Sacramental Living

Sacrament: An outward, visible sign of an inward,invisible grace.

You may recognize this definition, words that describe the holy mysteries at the center of our faith. God’s love, made visible in the tangible world.

Baptism and Holy Communion are the two acts recognized as sacraments by our denomination. We experience them in the place where we expect to find them—the church—where they are communal, witnessed and shared by all who are gathered. Powerful reminders of the God who first calls us into the body of Christ, and then reminds us of how and why we were brought there. 

Sacraments are powerful. They are holy. And sometimes, they happen in unexpected places.

The daughter of a dear friend was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She will soon be fighting for her life, surrounded, covered—by love, by prayer, by the care she will need through weeks of chemo and its side-effects.

We know them too well. Exhaustion. Nausea. The loss of hair.

Those who love her will know that feeling of utter helplessness we have all experienced at some point, knowing that we cannot lift from our beloved what is coming, that the future does not rest in our hands. Her parents will live with the constant question: What can we do for our precious child?

Here is one thing they did. After she had washed her long, beautiful hair, her mother dried it. Her father braided it. They cared for her, just as they did when she was a child. They laid their hands upon her, upon the hair they had washed, combed, brushed, braided so many times.

But this time, it was a sacramental act.

A tangible, visible sign of the love and grace of God, passed through the hands of parents who needed to remind their daughter—and themselves—that God is there now and will be there as they walk this difficult path. That God has placed them exactly where they need to be, to care for their child, and will give them the necessary strength. An outward sign of invisible grace, the divine love of God expressed through an act of love in one family.

Friends, sacraments like this are happening every day, if we have eyes to see them. And we need them now. Every. Single. Day. We, too, need to be reminded that God is here, and will be here, as we live and move through the often terrifying reality we face as citizens of this nation.

Terrifying because it is not confined to any specific person or group. It is an evil, a darkness, gathering and growing throughout our country, where people are being murdered, imprisoned, attacked, dehumanized, shamed, exiled, afraid to live out their daily lives.

Mr. Rogers is famously quoted as telling children to look for the helpers in any frightening situation. Beloved, we need not only to look for help, we need to deliver help, in whatever action lies within our grasp.

Some of us are engaging in what is intended to be peaceful protest. Some are contacting the leaders of our communities. Some are gathering in public places to sing together. Some are in constant prayer. All are performing sacraments of love and hope.

A candle lit in memory of one who was lost. A body standing between one who is targeted, and one who is threatening. A hand reaching down to pull up one who has fallen. Priests, pastors, people of faith and people of no faith, pleading for change, for mercy to rain down from the heavens.

And some actions are very small, easily unnoticed, even at church.

 If you go out of your way to offer the sign of peace to someone you don’t recognize, someone sitting alone at worship, you are performing a sacrament. If you close your eyes and listen intentionally to the words and melodies of the music, you are receiving a sacrament. If, as we walk to our cars in the parking lot, a beam of sunlight suddenly lights up the clouds, we are experiencing a sacrament.

We need to bear witness to these sacramental moments—these visible reminders of God’s presence—if we are to come through the other side of this present time. For only the love and grace of God will see us through.

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” May we all cling to this promise as we watch it unfold before us, in our shared, sacramental living.

Blessings, beloved.

Lou Ann