Stories from the celebration of sacraments

For too long many Christians believed that one has to understand the sacraments before one can experience them. Many in the church now realize that the converse is true: that one needs to be engaged by celebration of the sacraments before one can understand them. Of course, no one fully understands the sacraments, which makes them a divine mystery that speaks to the heart in spite of human intellect.

– Rev. Brett Webb-Mitchell, Dancing With Disabilities

Elizabeth's story

“Elizabeth,” an extremely expressive twenty-eight year old, full-of-life woman, was in a group of a dozen young adults with developmental disorders. Members of the church had been meeting with them frequently for more than four years. With the exception of just a few, most of the group were primarily unchurched, but still had some sense of a spiritual belief or need. After a period of time, several of the young adults, including Elizabeth, expressed a desire to join in Sunday worship. On the day they all came to the service, communion was being celebrated. One of the older women in the group passed the bread to Elizabeth saying, “This is the body of Christ, broken for you.” Elizabeth, breaking the quiet reverence of the moment, joyfully exclaimed, “For ME?!” Joyfully indeed!                      

– From “Living into the Body of Christ, Towards Full Inclusion of People with Disabilities”
Approved by the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Joey's story

It all began with a telephone conversation between the pastor and a parishioner. “Hello, this is the pastor. I understand you’re interested in having your son baptized.” 

“Yes. Well, although Joey’s four, he looks like an eighteen month-old child. His needs have restricted our church activities for a few years, but he's now old enough and is being mainstreamed in special education preschool, and we'd like to get back to church. We’d like to have him baptized, and also find out what needs to be done to accommodate him in church school. We hope we can have him baptized sometime this fall in between out-of-town trips for surgeries.”

On the Sunday that Joey was baptized, the font was moved to the back of the sanctuary nave due to the presence of all the bell choir tables in the chancel area. Symbolically, of course, this was appropriate — an historic location for the font, representing our entrance into the church, the Body of Christ, through baptism.

However, this was the first time this arrangement had been tried, and there was a prevailing sense of disorientation. Things were a bit crowded as the families of those being baptized gathered in a small area adjacent to the narthex. The congregation had to turn around in their seats. The font, babies and pastors weren’t visible past the row of eager parents and sponsors; there was a slight sense of all of us having been displaced.

When his turn came, the pastor lifted Joey and baptized him. “Joey, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

And Joey’s small voice rang out in response, “Thank you!” With those two words, he dissipated all the discomfort and made it seem as though the font, and we, were exactly where we were supposed to be. “Remember your baptism and rejoice!”

– Contributed by the Rev. Robin Lostetter, Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church, PDC Leadership Team