Living the sacramental practices
Believing that lived experience deepens our understanding, we offer these practices for
sacramental renewal. We believe that a richer, stronger baptismal practice will help us see more
clearly how to be a Word and Sacrament church in a needy world. In our pastoral letter, we
commend five simple disciplines to the church. For some congregations they will be familiar; for
others they will be entirely new. These practices are suggestions for how to make use of
ordinary things that are deep with significance. They set before us the meaning of our common
life as a baptized community that is nurtured in Word and Sacrament and sent to serve the
world.
Five Practices
- Set the font in full view of the congregation.
- Open the font and fill it with water on every Lord’s Day.
- Set cup and plate on the Lord’s Table on every Lord’s Day.
- Lead appropriate portions of weekly worship from the font and from the table.
- Increase the number of Sundays on which the Lord’s Supper is
celebrated.
1. Set the font in full view of the congregation.
Locate your church’s baptismal font and bring it into the space where the
congregation assembles for worship. Consider placing the font in a location
where it is well seen and accessible to the congregation on a weekly basis. This
could mean at the front of the center aisle or at the back near the entrance into
the church. Think in terms of baptismal space, which would include space for
people to gather around the font and, if the church celebrates the Easter Vigil, a
paschal candle.* In preparation for Sunday, spend some time during the week
experimenting with different placements of the font, and imagine how each one
changes the significance of baptism for the congregation every time members
enter the worship space. What does the location of your font and table
communicate to the congregation?
* The paschal candle is a reminder of the paschal (Passover)
mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. Lit with new fire at the
Easter Vigil, this candle is placed near the font and kept lighted for
all occasions to recall our dying and rising with Christ through
baptism.
2. Open the font and fill it with water on
every Lord’s Day.
Remember that the font is the receptacle for the primary and central symbol for
baptism, which is water. Let the water be present all the time — whether there is a
baptism to celebrate or not. You might even remove font covers if possible.
Covers used to be necessary to protect the water from being stolen for
superstitious reasons.
It is appropriate to start with some water in the font and to have a pitcher with
which to pour additional water during worship. The pitcher might be placed on a
small table, on the floor beside the font or carried in procession. The minister, an
assisting elder or even a child may pour the water. It is important to help the one
pouring understand the baptismal meanings evoked in this grace-filled act.
When might it be timely in the liturgy to pour the water? There are many different
opportunities during worship where pouring water or engaging the font helps
deepen our understanding of baptismal life. Water that can be seen and heard — as worship begins, at confession and pardon, at offering or sending — brings
attention to our baptismal identity as God’s own, to our ongoing need for grace
and to our calling into lives of discipleship.
3. Set cup and plate on the Lord’s Table on every Lord’s Day.
Together these vessels point the congregation to the core meaning of our
Eucharistic life, a life of thanksgiving for who we are in Christ. When you are not
celebrating the Lord’s Supper, keep an empty paten and chalice central on the
table so that these symbols may speak to us of our hunger for Christ, who feeds
us at this table. Just as the font must be visible to express its meaning, so will the
Lord’s Table be allowed to function as a symbol. Be sensitive to what the
presence of other things on the Lord’s Table says about the meaning of the meal.
4. Lead appropriate portions of weekly worship from the font and from the table.
What we do and how we do it convey meaning every bit as much as what we
say. Intentionally leading worship from the font helps people make theological
connections that might not be so clear to them otherwise. The presence of the
leader at the font invites the congregation to see and hear anew portions of the
liturgy that have baptismal implications. For example, leading the Prayer of
Confession and Declaration of Pardon from the font grounds our confidence in
God’s forgiveness in our baptismal identity. Lifting water with hands as the words
of forgiveness are spoken makes this connection even more strongly.
Imagine the increased meaning of all acts of promise making if done at the font
where God’s covenant pledge to us is enacted. Reception of new members,
including youth, ordination and installation, dedication, commissioning and
marriage might all take place around the font.
The congregation can also engage the font while receiving the Lord’s Supper.
When worshipers pass by the font as they come forward to receive the bread and
wine, some will look and see while others will reach into the water and
remember their baptism actively.
Baptism gives the church its mission, as well as its identity. Offering the Charge
and Blessing from the font (again, lifting water with hands) is a reminder that we
are a sent people, baptized for service in the world. Ministry, mission,
stewardship and ethics are all rooted in our being washed in grace for self-giving
in the world.
Leading the intercessions or extending the offering invitation from behind the
Lord’s Table can help make similar connections. At this table where the hungry
are fed, our prayers and our gifts for others come into focus as ways we respond
to the Word and reach out to serve the world Christ loves.
5. Increase the number of Sundays on which the Lord’s Supper is
celebrated.
At Eucharist we are fed and nourished to live the baptismal life. The Christ with
whom we are joined in baptism, and whose body we are, continues to give
himself to us in the meal that bears his name. As the only repeatable part of
Christian initiation, the Lord’s Supper draws us more deeply into the paschal
mystery of our dying and rising with Christ. Trusting the integrity of our Reformed
tradition and its affirmation of Word and Sacrament as normative for each Lord’s
Day, we encourage the increased frequency of the Lord’s Supper. Congregations
might consider adding particular Sundays in the liturgical year or try celebrating
the Lord’s Supper through an entire season, like the season of Easter.
Whether
you increase the annual number of Communion Sundays by one or by several,
more frequent and regular use of these means of grace strengthens the church in
its baptismal identity and call.
In addition to existing resources like the Presbyterian Planning Calendar, the
Directory for Worship, Book of Common Worship and Holy is the Lord, the Office
of Theology and Worship will be producing aids to assist congregations that
desire to increase the frequency of Communion. |
