Empty Ecclesiastical Bathtubs - Sacraments

Part the third...

Sacraments:  Obviously we evangelicals have sacraments.  What I want to talk about here is a high view of the sacraments.  Most folks in my tradition speak of the sacraments in terms of what they symbolize and commemorate but there is little talk of them as actions with actual unique outcomes.

We talk a lot about what baptism says but not much about what it does.  We say it's "an outward symbol of an inward experience" and we say it's a testimony and a step of obedience but we seem to think it has very little immediate effect on us.  When asked how being baptized changed us most evangelicals would be somewhat stumped.  I went from not being baptized to being baptized?  I became eligible for membership?

We talk a lot about what communion remembers but precious little about what impact our partaking in it has on us beyond being reminded of the work of Christ on the cross.  Not that remembering the crucifixion isn't of great importance but in evangelical circles it seems that our understanding of "remembrance" through communion has little to set it apart from our remembrance though looking at a crucifix, or reading the crucifixion and resurrection accounts in the gospels... or watching The Passion of the Christ.  I think sometimes The Lord's Table has become for us little more than a ritual mnemonic device.

So what do I really believe about the sacraments? To be honest I'm not 100% sure these days but I have a growing, nagging suspicion or maybe more accurately a desire to believe that there is more to them then just symbolism and obedience.

I have long been a proponent of counting conversions by Baptism as opposed to hands, stands, cards, and alter calls.  I believe that Baptism is the true moment of "public declaration."  I like the idea that Baptism is the moment when we truly become part of the church, our "grafting in" so to speak.  Not just that it symbolizes that this has already happened but that it actually takes place at that moment.  I love the idea that baptism cleanses us form original sin and it's associated guilt although I can't see it clearly enough in scripture to embrace it. (Turns out I'm protestant after all.)

I have long been a proponent of the idea that we should celebrate the Lord's Supper with a greater regularity than is common in most evangelical churches.  I like weekly but I'm pretty sure four times a year misses the mark. I love the idea that in the communion elements He is present in an even greater way then He is in His omnipresence and even then He is "where two or three are gathered."  I love the idea that through communion we, somehow, feed on Christ and become more one with Him in a way that goes beyond simple remembrance.  What if our Rome-a-phobia has robbed us of something beautiful and powerful and meaningful and transformative?

I crave an understanding of the sacraments that sees them as more than just our oldest rituals and more even than Jesus-ordained rituals.  I struggle to believe that the same Jesus who used so many different word pictures came up with what boils down to a couple of simple object lessons and then asked us to repeat them.

I long to to see the sacraments as spiritual, mystical, uniquely beneficial, and effective not just affective. At the very least I want to fully explore the idea that the sacraments are - as Wesley himself taught - a means of grace.