Sermon "A Life-long Process" May 2, 2010 confirmation John 13:31-35 (Rev. 21:1-6)
Some people look at confirmation as something they have to endure. That’s where I was at in ninth grade. Some look at it like graduation, done with that, church becomes an option. I will offer another opinion. The rite of confirmation, or affirmation of baptism as it is also called, is part of a life-long process that helps us understand what it means to live under God’s grace in a loving relationship to Jesus and one another.
PRAYER
Confirmation instruction still uses Martin Luther’s Small Catechism as the basis of instruction. Luther’s famous question in each explanation was, "what does this mean?" So I asked the confirmation students what being confirmed meant. I mostly received a non-verbal reply (shrug shoulders). Remembering my own confirmation, that response was not surprising.
One of the most honest answer I ever received from a student was when I was in Bigfork. I talked to each student individually, and I asked if they were ready to be confirmed. One student said "no." I asked him why he believed that. He told me it was because he hadn’t answered questions in class very well. Honesty. At the end of confirmation this year, I had the students play the game Jeopardy, like on T.V. I think they were surprised, as I was, as to how much they knew about the life of Jesus. But it is only the beginning, because the questions in life will keep coming, and how faith in Jesus can help answer those questions will be revisited over and over again.
Last year I had some adults in each congregation that wanted to be confirmed, so we did a course in Lutheranism. At least two generations were represented in that group. There were even a couple of baptisms. When is affirmation of baptism completed? It’s not. On our life-long journey of faith, we all need to affirm what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us about our faith in Jesus and his presence in our lives on a daily basis.
Confirmation is a life-long process beginning with baptism, most of the time infants. Promises are made on behalf of the child, primarily by parents, and also sponsors. The promise is to bring the child up in the Christian faith, so that a personal relationship to Jesus will develop. Where are those promises fulfilled? Mostly they are fulfilled at home. You might have thought I would say Sunday School, church, or confirmation classes. No, faith is given shape and loving relationships to God and one another take place at home. I as pastor, and the faith community here are there to support the fulfillment of those promises.
Confirmation becomes a reminder to both parents and child that the responsibilities for faith and life are shifting from one to the other. Today these confirmands are assuming more responsibility for their own faith journey. More responsibility comes with a driver’s license, graduation from high school, choosing a life partner, and a career. Children are eager to untie the knot of dependence. But neither child or parent ever let go of the rope completely. How I understand my relationship to Jesus is tied in all the way back to my grandparents, which I will never let go of.
Soon you students will express your independence and take or leave the advice and rules your parents gave to you. You know, wash behind your ears, pick up the mess, do your homework, wear clean underwear, you might get into an accident. You can start dating now, sex is more marriage. Always tell us where you are and if you will be late, because we still care no matter how old you are. Be nice. Love conquers all. And so there is assurance that love will always be the basis of family relationships, which mirror dimly the love God has for us as revealed in Jesus.
Jesus’ own disciples went through confirmation in the upper room, just before Jesus was arrested and crucified. They didn’t know the answers to Jesus’ questions either. He knew he wouldn’t be with them in the same way again. But he would be with them as the risen Lord through the Holy Spirit. So he gave them a final instruction, love one another. Jesus called it a new commandment, but it had been around since Abraham. What he meant was that they were to love one another just as he had loved them. It was an unconditional, unearned, unshakable kind of love. As I told the students while studying Mark’s Gospel, Jesus revealed the heart of God toward us. Regardless of how much you participate in your faith, in church, or pray, God’s love in Jesus remains the same and ready to empower us to live out that love in our own lives. If you look for that kind of love out in the world, you will probably be disappointed. Those of the world are always more interested in themselves than in you.
Today you will affirm your baptismal promises, surrounded by family and neighbors and friends who do care about and love you as part of the family of Christ. I have shared the life of Jesus with you in Mark’s Gospel. More importantly I have opened up opportunities for you to see that love in action. We got to know each other better on a retreat at Camp Hiawatha. While there we also served the camp by cleaning up a project. We put the love of Jesus into action at Grace House at Zion Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, feeding people who don’t have enough to feed themselves.
You will discover along the way that life isn’t always fair, people don’t always care beyond themselves, and often love and respect has to be earned. But I also hope you have glimpsed the power of the new commandment Jesus gives to love one another as he continues to love you. Not everyone appreciates or understands the power of that kind of love. Many people don’t understand the life-changing love Jesus showed by conquering the power of sin by his death and resurrection. You know the power of that love. You know it is personally available to you all the time. I hope your affirming your baptism is the beginning of your life-long process of discovering just how life-changing that love can be. Amen.
