What can you expect when you attend a church service? Whether the worship style is traditional, contemporary, liturgical, minimalist, or a mix, the core elements are usually the same: prayer, singing, scripture reading, and a sermon or message. There is often instrumental music before and after the service, and typically some announcements are made as well.

Occasionally, there will be a baptism, but what about the Lord’s Supper (also known as Holy Communion or the Eucharist)? In most Protestant churches, this happens once a quarter or once a month and is not part of the regular worship service. Baptisms don’t occur weekly because there aren’t enough people wanting to be baptized that often. Even in larger churches with many baptisms each year, these are usually reserved for special services, perhaps once a quarter, rather than spread out throughout the year.

“Occasional” = “No big deal”

Protestants recognize only two Sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—and often treat these as special or extraordinary. There’s a tendency to not include them in the regular weekly worship. Many argue that frequent celebration would make them routine. However, I’ve found the opposite: infrequent participation makes these Sacraments feel secondary to the Christian life. When not regularly experienced as means of grace, they seem optional and unimportant to the average worshiper. They become “no big deal.”

Unlike our view of the Sacraments as “special,” our confessional documents describe them as ordinary. The Book of Confessions speaks about the “ordinary means of grace.” This term refers to what Scripture teaches, and what 2,000 years of Christian experience show, are essential for the spiritual well-being and growth of God’s people. The Book of Confessions lists the “ordinary means of grace” as the Word, the Sacraments, and Prayer. It further divides “the Word” into the public reading and preaching of the Word, and the Sacraments into baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

“As often as …”

Scripture instructs us to do the following:

• “Pay attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13)
• “Preach the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or not; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with patience in teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2)
• “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20)
• “Take, eat; this is my body…drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins…do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (Matt. 26:26–28; 1 Cor. 11:25–26)
• “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone…I desire then that in every place all should pray, lifting holy hands” (1 Tim. 2:1, 8)

The Word is an Ordinary Means of Grace

We understand the Word as an ordinary means of grace and highly value preaching. Pulpit committees often request sermon recordings when searching for a new minister. When Protestants look for a new church, they often base their decision on the preacher’s sermons. Protestant sermons typically last between fifteen to forty minutes, which is a significant portion of a one-hour worship service. Preaching is clearly one of our ordinary means of grace.

We highly value the public reading of Scripture. Every Christian worship service includes at least one Scripture reading. In Presbyterian churches, our Directory for Worship suggests at least two readings per service (Old Testament and New Testament). Those following the Lectionary often have three readings: Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel, plus a Psalm that may be read or sung. These readings are separate from the sermon, allowing Scripture to speak on its own. This practice is a common means of grace for Protestants.

Prayer is an Ordinary Means of Grace

We know prayer is important. Every worship service includes multiple prayers: one at the start, one before reading Scriptures, and a thanksgiving prayer at the end. During Communion, we have the Eucharistic Prayer and a Post-communion prayer. Many churches have weekly intercessory prayer groups and dedicated prayer meetings. Sunday school and committee meetings also open and close with prayer. We pray before meals. Prayer, as a means of grace, is essential.

The Sacraments are Ordinary Means of Grace

But what about the Sacraments? Are they regular means of grace for us? Tragically, no. We somewhat grasp the importance of baptism, but as confessional Protestants, we often define it negatively (“We’re not Baptists!”) rather than positively. We know more about what we don’t do with baptism than why we do it. We understand The Lord’s Supper even less than we do baptism.

As stated earlier, we can’t simply plan baptisms since they rely on births and new believers. We often prefer to reserve baptisms for “special” Sundays instead of making them a regular part of worship. Similarly, we treat The Lord’s Supper as an even more “special” or occasional event than baptism.

Word and Sacrament Should be the Norm

Scripture, our Confessions, and historic Christian practice place the Sacraments alongside the reading and preaching of the Word and prayer as the “ordinary means of grace.” Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are as special and ordinary as the other means of grace. The Service for the Lord’s Day, the principal service of Presbyterian worship as described in our Book of Order and Book of Common Worship, is a service of Word and Sacrament, not Word alone.

Since 1961, Directories for Worship in the Presbyterian Church have supported celebrating the Lord’s Supper as often as every Sunday and often enough to make it a key part of the Service for the Lord’s Day. The current Directory for Worship in the Book of Order states: “In the life of the worshiping congregation, Word and Sacrament have an integral relationship.” (W-2.4008) “[The Lord’s Supper] is to be celebrated regularly and frequently enough to be recognized as integral to the Service for the Lord’s Day.” (W-2.4009)

Interdependence of Word and Sacrament

The Service for the Lord’s Day in the Book of Common Worship shows the connection between Word and Sacrament as required by the Book of Order. The service structure adapts to Sundays without the Eucharist, noting that weekly Communion isn’t yet common among Presbyterians. When the Sacrament isn’t included, the worship order remains the same as on Communion Sundays, omitting only the parts specific to Communion. This consistent structure reminds us that the standard for Christian worship involves both reading and proclaiming Scriptures and celebrating Sacraments.

Word and Sacrament depend on each other. Since both reading and preaching the Word and celebrating the Sacraments require faith, prayer is also essential. Therefore, all three ordinary means of grace are interconnected. After examining the equality of these means, let’s define what a Sacrament is.

So What is a Sacrament?

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 92 (Book of Confessions 7.092) defines a sacrament this way:  “A Sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein, by sensible signs, Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.”

A Sacrament is a sacred ritual. “Holy” means set apart, different from daily use. Baptism means “washing,” but holy baptism is a special kind of washing. We eat supper daily, but the Lord’s Supper is the Holy Supper. We connect with God and each other in many ways, but the Eucharist is Holy Communion, distinct from other forms of fellowship.

The Sacraments were established by Christ. He instructed, “Go make disciples, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Regarding the Lord’s Supper, he said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” The phrase “do this” implies continuous action: “Regularly do this.”

Outward Sign, Inward Grace

In the Sacraments, physical signs like water, bread, and wine are joined with spiritual graces by the Holy Spirit. The catechism states that Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are not just shown, but also sealed and given to believers through these signs. This is known as sacramental action. So, what are the benefits of the new covenant that are represented, sealed, and given to believers through these signs?

The Catechism lists these benefits in Questions 32 and 36 (Book of Confessions 7.032 and 7.036) as: “justification, adoption, sanctification, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance in [grace] to the end.” If these benefits are not only symbolized but sealed and given to believers in the Sacraments, it’s clear that we should not neglect the Sacraments. They are not just symbolic; they are a “big deal.”

Not “just symbolic”

John Knox, in the Scots Confession, Chapter 21 (Book of Confessions3.21) states this in his characteristically bold way: “We utterly condemn the vanity of those who affirm the sacraments to be nothing else than naked and bare signs. No, we assuredly believe that by baptism we are engrafted into Christ Jesus … and also that in the Supper … Christ Jesus is so joined with us that he becomes the very nourishment and food of our souls … Therefore, if anyone slanders us by saying that we affirm or believe the sacraments to be symbols and nothing more, they are libelous and speak against the plain facts.”

Sacramental Action

The doctrine of sacramental action tells us that Sacraments achieve what they symbolize. The link between the outward sign and what it signifies is so strong that their names can be swapped. “In every sacrament, there is a spiritual connection or union between the sign and what it signifies; thus, the names and effects of one can be given to the other (Book of Confessions 6.150).”

We can call baptism a washing from sin and the bread and wine of the Eucharist the Body and Blood of Christ. This is not pretend: baptism is a washing from sin. The Bread of the Eucharist is the Body of Christ. The wine of the Eucharist is the Blood of Christ.

The word “sacrament” is from the Latin word sacramentum, which is used to translate the Greek word mysterion. Mysterion means, obviously, “mystery.” The Sacraments are the mysteries of God: if we were able to spell out exactly how the Sacraments operate, they wouldn’t be mysteries. They wouldn’t be sacraments. The Sacraments remind us that God’s ways are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. These things operate in the realm of the Spirit: that is to say, by the power and agency of the Holy Spirit.