The readings this week look at the evolution of the notion of sacraments in the Church.  . Jesus called people to” repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15), and he told Nicodemus that “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5), but we don’t hear that those who followed Jesus needed to be baptized.    Only after Jesus had ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the disciples do we hear Peter call people to “Repent and be baptized, every one of you” (Acts2:38).  So baptism comes after Jesus’ life on earth has ended.   As Leo I said, “What was visible in our Redeemer when on earth has become operative in sacramental signs” (Johnson 4).

As far as the Eucharist is concerned, Vondey makes it clear throughout People of Bread that “the sharing of bead is the purest form of companionship” (195).  At the Last Supper, Jesus gave the breaking of bread a whole new dimension, “a new form of unity between God and humankind,” which “forms the heart of its sacramental nature in the world” (195).

I don’t know when the Church began using the term “sacrament,” but St. Augustine speaks of it as some sort of physical element which, combined with the words proper to it spoken in faith, will cleanse the soul (Johnson 2). In the passages cited from Augustine, he says nothing about the number of the sacraments” James F. White notes that Augustine called almost anything a sacrament (Johnson 4, 30-31).

Peter Lombard (12^th century) names seven sacraments.  The basis for their being included seems to be that they are practiced within the community and they contain the power which they signify.  Thomas Aquinas (13^th century) says the sacraments are necessary for salvation and are the cause of grace.  He also states that baptism, confirmation and orders imprint a perpetual character on the soul, and only God can institute a sacrament. (6-7, 9)

During the 16^th century and the Protestant Reformation, there is a radical shift.  Martin Luther denies that there are seven sacraments, and the main thrust of the reformers is to accept only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper (12-20).

The Catholic Reformation, also in the 16^th century, is remarkable for its defensive holding on to its positions of the past, going so far as to insist that all seven sacraments were instituted by Jesus Christ, and to damn anyone who did not agree with them (21).  It made me sad to read this.

A hundred years later the Society of Friends rejects all external sacraments, believing that “All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit…”  (23).  They believe that both baptism and communion of the Body and Blood of Christ are inward and spiritual.

In the modern period, there are exciting developments.  Edward Schillebeeckx, in Christ, the Sacrament of the Encounter with God, sees sacraments as “not things, but encounters of men on earth with the glorified man Jesus by way of a visible form…. They are the visible and tangible embodiment of the heavenly saving action of Christ”  (Johnson 26-27). 

Karl Rahner sees the Church as “the primal sacrament,” and says that sacraments are not always based on a definite, preserved statement spoken by Jesus himself.  There can be many sacraments:  “A fundamental act of the Church in an individual’s regard, in situations that are decisive for him, an act which truly involves the nature of the Church as the historical, eschatological presence of redemptive grace is ipso facto a sacrament” (Johnson 29).

James F. White, a Protestant theologian, has developed a classification of the sacraments: 

 Dominical – instituted by Christ:  Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.                                             Apostolic – continue action of the apostles: reconciliation, healing, confirmation             
 Natural – marriage and burial.

What I see in this sacramental development is:                                                                       
 First,  emergence from traditional community customs of sacred rituals following the example of Jesus;  development of other sacred rituals based on the needs of the community and continuing the “intentions and actions of Jesus”;  development of sacred rituals to mark key moments of the human life-cycle.  None of these were rigidly structured.  All made Jesus present in their everyday lives.

Second,  analysis of the structure of these rituals and their classification.  They become more formalized and rigid.  Sometimes rules could take attention away from their purpose.

Third,  return to the roots; realization that some of the structures meant to facilitate an encounter with God were hindering it.  Work to ‘enlarge the tent’ so that God can break through everywhere, including through feminist, liberation, Asian, African, and other local theologies, even in the prison.

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.

In the beginning of our reading from Johnson, Augustine defines sacrament as “A visible form of an invisible grace”(6). The sixth century Council of Florence then notes that there are precisely seven of these sacraments (11), which still exist in some form today (changes have occurred such as moving from Extreme Unction to Anointing of the Sick and from Penance to Reconciliation)

Not being subjected to the authority of the Catholic Church, Martin Luther disagreed with the notion of having seven sacraments, and instead argued that only Baptism and the Eucharist are their a divinely instituted sign and forgiveness of sins (13-14).

While in many ways I agree with Marin Luther’s theology, in that only Baptism and the Eucharist offer visible signs of grace and a forgiveness of sins - the invisible grace. But I fail to see the rationale in limiting our sacramental relationship with God to just two sacrament, one of which we can only receive once. Since sacraments confer grace, they are gifts to us from God. We have much to gain from the other five sacraments, even if some feel that they fall short of Augustine’s definition.

Confirmation, in the current Roman Rite, offers young adults in the Church to publicly declare their devotion to God. I believe that God does give a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit for that declaration to be made.

Matrimony and Holy Orders offers the chance for people to publicly devote themselves to the service of others. In so doing, God gives them the graces to serve in the Church

Reconciliation allows us to be spiritually renewed after having the burden of sin ritualistically removed from us.

Anointing of the Sick allows the entire Church the opportunity to empathize with the suffering, what a grace!

Is it really important to argue over the sacramentality of our rituals when they offer us a chance to experience God in a human-centric way? The Sacraments allow us to experience God in terms we can understand. Whether or not we call them sacraments, I still want them!

 

St Louis Cathedral

6/26/2011

This week Leo I and Augustine......

          When I moved to New Orleans for the second time in 2008, I walked through St. Louis Cathedral and claimed it as part of my home. Having grown up in “the second oldest city in the U.S.” I love wandering historical places where I know people have walked for hundreds of years. I can picture people from the past in the French Quarter.  I love the feeling of walking into the cathedral and knowing that for centuries, people have come to the site to reach for God.

            Along the same lines, I have read the Office in the Readings as part of praying the Liturgy of the Hours.  I like reading things from the early Church Fathers, or one of the saints. I love that old and ancient words can be so vital in our modern world and give me small treasures that help me through the day.

This week Leo I (c. 400 – 461) and Augustine (354-430) are speaking to me twice in Chapter 1 of Johnson’s chapter on sacraments and in the Divine Office. Their inspiration for me combines in a recipe something like this.

Augustine relates the word to sacraments, “The word is joined to the element and the result is a sacrament, in itself becoming, in a sense, a visible word as well” (Johnson 2).

Leo I brings in, “It takes great strength of mind and a faithful and enlightened heart to believe without hesitations in what escapes the bodily eye and to desire unswervingly what cannot be seen.” (Johnson 4)

In Sunday’s Office of the Readings Leo I says, “In the preaching of the holy Gospel all should receive a strengthening of their faith. No one should be ashamed of the cross of Christ, through which the world has been redeemed.

“ No one should fear to suffer for the sake of justice; no one should lose confidence in the reward that has been promised. The way to rest is through toil, the way to life is through death. Christ has taken on himself the whole weakness of our lowly human nature. If then we are steadfast in our faith in him and in our love for him, we win the victory that he has won, we receive what he has promised.”

            Today, the excerpt from Augustine the Liturgy of the Hours has “When day was fading into evening, the Lord laid down his life on the cross, to take it up again; he did not lose his life against his will. Here, too, we are symbolised. What part of him hung on the cross if not the part he had received from us… nailing our weakness to the cross”

            This activates thoughts for me, about our humanness, in weakness and in our need for tangible things. Sacraments give us both and are always mixed together with the word and Jesus’s gift to us through His cross and resurrection. It’s a favorite thing, moments with two of our church fathers….

Johnson, Maxwell E, ed.  Sacraments and Worship. Louisville. Westminster John Knox. 2012.

            Print.

Office of the readings:   http://universalis.com/20150301/readings.htm

The Church as a Sacrament

“Stretch, Stretch, Stretch: Standing In the Shadow of Me No More”

All is gift.

The worn, the torn, the forlorn.

The new, the bright, the dull.

Each reflects the other.

Each offers awareness of the other.

Each seeks communion with the other.

Each brings the other and the creator of all to me.

Let us untie what binds; let us weave what heals.

Let us become anew; let us sparkle rewoven.

This is a short poem reflection I recently wrote to accompany an art quilt completed during a workshop at Ashe Cultural Arts Center. I signed up for the program because I was curious about working within a group of women where I would be “the minority”; while all of us were from New Orleans and surrounding areas, Ashe is an art and cultural community based center in Central City that creates and supports programs emphasizing the contributions of people of African descent (http://www.ashecac.org/main/index.php/about-us/mission.html). I am of Irish, French and Acadian descent. I wanted to reach beyond our histories of separateness in our hometown to a common interest of women who enjoyed creating in community with fiber and thread. I was aware of my place in entering the space of another, although the program was open to the public. There were times when the instructor, or more of a facilitator, said things about which I did not agree. I did not respond but recognized that our realities are different; neither is incorrect. I exercised my listening skills rather than my knee-jerk response “unskills.”

This chosen journey of companionship in a neighborhood and community different from my daily life is on my mind as I reflect on the sacramental nature of the Church. We, the people of God; the people of the Church take on that sacramental nature when our humble selves “participate in the distribution of the bread of life to a suffering world that is alienated from God” (Vondey 141). Understand, I did not participate in this program to “distribute the bread of life” to anyone or to seek a suffering world. The women with whom I engaged are not alienated from God. In fact, they often included their Christian worship activities and praises in their conversations and art projects. I am not so outspoken about my faith. I participated to increase my awareness of the way others think and create. I thought of myself as the guest to whom others shared their hospitality. I most value some new acquaintances; that some may develop into friendships. Participating “in the distribution of the bread of life” is done where we are every minute of the day: respectfully sharing concerns and interests; inviting others to come and see the love of God; accepting others’ invitation to join in their community that offers peace and joy; not only accept alone time, but seek solitude or ask another to join in the public prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours that may be “a deed not seen by others” (cf. Mat. 23:1-12); reflect on how do I serve others; what is my motivation?

We may be the external signs of grace that speak to ourselves and others one way or the other of Jesus; the choice is ours to engage with the broken body of Christ: each of us may invite another to the table of bread; to seek encounter with the presence of Christ in the Holy Spirit. The Eucharist is a public display of God’s hospitality, grace and salvation (Vondey 143). Participating in the Liturgy of the Hours, the “’part two’” of the official, public worship of the Catholic Church,” completes the “’sacrifice of praise’ in the name of, and on behalf of, the Church universal” (Sockey 2-3; 66). How easy to forget and difficult to remember “our highest purpose: to recognize and adore our Creator” (70). The daily sequence of prayers keeps our focus on our reliance “for divine assistance with all the needs of the body of Christ” (52).