Sacraments

Raised in an orthodox Presbyterian church, I have always held the sacraments in high esteem. However, my Taiwanese brothers and sisters have been growing my reverence for the sacraments--not in the sense of their theological meaning, but in the sense of their personal, experiential significance.


COMMUNION

Last Sunday as I took my seat at church, cup and rice cracker in hand, I noticed a young Taiwanese woman across the aisle who was beaming from ear to ear. Her look of absolute joy was so striking that I looked around to see if something funny was happening...had one of the ushers dropped a plate of bread?

A friend next to me leaned over and whispered, "She was just baptized this past week. This is her first communion."

The young woman excitedly held her cup and bread near her face and beamed as her friend took a picture with her iPhone. Then, she excitedly waited with anticipation for the pastor to invite us all to eat and drink.

Her unashamed eagerness to participate in the Lord's Supper really resonated with me. If I believe communion is an special opportunity to meet with God, why don't I always feel all that excited about it?


BAPTISM

When an American asks me to share my testimony, I usually share about the shaping influence of my parents, my upbringing in church, and God's constant drawing of my heart towards him.

It never occurs to me to share about my baptism.

But in Taiwan, not many Christians will ask for your testimony, or even how you became a Christian. Instead they ask,"When were you baptized?"

When a Taiwanese person becomes interested in Christianity, they may start attending church, studying the Bible, meeting with other Christians, and even praying to Jesus. His or her parents will usually say, "All those things are fine, as long as you don't get baptized."

Only those who decide to follow Jesus, no matter the cost, get baptized. It is a publicly visible, radical moment of change. Once baptized, many Taiwanese Christians face rejection from their families and discrimination at work.

In this context, baptism is almost synonymous with salvation.

After experiencing the meaning of baptism in Taiwan, verses like 1 Peter 3:21 are starting to make more sense. ("Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you...)

In many evangelical American churches, maybe baptism and communion have become such culturally-accepted rituals that we have forgotten their significance for each believer and importance for the community of faith.

I am thankful for diversity in the body of Christ, and for my brothers and sisters here in the East. I still have much to learn from them.

-Kayt