The Spirituality of Baptism and the Lord's Supper in the Context of Worship

The Spirituality of Baptism and the Lord's Supper in the Context of Worship

E. Glenn HINSON

Christian spirituality involves living life from the vantage point of a covenant with God whom we have come to know in and through Jesus Christ. It is not otherworldly. Rather, it enhances our life in this world. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are covenant observances. In baptism, believers enter into a covenant relationship with God in Jesus Christ. In the Lord's Supper, they reaffirm their covenant commitment and hear God affirm the same from God's side.

If baptism and the Lord's Supper in the context of worship are to contribute significantly to the spiritual life of Baptists, we will need to learn from early Christians. During the centuries of persecution before Constantine, the first Christians developed a process that reached its high point in baptism through which they not only informed but also formed people. Where they prepared people literally to die for their faith, however, we should try to prepare people to live for their faith. For many people today, living is more fearful than dying.

Studies of “Baby Boomers” and “Baby Busters” or “GenXers” indicate that they have two urgent concerns: spirituality and community. In Christian history the Lord’s Supper has been the chief Christian symbol of the koinonia which has attracted people to Christian faith. Baptist observance of the Lord's Supper, infrequent and haphazard in many churches, does not do a very good job of creating the fellowship it symbolizes. To remedy that problem, this article contends, Baptists should imitate early Christians in having communion every week, thus responding to the quest for community.

A major social revolution will assist in making both baptism and the Lord's Supper more meaningful. Because of a vast revolution in technology, our culture is shifting from a more typographic to a more iconic and tactual character. We are more visual and “hands on” in our approach to the appropriation and communication of truth.