Wet and Fed

As I was reading chapter one of Sacraments and Worship, edited by Maxwell E. Johnson, and slowly being exposed to the evolution of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church I felt as though I was missing a cipher machine, something that would help me translate what to me were somewhat foreign ideas and concepts into something I could understand.  As I continued to read through the medieval theologians I didn’t find myself comfortable until I hit the Protestant Reformation.  Surprise!  Yes, that was laced with a bit hint of sarcasm. 

As a protestant, I found some familiarity in Peter Lombard’s quoting of Augustine that “a sacrament is a sign of a sacred thing” (Johnson 5).  I have always believed that God manifests Himself spiritually in physical visible ways.  As a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), we only recognize two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper in operating in this manner.  That’s where I got the catchy title, wet a fed.  Yes, a hint of sarcasm again. 

As a DOC member and pastor I have always acknowledge the scriptural basis for baptism and the Lord’s Supper as being sacraments.  The Disciples confess, “through baptism into Christ we enter into newness of life and are made one with the whole people of God…At the table of the Lord we celebrate with thanksgiving the saving acts and presence of Christ” (qtd. in Sprinkle 139).

The Disciples Church, in adherence with our strong belief in ecumenicalism, also accepts the baptism of any believer, whether they are Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian, etc.  We also practice open table fellowship, in which we believe that the sacrament of Holy Communion, whether received by believers, new-comers to the faith, or non-believers works by way of the Holy Spirit in planting the seed of Christ in their souls.  So, in a sense, I do believe that opus operatum is valid in these two sacraments, that the sacraments produce grace in themselves.

Disciples are scriptural by nature.  When asked what we believe when it comes to how we interpret the two sacraments of our church we often respond, “Well, that depends.”  Some members feel a strong relation to Zwingli that the “sacraments are…signs or ceremonials,” (Johnson 16) and others relate more to Calvin who stated that “if the Spirit be lacking, the sacraments can accomplish nothing more in our minds than the splendor of the sun shining upon blind eyes” (Johnson 18). 

However, I believe that James White gave the most coherent argument for protestant beliefs concerning the sacraments of the church.  He described the sacraments of the church being of three fashions, dominical (scriptural), apostolic, and natural.  I would agree that “there is no reason to be too precise about God’s actions now than there was in the first twelve centuries” and that while I accept baptism and the Lord’s Supper as sacraments, we should be wary of incorporating absolutes into church dogma (Johnson 32). 

So, why wet and fed?  It’s because I find myself fulfilled with the sacraments as ordained by scripture, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  I find that in these two my hunger is satisfied and my soul given freely to God and God’s Grace manifested.  In the Lord’s Supper I am fed spiritually each Sunday, continually penitent, and I am still wet from my baptism which continually draws God closer to me and me to Him.

Johnson, Maxwell E. Sacraments and Worship: The Sources of Christian Theology. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 2012. Print.

Sprinkle, Stephen. Disciples and Theology: Understanding the Faith of a People in Covenant. St. Louis, Mo.: Chalice, 1999. Print.