The Sacraments are the promise of God’s presence to us at the deepest level of our being.

The Book of Common Prayer defines the Sacraments as those outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means that we receive that grace.  A grace is an unearned and undeserved action of God toward us for our benefit.

At the heart of the Church’s Sacraments are Baptism and the Eucharist; the participation by means of symbols--water, bread, and wine--in the passion of Christ.  In this way we are confronted with the reality of Christ’s Incarnation at its supreme moment of offering:  His death and resurrection.  What makes Baptism and the Eucharist so central to our Christian life is that they make present in the current moment the passion of Christ.

Baptism lies at the root of the Church’s sacramental life.  Baptism is the initiation of the Christian into the Family of God.  From Baptism the Christian life flows.

The Eucharist is the service in which Christians come together to give God thanks, to remember that all we have is a gift, and to offer praise and thanksgiving for God’s goodness.

The first Christians called it “The Breaking of the Bread,” because it was as Jesus broke bread with the disciples that they recognized His presence with them.  In those days, the meal was probably more a potluck supper than a solemn ritual.  Over time the sharing of the bread and wine became a separate action with prayers that took a more set form.  By the middle of the second century, we find records of prayers still being said today.

Sacramental worship is worship that makes us aware of God’s gifts and recognizes the Divine Presence in the created world.