1

2

3

4

You have heard about baptism and about the Lord’s Supper, the two Lutheran sacraments. This is a review of both.

Baptism is a gift. It is the work of God and does not depend on the worthiness of the person administering the baptism, nor on the faith or worthiness of the one being baptized. God loves us as we are. Baptism depends completely on the word and commandment of God. Like any gift, baptism must be received. Without being received, the gift is of no use to us. Faith alone receives baptism. We need nothing more to be worthy of this gift than faith to receive it. Those who receive this free giftof God's loving grace daily poured out have freedom to live by the Holy Spirit. "The one who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). Since baptism is the work of God, whose promise is unfailing, it is once and for all. "Rebaptism is to be avoided since it causes doubt, focusing attention on the always-failing adequacy of our action or our faith" (The Use of the Means of Grace, Application 16B).

5

6

Matthew 28:16-20These verses are often called the Great Commission. Here Jesus sets out the mission of the church: to go into the world to baptize and to teach. Please note that even as they worshipped Jesus, some of them doubted (verse 17). Even so, Jesus sent them into the world to make disciples by baptizing and teaching. In what should be words of comfort to any who doubt, Jesus promises to be with his disciples always, "to the end of the age."

2 Kgs 5:1014Note that Naaman, who is healed in this story, didn't believe (verses 11-12) that such a simple command as "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times" (verse 10) could actually heal him. Also, note that Naaman is a commander in a foreign army, not an Israelite (verse 1).

Do you think we are like foreigners before we are baptized

Romans 6:3-11Paul echoes Jesus' words that our dying and rising in baptism are directly connected to Jesus' death and resurrection. If we are connected to his death, we will surely be connected to his resurrection! This is a promise that is already fulfilled—we experience new life now because of Christ—and we look forward to the day when all the dead—including us, after we die—will be raised from the dead in "the life of the world to come" (Nicene Creed).

7

8

Student Book page 305The list students made shows many ways that water is amazing. Without it, all life on earth would cease to exist. But Luther points out that "plain" water does not make a baptism. Find the section on the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in the Small Catechism.

Invite someone to read Luther's words in number 3 (stop before the Bible passage from Titus). Think as a group about the connection between water, God's word, and faith in baptism.

• What happens to the water when connected with God's word?

Titus 3:5-8Read it from the Catechism and then from the Bible.

• According to this passage, what happens during baptism?

9

Remember that the Lord’s Supper is also called Communion or Holy Communion and is also called Eucharist (which means offering thanks).

Jesus is the bread of life. "Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh" (John 6:51). Jesus gave himself in life and death. The bread and wine we receive are Christ's body and blood. As we are baptized into the body of Christ, so in holy communion we are sustained and nourished as one body.

"Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:17).

Jesus' meals inform our understanding of the Lord's Supper and all our meals. With Jesus, there is always enough for all. Holy communion is a foretaste, a preview of the Messianic banquet to which all will be invited.

Lutherans teach that the bread and wine of the eucharist become, by God's word, the body and blood of Christ –AND-- are at the same time, ordinary bread and wine.

"Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:17). The unity of the church is most manifest at the table of the Lord's Supper, whose most common site is the local congregation. This sacrament of our unity, shared by the whole church, unites all Christians.

10

Remember that as Lutherans, we believe that a sacrament is something that:

1) Jesus Christ commands us to do2) involves an earthly element, like water or bread and wine; and3) combines with God's spoken word to bring salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the

promise of everlasting life.

11

Read the Lutheran Perspectives note that discusses the question, "How is the bread of the Lord's Supper 'bread of life’?”Then discuss the Faith Reflection questions. Through Jesus, we receive forgiveness and life within him.

John 6:48-51The story of manna comes from Exodus 16. The people of Israel were starving—and complaining bitterly about it! So God provided them with manna. Jesus said that the bread of life gives himself in order to save people from death.

Grab a pencil. Write "God feeds the hungry" in the margin of your Bibles.

• In what ways does the gathering for Communion reminds us that we will gather in the next life with Jesus?

• Do you think that there will be hungry people, people in need in the next life with Jesus?

12

13