Sacramental Living

For those of us who have had the benefit of taking Confirmation or Inquirer’s class offered periodically in different Episcopal Churches, you would have learned that Sacraments are an integral part of our Christian vocation. The classic definition of Sacrament by St. Augustine is ‘An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.’  The act, right, or sign must be outward. It must be visible. You and I need to see it and testify to it. But the inward isn’t visible to us, in just the same way as grace isn’t visible to us, but we can feel its prevalence.

Like our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, Episcopalians also recognize seven sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Ordination, Penance, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction. However, Episcopalians have divided these seven into two - major sacraments and minor sacraments. The major sacraments are Baptism and Eucharist, and they are major because Jesus Christ commanded them and are necessary for our salvation. The minor - Confirmation, Matrimony, Penance, Ordination, and Extreme Unction - were developed by the Church and are highly recommended, but they are not necessary for our salvation.

Of the two sacraments that are necessary for our salvation, the Eucharist stands out as the perpetual nourisher and sustainer of our relationship with God. Our relationship with God was first established through our Baptism. Although Baptism makes us members of the household of God, it is the Eucharist upon which we feed as members of God’s household that provides us with the energy and the reason to integrate spiritual practices into daily living.

The Eucharist, which comes from the Greek word eucharistein, means "to give thanks." The Eucharist, then, is an action of thanksgiving to God.

A remarkable feat of Christian spirituality is that we approach the Eucharist not as righteous or perfect people. We recognize our brokenness. We know of the brokenness of our neighbors and all with whom we gather for fellowship and worship. And we are very much aware of the brokenness of the world in which we live. Yet we still pursue this act of thanksgiving because that's our tangible way to honor God.

The Eucharist also doesn’t deceive us into thinking ourselves better than others. We come to the Eucharist table because that’s where we are truly mended, that’s where we are truly healed, and that’s where we establish hope in ourselves and each other.

Here's what Mother Mectilde said: “Through Holy Communion, Jesus enters into us to continue in each soul his holy life, to continue in each of us his adoration, his prayer, his love and his sacrifice, in such a way that, when we have received communion, we should not do anything at all except cling to him, and unite or allow our heart and our mind to be united to all the actions that he brings about in us, working in us in our name, that is, for us, as if we were the ones doing it”

Sacramental Living is the inverse of what a sacrament is, or two sides of the same coin. You can refer to it as an approach to life that is anchored in one’s ability to integrate spiritual practices into daily living with the goal of producing a particular outcome.

Here are some examples for you. I had lunch with a parishioner yesterday. And in our conversation, the story of Charlie Kirk came up. The parishioner told the story of the young widow pronouncing forgiveness to the assassin who violently took the life of her husband. I said to the parishioner that that act alone was an example of Sacramental Living.

A few days ago, many of our parishioners gathered at Giant Food, Dorsey Hall, to solicit food items from shoppers. It is always an interesting experience because you get a sense of how different people react to those who are only asking for help. And in some cases, shoppers do not even have the patience to wait and hear what they are being asked to do. The joy of putting ourselves out there reminds me of the true value in Sacramental Living. This is because, without integrating our deepest spiritual practices into daily living, we will find no reason to join others in collecting over 2,000 pounds of food for the Howard County Food Bank.

Each year, we are invited to support our common life through a pledge. In many ways, one could argue that this is the wrong time to even invite parishioners to pledge, when they are facing myriad financial and other issues. To pledge is a form of Sacramental Living. And we pledge, not out of abundance, but because we have successfully integrated our spirituality into our daily life, to the point where pledging as a form of our giving becomes sacrificial. Sacramental Living is sacrificial living because it calls upon you to deny yourself and take up the cross.

And the idea of denying yourself can happen because within you is a fire that’s been ignited by the Eucharist. “Yes, a single Communion is enough to make us burn all our life and to have this fire always with us,” Mother Mectilde said. And this fire lights the path for us to see the best way to integrate our spirituality into our daily lives.

In front of the ambo in the sanctuary is a basket. By the door to our Church Office is a container. Two days ago, on Veterans Day, I came to the office and saw by the container in the breezeway, lots of food items that had been donated. I don’t know who donated them and why. All I know is that that was a form of Sacramental Living.

I believe, without any shadow of doubt, that it is through the acts of Sacramental Living that we create visibility, not for ourselves, not even for our church or any other church, but for the good news of Christ Jesus. One of our parishioners, Ann Barnes, who comes to the office every week to work on some of our Refugee Ministry's financial responsibilities, once said to me, “There are still some good people around.”

To be one of those good people who are still around, listen to what Mother Mectilde said: “Your soul is dead if it is not animated by the life of Jesus. He comes in this Sacrament of love in order to communicate it to you. Be like the dead man in his coffin: without any resistance to the divine power. Allow Jesus to touch you and say to you today, Surge a mortuis. Rise from the death of sin and yourself. Rise from the midst of the dead, and Jesus Christ will enlighten you.”

Rise from the dead so that you can live sacramentally - for a resurrected soul is the kind that can no longer see anything but Jesus.

Manny+