Christ Active in the Liturgy

"For what Christ was and did, he still is and does: it is he who preaches his Word, he who calls us to himself, he who binds the wounds of our sins and washes us in the waters of salvation, he who feeds us with his own life, he who is the pillar of fire leading us across the horizon of our own salvation history, lighting our sin-darkened path. He does it in Word and Sacrament . . ."

(Taft, Through Their Own Eyes, 139-140)

"For to be baptized in the name of God is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God's own work. From this fact every one may himself readily infer that it is a far higher work than any work performed by a man or a saint. For what work greater than the work of God can we do?"

(Luther, Large Catechism)