How shall we visibly seal our lives to God? Ah Phyllis Tickle, this is such a soul question. This question matters. It invites us to wonder about the visible and tangible evidence in us that shows the world we are in love with God, in love with our faith, in love with our congregation, in love with service to Christ Jesus. How do the sacraments invite this response in us? How do they compel us to live as if we are embraced by the mystery of God’s intimate compassion and shot through by the loving and revealing light of Christ? This is clearly about more than just water, or a small morceau of bread, a simple clay chalice or a tiny plastic cup.
In our tradition, we have two sacraments: baptism and communion. Each of them serve to make what is ordinary into something quite extraordinary. They are, as Phyllis Tickle says, “An outward sign of an inward promise.” Through each of these sacraments, we are making holy our promises to live as and be a people of God who are called to remember who and Who’s we are. In this way, we visibly seal our lives to God. The sacraments serve to remind us that we are God’s people. That we are loved by God, embraced by God, accompanied by God no matter what life is for us in the moment and guided by God. We are granted wisdom by God to be the best stewards of our lives and of the creation we have been given to manage. We do our best at all of this because we have been called into relationship with God by the ancient proclamations of the sages and prophets and by the wisdom and teachings of Jesus.