Mystical Sacraments of the New Church
Communal Participation in Resurrection
Practicing Community – Part Sixteen
On this Easter weekend, churches across the world are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. A common refrain will be heard and echoed across many services and gatherings:
“Christ is risen!”
And the response, “He is risen indeed!”
If I might be so bold, I’d like to propose an amendment to this declaration:
“We are risen indeed!”
For we are the living resurrection of Christ today. Here and now.
If the body of Christ is the people of God, the church, the gathering together of those who are summoned in spirit—and Christ is risen—then we are risen indeed!
The Living Jesus is here too. He is also alive and well in spirit form, guiding and loving us as a constant companion, if we invite his presence.
But we do a major disservice if we limit the reality of Christ’s resurrected spirit to only Jesus. We can all participate in the living resurrection now, personally and collectively.
In the article linked above (from Easter two years ago), I explored the reality of embodying this resurrection in our lives in relation to our unique, personal particularity. Here, I will look at how we might participate in living resurrection in community.
To do this, I’ll draw upon the forms of the traditional Christian practice of sacraments, inviting us into the practice of community through mystical interpretations that invite our holistic participation in our living resurrection now.
“Sacramental Window” – artist unknown
Sacraments of the Christian Church
Sacraments are Christian rites that have been practiced by most forms of the church for centuries. They are considered to be a visible symbol of the reality of God in the world. An outward recognition of an inward grace. A sign of the sacred. They are a practice to make tangible the hidden and unseen spiritual reality that is always around us.
In practicing mystical community, we recognize that we always have access to spiritual reality in and through our very being, in direct and accessible experience. It does not have to be administered to us, and isn’t kept behind the curtain of ecclesiastical authority—it is not just the priests and pastors who have the ability to manifest a sacrament, to bring forth the spiritual reality in our midst in a tangible way. Some churches even privilege or withhold sacraments for various reasons, which is an unholy abuse rooted in power and fear.
Sacraments should not be held as an exclusive dispensation or even as the primary ways that spiritual reality enters into our world. For the sacred is present in all things. But the traditional sacraments are powerful symbols that have been practiced for thousands of years, creating a cosmic groove in the practice of spiritual community, especially for Christians. These rituals tie deeply into our mythic structure of consciousness, which we still need and can embrace in ways that bring forth its energy and substance—but perhaps in new forms.
Certainly, all are still welcome to partake and practice with the sacraments in traditional ways, which can still be quite profound and meaningful. If their baggage and trappings aren’t overly prohibitive or triggering, we need not throw anything out.
But we might expand and evolve in form—and substance too—as we practice mystical community together. For the power in many of these sacraments is palpable and present. And there is within them a greater potentiality, a mostly latent dynamism waiting to be released and unfurled into greater potency and possibility.
So how might we practice these sacraments in an evolving sense in mystical community?
Here, we are less concerned with the theology and inter-denominational differences of how these are viewed, so much as the spiritual energy and meaning in practice. While some denominations and sects hold just two or three official sacraments, though the majority adhere to seven. Let’s consider them all!
Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash
Holy Communion
Also commonly referred to as “The Eucharist” or “The Lord’s Supper,” the sacrament of holy communion comes from the meal shared by Jesus and his disciples the night before the crucifixion. As ritualized, this eating bread and drinking wine becomes a spiritual way to “take in” Christ within our bodies. It is probably the most common sacrament, practiced millions of times throughout the last two thousand years.
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
This sacrament can be misused or abused when it is held as tribal marker of membership in a particular church or group. If it is withheld as a punishment for sin or from “outsiders,” then it has been coopted for power over others, rather than an empowering experience of unification with Christ. It can also be limiting when it is seen as only available and accessible from the church, when only the ordained are able to administer it, or it is conditionally offered.
Communion is most meaningful when it is an experiential participation in the body of Christ. In a mystical sense, this is certainly not limited to bread and wine, but is an embodied reality within and among us. While there is certainly a powerful element to physically eating and drinking, participating in our mystical comm-union is to dwell in the union together at any and all times—not just when we are able to go to a church and receive it.
If we are truly the body of Christ, then the blood flows throughout our bodies. The spirit of Christ consciousness moves and speaks through our cells and our mouths. It is not something that needs to be received from outside of us, but something that we welcome and awaken to within—personally and collectively. We are blessed and consecrated, given to be communion through our very bodies and lives.
Baptism
Baptism was a common practice in the time of Jesus across different religious and cultural traditions. It was a ritual purification, using water, signifying an initiation of some kind. A death and rebirth into a new life. Jesus’ baptism is recorded in scripture, as are accounts of many early Christians being baptized with water. It has been used as a symbol of initiation into Christianity, both for adults and for some traditions, infants. Baptism can be a powerful initiation rite for many finding transformation and new life in Christ.
Similarly to communion, baptism can also be misused when it is held as proof of inclusion, or even an act necessary for salvation. It also can have damaging effects when it is overly emphasized as a purification act, washing away sins or making someone “clean.”
The question for baptism is, “What are we being initiated into?”
Is it simply a rite to join a church, or is it a symbolic, mystical act of inner transformation and receiving divine spirit?
For the early church, it was a declaration of intent to follow the way of Jesus and come into the body of Christ. The baptism of water was meant to symbolize the baptism of spirit, the transformation of consciousness and calling. Today, we can undergo the baptism of spirit regularly, not just as a one-time initiation into “the fold.” But rather a regular invitation to death and rebirth in our consciousness, continually evolving through releasing the old and receiving the awakened spirit consciousness of the new “descending” upon us (or arising within).
Pentecost was the great baptism of spirit in the early church, which also relates to our next sacrament, ordination.
Ordination
Ordination, sometimes referred to as “Holy Orders,” is the Christian rite of bestowing ecclesiastical authority upon those who seek to serve the church in priestly, pastoral, or clerical vocation.
Receiving a call and being ordained in most churches these days involves a process of scholastic study and training that perhaps reflects academia more than an inner receiving of spirit and transformation as practiced in the early church. Of course, education is a good thing, but when it takes center stage as a requirement then too easily and too often does the head take charge. Heart, inner transformation, and spirit are overshadowed.
Ordination has also been misused as power to be withheld from women, LGBTQ+, or others deemed unfit for church leadership by the powers that be. This top-down, hierarchical approach to ordination betrays the spirit of Pentecost, which was given to all who were present and gathered together. In a mystical sense, all are “ordained” to the work of God.
Some have special vocations, to be sure, and it is good to have processes and necessary actions to come into these specific callings. But when they are overly institutionalized and codified, ordination becomes an elite status for only a certain type of ministry.
The baptism of spirit was not a one-time event, giving original authority once and for all to be passed down by succession like in an empire or monarchy. Mystically, we can all receive a call from spirit at any time—an invitation to a specific work in the world. This may be within the confines of the institution of church or not. All vocations are sacred when they are immersed in divine spirit and loving action. We are all invited to be in resonance with the anointing of God in our lives, to live out our call in whatever context we are led to.
Other Sacraments
Anointing of the Sick
Anointing of the sick, or “unction” as it is sometimes called, is usually carried out as a blessing and comfort for those who are ill. Traditionally and mystically, it has also been associated with the act of healing, though that has unfortunately been disenchanted in much of the church. Today, we can recover the enchantment and power of Jesus’ healing in many ways.
Confirmation
In most churches, this sacrament is tied to baptism for adults, but is a more distinct process for adolescents. It is, in its roots, a coming-of-age rite. For the most part, it has been overly associated with learning about one’s specific religious tradition and affirming a mental set of beliefs or catechisms. As many cultures today have lost significant and meaningful coming-of-age rituals, what could mystical “confirmation” look like as an act of coming into a way of being together, as a commitment in resonance to embracing a spiritual identity?
Confession
While the general practice of confession can be good for the soul, the power of giving penance or dolling out reconciliation from the place of ecclesiastical power is often more damaging than helpful, given how often it has been used as a tool of subjugation, shame, and transactional repentance rather than transformational invitation. Might the new confession be healthy forms of personal and communal shadow work?
Marriage
While marriage can be a great thing, perhaps it’s time to release it as a sacrament of higher calling. There is nothing inherently more spiritual about marriage than living a life without it. For a long time, it was held up as a sacred alternative to celibate religious life, and has also been used as a restrictive condition for those who divorced. Now, we can live in holy matrimony or holy solitude—or holy partnership, living together without the need to marry. It is all holy! In relationship, romantic and otherwise, or by ourselves in fullness.
Mystical Grace for All
Some of your beliefs about these sacraments may differ from what I have offered here. And that is fine. I’m much less concerned with the specific mental understanding of these sacred acts that are held in high esteem by many churches. What matters to me is that these “channels for God’s grace” be opened up and evolved in practice to better reflect the immediacy and unrestricted access of spirit in our lives.
We can reclaim from institution and gatekeepers these long-held practices. Releasing and opening the power of the sacraments beyond their current limitations. They are not just contained by the “Church,” which in this case refers to the institution, but alive and flowing throughout the whole church—all those participating in Christ reality. In the spiritual and material, present and alive in all things.
This Christ reality has already been resurrected and is alive within us, among us, and all around us.
We celebrate this Easter reality by coming into our collective participation in resurrection for all. Soaking in the sacred communion among us. Receiving again the baptism of spirit, filled with awakened consciousness. Embracing every holy calling, as each is ordained for sacred work.
Living in mystical, sacramental reality every day—the divine made manifest at any and all times.
As an ever-present reality of life resurrected throughout the whole body of Christ.
Practicing Community:
What sacrament resonates deeply with you? And how have you felt it evolve over time in your life, or what might be unfolding before you in how you practice it?
In your WeSpace group or community, intentionally practice a mystical sacrament together. Be free to adopt past forms and also creatively engage with new forms of practicing it together.
Come practice resurrection together in mystical community!
Join us for an evolving sacramental gathering
Sunday, April 9th
8am PDT / 9am MDT / 10am CDT / 11am EDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST
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