Confirmation is a service whereby young people and adults accept their full responsibility as members of the Body of Christ. Many, if not most people in the Episcopal Church are baptized as infants or at least as young children. Baptism is initiation into the Body, when the child is “sealed as Christ’s own forever.” Confirmation is the sacrament that affirms that commitment as an adult member of the church.
I know that many denominations do not have a sacrament of confirmation, many wait until the person makes their own decision for Christ as a young adult or later. Baptism, then, is the one rite that both affirms their choice to serve Christ as Lord and Savior and testifies that they are an adult part of the community of faith.
However and whenever it happens, the act of taking the step of commitment to God is an important milestone in our Christian journey. What does it mean to say “yes” to Christ? In the confirmation service, both those being confirmed and the congregation reaffirm their baptismal promised that include: “Continuing in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers; repenting for sins; proclaiming by word and example the Good News of God in Christ; serving Christ in all persons including working for justice and peace.”
Each of those promises is part of our total ministry and can only be lived out with God’s help. How each young person today lives out their ministry as adult members of the church remains to be seen. They can be assured, and so can we, that as the hymn says,
“New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;
Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life and power and thought.”
I know my response to that love can be affected by outside influences. I can easily forget that each morning I am “Restored to life and power and thought,” in order to re-commit my life each morning to God. Fortunately my forgetfulness and distraction doesn’t change God’s love for me or for you.
I have modified the confirmation prayer to make it a little more personal and offer it to you as an aid and a reminder of the One we serve and Who we have committed our life to.
Almighty God, I thank you that by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you have overcome sin and brought me to yourself, and that by the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound me to your service. Renew in me the covenant you made with me at my Baptism. Send me forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service you set before me; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
I invite you to join the Advent meditations here in an exploration of Mary’s story and the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness.
You can also be part of the Yahoo group study “Dancing in the Footsteps of God (with Miriam)” starting the beginning of December. (Go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dancinginthefootprints/ to join--you do need a Yahoo account.)
