The Sacraments

by Don Palmer

The Episcopal Church recognizes seven sacraments, of which only two  — Baptism and Holy Eucharist, the great sacraments — referred to as “sacraments of the Gospel” and “dominical sacraments” because they were instituted by Our Lord Himself (Dominus). They are “essential” to the church, according to the Lambeth Quadrilateral.

Digress. In 1888, at the Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops, and following by a couple of years a meeting in Chicago of the Episcopal Bishops, there was adopted a four-pronged statement, the Lambeth Quadrilateral. It said that the essential requirements of the church are (1) Holy Scriptures as containing all things necessary for salvation; (2) the Apostles’ Creed as the baptismal statement and the Nicene Creed as a sufficient statement of the Church’s faith; (3) the two sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, and (4) the historic episcopate as a symbol of the unity of the church. (See the Book of Common Prayer, pp 876, 878)

Baptism is from the Greek word meaning to dip in water. Obviously rituals involving water, even water to purify, have been present in many traditions for centuries. The Jews of Jesus’ day used baptism to initiate the Gentiles converts.  John the Baptist, that great man, used baptism as a sign of repentance. Water has enormous and irreplaceable significance in our lives. It is essential  for life, beginning in the womb.

Next — what is a sacrament? In the way– back days of catechisms, we learned to say, and never to forget, that a sacrament is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace”. Jesus took common water, vital water, and gave it new meaning, as the way to initiate candidates into his discipleship. The application of water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is essential for Christian baptism.

In baptism we are born anew, into God’s family, the Church. The candidate is cleansed of Original Sin, and the parents and godparents — and the entire congregation — receive the person as a member of the Christian community and promise to teach and support him. Some denominations restrict baptism to adults, with the reasoning that a baby cannot make these promises himself. We, on the other hand, believe that infants and children are appropriate candidates.  The New Testament records the baptism of adults and “their household”.

Early on, of course, immersion was the practice. We really don’t know how we came more customarily to baptize by pouring (not sprinkling) water on the candidates head. By the fourth century, however, pouring water was the norm.  Baptism by immersion is done upon request in the Episcopal Church and of course is itself the standard in many other Protestant denominations and Orthodox churches. Since water is a sign, only, the volume of water would seem less important.