Unusual for vicar to be preaching on confirmation \u2013 normally the bishop does it at a confirmation!<\/p>\n
Exploring all kinds of sacraments \/ things in church life over the autumn.<\/p>\n
We do have a confirmation service coming up.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to suggest that confirmation involves:<\/p>\n
A personal decision to commit to Jesus
\nA community of faith to support
\nThe Holy Spirit to strengthen<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s begin where a lot of people start when they\u2019re researching something \u2013 Google, which would take us to the Church of England website\u2019s page on confirmation, which says this – <\/p>\n
\u201cConfirmation is a special church service in which a person confirms the promises that were made when they were baptized. If you were baptized when you were a child, your parents and godparents made these promises on your behalf. As a young person or adult, you may be ready to affirm these promises for yourself and commit your life to following Jesus Christ.
\nAt a confirmation service, you make these promises for yourself. <\/p>\n
Your friends and family as well as the local Christian community will be there to promise to support and pray for you. <\/p>\n
The local bishop will lay their hands on your head and ask God\u2019s Holy Spirit to give you the strength and commitment to live God\u2019s way for the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here we see those three elements:<\/p>\n
Confirmation is about a personal decision to commit to Jesus, to promise to do this for yourself. For many coming to confirmation that decision will have been made for them by their parents when they were young children, and now it is time for them to make that commitment for themselves. For others, who may have made those promises for themselves at their baptism, confirmation is an opportunity to recommit to them.<\/p>\n
Whilst it is a personal decision, it is not one made in a vacuum. As followers of Jesus we are a family, and we are here to support each other.
\nThis support is particularly important in rites of passage, in transitions, when we commit or recommit to our faith. We cannot follow Jesus alone, we travel together, and so when someone is confirmed the community of faith promises to support them, to pray for them, to be there for them.<\/p>\n
Even that, though, is not enough. We need the Holy Spirit. When he was baptised, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus to equip him and strengthen him for his ministry. He promised that he would send the Holy Spirit on all his followers to help them as they follow him. At confirmation we pray particularly for the Holy Spirit\u2019s strength to follow Jesus in his way.<\/p>\n
But surely we don\u2019t just base our understanding of confirmation on what we find on a website, even if it is the official Church of England website? Of course not. Where else might we look to understand confirmation? Well, what about the words of the Confirmation Service itself? What do they say?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at three highlights. Firstly a question that is put to the candidates for confirmation:<\/p>\n
Are you ready with your own mouth and from your own heart to affirm your faith in Jesus Christ?
\nI am.
\nThere\u2019s the personal commitment to following Jesus.
\nNext is a question put to the congregation:<\/p>\n
The bishop addresses the whole congregation
\nFaith is the gift of God to his people. In baptism the Lord is adding to our number those whom he is calling. People of God, will you welcome\u00a0these candidates and uphold\u00a0them\u00a0in\u00a0their\u00a0life in\u00a0Christ?
\nAll\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the help of God, we will.
\nThere\u2019s the community of faith to support<\/p>\n
Lastly, a prayer that the Bishop prays:<\/p>\n
The bishop addresses each candidate by name<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s the Holy Spirit to strengthen.<\/p>\n
Now, while it\u2019s good to know that Church of England has got its website lined up well with what we do in the service, what about the Bible? What might God\u2019s word have to say to help us understand this? Unlike baptism and communion, Jesus didn\u2019t command us to confirm anyone, and there\u2019s no examples of a confirmation service in the Bible, it was a practice that developed over the years as the church grew. So, is there anything in the Bible that might inform how we understand confirmation? I would like to suggest that there is.<\/p>\n
Our reading this morning from John\u2019s eye witness account of Jesus\u2019 life and ministry is one of these. <\/p>\n
This story actually started back at the beginning of chapter 6. You might be familiar with it. Jesus was teaching a massive crowd, when he realised that they were miles from anywhere and there was no Aldi close by. How were they going to get fed? It turns out that there was a boy with a packed lunch of a few rolls and a bit of fish. Jesus fed over five thousand people from that little lunch. That evening Jesus and disciples crossed over lake Galilee, they were in a boat, he walked. The crowd followed the next day and Jesus kept teaching them. He told them that he was the bread of life and that whoever comes to him will never go hungry. They get properly confused about this, and just before our reading this morning started they are arguing amongst themselves, saying, \u201cHow can this man give us his flesh to eat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus doesn\u2019t back off though, he doubles down and tells them that they will have to eat Jesus\u2019 flesh and drink his blood if they are to live. Not surprisingly this caused some consternation. Remember, at this point they hadn\u2019t had the last supper, they didn\u2019t know about communion, they didn\u2019t have the insight that they would be able to fulfil this command by sharing bread and wine. <\/p>\n
It was too hard, and many left. Many decided not to follow Jesus. These weren\u2019t just the crowds, these were actual disciples \u2013 people who had previously decided that they did want to follow Jesus, to go with him, to learn from him, to live with him, now deciding not to. <\/p>\n
Others, however did stay. They committed. They didn\u2019t understand any better, but they knew that Jesus had the words of eternal life, they believed that he was the Holy One of God, so they made personal decisions to commit. But, if we read carefully we can see that these weren\u2019t decisions made in isolation. They were decisions made in community.<\/p>\n
\u201cto whom shall *we* go\u201d \u201c*we* have come to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, of course, there in the middle is the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, \u201cThe Spirit gives life\u201d <\/p>\n
And what about our reading from Acts, the historical accounts of the life of the early church? What do we see there?<\/p>\n
Again we see personal decisions to commit to follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to a particular ministry and they committed to it. They made a decision to follow where Jesus was leading them.<\/p>\n
In this case, the community of faith around them is even more obvious. It was the community of faith that were praying, listening to the Holy Spirit, and helping Barnabas and Paul discern the call. They laid hands on them, and prayed for them as they were obedient to the call that they had discerned. <\/p>\n
There was no question that Paul and his colleagues didn\u2019t already have the Holy Spirit, we know that they did, but they were embarking on a new journey, taking a step of faith, and so their friends prayed for them and laid hands on them. It doesn\u2019t say explicitly but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a stretch to think that these prayers would have included a prayer for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. What\u2019s the evidence for this?<\/p>\n
In verse 2 it was the Holy Spirit who gave the call, as it often is with confirmation \u2013 sometimes a nudge in our spirits that it\u2019s time to take this step, sometimes a prayerful friend who might suggest it to us, having been prompted by the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
In verse 4, they went their way by the Holy Spirit \u2013 guided and strengthened by the presence of God going with them. <\/p>\n
In verse 9, Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, faces down the opposition to the good news of Jesus that Paul is sharing. <\/p>\n
A personal decision to commit to Jesus
\nA community of faith to support
\nThe Holy Spirit to strengthen<\/p>\n
All three evident in Scripture and tradition. <\/p>\n
Confirmation isn\u2019t the only time at which these three work together, but it is a significant one. If Confirmation is something that you are considering then pray about it, talk to me or other trusted Christian friends. Preparation for a step like this is important. Caroline will be running this for our young people, and for the adults there is an Alpha course here starting on Tuesday, and around Telford there are other Alpha courses on different evenings starting a little later in the month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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