Worship, Rites and Sacraments

For many Christians, worship is at the heart of our relationship with God, both as individuals and a community. In worship we focus on God: on hearing a message based on the Bible, on prayer, and on the sacraments. Of course individual Christians can do many of these things in private. However in worship we ground our life as a community in a corporate experience of God.

The one aspect of worship which is most specific to Christianity is the sacraments. This is also the element that is the most dangerous to describe in a document such as this, which is intended to describe Christianity in general. That's because the definition of sacrament is somewhat different among different groups. However a good general definition is that a sacrament is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace" (from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer).

It could be argued that a rite is of the same nature.  The difference for the United Church between a rite and a sacrament is whether Jesus performed the act.  A sacrament is something we celebrate as an act of Christ.  A rite is something that we do as a result of our faith.  The sacraments and rites each involve a specific symbolic action (the "sign") that make visible God's action for us.  In the United Church we celebrate two sacraments: baptism and communion. In the protestant tradition, of which the United Church is part, weddings and funerals are not sacraments.  They are rather rites of the Church by which we mark the milestones of our life journey.

Copyright © 2003 by Wesley Memorial United Church.

All rights reserved.  Revised: Wednesday December 10, 2008 03:32 PM.