A sacrament is a means or vehicle for God’s grace in our lives. As United Methodists we celebrate two sacraments: Holy Communion and Baptism. When we participate in the sacraments, we remember what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Through the sacraments we experience something in our relationship with God. Participating in the sacraments is a spiritual discipline because it is an ordered way of acting that puts us in God’s presence in a special way. The sacraments remind us who we are and Whose we are.
Baptism is God’s Mark on Your Life – Marked as a Child of God Forever – Sort of like a tattoo.
Take time to record your thoughts: If you have been baptized list your thoughts and feelings surrounding that experience. You may have been baptized as an infant, if so you should have learned the significance of this event through the church in the past several years.
How does it make you feel a sense of belonging when you participate in the sacraments?
Reaffirmation of Baptism
In the United Methodist Church we have a service where you are encouraged to remember your baptism. This is not just for those who were baptized as an infant and cannot remember their baptism, this is for everyone. I was baptized when I was about 21 or 22 years of age and to be honest, I did not have a good understanding of what Baptism meant at that time. I view this no differently than when an infant is baptized, yes I was the one who said I was ready and still I didn’t understand all that it meant.
Baptism is the sacrament through which we are initiated into the Christian fellowship. Therefore, before you join a particular denomination or congregation, you must be a member of the universal church through baptism.
At your baptism, you declare your faith in the God revealed in Jesus Christ and promise to be obedient to God always. Or your parents or sponsors, presenting you for baptism, proclaimed their faith in God, claimed God’s grace for you, and promised to bring you up in the Christian faith by their teachings and example and by keeping you under the ministry of the church. And the church promised to nourish you with its prayers and through Christian education.
Holy Communion – Refer to This Holy Mystery