Firbush Retreats Firbush retreats are organized and led by Robert T. Walker. Firbush retreats are designed to make the best theology accessible to as many people as possible and especially those not trained in theology and often not familiar with routine technical terms. They combine times of worship and prayer with reflection on a theme related to Torrance theology. For more information see https://tftorrance.org/firbush. ----------- Firbush Retreat Fall 2016 David W. Torrance, "Sacraments" https://tftorrance.org/firbushF2016 4 November 2016 The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:15 Bob gave me strong instructions not to give a paper but simply to speak about the sacraments. 00:15-00:24 So what I hope to say just now is to really draw our attention or to raise the whole issue of the 00:24-00:34 pastoral side of the sacraments baptism and Holy Communion. The gospel is Jesus Christ. It's not 00:34-00:44 simply about Christ it's about the person of Christ and what he said and did. How do we communicate a 00:44-00:54 person? Clearly we can only do so through word and Jesus is the word of God. There was marvelous 00:54-01:03 word from John's gospel. The beginning was a word, the word was with God, the word was God and the 01:03-01:10 word became flesh and dwelt among us. And those other words which I always find remarkable from 01:10-01:17 1st John chapter 1, "That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which was seen with 01:17-01:26 our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched, this we proclaim concerning the word 01:26-01:36 of life." The life appeared, we have seen it and testified to it. I've always often pondered those 01:36-01:43 words, remarkable words for John, beloved disciple, to say about Jesus whom he met encountered in the 01:43-01:53 flesh. He said this is, this person is the word of God. And as we ponder it, it means that all the time 01:53-01:59 that Jesus lived on this earth through his word he was holding the whole of creation in being. 02:01-02:08 As we read in Job that if he withdrew his spirit we would all die. So even on the cross when he 02:08-02:20 was dying Jesus was upholding the whole world by his word. As the word is proclaimed so the word 02:20-02:28 seeks to become flesh and Christ seeks to be born within the lives of every one of us who hear. 02:30-02:39 The sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion are the sphere within which the word is fulfilled. 02:39-02:50 We see, touch, handle the sacraments. They are as it were the visible word of God sealing 02:50-02:59 the word that we hear. As gospel is Christ and focuses all our attention on Christ 03:00-03:05 and what he has done and said. So the sacraments of baptism and Communion 03:05-03:16 focus all our attention on Christ as nothing else does. The sacraments therefore are our primary 03:16-03:24 tool, God given tool in avengers. Formally I don't know what the highland tradition is today but 03:25-03:31 the old highland tradition was that avengers was carried out during the Communion season. 03:31-03:40 There's something very profound at that. Now in our Scottish tradition we have in our history 03:40-03:50 dithered between our understanding of the sacraments giving them on the one hand to those 03:50-03:57 who have faith and at the other hand we regarded it as a converting ordinance. 03:57-04:05 If you care to look up Cox which is the manual as it were of the acts of the general assembly 04:05-04:14 you'll see the two signs in Cox and that has dogged us following shortly after the days of Knox, 04:14-04:25 not Knox but shortly after. Sadly as far as I am concerned the Church of Scotland by far and away 04:25-04:32 went down the road that the sacraments were for those who already had faith. Defecting the views 04:32-04:39 of the Wingley over against Calvin and so there has been developed in the Scottish tradition 04:40-04:46 the whole concept of fencing the tables and many many a sermon to this day 04:46-04:53 certainly up north is preached in regard to fencing the tables that those only who are worthy 04:53-04:59 should come to Holy Communion. I've never accepted that view. 04:59-05:07 I've always taken the other view and you'll find it in our church tradition and our church 05:07-05:15 constitution because to me there is a contradiction in our constitution, it's a converting ordinance. 05:15-05:25 That's to say the sacraments are for those who have faith but for those who sincerely want to 05:25-05:35 have faith and that's the view I've always taken. In my FFC parishes, in my first parish, 05:36-05:42 church extension parish, a new church being created in a binding community 05:42-05:46 and I went to second minister five years later. 05:46-05:57 My predecessor and I in those distant days baptized over 300 adults. 05:57-06:05 Totally different world from today. In the years that followed the war did incredible things. 06:05-06:09 For many people they lost their faith and for others they found their faith. 06:09-06:17 With 10 years that followed the war there was a tremendous burst of avengers all across Scotland 06:17-06:25 that came together what was known as Tell Scotland and it was therefore much easier but 06:25-06:34 coming starting my ministry in these early days, yes if I say my precept and I baptized well it 06:34-06:40 baptized well over 300 and I found it, I've always found it deeply moving an adult baptism. 06:40-06:52 In our liturgy and I'm not a one who stands to, I respect the liturgy but don't stand too closely 06:52-07:00 to it, the adult service of baptism is deeply moving the question do you sincerely repent of 07:00-07:10 your sins and put your trust in God. So one story on that, the oldest man I baptized was 82 but 07:10-07:18 there was another, my queen he was 79. I met him and by the time I met him he was really housebound. 07:18-07:28 Now he had been brought up as a boy born in Skye and he had a religious background in his very early 07:28-07:35 years. At the age of 12 the family moved from Skye and from 12 onwards he was outside the church so 07:35-07:44 he lived his entire life outside the church. I talked to him clearly his mind was going back to 07:44-07:51 the early days with upbringing and he accepted what I had to say about the gospel about the 07:51-08:00 Christian faith about love about the forgiveness of God the salvation of God but his past life 08:00-08:06 troubled him a very able man and he had lost many a good job I'm afraid through habits of alcohol. 08:06-08:13 So although as it were he accepted the gospel he was still a troubled man. 08:15-08:23 Now I baptized him, baptized his wife. I'll never forget that service and when I said you sincerely 08:23-08:30 repent of your sins you know he practically said yes I do. At the end of that service when I opened 08:30-08:36 my minds after prayer his face was absolutely glowing with joy and he said to me I believe 08:36-08:41 it said somewhere there's great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. 08:42-08:54 Well I find adult baptism of moving time and a marvelous instrument of enjism but likewise 08:54-09:02 with holy communion. I've had three parishes and in each of my parishes I always like to take out 09:02-09:09 communion to the homes of the elderly and the shut-in. I hated the thought of people getting 09:09-09:17 older or housebound and feeling outside the fellowship of the church. In my last parish 09:17-09:25 I therefore after every cargational communion took out somewhere 17, 18 house communions. 09:25-09:33 What I used to do was it when I visited a house very rarely was one person 09:34-09:42 I asked if the housebound elderly neighbors could join us and that was always accepted. 09:42-09:51 So you get a small group in a house and I gave them communion. I'm a firm believer 09:51-09:58 in baptism. What could be more glorious than the proclamation that Christ loves you, has forgiven 09:58-10:04 you, redeemed you, before you sinned, before even you were born. And I'm marvelous to have this 10:04-10:11 God-given sign of the love that has forgiven us the redemption of Christ but likewise in holy 10:11-10:20 communion. And to speak to people in the house and remind them of Christ and the great love of God 10:20-10:29 and what God has done in Christ for giving us giving us new life, salvation. What a proclamation 10:29-10:37 and we are called to look up and give thanks and accept. And I found that very very moving. 10:37-10:45 I may say I used to have three communions in church, two regular communions, one in the church 10:45-10:56 hall for the wheelchairs. I also instituted one at a sheltered home but I found that after each 10:56-11:03 community I was really ministering communion to about on average 50 people each time. 11:03-11:11 I may say half of them were lapse members. I'm afraid I didn't bother whether they were members 11:11-11:16 or not members. I was concerned that they should come to Christ. I tried to point out what this 11:16-11:22 meant and this is what you want, you come. And we had communion with them. 11:22-11:30 Hard to say what it meant but small tokens I never asked for money. 11:30-11:38 They always insisted on giving me it. One old lady I never saw in church she would always give me a 11:38-11:44 hundred pounds and another man three hundred. I said look I'm not asking for any money. It's you 11:44-11:48 that's wanted and it's you as a person that the Lord wants. Oh I know that I know that but I want 11:48-12:00 to give. Well as I said half of them were lapse members but I found it a glorious evangelistic tool. 12:00-12:07 We were talking about what happened at our liturgy. I didn't go through the whole liturgy 12:07-12:15 in every home. You're dealing with Christ, what Christ had done, the proclamation we are called 12:15-12:20 to give about the love and the redemption of Christ. I did use the words of institution in each 12:20-12:26 home and so I ministered. So I'll simply end with one story which comes from the beginning 12:26-12:34 but I was still in my student days. As I said after the war did many things 12:35-12:42 with some they destroyed their faith many others found their faith in the war and many others 12:42-12:49 began to seek faith after the war and in the 10 years after the war I thought it 12:49-12:54 having come back from the army in 46 many privileged years there's a tremendous burst 12:54-13:00 of avengers. Now there was a man George, George Morris some of you may know him. 13:03-13:09 George had come through the war in North Africa and in Europe and he had survived 13:09-13:15 and he came back and he started medicine. He's a doctor 13:15-13:23 but like many a man now George was brought up in an agnostic or atheistic home he had no 13:23-13:30 church background whatsoever but having come through the war he felt somehow he needed 13:30-13:37 something. Now at Edinburgh there was a big huge poster stuck up the catholic church offering 13:37-13:45 education training and what the church believed so George joined and he attended classes for a year. 13:45-13:50 A group of us were praying for George during what was going on 13:50-13:58 and he was persuaded to come to a christian unity conference in Andrews and George was converted. 13:59-14:06 Following that conference he came round to the house to tell me all that had happened and he 14:06-14:11 said that he was walking up for those of you who know Edinburgh George of Walthbridge and in those 14:11-14:19 distant days if you walk up past the grave flyers toward the mound there was on the left-hand side 14:19-14:24 before he come to Canadian library a christian bookshop. Got a big one of those days on there now. 14:25-14:33 George said he was walking up and he saw in the window a book saved by grace alone and he said 14:33-14:39 that really hit him. He'd been taught all about penance and the five points of penance and other 14:39-14:48 robin. He said that really hit him so he came to this conference at St Andrews. Now the visiting 14:48-14:57 speaker, minister concluded the conference with holy communion and said those blessed words 14:57-15:05 that it's for all who love the lord and all who sincerely want to love the lord and George told 15:05-15:10 me he said he knew he didn't love the lord but he reckoned he did belong to those who wanted to 15:10-15:17 so he stayed and took communion and he said when he took the bread something happened but more 15:17-15:25 particularly the cup. He said when he drank that cup he said it broke home to him and powerfully 15:25-15:34 that the lord loved him, forgiven him, redeemed him and that was his conversion in holy communion. 15:34-15:40 I think a very moving example. George became a medical missionary in Aiden for many years 15:40-15:49 until his wife's health broke down. George Morris, some of you may know him. Well that went with me 15:49-15:56 and that's what I actually believed and however inadequately can't hope to carry out in my 15:56-16:03 ministry. Well I wasn't to give you a paper that was I'm duly instructed but to say a few words so 16:04-16:15 we leave it there. Thank you very much. Thank you. 16:15-16:23 [END]