Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Baptism

As the Nicene Creed states, we believe in One Baptism, the Baptism of Jesus Christ, and we become one with Him. Christ Commanded Baptism As Jesus Christ commissioned the apostles, and sent them out to make disciples of all nations, He commanded to them to baptize into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey all he commanded them. (Matthew 28:16-20)

Jesus’ Baptism

Jesus was baptized for his baptism of repentance, not for his own sake, but for ours, and in him it was our humanity that was anointed by the Spirit and consecrated in His Son ship to the Father.1 He received the baptism meant for sinners in our human nature. In our human nature, he received the divine judgment upon sin; in our human nature he made atonement; in our human nature, He rose again from the dead. When He was born, died, and rose again, it was our human nature that was born, died, and rose again in Him. For Jesus, baptism meant that he was consecrated as the Messiah, and that He, the Righteous One, became one with us, taking upon Himself, our unrighteousness that His righteousness might become ours.

Our Baptism

For us, baptism means that we become with Him, sharing in His righteousness, and that we are sanctified in Him as members of the Messianic people of God, compacted together in one body in Christ. There is one baptism and one body through the one Spirit. Christ and His Church in the One Baptism in different ways---Christ actively and vicariously as Redeemer, the church passively and receptively as the redeemed Community. Thus whenever the church in the obedience to the command of Christ baptizes specific individuals with water in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, it believes that Christ Himself is present baptizing with His Spirit, acknowledging and blessing the action of the church as His own, fulfilling in the baptized what He has already done for them in making them share in the fruit of His finished work. His the baptism of individual people is to be understood as their initiation into and sharing in the One Vicarious Baptisma 2 of Christ.3 Through His birth they have a new birth and are clothed with a new righteousness.

Summary

The word underlying the rite is baptisma, meaning “submersion” ---not only into baptismal water, but into the life of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:27) Believers in the New Testament patterned their baptism after the One Baptism Christ received from John for all of humanity. (Ephesians 4:4; Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32-34) In these Scriptures, baptism is shown to be by water, by full immersion, and is accompanied by the reception of the Holy Spirit. Later Scriptures show baptism is accompanied by repentance (Acts 2:38), pictures the believers union with the death and risen life of Jesus (Romans 6:3-10), and also pictures the washing away of sins (Acts 2:18). We experience baptism, but we look through the administration of this rite into the crucified and risen Jesus, with whom we are joined. What happens in our baptism (submergence) into Christ and what happened once for all at his Baptism on all humanity’s behalf are brought together in an inseparable unity, making multiple rebaptisms un- necessary, thereby potentially diminishing the meaning of what Christ has done. The One Baptism of Jesus is so all inclusive that some Christians have legitimately baptized infants, realizing that all, young and old, were included in the one baptism of Jesus Christ. Hence whole households are recorded in the Scripture has having been baptized. For Christians seeking deeper post-baptismal commitment and recommitment, Christ has commanded the sacrament of communion to remind us of his living presence in our lives. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

1 Thomas F. Torrance, Theology in Reconciliation
2 Torrance contrasts . . . .
3 Thomas F. Torrance, Theology in Reconciliation

Eucharist/Communion

The word "Eucharist" comes from a Greek work, eucharistia, which means "thanksgiving." This thanksgiving is an act of faith and worship, an acknowledgement of God’s work of salvation, and a confession of man’s need for God’s grace and mercy. The word "Communion" is a term is derived from Latin communio (sharing in common). The bond uniting Christians as individuals and groups with each other and with Jesus is described as communion. Today, "the Eucharist" is the name still used by Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Lutherans. Other Protestant denominations rarely use this term, preferring either "Communion", "the Lord's Supper", or "the Breaking of Bread".1

Community Connexions Church uses both terms, Eucharist or Communion, among others (Holy Communion, Lord's Supper, Breaking of Bread) interchangably, understanding the meanings as follows:

Biblical Basis

The Last Supper appears in all three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It also is found in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which suggests how early Christians celebrated what Paul the Apostle called the Lord's Supper.2

The sacrament of Baptism is generally a one-time event, whereas Communion or Eucharist is a sacrament to be shared often among the community of believers. Eucharist is a holy sacrament for all who believe. All believers can “participate” and receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, however, we should do so with all holy reverence, with a full understanding of the Holy Communion, and out of reverence for the body and blood of Our Divine Lord.

Our sharing in this life begins with our Baptism, when by the power of the Holy Spirit we are joined to Christ, thus becoming adopted sons and daughters of the Father. It is nourished and deepened through our participation in Holy Communion. Eucharist is an act of worship, thanksgiving, and forgiveness of sins, whereby we join Jesus in His worship. 26

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29

I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:26-29 NIV)

“Do this in remembrance of me”

"In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25 NKJV)

We eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of Jesus Christ. Communion is for the participation of all who believe in Him. We are joined with Christ through Baptism as members of His Body.

Communion is of divine nature and takes place in the context of a community meal, therefore, we are also united with our brothers and sisters of the faith. “Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:53 NIV)

Jesus Christ is present, ascending to the Father in the life of those that are so intimately united to him through the Spirit, that when they pray, it is Christ the incarnate Son "who honors, adores, and glorifies the Father in them."

We “commune” in the Body and Blood of the Lord. We have it in common. We share in His life. We are intimately united to Him through the Spirit.

The Mystery

On the eve of His Passion, “He took bread. . . .He took the cup filled with wine. . . .” 54

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. (John 6:54 NIV) Divine signs that the bread and wine become, in a way surpassing understanding, the Body and Blood of Christ. When we break bread we are in “communion” with the Body of Christ. We look for the deep meaning to be in communion with Christ – His teachings tell us that He is the “bread of life.” He came down from heaven for our salvation...Became man...The incarnate Son of God (Jesus incorporated Himself into our mortal humanity).

Jesus said: 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51 NIV). He was crucified for us, buried and rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of our Father. He lives by the Father. We drink this cup to live by Him, Jesus Christ.

For it is through Jesus Christ, the power of His vicarious life, in death and resurrection, when we drink His blood we are in communion with Him. 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55

For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (John 6:52-55 NIV). Christ is present, a real presence; Christ is truly present on the altar. The presence of risen Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is the divine mystery that words cannot describe. This is the mystery of our faith, believing in the divine mystery of the Eucharist because of the Majesty of God's limitless power. We leave it at that, with Holy Reverence...a divine mystery.

“The whole Jesus Christ whose historical life and passion, far from being past, persist through the triumph of the resurrection over all corruption and decay as continuing living reality which Jesus Christ through the Spirit mediates to us in our present space-time existence in the Eucharistic worship of the Church.”3

It is in this participation and passion in the divine nature, our participation through the Spirit, “making His own what is our in order to heal, purify and renew it in Himself and lift it up through Himself to communion with the Father.” 4

We are to give prayer, thanksgiving and true worship, “ultimately united to Him through the Spirit, that when we pray, it is Christ the incarnate Son who honors, adores and glorifies the Father in us.”5

Jesus now appears in His presence for us in heaven, where He lives making intercessions for us.

“We are gathered up through communion with Christ into the living presence of God in the eternal communion of the Holy Trinity. Thus Jesus prayed at the institution of the Eucharist that we may be one with him as he is one with us, sharing with him in the oneness which he has with the Father...In the presence of God to himself...The profoundest and most intensive kind of presence there could ever be.”6

Jesus’ prayer to His Father for Us

Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one...For their sake, I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth. I pray not for these only, but for all those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that

they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are, I in them and thou in me, that they may be consecrated in one...’ (John 17:19, 11, 19-23) 7

We are made one with the Son

It is worship with Jesus in the Spirit, by whom we are made one with the Son as He is one with the Father, in whom we have access to the Father, and through whom we are taken up into the eternal communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 23

I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23 NIV)

1 Wikipedia, Eucharist and Communion
2 Wikipedia, Lord's Supper
3-7 Thomas F. Torrance, Theology in Reconciliation