What is a sacrament anyway?

So, what is a sacrament anyway? The Greek word used in the early church for sacrament is mysterion, usually translated mystery. It indicates that through the sacraments, God discloses things that are beyond human capacity to know through reason alone. We when say that Holy Communion is a sacrament, we need to understand that when participating in Holy Communion, we are living into an experience which is fundatmentally a mystery.

In the United Methodist tradition, we refer to a sacrament as an outward and visible sign of an inward invisible grace. The bread and the wine are physical, visible symbols of the grace that God, revealed in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is pouring out upon us within the context of Christian community. Communion is the cheif means of grace whereby we receive the real presence of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, Holy Communion gives the Church her identitiy. In the act of receiving the bread and the wine, we experience everything we need to know (not everything we want to know) about God's salvific work in Christ.

So, if in communion we experience everything we need to know about God's saving work in Christ, why bread and wine? Why not fish and loaves? Why not lamb and bitter herbs? What do you think?