|
Minute to Indiana Yearly Meeting
from Winchester Friends Meeting Concerning
the Use of Symbolized Baptism and Communion
June 6, 2004
January 8, 2006
Indiana Yearly Meeting
(Representative Council, Committee on Ministry & Oversight,
superintendent)
4715 N. Wheeling
Muncie, IN 47304
Dear Friends,
On this Sixth Day of June 2004, Winchester Friends Monthly Meeting
for Business minutes its support for Indiana Yearly Meeting and its
constituent Monthly Meetings to maintain the historic Friends
testimony of not utilizing or offering symbolized baptism or
communion. While we do not wish harm or impediment upon the work of
any of our sister Monthly Meetings in IYM, we oppose any alteration
of the Indiana Yearly Meeting Faith & Practice to accommodate those
practices in IYM churches.
It is our conviction that true sacramentality depends entirely on
the inward genuineness of the believer's faith and experience of
Christ's saving work, not upon any outward symbol of ritual purity.
Jesus Himself is true sacrament, the Divine made available to every
sincere seeker by His Spirit without need for symbolic or human
mediation. We believe it continues to be important for Friends to
proclaim this unique expression of the Gospel to the Church and
world at large.
We unite with the words of George Fox University professor Paul
Anderson, who writes:
If Jesus Christ is all-sufficient, then to add anything to Christ is
to diminish His sufficiency....
To symbolize inward faith by any measure other than Christ like love
diminishes one's faith.
It puts the emphasis on creaturely activity rather than on the work
of the Creator.... True
baptism and true communion are absolutely essential for believers.
They simply are not
conveyed by, nor must they be confused with, outward [symbols] of
inward faith.... For our
lives to become fully sacramental, three priorities remain: First,
acknowledge Jesus Christ
as God's saving revealing self-communication to you personally, and
do so often.... Second,
create sacramental space in your devotional life to daily feed upon
the "bread" Jesus offers
through prayer and scripture reading. There is no substitute for
being immersed in the Holy
Spirit of Christ. That, and only that, is true baptism. Third,
regard the gathered meeting for
worship....as the sacramental place to encounter the living presence
of God radically.... This
is the "real Presence," and there is no substitute for communing
with Christ in corporate
fellowship.... While many Christians still employ ritual sacraments,
the Quaker testimony on
the sacraments is needed desperately by the church and the world.
These are not just sectarian distinctives. They are central
insights into the meaning of the Gospel revealed by Jesus Christ
Himself. If we abide in Christ believingly, nothing else is
needed. If we do not, nothing else
will suffice.
(On the Character of Sacramentality,
unpublished, Paul Anderson, 2003)
Minute approved on May 24, 2004, by Winchester Friends Ministry &
Oversight, and on June 6, 2004, by Winchester Monthly Meeting;
minute reaffirmed by Winchester Friends Ministry & Oversight on
November 28, 2005, and by Winchester Monthly Meeting on January 8,
2006
Rob Pearson, M&O Clerk Bob McHolland,
Monthly Meeting Clerk
|
