Sacraments In The United Methodist Church
Christian faith is based on love for God and love for neighbor. God loves God’s creation and extends the love for humankind through means of grace. The theology of sacraments is proportional to the means of grace. A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion claims that it is through sacraments that “God discloses things that are beyond human capacity to know through reason alone.” The discussion gives way to questions about grace, and the understanding about grace in the United Methodist Church, involving the Wesleyan understanding about Baptism and Eucharist. The paper will address questions like “What are sacraments in the United Methodism? How is the theology of sacraments related to the means of grace and how does a Christian become
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The early church referred to the word sacrament in Greek as mysterion which means “mystery.” In Latin the word has been known as sacramentum which indicates a “vow” or a “promise.” This asserts that “the sacraments were instituted by Christ and given to the church.” This further explicates the concept of sacrament to be a mystery because Jesus Christ is a “manifestation of a sacrament.” This is relative to God’s mystery about being born through a human body. Furthermore, Christ continues to show mysterious through the church, which is the body of Christ. This further leads one to know that it is through one’s baptism, that one receives an “identity” and learns about one’s “mission” in the Christian faith. Also, that as a believer that practices the Holy Communion is a sacrament that “sustains and nourishes us in our journey of …show more content…
It is a question that is more frequently asked by people of other faith backgrounds. Dr. Anderson’s lecture echoes such question “Is baptism really needed?” The idea of Baptism is based on the concept of prevenient grace. The term “prevenient grace” is a Latin word prae that means “before,” and venire that means “to come.” Though Stookey points out that the prevenient grace is there before as ask for it, he makes the case that “God does not wait for us to request help or even to know that we need it.” (46) On a similar note, Dr.Anderson’s question “If prevenient grace is there, why do we need the ritual?” gives way to another discussion of the connection between baptism and prevenient grace.
Though the fact remains that we do not ask for this prevenient grace, God knows that we need it, without us asking for it. This carries certain implications too, that we cannot baptize people belonging to other faiths. (46) Stookey delineates the concept by stressing that baptism is an initiation into the Christian faith. He points to the love of God stated as “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” as mentioned in (Romans
The early church referred to the word sacrament in Greek as mysterion which means “mystery.” In Latin the word has been known as sacramentum which indicates a “vow” or a “promise.” This asserts that “the sacraments were instituted by Christ and given to the church.” This further explicates the concept of sacrament to be a mystery because Jesus Christ is a “manifestation of a sacrament.” This is relative to God’s mystery about being born through a human body. Furthermore, Christ continues to show mysterious through the church, which is the body of Christ. This further leads one to know that it is through one’s baptism, that one receives an “identity” and learns about one’s “mission” in the Christian faith. Also, that as a believer that practices the Holy Communion is a sacrament that “sustains and nourishes us in our journey of …show more content…
It is a question that is more frequently asked by people of other faith backgrounds. Dr. Anderson’s lecture echoes such question “Is baptism really needed?” The idea of Baptism is based on the concept of prevenient grace. The term “prevenient grace” is a Latin word prae that means “before,” and venire that means “to come.” Though Stookey points out that the prevenient grace is there before as ask for it, he makes the case that “God does not wait for us to request help or even to know that we need it.” (46) On a similar note, Dr.Anderson’s question “If prevenient grace is there, why do we need the ritual?” gives way to another discussion of the connection between baptism and prevenient grace.
Though the fact remains that we do not ask for this prevenient grace, God knows that we need it, without us asking for it. This carries certain implications too, that we cannot baptize people belonging to other faiths. (46) Stookey delineates the concept by stressing that baptism is an initiation into the Christian faith. He points to the love of God stated as “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” as mentioned in (Romans