We started the second half of our Systematics class on Sacraments today. So I have been thinking a lot lately about the Sacraments (Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper) and how what they were instituted for is similar to the way the visual arts work. It’s not an exact match, the Sacraments are a sacred act of the Church instituted by God and performed for a particular function. Yet function they do. Art, especially visual art functions similarly…they visualize something (hopefully something meaningful) beyond what you see. I found this quote stir me to think about this issue more in relation to the Sacraments It is from the Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 75 (Italicized color change is my highlight):
Question 75. How does the Lord’s Supper remind and assure you that you share in the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross and in all his gifts?
Answer. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of this broken bread and to drink of this cup. He has thereby promised: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood was shed for me. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the one who serves and actually taste the bread and the cup of the Lord which are given me as sure signs of the body and blood of Christ, so surely he feeds and nourishes my soul to everlasting life with his crucified body and shed blood.