In The Episcopal Church it is often said that “Sacraments” (i.e., Baptism and Holy Communion) are “Outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace…”
For example, water and the invocation of the Trinity, are outward signs of a Sacrament, in this case Baptism, and the “spiritual grace” is what we believe manifests in the life of a person who is baptized. In Holy Communion the outward and visible sign of the Sacrament would be bread and wine, while the inward and spiritual grace would be what takes place in the life of one who receives Holy Communion, also known as “The Lord’s Supper.”
The phrase “An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace” could be applied to other practices found in a myriad of Christian denominations and groups.
Such expressions or religious elements and actions eliciting spiritual responses might be: foot washing, being “slain in the Spirit,” the sign of the Cross, talking in tongues, faith healing, etc.
While not necessarily shared practices between bodies of Christians, they have in common a transcendent and spiritual nature in which people faithfully believe that their lives have been affected by God to greater or lesser degrees by certain actions and elements.
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Yet, such understandings can place limits on the broader and more spiritually healthful understanding that in a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ, every aspect of our lives is made new — mind, body, and spirit.
Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, we are a new creation. One whose entirety is dedicated to living into God’s Kingdom, rather than trying to discern what are the religious, transcendent, or sacramental, practices and occurrences in our lives, versus the secular, or “worldly.”
Why limit God’s working in and through us to time and place, when we might better say, “All of life is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” As God is not limited by time and space, why should we define our relationship to God in limiting and restrictive ways? Why shouldn’t every action and reaction we make in life be thought and made in the knowledge of God — so that our life is the expression of our relationship to God — good and bad.
Maybe when a football player scores a goal, and for instance, kneels down, and crosses himself, or public prayers are said for special events we ask ourselves, what are we really saying about ourselves? Are our lives so individually barren of the manifestation of God’s grace that we think we need to assert our beliefs in some public way? Or, are we saying God is uniquely with us more so than with others who may also have prayed before a game, political race, or store opening?
I am not opposed to public displays of faith, but I feel the life lived out in Christ’s presence is more effectively a voice for God, than any self-conscious and impetuous act of self-glorification. My prayer is that we live our lives transformed, and being transformed by God, rather than trying to look like our lives have been transformed.
May we live into our destiny in God’s glory, and may we be wholly, and holy His — so that we won’t have to act the part, but live the role we have been blessed with — that each action, and utterance will point Godward. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” {Matt. 6:5, NIV.}
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The Rev. Walter Van Zandt Windsor is rector at Trinity Episcopal Church.
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