Clergy Support Memorial Church (CSMC) has three religious Sacraments

A sacrament is an act of worship. A religious sacrament is an act of worship and a symbolic action, or ritual, by which people of faith or of different faiths, encounter the presence and goodness of God.

Communion

The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Eucharist—these different terms refer to the same sacrament shared by most Christian denominations, a symbolic meal.

Communion is celebrated at a table that includes in some cases the dining table in our homes. At the communion table, we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the host and all are guests. The meal uses the symbols of small pieces of bread and a taste of wine or juice to remind us of Jesus’ last supper with his followers and of God’s enduring love.

CSMC invites all people to the table, whether it’s at Sunday service, a person’s residence, a hospital bedside etc. We invite all present, no matter their faith tradition, to share in this family meal, a moment of worship.

In the communion meal, wine poured out and bread broken,
we remember Jesus.
We remember not only the promise but also the price that he paid
for who he was,
for what he did and said,
and for the world’s brokenness.
We taste the mystery of God’s great love for us,
and are renewed in faith and hope

Baptism

Baptism is a symbolic action that signifies the new life God gives us as we join the church community. Baptism uses water as a symbolic cleansing that signifies the acceptance of new life within the church family. The sacrament of baptism is the single rite of initiation into the Christian community, the church.

CSMC offers baptism to all ages. We offer it in a multitude of settings.

We believe the gift of God’s love doesn’t depend on our ability to understand it, so we baptize people as infants right up through adulthood. With children, instruction is given to parents or sponsors to equip them for the child’s Christian nurture.

During the ceremony, everyone gathered pledges support for the child and their parents.

If you are seeking baptism for yourself or your child, please speak to your minister or contact the church office.

Baptism by water in the name of the Holy Trinity
is the means by which we are received, at any age,
into the covenanted community of the church.
It is the ritual that signifies our rebirth in faith
and cleansing by the power of God.
Baptism signifies the nurturing, sustaining,
and transforming power of God’s love
and our grateful response to that grace. (A Song of Faith)

Baptism is not a requirement for God’s love. We believe people who die without baptism are in no way condemned, lost, or damned.

Baptism in CSMC is recognized by all denominations of the Christian church that practice infant baptism. Similarly, if someone has already been baptized in another church at any age, CSMC recognizes their baptism and welcomes them as Christian.

Marriage

When the Church teaches that marriage between two persons is a sacrament, it is saying that the couple’s relationship expresses in a unique way the unbreakable bond of love between them. We also believe that no matter the context it is a service of worship by all the gathered.

In a sacramental marriage, Grace is made present to the spouses in their total union and also flows through them to their family and community.

The sacrament of Christian marriage involves their entire life as they journey together through the ups and downs of marriage and become more able to give to and receive from each other.

Their life becomes sacramental to the extent that the couple cooperates with that Grace in their life and sees that power as living and acting in their relationship, attitudes and actions.

Our Church teaching holds that sacraments bring grace to those who receive it in the context of Worship. In marriage, the grace of this sacrament brings to the spouses the help they need to be faithful and to be good parents. It also helps a couple to serve others beyond their immediate family and to show the community that a loving and lasting marriage is both desirable and possible.