Sacrament – Visible & Invisible

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A sacrament is defined as an outward physical sign of an inner spiritual reality.

In traditional religious practice, sacramental acts include ritual cleansing of hands and feet, cups and pots, physical placement of various material items on an altar, assuming various bodily postures such as kneeling in prayer, etc. The intent here is to be “present with the body” in order to conjure the presence of Spirit or the approval of a personal God.

Three examples of Jesus conceding to outward ceremony are: his baptism at the Jordan River his commanding 10 healed lepers to show themselves to a priest, and his attendance at the Last Supper, which “closed forever Jesus’ ritualism or concessions to matter.” (SH, p. 33)

Metaphysically speaking, Sacrament has nothing whatsoever to do with outward rites proscribed by men, but works wrought by Mind alone. The things of Mind “are alone Real; what is called Corporeal, Nobody Knows of its Dwelling Place: it is in Fallacy, and its Existence an Imposture. Where is the Existence Out of Mind or Thought? Where is it but in the Mind of a Fool?” — William Blake

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From CS Journal, July 1886, excerpted from “Church and Association” article:

SUMMER COMMUNION SERVICE –

At the close of Mr. Gill’s sermon, the beloved pastor of the church, Mrs. Eddy, administered the sacrament, after she had received into fellowship those who presented themselves for membership.

Happy indeed are those who receive the Right Hand of Welcome in Divine Love from such a pastor as this! She who walks so close to God may well bid others into the wealth of His riches and His power. Self-consecration becomes a joy in itself, when such rewards as she has earned burst upon the vision. She welcomes us to a communion with Spirit, that shall bring as its result a regeneration of ourselves, making us enter into communication with Jesus, who demonstrated the entireness of God, the supremacy of Spirit, and the nothingness of matter.

This communion can come only by regeneration, by the baptism of Spirit, as taught through Christian Science. This baptism with fire brings out the true odor of divinity, establishing the omnipresence of God, imparted to man in healing the sick by salvation from sin, and triumphing over a sense of (dead and buried) understanding, and revealing the Comforter which leadeth into peace.

This it is to eat the bread. What is the Bread of Christian Science? It is the strength and nutriment that God gives to the fainting heart and faltering footsteps, in the awful hours of human helplessness; yea! that power He imparts, by which we gain a recognition of Himself,—that recognition which is never grasped by intellect, but by the humble heart.

What is the Cup of Christian Science? It is that cup which is drank in affliction. It is the exhilaration of joy, after the triumph over temptation. It is the fruit of that vine of which the Father is the husbandman. It is that wine-press which each child of God must tread alone,—that wine-press whose seeds of sin must be crushed, and which the weary feet may not leave till each seed is in itself crushed,—that out of this essence God shall distil a new creature, which shall bear witness of Himself as the Love which heals.

We are bidden, as members of this church, to partake of the silent sacrament, to come to this table of His preparing with thanksgiving. To us is spoken the command, “My child, give me thy heart;” while it is ours to answer:

Search me, oh God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my thoughts;
And see if there be any wicked way in me.

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