What are the Sacraments?
The Sacraments are symbols and pledges of the Christian's profession and of God's love toward us.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 38
22And while they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it he broke it and gave it to them and said, "Take; this is my body." 23And he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body." 27And he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you." 28For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
19And after taking bread and giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me. 20And likewise the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you.
53Therefore Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves." 54The one eating my flesh and drinking my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56The one eating my flesh and drinking my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living father sent me and I live through the father, so the one eating me will also live through me. 58This is the bread that came down out from heaven, not just as the fathers ate and died; the one eating this bread will live toward the age. 59These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
38And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'
27For as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
10:15I speak as to sensible people; you yourselves judge what I assert. 10:16The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 10:17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 11:23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. 11:24And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 11:25In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
With this question the catechism turns from the creed to the church's own confession, and the next eight questions take up the sacraments. The answer is the opening sentence of Article VI of the Confession of Faith, which says that the sacraments, ordained by Christ, "are symbols and pledges of the Christian's profession and of God's love toward us." Article XVI of the Articles of Religion teaches the same thing in older language: the sacraments are "certain signs of grace, and God's good will toward us."
A symbol is something visible that carries a meaning given to it by God. At the table Jesus "took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, 'Take, eat; this is my body'" (Matthew 26:26). The bread and the cup stand for his body given and his blood "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). At the font the water stands for the washing Peter preached on Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38). The symbols are ordinary things, bread, wine, and water, that Christ has attached to his promises.
A pledge runs in two directions. On the Christian's side, the sacraments are a public profession. Paul writes that "as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27), and at the Supper Paul asks, (1 Corinthians 10:16), then adds that "we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Corinthians 10:17). On God's side, they are his pledge of love. Jesus calls the cup "my blood of the covenant" (Mark 14:24) and "the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20), and a covenant is a promise God binds himself to keep. In John 6 he says plainly, "my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink" (John 6:55), and he closes the discourse with the promise: (John 6:58).
For a Methodist, this means the sacraments are never empty ceremonies. When a member is baptized or comes to the table, that person is professing faith in front of the congregation, and God is at the same moment renewing his pledge of love to that person. John Wesley urged the Methodists to receive the Lord's Supper as often as they could for exactly this reason: at the table God gives what the bread and cup signify. The next question says what that gift is.