DOCTRINAL TERMS

1. Baptism: This is a sacramental rite by which God adopts us as His children and makes us members of Christ’s Body (the Church) and inheritors of the Kingdom of God.
2. Eucharist: This is the Greek word for “thanksgiving”. In our Christian worship, the Eucharist (or Holy Communion, or Lord’s Supper) is a sacramental rite commanded by Jesus for the continual remembrance of His life, death and resurrection, until His coming again. Following Jesus’ example in the upper room on the night before his death on the Cross, this rite uses bread and wine as symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. He sacrificed himself on the cross so that we might be forgiven our sins and live a new life.
3. Holy Communion: This is a common term referring to the Eucharist.
4. Intercession, intercessory: Intercession means “on behalf of another”. Intercessory prayer, then, lifts up someone else in prayer.
5. Parish: The people, whether members or non-members, who associate with the local church (St. Luke’s), whether actively attending worship services or not. Usually, the parish is limited to those who live in the geographical area surrounding the church.
6. Parishioner: A person, whether a member or non-member, who considers a particular local church (St. Luke’s) his or her home church, whether actively attending worship services or not.
7. Sacrament: A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. The two great sacraments given by Christ are Baptism and Holy Eucharist. Other sacraments include Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation of a Penitent, and Unction. The outward and visible sign in Baptism, for example, is water; the inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God's family, and new life in the Holy Spirit.
8. Confirmation: This is a sacramental rite in which a person who was baptized as an infant expresses a mature commitment to Christ and receives strength from the Holy Spirit.
9. Liturgy: This word means “the work of the people”, and it refers to the format of our worship in the Episcopal Church, where the congregation is involved in the responses, the prayers, and the singing.
10. Pledge: Every year, people are given an opportunity to inform the church of the monthly financial support they intend to contribute to the church in the coming year. This is called a “pledge”.