I've been thinking about sacraments...

For: The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen's University, Essentials Red Online Worship History Course with Dan Wilt.

I like the phrase "sign-acts" better, actually. (1) I've never been really sure about sacraments. Never really knew what they meant. I always thought that they were kind of boring traditions. I always knew that they meant something important, but I guess they'd never really been explained to me in a meaningful way. Apparently the Greek word for sacrament in the Bible is mysterion, ie: mystery. But what is really refers to is "the secret thoughts of God, which transcend human reason and therefore must be revealed to those whom God wishes these secrets to reach." (2) I guess sacraments aren't so boring...

Here's something that really sums it up for me.

“We need to be shown... the love of God is made visible to us through actions. Just as we depend on the handshake, the kiss, and the embrace to express our love so others can recognize it, so we depend upon sacraments to know the love of God. We make human love visible by acting it out; divine love is no different. Distinctions between the act and love itself soon disappear. The kiss becomes love itself, the act is part of the emotion. The loving deed is love made visible. The sacraments are God’s love made visible.” (3)

The point isn't the act. It's that God chooses to use material things to communicate His love for us. Sacraments are beautiful acts that Jesus did Himself and told us to do, too.


(1) White, James F. Introduction to Christian Worship. (Nashville: Arbingdon Press, 2000) 175.
(2) White, James F. Introduction to Christian Worship. (Nashville: Arbingdon Press, 2000) 181.
(3) White, James F. Introduction to Christian Worship. (Nashville: Arbingdon Press, 2000) 198.