Church: The Sacrament of God’s Grace Chapter 6. Sacrament? VISIBLE sign instituted by God (Christ)...
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Transcript of Church: The Sacrament of God’s Grace Chapter 6. Sacrament? VISIBLE sign instituted by God (Christ)...
Church: The Sacrament of God’s Grace
Chapter 6
Sacrament?• VISIBLE sign instituted by God (Christ) to give
invisible grace.• (Sacraments are outward signs of
inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification)
• Jesus is the ultimate sacrament of God• The Church is also considered to be a
sacrament of God.
The 7 Sacraments
INITIATION– Baptism
– Confirmation
– Eucharist
HEALING
– Reconciliation
– Sacrament of the Sick
VOCATION– Marriage
– Holy Orders
Church, legacy of Jesus, work of the Spirit
• Page 107, story of hermit Anthony• Challenge: how to proclaim & put into
practice gospel ethics?– Who can live this type of perfection?– “The Christian ideal has not been
tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”
• G.K. Chesterton Chapter 5, What’s Wrong With The World, 1910)
The Church begins to take form• 50 years after crucifixion, disciples gather in many
places• Become known as “christians”
– “break bread together” as taught by Jesus on day after Sabbath
• Not structured yet– Charismatic, wandering prophets / teachers
• Leaders began to organize communities– Help 2nd generation of believers– How to take Jesus’ words, deeds practices,
teachings, moral behaviours & worship– Authority for resolving disputes
The role of the Holy Spirit
• Read Acts 2.41-47 (p. 108)• Holy Spirit: the link connecting Jesus with the first
followers– Those who followed Jesus, experienced the
Resurrection, eyes opened to see & interpret His story
– They baptized, taught, prayed with new followers– Broke bread– Shared possessions– Church begins to take shape guided by the Spirit
Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles• Paul wrote his letters to Christian
communities before the Gospels were written
• He wasn’t originally a follower of Jesus– Persecuted Christians– Saul, Shammaite Pharisee, Christians were
seen as “polluters” of Jewish Law and this stood in the way of Israel’s being free from foreign domination
– See Acts 9.1-10.22 (page 110 text)
Conversion• Change:
–Mind–Heart–Behaviour
• Turning one’s life “upside down”–Making a u-turn
• “Conversion today” p. 112
Jesus was dangerous for Saul• So were the followers of Jesus• They had different agendas
– They didn’t take the law seriously– Didn’t show reverence for the Temple– Proclaimed Jesus as risen from the dead
• How could this be? • The world was in the same rebellion• The pagans hadn’t been defeated
• Saul’s experience of the blinding light Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed one of God
• Until Jesus returned again, it was the age of the Church• Paul became convinced that the Gentiles were part of
fulfilling God’s promise
The Church develops a self-understanding: The Trinity in history
• God played a role in the life of the early Church– Holy Spirit’s descent on Pentecost– Christian living = “living in the Spirit” – Connection to each other “Body of
Christ”• Purpose of the Church?
– To reflect a communion of love & life similar to God’s (i.e. Trinity see note page 113, CCC #1997)
God seems to revel in diversity!• E.g. the growing diversity of different
peoples– Call of Abraham &, Sarah: restoring
creation after sin of Adam– Call of Moses to create a new nation– Call of prophets– The mission of Jesus
Matthew 23.37
• “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
John 17.25-26“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Church: instrument of God’s love / grace
• Church where the love of God for Jesus is made visible
• Church reaches out: – Poor – Sick
• Church: a sacrament of God’s activity of gathering, a sign of God’s love in the world
The Spirit’s Mission• To complete what the Father
sent Jesus to do:• To show the world how
great God’s love is• John 13.1 “Having loved his
own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”