Sacraments in The United Church of Canada
The United Church celebrates two sacraments: baptism and communion.
A sacrament is a symbolic action, or ritual, by which people of faith encounter the presence and goodness of God. In a sacrament, ordinary things like water, bread, and wine are used to point us to God and God’s love, reminding us of the sacred in life.
In the United Church, we celebrate two sacraments: baptism, the ritual that formally recognizes we belong to the Christian community, and communion, a symbolic meal initiated by Jesus. These sacraments are of central importance to our faith.
Baptism
Baptism is a symbolic action that signifies the new life God gives us as we join the church community.
Baptism uses water as a symbolic cleansing that signifies the acceptance of new life within the church family. The sacrament of baptism is the single rite of initiation into the Christian community, the church.
The United Church offers baptism to all ages. We believe the gift of God’s love doesn’t depend on our ability to understand it, so we baptize people as infants right up through adulthood.
With children, instruction is given to parents or sponsors to equip them for the child’s Christian nurture. During the ceremony, which usually takes place as part of a regular worship service, everyone in the congregation pledges support for the child and their parents.
Baptism is not a requirement for God’s love. We believe people who die without baptism are in no way condemned, lost, or damned.
Baptism in the United Church is recognized by all denominations of the Christian church that practice infant baptism. Similarly, if someone has already been baptized in another church at any age, the United Church recognizes their baptism and welcomes them as Christians.
Communion
The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist—these different terms refer to the same sacrament shared by most Christian denominations, a symbolic meal.
Communion is celebrated at a table that suggests the dining table in our homes. At the communion table, we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the host and all are guests. The meal uses the symbols of small pieces of bread and a taste of wine or juice to remind us of Jesus’ last supper with his followers and of God’s enduring love.
The United Church practices an open table, inviting all who seek to love Jesus to share in this family meal. This means that you do not have to be a member of the United Church to participate in communion.
At Westdale we serve communion in a variety of ways including intinction (dipping the bread into a shared cup), with individual cups and pieces of bread, and with pre-packaged communion. No matter how we are serving, there are always wine, juice, and gluten-free options available.
Communion is open to people of all ages including children who are brought from their Sunday School classes to participate in this sacrament alongside the rest of the congregation.
At Westdale, we celebrate the sacrament of communion at the beginning of most new liturgical seasons (First Sunday of Advent, Christmas Eve, First Sunday of Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Worldwide Communion Sunday)
In the communion meal, wine poured out and bread broken,
we remember Jesus.
We remember not only the promise but also the price that he paid
for who he was,
for what he did and said,
and for the world’s brokenness.
We taste the mystery of God’s great love for us,
and are renewed in faith and hope.