As Christians, we are called to seek the unity of the one body of Christ. But when it comes to the sacraments, the church has often been-and remains-divided. What are we to do? Can we still gather together at the same table? Based on the lectures from the 2017 Wheaton Theology Conference, this volume brings together the reflections of Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox theologians, who jointly consider what it means to proclaim the unity of the body of Christ in light of the sacraments. Without avoiding or downplaying the genuine theological and sacramental differences that exist between Christian traditions, what emerges is a thoughtful consideration of what it means to live with the difficult, elusive command to be one as the Father and the Son are one.

For a new Christian, or even someone who has followed the Lord for years, the Lord's Supper can feel somewhat mysterious. In this short booklet, pastor Aubrey Sequeira unpacks what the Bible says about the Lord's Supper, exploring 5 ways the Lord's Supper is important for the local church.

First published in 1901, this book traces the development of the Sacrament of Confession from the earliest days of Christianity to 1215, when public penance and confession was replaced by the more intimate Auricular format. The text is rigorously annotated with citations from the original sources and in the original languages. Although written primarily for Anglican clergymen, this book will be of value to anyone interested in the implementation and evolution of Sacraments and in Church history more generally.

Baptism is a public sign that a Christian has been brought from death to life. This volume in the 9Marks Church Questions series unpacks Scripture's teaching on the necessity of baptism for the life and growth of the local church body.

Each chapter gives material for the members of the group to read in advance. There is a framework or plan for a group meeting, with detailed ideas for activities and discussion. There is also general advice about group processes, including recruiting and running such groups. There is a framework for prayer, and biblical themes to be considered in context. The sessions are equally for seekers and confirmation candidates, and for teenagers as well as adults.

Having set aside the Catholic liturgical books, the Protestant Church of England then found itself on occasion obliged to recreate certain rites as necessity arose. The volume aims at presenting a considerable number of these from manuscript and printed sources, and is furnished with ample appendices. The complexity of material involved suggests the usefulness of listing the acts and the sources drawn upon. Twenty-nine main texts are printed, together with a large number of other relevant documents.

This journal has been constructed in imitation of the copybook made for Therese Martin by her older sister Pauline (Sr. Agnes of Jesus) in 1884 to help Therese prepare for her First Holy Communion. Each day of her sixty-nine day preparation period Therese recorded the number of times she recited the included prayers and aspirations. By using her "sacrifice beads," she counted each time she overcame her own desires in order to please Jesus. Inspired by that copybook, this journal uses the same method of encouraging-and recording-daily prayers and mortifications. However, instead of using flowers to illustrate virtues, this resource uses the battle model St. Paul describes in Ephesians 6:10-17. First communicants are encouraged to arm themselves with virtues and spiritual weapons in order to fight as soldiers of Christ. The scriptural words of Jesus and St. Paul are reflected on frequently to encourage the imitation of the actions and love of Jesus and to inspire a love and knowledge of Holy Scripture.
Use this journal on its own or in conjunction with the "Communion with the Saints "family preparation program for First Communion. Create a lasting First Communion keepsake by daily recording your thoughts, prayers, and drawings. May you-like St. Therese-learn to love Jesus more deeply, thereby joining St. Paul's "holy ones" (Ephesians 6:18) in heaven.

"I have seen water move rocks. I have seen thistles break through boulders." "If water and flowers can move stones, surely love can." Becca Stevens, from "Funeral for a Stranger" In this meditation on living and dying, Becca Stevens shares moving and hilarious stories about her life, love, friends, and our many families. This delicately formed narrative is also a window into the soul of a priest. I loved it and will hold it in my heart with gratitude for years to come. -Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why Loneliness finds connections, depair meets celebration, and fear discovers faith. Join Becca on her journey to a funeral for a stranger. God will be there. -Don Schlitz, Hall of Fame songwriter of The Gambler With elegant simplicity Becca Stevens escorts the reader to the banks of the deepest spiritual wellspring. Surely she ranks among our most gifted teachers on the things that matter most of all. -Stephen Bauman, author of Simple Truths: On Values, Civility, and Our Common Good

The second edition of a classic designed for baptismal preparation and relevant to all Christians. A program for adult Episcopalians that can easily be adapted to other denominations, one-on-one spiritual mentoring, children, young adult, or intergenerational groups, and even to individuals for private meditation. The eight group sessions in this book focus repeatedly on water, first as a natural element necessary to life, then as a symbolic element necessary to spirituality. Gradually, through prayer, song, scripture, silence, poetry, visual arts, storytelling, group discussion, and personal reflection, water-as a baptismal element-gains ascendancy. No longer merely occasional refreshment, Living Water inundates, becoming life's very medium.

The most solemn, majestic, and beautiful gifts that Jesus Christ gave to the world are His sacraments. He endowed them with unprecedented and unparalleled power--power to change lives, save souls, and share God's very life. The sacraments are the ordinary means by which God directs the course of each human life and all of world history.
The Church celebrates seven sacraments: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, matrimony, holy orders, confession, and anointing of the sick. Each was established by Jesus for the sake of salvation. When Jesus spoke of the sacraments, He made clear that they were essential: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (Jn 3:5) . . . unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you (Jn 6: 53).
In "Swear to God," Dr. Scott Hahn explores the richness of Christ's sacraments--their doctrine, history, symbols, and rituals. Drawing upon the Bible and the Church's tradition, he shows how God's covenants--with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David--became the driving forces in history. When Jesus came to fulfill all these covenants, He established a new covenant, with greater power than ever before. Christians are God's children now. Joined to Christ by baptism, we can already share in the eternal life of the Trinity, a life we hope to know fully in heaven. But heaven is with us, even now, in the sacraments.

Encourages readers to give the death of their spouse full expression.

Help children understand the sacrament of Baptism with this scrapbook record of the day they were welcomed into the Church. An introduction for elementary school children, along with pages for photographs, prayers, and memories, make this an excellent gift for your child and a helpful teaching tool.

How might our worship recapture and reflect the enchanted world of God's nearness in Jesus Christ? In this first volume in IVP Academic's Dynamics of Christian Worship series, John D. Rempel offers a vision for this kind of transformative worship. A theologian and minister in the Mennonite Church, Rempel considers the role of the sacraments and ritual within the Free Church tradition. While the Free Churches rightly sought to cleanse the church of the abuses of sacramentalism, in that process they also set aside some of the church's historic practices and the theology behind them, which ultimately impoverished their worship. In response to this liturgically thin space, Rempel appeals to the incarnation of Christ, whose taking on of flesh can help us perceive the sacramental nature of our faith and worship. By embracing life-giving and peacemaking practices, the worship of not only the Free Church tradition but of the whole body of Christ might be transformed and become enchanted once again. The Dynamics of Christian Worship series draws from a wide range of worshiping contexts and denominational backgrounds to unpack the many dynamics of Christian worship-including prayer, reading the Bible, preaching, baptism, the Lord's Supper, music, visual art, architecture, and more-to deepen both the theology and practice of Christian worship for the life of the church.

El bautismo de tu bebe representa un momento de inmensa felicidad. No por nada hacemos fiesta e invitamos a nuestros seres queridos para que se unan a la celebracion. Pero, que es lo que celebramos?, pues celebramos -y experimentamos- el gran amor que Dios tiene por el y por todas las demas personas que participan de este sacramento. Este dia contiene un profundo significado de vida, mas aun, de vida nueva capaz de hacer que todos podamos volver a nacer. Baptism is the beginning of your child's life of faith. As parents and primary educators, you have the privilege and duty of carrying this new son or daughter of God into Christ's family and bride, the Church. This faith-formation manual will prepare you for your baby's special day, as well as remind you of your own baptismal promises and calling. With the priest or deacon, godparents, parish, friends, and family, your baby's baptism will be a celebration and sign of lifelong love and grace.

The Christian church confesses "one baptism." But the church's answers to how, whom and when to baptize, and even what it means or does, are famously varied. This book provides a forum for thoughtful proponents of three principal evangelical views to state their case, respond to the others, and then provide a summary response and statement. Sinclair Ferguson sets out the case for infant baptism, Bruce Ware presents the case for believers' baptism, and Anthony Lane argues for a mixed practice. As with any good conversation on a controversial topic, this book raises critical issues, challenges preconceptions and discloses the soft points in each view. Evangelicals who wish to understand better their own church's practice or that of their neighbor, or who perhaps are uncertain of their own views, will value this incisive book.