” Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[4] BOD ¶216.1
[5] By Water &The Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism, Nashville, TN: Discipleship Resources 1996 p. 8
[6] This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, Nashville, TN: The General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church 2004 p. 8
[7] 1 Corinthians 10:17 NRSV
[8] UMH pg. 11
[9] UMH; page 10
[10] UMH; page 10
[11] UMH; page 10
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