Just Another Jim
"An Exploration of Christianity" or
This Essay's Waaay Too Long, pt 5

Sacraments – Redefining an Old Idea

Chapter 3

American Evangelicalism threw out the sacraments a long, long time ago. Actually, they didn't do anything so blatant as just throwing them out, rather they redefined them so they aren't sacraments any more. Typically they're called ordinances (literally, things commanded – or “ordained” – by Christ, and typically there are two of them: Baptism and the Lord's Supper, although the Brethren include foot washing because it is as clearly commanded as the other two.

This sacrament-reduced-to-ordinance phenomenon was a response to the sad state of affairs in the European church before the two great reformations that put the European church back on the road to faithfulness (the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation). In the medieval European Church there had come to be seven sacraments that were arbitrarily defined as life-giving, but that had been separated from their classic roots. For that we have to return to a more ancient expression of the church.

In its classic universal expression, a sacrament is an earthly thing that takes on divine life and a divine purpose in order to communicate God's life-giving grace. Technically, based on the above definition, there is only one sacrament: Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human and thus fully embodies what a sacrament is. Flowing out of Jesus Christ the True Sacrament are two primary rites that are also called sacraments: The Lord's Supper and Baptism. In Baptism we are united with Christ through death. In the Lord's Supper we are nourished in divine life through Jesus the Bread of Life and the wine of the new covenant established in his blood.

Beyond that there are a series of rites that have varying degrees of sacramental character because to varying degrees they are “an earthly thing that takes on divine life and a divine purpose in order to communicate God's life-giving grace. Among these are Confirmation (or active local church membership) and ordination, because both express the reality of God's presence in the world and God's plan to work through humans in order to carry out the divine plan on the earthly plain. Birth and Death also carry sacramental overtones because God is present in these grand and mysterious events. And of course, marriage, since the marriage of a man and a woman is a picture of the union of Christ and his church, has sacramental overtones.

In Protestant America where there are only two sacraments (and in the case of the Evangelicals, ordinances), the sacramental character of these momentous events is expressed more subtly. Rites and rubrics have developed around each of these activities because Christians recognize that we are making special commitments to God, that unique things are happening. This is the purpose, for instance, of the ring ceremony in a wedding. There is a basic sensibility that this is unique and momentous, that it is inadequate to just make promises before God, that there needs to be some physical sign of that promise, thus the ring. In historical terms this is a classically sacramental sensibility, although Protestants refrain from calling anything like this sacramental because of the abuses of the Middle Ages.

A second “sacramental” has been added to most American weddings (both Christian and secular) because of that need to demonstrate through physical action the verbal promises made. That second “sacramental” is the candle lighting ceremony where two separate candles are used to light a single candle. While a bit schmaltzy, this action is profoundly appropriate in a world desperate for sacramental confirmation of their promises yet strangely reticent to admit the need of sacramentals.

Of course humans love to add layer upon layer of symbolism on such actions. (In spite of Protestant, then Evangelical, then Sectarian, claims that they desire to simplify and get back to the very basic heart of Christianity, the fact is we humans love and need ceremony, and so at the same time we strip away unessential actions, we add new ceremony that speaks to us emotionally.) So, the ring ceremony wasn't enough and we added the candle lighting rite. But eventually the candle lighting rite wasn't enough; it needed more umph, and so a solo with a particularly emotional impact is added while the couple is lighting the candle. I have come to think of this as the “Elvis' Love Me Tender” moment of the wedding ceremony. Fortunately some Christian couples sense this is a significant moment and want music that reflects the covenantal nature of marriage: one man, one woman, one God. This was certainly the case at the evangelical wedding I recently attended. Young Christian couples, with no strong sense of wedding service as divine worship, are just as likely to choose the latest tear jerker from the top ten list of either MTV or Country Music Television. I often get the feeling these people would be happier in Las Vegas with a blue shoed Elvis putting his uniquely American sacramental stamp on their promises.

My niece's wedding didn't have a candle ceremony. Furthermore, The Way rejects all sacraments as human inventions that tend to cloud the simplicity and purity of the Gospel. But this doesn't mean they don't have that basic sacramental drive described above. In the case of The Way, since they had no Christian sacraments available to them, and since they also shy away from anything that smells of human invention, they have turned to an obscure Old Testament practice called “the covenant of salt.”

Since there are only two clear references to it in the Old Testament and a couple more vague allusions, it has all the makings of being a great topic for a doctoral dissertation. And indeed there are a variety of scholarly studies. The general consensus among mainstream Christian scholars is that this was a near Eastern cultural practice, probably Babylonian or Chaldean originally. (Ur the main populated region of Chaldea is generally accepted as the cradle of civilization, so this obscure “covenant of salt” is as ancient as civilization itself.)

The Way has adapted this covenant of salt to be included in the wedding ceremony. Thus, their ceremonies as a whole are not only profoundly Trinitarian (in spite of the fact that they say they reject Trinitarian theology), it also includes a sacramental rite in order to emphasize the unique character of this event (even though they say they reject all sacraments).

Very early in this essay I mentioned that re-inventing the wheel is hard work. As a person who has left my own evangelical roots and become a Presbyterian because of its historical connectedness, I find it deeply satisfying that whether evangelical or sectarian, those who are busy redefining the Christian wheel of the proper expression of our faith end up acknowledging the wisdom and sensibilities of the church throughout the ages. It seems to me it would be a lot easier for all these folks, who are in a search for an authentic experience of the One True God through simplicity, to discover the authentic experience of God as Christians have done it through history. The problem with re-inventing wheels is that the new and improved version is rarely round and smooth. For all its problems the wheel of Christian practice that was invented about 2000 years ago has been rounded and smoothed, and runs surprisingly well. That's the nature of God's grace.

At the same time, this fortysomething old codger is glad that twentysomething youngsters have a desire to discover these things for themselves. God's grace embraces such wanderings as well.

Main Essay page

[previous]
Chapter 1: A Conversation with a Cult Member
Excursis 1: Why My Niece Doesn't Believe in the Trinity
Excursis 2: The Monophysite Conundrum
Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Weddings
Chapter Three: Sacraments – Redefining an old idea