These reflections are generated from my sermon this weekend. My conclusion about church mission and ministry is founded in the life-changing insights I garnered thirty years ago from the little book by Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ the Sacrament of Encounter with God. Now if you pay attention to detail you will notice I read it before 1980 or, and my guess is I have left out much and maybe reshaped quite a bit. If what follows interests you check it out at
http://books.google.com/books?id=mJd8YFnXZkgC&pg=PA13&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
[A meaningless side note. I met Schillebeeckx in Leuven when he came to speak at our school. One of my highlights in seminary was being the person who brought him his lunch, he was not feeling well. The most memorable part of his visit was hearing his voice. He sounded like Bella Legosi. I was not the only one to notice it. I cannot recall any content, but I do remember endless hours of entertaining ourselves imitating Count Dracula's take on theology.]
The term sacrament is popular in the Catholic world. It is ignored, frequently rejected and sometimes even detracted in the Protestant world. In the Middle Ages, after many years of alternative practices and different numbering (for a readable overview see Joseph Martos' Doors to the Sacred) the Church eventually settled on Seven (probably driven as much by the magic number seven as anything). The number seven is clearly problematic because if Baptism and Confirmation are two separate sacraments, then Holy Orders (bishop, priest, deacon) should be three!
The reformers made quick work of the Roman sacramental system and accepted only two as given by the Lord (baptism and eucharist). This is because Jesus said "Do this..." (I pointed out in my sermon that Jesus also told us to heal, teach, preach, exorcise and the sacrament of healing is certainly from Jesus and done at His command.) I am not going to enter into a thorough historical discussion on the issue at this point (who knows what may come) but I do think discussion of sacraments, like many other topics, is driven by "team spirit" (or what St. Paul calls "I am for Cephas, I am for Apollos, I am for Paul.") And we know that shuts done thinking quicker than anything.
Leaving the word sacrament aside, what is the reality or phenomenon we ar speaking about? Signification. An outward, material thing or act in and through which a spiritual reality is conveyed. A sacrament is a sign which does and means what it signifies. A kiss is a sacrament. Or a hug. A wedding ring. Or a marriage. At core, our bodies are sacarament. Our bodies convey meaning. In the days ahead I will try to lay out my thinking more, but to start with ponder this: what can I SEE and what can I not SEE in the things/actions which matter deeply to me?
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