"Knowing About" and "Participation in"

We are all so often deceived into the trap of dividing Christianity up into the “ritual” and the “necessary.” The Eucharist along with the other Sacraments are discarded as “ceremony” because of their scripted nature and repetitiveness while believing in a handful of central truths like the Resurrection and the Trinity are all that’s needed. If the intellectual exercise of belief were all that was necessary, then why did Christ even command us to be baptized? Is one born again in the waters of baptism or is he or she born again when the choice is made to be baptized? Obviously at least one “ritual” has been demanded by Christ as a “condition” for Salvation (John 3:5).

The point is that Christianity is not simply an act of knowing a certain truth, but active participation in that truth. So often this is abstracted to have a social meaning, that is to say doing good deeds, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and other certainly righteous acts. However, the Orthodox concept of Sacrament is not restricted to that, but also to real participation in Christ. We are baptized into death and resurrection with Christ as He was also baptized. We participate in the once and for all Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross in the Eucharist. We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit in Chrysmation just as Christ gave the Disciples the gift of Spirit at the Pentecost. Just knowing about these acts of Christ is far different from having them realized in our lives in the here and now- which is to say through the Sacraments.

-Steve K.

Obama Treats Oath of Office like a Sacrament

Well didn't we learn in Sunday school that sacramentum in Latin means oath?

President Obama retakes the Oath of Office:

The do-over was aimed at dispelling any confusion that might arise from Tuesday's take -- in which "faithfully" was said out of sequence -- and erase any question that Obama is legally the president.

However, per the Constitution, Obama became president at noon Tuesday without taking the oath.

"We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday," White House counsel Greg Craig said Wednesday in a written statement.

"But the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath a second time," the statement read.

full article, CNN

As a devotee of Sacramental Christianity, I find this whole exercise refreshing. They respected the words and spirit behind the oath of office enough to do it right; albeit on the second try. Aside from the obvious motive of avoiding litigation, the Obama Administration is showing that what's written in the Constitution regarding the proper transfer of power actually matters.

I don't think it's a stretch to connect this to our concept of Sacrament in the Orthodox Church. The Liturgy shouldn't be done sloppily nor are we free to rearrange or reword it solely for our convenience. Now, I won't go ahead and argue that a mistated word in the liturgy makes the Eucharist null and void, but I will say that just as Obama recognized that there was indeed something amiss, we too should be meticulous with things as they are handed down to us.