Worship and the Sacraments

One disagreement, not twenty

Christians worship in very different ways, and they disagree about the sacraments. You could spend a long time learning which group does what, and still be unable to answer a question that names a group you have not met. ⭐ There is a shortcut, and it is the whole of this module. Nearly every one of those disagreements is the same disagreement, asked about a different action: DOES THIS ACTION DO SOMETHING, OR DOES IT SHOW SOMETHING? If an action DOES something, if it conveys something from God to a person, then how it is performed matters enormously. The right words, the right person, the right order. If an action SHOWS something, if it expresses a faith the person already holds, then the form matters much less, and what counts is whether the believer means it. ⚠️ Hold that question in mind and the positions stop needing to be memorised, because you can work most of them out.

What follows from each answer

Neither column is the Christian view. Both are held sincerely within Christianity, and each follows logically from its answer to the question. Your job in an exam is to explain the reasoning, not to choose between them.

Order a formal service

A traditional Christian service of Holy Communion follows a familiar shape. Put these parts in the usual order.

• Gathering, with a greeting and an opening prayer
• Readings from scripture, followed by a sermon on them
• A shared statement of belief said by the whole congregation
• The sharing of bread and wine
• A blessing and a sending out

Two views of baptism

Some Christians baptise infants; others baptise only those old enough to profess faith for themselves. Which explanation best accounts for the difference?

• Those who baptise infants understand baptism as conveying something to the child, while those who wait understand it as the person declaring a faith they already hold
• One group takes its faith more seriously than the other
• It is simply a matter of local custom with no reasoning behind it
• They disagree about how much water should be used

Words for worship and sacraments

Five terms, each defined so you can use it rather than just recognise it.

Find the sentence that explains

A student writes about Christian worship. Select the ONE sentence that explains a practice rather than describing or judging it.

• Some churches have set prayers that are said every single week.
• Other churches have no set order and the service is different each time.
• Churches that keep a set form do so because they understand the words as carrying something that does not depend on the mood of those present, so keeping them unchanged matters.
• Personally I find the informal services much more interesting.
• There are many different denominations within Christianity.

Which practices follow from doing

Three of these five follow from understanding an action as DOING something rather than showing something. Choose the three.

• Reserving the leading of the Eucharist to an ordained priest
• Using the same set words each time, carefully and without variation
• Baptising an infant who cannot yet understand what is happening
• Inviting members of the congregation to speak about their own faith during a service
• Describing the sharing of bread and wine as a remembrance of something past

One question for the whole topic

Questions on this topic often name a practice you have not revised, or a denomination you cannot place. You are not stuck. ⭐ Ask whether the action is understood as DOING something or SHOWING something, then say what follows. And say WHO holds the view. Marks here come from attributing a position and explaining its reasoning, never from deciding which position is correct. ⚠️ The same question works on the other practices in this part of the course, such as prayer, pilgrimage and the rites that mark a life, which have modules of their own.

Match the practice to the reasoning behind it

A signature and a photograph

Step outside religion for a moment, to a solicitor office where two things are happening on the same afternoon. In one room, somebody signs a document. In the other, two people who have just shaken hands on an agreement are having a photograph taken. ⭐ Both involve a piece of paper. They are not the same kind of thing at all. The signature CHANGES something. Before it, the house belongs to one person; after it, to another. That is why every detail is fussed over: the right person must sign, in the right place, witnessed. Sign in the wrong box and it has to be done again, no matter how sincerely you meant it. The photograph changes nothing. The agreement was made when the two of them agreed. The picture RECORDS it, and it would still be a true record if it were taken badly, or twice, or by somebody who wandered in off the street. ⚠️ Now notice what you cannot settle by looking. Whether a given action is a signature or a photograph is not written on its face. People who watch the same action can honestly disagree about which kind it is. ⭐⭐ And once they disagree about that, they will disagree about everything else: who may do it, in what words, and whether it can be done for somebody who is not paying attention.

Complete the worship and sacraments facts

Many Christians describe a _____ as an outward sign of an inward blessing from God, though traditions differ over how many there are. Worship that follows a set order and set words is called _____, while worship with no fixed order is called _____. The sharing of bread and wine is known as the _____, and also by other names depending on the tradition. A distinct group within Christianity with its own organisation and practice is a _____, and because groups disagree about whether an action conveys something or expresses something, they also disagree about who may lead it and whether it may be given to an _____ who cannot yet understand it.

Build the explanation

Complete an explanation of why two churches treat the same action so differently.

Practices quick-fire

Five quick decisions. Three lives.

Advise on an unfamiliar practice

A friend visits a church whose practices are new to them and asks you to help make sense of what they saw. Work through it.

• They describe a service with no set words, led by a member of the congregation. What is the first useful thing to work out?
• Having worked that out, what can you now predict about the same church?
• Your friend asks which church has it right. What is the best answer, and the one an examiner would reward?

Explain why Christians worship differently

Explain why Christians differ in the ways they worship and in how they understand the sacraments. You are not asked to say which practice is correct.

• Explain the difference between understanding an action as conveying something and as expressing something
• Use baptism to show how that difference produces two practices, attributing each view
• Give one difference in worship, such as set forms against spontaneous forms, and explain the reasoning behind each
• Use the terms liturgical, non-liturgical and sacrament correctly
• Finish by explaining why these look like many disagreements but can be understood as one