What’s In A Name?

Emmanuel means God with us. This is what Christ came to make real, and this is what he left his Church on earth to continue to do.

If we had to pick only one word to describe our worship, it would be “sacramental.” Our worship is built around the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The sacraments take ordinary material things of this world: water, bread, and wine, and set them apart for supernatural purposes. In the sacraments God makes his presence known to us through eating, drinking, and washing. Many things are set apart for God in the Bible like priests, kings, sacrifices, and burning bushes. But, the ultimate sacrament was Jesus Christ himself, and that is why he is called Emmanuel. Jesus is fully God and fully man, the ultimate example of God taking something from our material world and setting it apart for his indwelling. Jesus is God in flesh and blood.

Now Jesus is ascended to the right hand of God the Father. He is physically in heaven. But he has sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us. We as his people, his church, are set apart to make Christ’s presence real on this earth in Cedar Park, throughout the northwest side of Austin, and the world. God is with us, and that is why we call our church Emmanuel Presbyterian Church.