The first biographer of St. Francis of Assisi praised his preaching: "Not with enticing words of wisdom, but in virtue of the Holy Spirit he proclaimed the kingdom of God with great confidence; he never used flattering words, and he despised all blandishments; what he preached to others in words, he had first experienced by deeds, so that he might speak the truth faithfully."
We know that words, powerful as they may be, are never sufficient. Deeds, actions win the day - and the Church has always relied upon special Words in Action, which we call "Sacraments." In Latin, a sacramentum was an oath of allegiance taken by a soldier, a vow to keep a promise. The earlier Greek word translated "sacrament," mysterion, was a secret revealed from the very heart of God. In the Sacraments, God opens up God's deepest self to us, and invites us to swear our loving devotion in return. St. Augustine defined a Sacrament as a "visible word," as "the visible form of an invisible grace."
As Christians reflected upon Scripture over many centuries, they began to focus on these visible words, tangible signs that conveyed God's grace - and in practice, there were seven Sacraments: Baptism, the Lord's supper, Confirmation, Penance, extreme unction, ordination, and marriage. But during the Reformation, Martin Luther shortened the list to two (Baptism and the Lord's supper), insisting that Jesus instituted just these two, not the others. Penance still happens (even if informally) for Protestants, although often it's in private prayer or in counseling with the pastor. We confirm young people after a battery of classes to establish their ongoing, full membership in the Church. Extreme unction is not formalized but we do pray special prayers by the deathbed. And we ordain and marry... and while these acts are pivotal and worshipful (we might even say sacramental), they are not strictly Sacraments, explicit means of grace demanded of us by Jesus himself.
The Sacraments are shimmering moments of power when God acts, when community is formed, when we are all reshaped and we discover our true place in God's family, shattering our isolation, uniting us with Christians who have engaged in these same "visible words" for 2000 years all over the world. The pastor may be highly skilled or plodding, but the Sacrament "works" because it was designed by God and advocated in Scripture, and is received in faith by those who worship. In eWorship 17 and 18, we will focus on Baptism and the Lord's supper.
James
james@mpumc.org
Coming up:
eWorship17 - Baptism
eWorship18 - The Lord's Supper
eWorship19 - Praying for Others
eWorship20 - Repentance and Forgiveness
The complete eWorship series may be found on our web site.
