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Sacraments
Sacramental Life or Life in the Spirit of Christ
The word sacrament comes into English from a Latin
word that means oath.
In the English Church (Anglican) Tradition, there are 7 sacraments:
Baptism, Confirmation, Confession and Absolution, Holy Communion,
Marriage, Anointing, and Holy Orders. If we take the base meaning of the
word, we are saying there are 7 Church oaths, or signs in the Church.
While Holy Communion (the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper), Baptism,
Confession of Sin, Marriages, Burials, Anointing and Ordination were
observed from the earliest days of the Church, centuries elapsed before a
sacramental theology developed and the seven signs were given regular
forms and differentiated from other rites. The number of sacraments were
disputed for over 1000 years.
The Council of Lyons, 1274 AD affirmed seven sacraments. Since this was
200 years before the Protestant Reformation, this definition was passed on
to the whole Church and has been accepted by some, though not all
Protestants as well as the Anglican, Roman Catholic and the Orthodox
Communions.
Follow the links for a discussion of each of the
seven sacraments:
Where did this idea come from, that baptism, a sacramental sign, is
somehow a covenant between God and his creature, man? Where do
we get the idea that God works today in this world?
Among the last words of Jesus after his resurrection and before his
ascension to God the Father were these: “Go, make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
The oath, the promise of Jesus Christ is “I am with you always.” He
had promised, “When two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the
midst.” Those words of promise led to the concept of sacrament.
Jesus had said, “I am going away, but I will send the Comforter, the
Spirit.” That is his oath.
If we are to ask the question who is at work in the sacraments, we
come up with two answers. Obviously a human being is at work, but is
that the end of it? Behind the word sacrament is the promise that God
is at work. The Church holds out sacraments as a sign that God is
working in this world. In a certain sense, the existence of the Church
in this world is a sacrament, as sign that God is working as St Paul
said, “Christ in you the hope of glory.” Through the work of the Church
in holding forth the Gospel of Christ and her holy signs that God is at
work, people in this world are being reconciled to God.
The many quotes from Paul, John, Peter, James and Jesus should
make it clear that the life of the spirit, the sacramental life, begins with
baptism that is a re-enactment of Jesus Christ’s death burial and
resurrection. It means that a person is being born anew, of water and
spirit. It means that the old life is dead and a new person has been
created in the image of God. The sacrament, the oath or covenant part
of this is that Jesus Christ said it is so and he promised to be with us
always.
The various metaphysical explanations invented by theologians in other
ages may be a distraction to us. Perhaps we shouldn’t worry so much
about the how that we cannot see, but should accept as true and
commit our lives to the reality of what God, working with and through
the Church does. The oath is that God will give grace to accomplish his
purpose in our lives if we are “in Christ.”
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