“Sacraments are very specific events in which God touches us through creation and transforms us into living Christs.  The two main sacraments are baptism and the Eucharist.  In baptism water is the way to transformation.  In the Eucharist it is bread and wine.  The most ordinary things in life – water, bread, and wine – become the sacred way by which God comes to us.

These sacraments are actual events.  Water, bread, and wine are not simple reminders of God’s love;  they bring God to us.  In baptism we are set free from the slavery of sin and dressed with Christ.  In the Eucharist, Christ himself becomes our food and drink” (Henri Nouwen).

I love how God can take simple things and imbue them with sacred meaning.

Bread symbolizes Jesus’ body broken for us so that  we might be made whole.

Wine symbolizes Jesus’ blood poured out for us so that the stains of our sins might be washed away and we might be made clean.

Water symbolizes new life and a new start where we tell the world through baptism that we  have passed from death to life in Christ.

These are three simple things that take on a world of new meaning because of Jesus.