7/5/64

Scripture: Read Matthew 13: 1-16.

In any covenant, a binding tie is formally set up as soon as both parties accept the terms of the agreement and publicly promise to keep those terms.

A family wants to buy a house. Often it is the husband and father who, after they have found what they want, signs the agreement to buy the house. The former owner signs the agreement, or someone acting as his agent. A payment, often called “earnest money” is made. And so the house changes hands; the necessary papers (deed and abstracts) are filed and made a matter of public record. And the agreement is considered binding under law and in the public understanding.

The marriage service is an excellent example of a covenant. The marriage tie is considered binding as soon as both parties have said “I do” or “I will” in the presence of “God and these witnesses,” and their public promise has been reported to the public authorities by someone duly authorized to officiate at weddings -- in our state, a clergyman or a judge of a court of record.

But most people are not content to be married by simple verbal agreement. They feel a solemnity in the marriage vow that goes deeper than words can express. They also want symbolic, ceremonial acts to set forth their agreement, to announce their covenant and to unfold its reality. And so there may be an exchange of rings, joining of hands, and other acts symbolizing the binding of two lives into one family.

Walter Marshall Horton suggests that there is a spiritual sense in which all such acts are sacraments, according to the classic Westminster definition of a sacrament: “An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Not only are such acts the sign of spiritual values; they often help to communicate those values better than words.

Christianity is a spiritual religion. It lays supreme stress upon the rightness of the heart and of the inward motives. It is also a sacramental religion in the sense that it uses outward material symbols to express spiritual meanings and spiritual values. There are some religions that think of material things as inherently evil, and of bodily acts as unworthy. Not so Christianity. Christians do not look upon material things as inherently evil nor upon bodily acts as unworthy in themselves. Everything in God’s creation is good in itself unless it becomes perverted from its proper use. We feel that the very fact that Christ the Redeemer has walked among us people upon earth in the flesh, and has blessed the common things of life, is enough to make the human body a “temple of the Holy Spirit” and to make all things potentially sacramental.

There are some objects that can be idolatrously worshipped; that can be substitutes for God in the eyes of the worshipper. But if, rather, they are rightly related to God, they can be true sacramental symbols. Some peoples of the earth have worshipped their ancestors. Some have been worshippers of the sun or other celestial bodies. Some may have worshipped gold; and some may have made patriotism a religion. But, if rightly related to God, these can become sacramental symbols: the graves of our ancestors; the beauty, wealth and power of gold; the flag of one’s country; the sure and steady stars above our heads. All nature, and all humanity, rightly and reverently viewed, declare the glory of God and convey a sense of His gracious presence.

Among many physical acts that can, potentially, convey the grace of God, the Christian fellowship has singled out two simple, common acts, blessed by its Lord and Founder, as supremely sacred: the act of washing and the act of eating and drinking. The first of these, baptism, is the rite [R -- I -- T -- E] of admission into the Christian fellowship. The second, the Lord’s Supper, is the rite of communion in the Christian fellowship. Neither of these rites (washing with a bit of water, or partaking of a little food and drink) could have very much significance apart from the fellowship. But as acts of the fellowship, they have great significance.

Baptism symbolizes the washing away of the stain of sin by God’s forgiveness, and the beginning of a new life in fellowship with Christ, kept clean by the hallowing influence of the Christian community. This is particularly the case in adult baptism where the symbolism is unmistakable. In the case of the infant or small child, presented by parents for baptism, it is a recognition that children, born into a Christian home, are in a very real sense a part of the Christian fellowship from the start, and may be dedicated to God by the parents. The parents take vows in the child’s behalf, in earnest anticipation of the day when that child will confirm those vows for himself. When the individual has been both baptized and then confirmed in the membership of a church, having given his conscious allegiance to Christ and the church, the primary “admission rite” of baptism is completed. And so the individual is admitted to the next “degree” or “rite” of Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper was centrally important to the primitive Christian fellowship. It still remains the principal ceremonial bond between Christians in all times and in all places.

When a family reunion is held, it often reaches its high point in a fellowship meal. So, also, the local church periodically rises to a high point in the rhythm of its life, when it celebrates the unity between its members, its Lord, and all other Christian churches; and thanks God for the innumerable spiritual graces which flow to each member from the great fellowship to which he belongs. It is like nourishing food and drink. The Lord’s Supper, as an act, like all true sacraments, means more than words alone can utter.

Besides these two great sacraments of admission and communion, the church’s sacramental ministry includes many other solemn and beautiful forms by which the spiritual treasures of the Christian fellowship are made evident; are preserved for posterity; and are appropriated by creatures of flesh and blood like ourselves. The forms are meaningless apart from the ministry of worship and the Word. But rightly interpreted by the teacher and preacher, and rightly used by the worshipper, almost anything the church may choose to consecrate as a symbol of some great spiritual meaning may become effective as a “means of grace” to Christians. It may be traditional sacred music; time-honored covenants and statements of faith; certain rituals and forms of government. The danger in using such forms, is that they may come to be considered sacred in themselves; hence unalterable and beyond discussion --- even when they have ceased to have any appreciable meaning for modern Christians.

Quakers have reacted against this very real danger by paring down the sacramental, formalistic element in their religion to the barest minimum. They prove, by their example, that the one essential sacrament -- the one sufficient means of grace -- is Christian fellowship itself, when it is really a “Society of Friends.” When the Christian fellowship is a Society of friends, each member is a living epistle -- a “live letter” -- a gracious message written by God in a human life and addressed “to whom it may concern.”

In our Congregational Christian tradition, and in the United Church of Christ, we are hospitable to those forms of ritual or government or statements of belief which can prove their worth as a witness to God and as an effectual means of conveying God’s Word to modern people. But we hold that forms are made for the church, not the church for forms. And we tend to alter or discard any form which threatens to become a fetish or a barrier to universal Christian fellowship. We are not opposed to those ornaments and conveniences which give grace and power to religion. But we refuse to regard as essential any except those which do appear to give continued grace and power.

We continue to use baptism and the Lord’s Supper (as we are doing today) as “outward and visible signs” because they do appear, much or most of the time, to evidence and inspire an “inward and spiritual grace.” They were approved by our Lord, as he himself accepted and commended baptism, and as he instituted the Supper amongst his followers. We also make some of the significance of these sacraments by our own attitude as we practice and participate in them.

By our own willingness to accept whatever be the means of grace open to us, we may possibly be among the followers of Christ to whom he said: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 13: 11].

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, July 5, 1964 (communion Sunday).