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Baptism in the Presbyterian Church:
Presbyterians
practice both infant and adult baptism in obedience to Jesus' Great
Commission, "Go into all nations and make disciples baptizing…"
According to our Book of Order, "in Baptism we participate in Jesus'
death and resurrection. We die to what separates us from God and are
raised to newness of life in Jesus Christ, who died for us and who was
raised for us." This statement reflects the early church's practice
of baptism by immersion. A new disciple waded out into the water, was
submerged beneath the water (symbolic of dying to an old life of sin)
and rose up out of the water (symbolic of rising with Christ to a new
life of holiness and love).
We also baptize infants because Christ bid the little children "to
come unto me," because Acts speaks of the baptism of entire households,
and because baptism is compared to the Old Testament rite of circumcision,
a mark which showed that a child belonged to God's people. Infant baptism
shows the sheer grace of God, that God is at work in a child's life
before he or she is aware of God's presence. Adult baptism shows the
necessary response of faith in Christ. Because God makes solemn promises
to us in baptism, we do not re-baptize, which implies, "Did You
really mean what You said?"
The water in
baptism is, of course, a symbol of cleansing, our cleansing from sin,
and is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit. In the arid Near East, vegetation
could not grow without water, so water became a symbol of the Spirit's
giving of spiritual life. As Jesus testifies in John, "Whoever
believes in me, as the Scripture says, streams of living water will
flow from within him…By this He meant the Spirit"(John 7:37).
In infant baptism, parents promise or covenant before God to raise their
child within the family of faith which is the church. Practically this
means that they promise to be the kind of active disciples they wish
their children to become. Adult baptism involves a personal commitment
of faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
The Lord's Supper in the Presbyterian Church:
The Lord's Supper recalls how our Lord sat at table with His disciples the night of His arrest and broke bread, symbolic of His body being broken, and shared the cup, symbolic of His blood being shed for the remission of our sins. As we partake, we remember His healing presence. Jesus shared a Passover meal that evening which remembered how the angel of death "passed over" the houses of the Israelites during their bondage in Egypt as they sprinkled the blood of a lamb upon their door posts. Christ's shed blood gives us assurance that the angel of death will pass over us.
The Lord's Supper is called "communion" expressive of our oneness with God and our need for oneness with each other. All who confess Jesus Christ as Savior are welcome to partake in the sacrament. We labor diligently to insure that the table is open especially to "the least of our brothers and sister." It is also called "Eucharist," a Greek word meaning "thanksgiving." Since heaven is pictured in Isaiah 25 as a great banquet, sharing in the supper is an anticipation of that future time when we will dine together and our Lord Himself will be our host.