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The Sacraments

by Vicar Lisa

Lutherans, and most protestants today, recognize two sacraments, baptism and the eucharist (communion). Theologians through the centuries have offered numerous definitions for the word sacrament. The early church leader Augustine defined a sacrament as a “visible form of invisible grace” or as “a sign of a sacred thing.” 

John Calvin thought of a sacrament in terms of an outward sign of an invisible grace that is dependent upon the believer’s faith to be effective. In contrast to Calvin, Article Thirteen of the Augsburg Confession says that sacraments are intended to “awaken and confirm faith,” which makes them effective regardless of whether one brings faith to the sacrament.

Commenting on this article in his Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Philip Melanchthon, a contemporary of Martin Luther, defines sacraments as “signs of grace” and that a sacrament consists of two parts, the sign or symbol itself and the Word of the Lord that accompanies the sign.

Regardless of how a sacrament is defined, most Christians agree that there is something special and even essential about baptism and the eucharist. After all, they were ordained by Jesus in the Gospels!

According to my Systematic Theology professor, the big truth that we should realize about these sacraments is that “God can become Emmanuel”. In these two mysteries, a physical embodiment of a so-called spiritual reality takes place. Heaven and earth come together in the water, the bread, and the wine, just as they did in the Jesus of two natures.

With his notion of an invisible grace, Augustine was trying to direct attention to the work of the Holy Spirit. Both baptism and the eucharist point back to the Jesus of yesterday and the kingdom of tomorrow, to become present to the believer.

Professor Peters also says that the physical and ritual character of the mysteries expresses the objective character of God’s action in history and in the life of faith. Communion with the divine is not sought solely by turning inward to contemplation, solely to the realm of the soul independent of the mundane world. Our communion with God occurs in, with, and under physical realities such as water, bread, and wine.

He also states that when we think of baptism in terms of initiation and the Lord’s Supper in terms of festival, and when we think of both as practices of the church enduring through centuries, they help underscore and establish the existence of Christian communion. They tie us to the transpersonal unity we share with one another because we are members of a single body, the body of Christ. They function to identify us as Christian.

As we go through these last days of Advent, as we watch and wait for the coming birth of our God to become Emmanuel, know that your gospel witness is not simply a look backward toward Jesus. It also looks forward. It shares visions of what is to come, visions of the kingdom of justice and love by which the creation will be transformed and fulfilled. Please Lord, let it be so.

Fourth Sunday in Advent

Dec. 22 -- 10 a.m. Worship with Communion

Announcements

 

  • Fellowship Time: Join us after worship today in the Fellowship Hall for coffee and conversation, Let’s Chat.
  • Weekly Bible Studies: Zion’s weekly Bible Study is on hiatus until after the holidays. It resumes on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, with the continuation of The Bible from Scratch, series, now focusing on The New Testament for Beginners. See the newsletter for more details.
  • 2025 Church Directory: It’s time to update information for the 2025 Church Directory. If you have updates to your information or photo, let Julie Wersal know.
  • Blue Christmas Worship: Zion’s Blue Christmas Worship service of comfort begins at 5:30 on Dec. 21, in the sanctuary. It provides a quiet and contemplative experience that respects those who are walking through grief or struggling in other ways. The reasons to attend are many, the purpose is to remember that God is good. God is strong. God is near.
  • Christmas Eve Worship: Zion’s traditional Christmas Eve worship will be a candlelight service that begins at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 24, in the sanctuary.
  • 5-Loaves Volunteers Needed for December: Our 5-Loaves feeding ministry will deliver lunches on Saturday, Dec. 28. If you can help with delivery routes, please let Jo Moss know. If you can make/provide Christmas cookies, please let Norine Hazen know. We need 20-22 dozen cookies, preferably packaged in groups of two cookies in sandwich size bags.

E-formation – Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 22

This Sunday, we light all four candles of the Advent wreath, and we read the story from Luke about Mary visiting Elizabeth. Christians believe that in baptism, we too are filled with the Holy Spirit so that Christ will dwell in us. Come to worship: the mystery approaches.

Luke 1:39-45 [46-55]

The third gospel, written probably in the late 80s ce for a Gentile audience, proclaims God’s forgiveness and salvation available to the entire world through the Jewish Jesus. Tradition says that the gospel was written by Luke, an associate of Paul, although the author’s introduction states that he is a third-generation believer who researched the story of Jesus. Jesus’ infancy narratives were probably developed decades after the death of Jesus to give fuller understanding of his person and ministry. In terms of the story, were Mary’s condition discovered, she would be a candidate for stoning, so some interpreters suggest that in visiting her kinswoman, she is escaping detection. As we expect from Luke, Elizabeth too is filled with the Holy Spirit, and Mary models faith in God’s word. To be blessed is to be brought into a circle in which the people are praising God and God is gracing the people. Mary’s song, read or sung, is similar to the canticle of Hannah (1 Sam. 2:1-10) and is a compact example of Hebrew psalmody, in which God is praised for past, present, and future salvation of the poor and lowly.

Micah 5:2-5a

The book of Micah represents the oracles spoken in the eighth century bce in the southern kingdom of Judah by a prophet who condemned the people for their unfaithfulness to the covenant and warned them of the political disaster which God might send as punishment. After the conquest of Canaan, the clan of Ephrathah settled Bethlehem, five miles south of Jerusalem. The passage includes several important biblical themes: God honoring the lowliest; the Messiah as descendent from David of Bethlehem; the king as a good shepherd; the worldwide rule of God’s coming one; and eventually the gift of peace.

Hebrews 10:5-10

The book of Hebrews is an intellectually and symbolically complex sermon written in elegant Greek, probably around the time of the destruction of the temple in 70 ce. According to the author of Hebrews, Jewish temple rituals have been replaced by the death of Christ and the efficacy of his blood. The quote put into Christ’s mouth is from Psalm 40:4-6 and highlights the believer doing God’s will.

Zion's Lutheran Church

A Reconciling in Christ Community

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719-846-7785