October 6th, 2025
by Heather Brown
by Heather Brown
Dear People of God,
On Wed Sept 24, I was teaching our confirmation students about the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. As we talked about how the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper become the body and blood of Christ, I asked the students how they preferred to receive Holy Communion. Do they like to “intinct” by dipping the wafer in the chalice? Or do they like to eat the wafer and then drink wine from an individual communion cup? One student said he prefers intinction because when you dip the wafer in the wine, you are receiving the body and blood of Christ all at the same time, not separately. For this student, the wafer dipped in the wine becomes Christ’s complete body united with his blood. I had never thought about it this way and was quite amazed by the wisdom and insight of this young person!
As I left the church later that evening, I was reminded that as Christians, God always has new things to teach us about our faith. It’s never too late to grow in our understanding of the sacraments or deepen our understanding of the scriptures – even if we have studied those same things many times before.
In our confirmation class, we also talked about how the word for “sacrament” in the Latin language is “mysterium.” As human beings, we all have questions about our faith and, at times, God can even seem like a mystery to us. But when we experience God’s love and grace made real to us in the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of Holy Communion, we can be confident that we are his beloved children. In Baptism we are marked with the cross of Christ forever and God promises that he will never leave us or forsake us. And, as Martin Luther assures us in the Small Catechism, let us proclaim together, “This is most certainly true!”
Peace,
Pastor Heather
On Wed Sept 24, I was teaching our confirmation students about the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. As we talked about how the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper become the body and blood of Christ, I asked the students how they preferred to receive Holy Communion. Do they like to “intinct” by dipping the wafer in the chalice? Or do they like to eat the wafer and then drink wine from an individual communion cup? One student said he prefers intinction because when you dip the wafer in the wine, you are receiving the body and blood of Christ all at the same time, not separately. For this student, the wafer dipped in the wine becomes Christ’s complete body united with his blood. I had never thought about it this way and was quite amazed by the wisdom and insight of this young person!
As I left the church later that evening, I was reminded that as Christians, God always has new things to teach us about our faith. It’s never too late to grow in our understanding of the sacraments or deepen our understanding of the scriptures – even if we have studied those same things many times before.
In our confirmation class, we also talked about how the word for “sacrament” in the Latin language is “mysterium.” As human beings, we all have questions about our faith and, at times, God can even seem like a mystery to us. But when we experience God’s love and grace made real to us in the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of Holy Communion, we can be confident that we are his beloved children. In Baptism we are marked with the cross of Christ forever and God promises that he will never leave us or forsake us. And, as Martin Luther assures us in the Small Catechism, let us proclaim together, “This is most certainly true!”
Peace,
Pastor Heather
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