Baptism

Baptism enacts and seals what the Word proclaims: God’s redeeming grace offered to all people. Baptism is God’s gift of grace and also God’s summons to respond to that grace. Baptism calls to repentance, to faithfulness, and to discipleship.

Baptism is received only once. Therefore we acknowledge it is only and through the grace of God at work in baptism, not the efforts of those who are being baptized, nor the efforts of those who are carrying out the baptism.

Both believers and their children are included in God’s covenant love. We believe the baptism of children witnesses to the truth that God’s love claims people before they are able to respond in faith. Baptism of those who enter the covenant upon their own profession of faith witnesses to the truth that God’s gift of grace calls for fulfillment in a response of faithfulness. (from W-2.3000)

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper is the sign and seal of eating and drinking in communion with the crucified and risen Lord. In his last meal before his death, Jesus took and shared with his disciples the bread and wine, speaking of them as his body and blood, signs of the new covenant. He commended breaking bread and sharing a cup to remember and proclaim his death.

The New Testament also describes the meal also as a participation with Christ and with one another in the expectation of the Kingdom and as a foretaste of the messianic banquet.

The invitation to the Lord’s Supper is extended to all who have been baptized, regardless of denomination. Access to the Table is not a right conferred upon the worthy, but a privilege given to the undeserving who come in faith, repentance, and love.  (from W-2.4000)

More information about the sacraments can be found in the downloadable Book of Order, which is Part II of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)