From the Font to the Table: How the Sacraments Shape the Church

🍷⛲️The Waters and the Table: Baptism and Communion in Covenant Life Article 11

Part IV – Discipleship, Discipline, and the Church

> “You don’t feed the infant the feast—but you raise them to it.”

---

There is a rhythm to covenant life—a grace-woven tempo that begins at the font and flows to the table. In the Christian life, we are not only brought in—we are nourished, examined, matured. Baptism and communion are not interchangeable signs, nor are they redundant relics. They are holy sacraments, each proclaiming the kingdom in their own way, each forming the disciple into the body of Christ. One speaks of entrance, the other of ongoing communion. Together, they shape the life of the church and the households within her.

But in a world where sacraments are either sentimentalized or stripped of meaning, confusion arises. Should baptized infants take communion? Should the Table be fenced harshly? How do we keep the tension between protecting the sacred and welcoming the weak?

This article seeks to clarify how baptism and the Lord’s Supper function together in Reformed covenant life—not as disjointed rituals or checkpoints of worthiness, but as gifts of grace shaped by Scripture, structured by discipleship, and guarded in love.

---

1. Two Sacraments, Two Signs: Entry and Nourishment

Baptism is the threshold—the covenant sign of entry into Christ’s body. It is not a badge of accomplishment, but a seal of God’s claim and the community’s charge to raise the baptized in the faith. It is where the journey begins.

The Lord’s Supper, however, is the meal for those walking the path of faith. It is not for the dead or the disinterested, but for those united to Christ and seeking Him in repentance and trust. It is spiritual nourishment for those being catechized into maturity.

Scripture keeps these signs distinct. Baptism is administered once. The Supper is received regularly. Baptism marks belonging. The Supper proclaims continued fellowship in the covenant—“as often as you eat and drink,” Paul says, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26).

To confuse these is to confound the pattern of grace God has given His church. The sacraments are not interchangeable expressions of covenant inclusion—they are sequential and formational.

---

2. From Circumcision to Communion: The Covenant Pattern Continues

Paul tells the Corinthians that Israel was “baptized into Moses” and “all ate the same spiritual food” (1 Cor. 10:2–3). The pattern was clear: circumcision preceded the Passover meal. No uncircumcised male could partake (Ex. 12:48). The sign of entrance had to come before the sign of communion.

So too in the New Covenant, baptism precedes the Lord’s Supper. Children are first washed into the covenant community, and then, through discipleship and discernment, they are raised to the Table. This is not cold ritualism—it’s covenantal wisdom. God’s patterns are not arbitrary but pastoral.

Paedocommunion short-circuits this formation. It offers the feast before the hunger is trained. It places the Table at the crib instead of at the catechism bench. But God does not despise small faith—He builds it. He feeds it when it can chew, not when it merely cries.

---

3. Fencing the Table is Shepherding, Not Withholding

We are not to guard the Table like cold gatekeepers—but like loving shepherds. The goal is not to exclude, but to invite with wisdom. Paul tells the church to examine themselves, to discern the body (1 Cor. 11:28–29). This implies awareness, repentance, and faith.

The Lord’s Supper is not for the perfect, but it is for the penitent. It is not for the mature alone, but for the maturing. Children raised in the church should be taught what it means, not rushed to it like a snack, nor withheld indefinitely like a privilege. Catechism and confession pave the way. Self-examination is not morbid introspection—it is covenant engagement.

This doesn’t mean placing arbitrary age limits. It means pastors and parents working together to walk children toward the Table with reverence and readiness.

---

4. Baptism Begins the Story. Communion Sustains It.

Baptism is not the end of covenant responsibility—it’s the beginning. It’s a claim made by God and confirmed by the church: this child is His, and we will raise them as such. But baptism alone is not enough. We are to disciple our children toward maturity in Christ, toward confession of faith, toward participation in the Table.

The Supper is for those walking in faith, who can receive with discernment the body and blood of Christ. It is not earned. It is not merited. But it is not careless either.

Imagine a child in the covenant home: first washed, then taught, then fed. That is the covenant pattern.

Parents, your task is not simply to get your child baptized. It is to raise them toward the Table—to raise them into discernment, repentance, and joyful partaking of Christ. The sacraments are a story. Don’t cut it off at the beginning.

---

Conclusion: One Rhythm of Grace, From Font to Feast

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper do not compete. They complement. They are covenant signs of the same gospel—one proclaiming God's gracious claim, the other His ongoing communion. Together they form a rhythm: we enter by grace, we walk by faith, and we feast in remembrance.

We do not feed infants the feast—but we raise them to it.

Churches should be places where the newly baptized are discipled toward the Table—not with cold suspicion, nor with rushed sentimentality—but with joyful expectation. Pastors, teach the difference. Parents, walk the path. Children, come and grow.

The sacraments are not rites to be managed. They are rhythms to be lived—together, in Christ, as His covenant people.