The End of Sacraments?

Barth's critique of sacramentality could help a recover and renewal of worship. Kierkegaard had seen the sacraments as disjoined from discipleship and ethics. Barth saw baptism and Communion as belonging in the sphere of ethics, and not as rituals, yet Communion was the 'action of actions' and should be celebrated weekly; it is the model of all true and faithful action, both exemplary and challenging. The church has separated holy from profane and the holy table from the table of everyday. The connection with the Passover Meal is noted and so also are the other meals of the gospels where all were welcome. The church is criticised for putting limits on participation. Communion is exemplary in its challenge to share, to serve, to affirm each other's worth; and it challenges the lovelessnesses and injustices of the world. It sets disciples free to allow grace to flow through them to the world. 'Holiness is a matter of delight rather than of effort'. The paper ends with a quotations from the hymn, 'O thou who at thy eucharist did pray'.