Sacramental Ownership

Copyright 1995 Gloria Fisher. All rights reserved.

Several years ago God began showing me the practice of recognizing that things in this world have a higher value than simply what we see and enjoy. Some of them have sacramental value.

In religious terms the word “sacrament” generally means “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” The implications of such a term is eternally deep and wide, and must be read, heard and meditated upon in order to understand its true significance. Even after meditating upon it, the full meaning of the term sometimes only reveals itself somewhat like an onion, one layer at a time.

It wasn’t until one evening when a friend visited in my home that I realized there is another layer to the idea of sacrament which I had previously missed. I always thought in such a manner, but had never put a name on it until then. I now call that layer--sacramental ownership.

A friend’s admiration of some household items sparked this new title to an old way of thinking. While we were setting the dinner table, she commented on the china, but she especially admired a beautiful cake plate, which holds a prominent position on our rolling food cart which sits in the bay window. The cake plate is off-white with bouquets of delicate yellow roses winding around the outer edge and trailing down the six-inch pedestal. A tiny line of gold runs all around the edge of the plate. My mother’s name is painted in her unique handwriting in tiny gold letters at the edge of one of the beautiful yellow roses.

To me this plate is precious, and it brings back memories of how Mother’s china painting had helped her cope during a difficult period in her life. I realize when I see this plate that it imparts a much higher significance than a mere piece of china. It has the power to transport me back in time.

After my friend’s visit I began to notice how many of my things possess a sacramental meaning to me, such as the quilt draped over my upstairs hand railing, a thin and frayed red, white, and blue quilt with rows of blue six-pointed stars on a field of white surrounded by a narrow band of red.

To guests who visit in my home the quilt represents family, a return to homemade crafts and even to some, an expensive decorating item. To me it represents the love my grandparents put into it as they planned it on their honeymoon in the 1920's. My grandfather, a carpenter, created the design, but he and my grandmother quilted it together during their first year of married life. To me it is a outward and visible sign of my roots of love.

It evokes the memory of my grandmother folding it up from off her bed when she was 80 and my grandfather had long ago died. She laid it lovingly in my arms, saying, “This should belong to the oldest grandchild.”

Like my grandparents’ quilt, homemade gifts are sometimes the most precious gifts of all. Gifts from friends, loved ones or special previous owners touch our hearts and fill our empty places with love and precious memories.

Some belongings possess an uncanny power, somewhat like a song, that can transport one through time to a certain place with all the same sights, smells, and sounds once known. Just try baking your grandmother’s or mother’s recipe for bread, and you’ll realize quickly that the smell can carry you on delicious wings right back to your childhood.

Nowhere is this power revealed more than in the church. In those churches that possess stained glass windows, brass candle holders, handmade altar linens, ornate crosses, and other religious items sacramental ownership seems evident. From a stained glass window of the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulders we get blessed through and through knowing that we are that lamb, and that Shepherd cares for us the same way. Having that reassurance lifts the ownership of the mere glass and window up to a new height of awareness and assurance.

In the Bible the Ark of the Covenant was so much more than a box covered in gold. It was the place where God was present with His people. The ownership of the Ark by the children of Israel was undeniably a sacrament. The Bible is full of things that were owned but were more than just owned. They were transformed from mere objects into righteous sacraments because they represented God, love, kindness, holiness, and other fruits of the Spirit.

Owning things for owning’s sake always lacks something in its effect, but owning something which possesses a higher value brings with it a truer meaning and quality, especially if it evokes pleasant memories, if it teaches, if it imparts love, or if it contains even a sliver of holiness in your life. Then it truly does possess a value higher than itself--an inward and spiritual grace--a sacramental ownership.