In my day, the usual thing when you turned 12 was off for confirmation, bit like a Christian bar mitzva I suppose. So off I went to confirmation class, and all I had to learn was the 10 commandments, the Nicene creed and Lord’s prayer. So long as I could recite those before the bishop, that was enough. I’d become a full member of the church, and I could take me first communion. Well I don’t know what the Holy Spirit did with me on that day, but it wasn’t until I turned 25 that things began to happen. However, that’s another story for another day.
The
Anglican church has its sacrament of baptism and its rite of confirmation in
which we ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit to come into the life of the
believing candidate, but sacraments and rites alone cannot contain or control
the life and work of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, you can’t contain the
spirit any more than you can contain and control the wind. The Holy Spirit is
God’s gift to man for the purposes of bearing witness to the creative work of
the Father, to the identity and person of the Son and his work of salvation,
and for the deepening of faith commitment by the believer.
Now this
idea of confirmation (or laying on of hands) by the bishop goes right back to
the apostles themselves. In The Acts of the Apostles, Luke records Peter and
John doing it in chapter 8 when they visited some people in Samaria. Also in
chapter 19, this morning’s reading, when Paul visited Ephesus. There he found
some people who had received John the Baptist’s baptism, but not of the Holy
Spirit. And it wasn’t until after Paul laid his hands on them that they did receive
the Holy Spirit.
Some of you
may have picked up in verse 5 that these Ephesians, on hearing about Jesus,
were baptized into the name of Jesus. That makes it read like John’s baptism in
the Jordan for repentance was insufficient, and it’s caused some commentators
to offer the point that John’s baptism was defective, had to be corrected in
some way. I don’t agree with that. John’s baptism pointed the way to Jesus, and
Jesus himself affirmed John’s ministry. It prepared the way, in that it looked
forward to the one whose work would be the actual and effective cleansing of
sin, that is, his death and subsequent resurrection as vindication of that.
The people
that Paul met hadn’t heard of the Holy Spirit, and they may have thought of
John’s baptism as some kind of meritorious work they had to undergo as a
purification rite. And besides that, Jesus had instructed his followers that
baptism was to be in his name, not anyone else’s, because it is a gift of God
and cannot be a work of merit by sinful man. [Makes me wonder just what goes
through the minds of people who bring children to the church for baptism. Is it
in their minds a kind of insurance policy for the child, of a work of merit to
get the kid on its way? That’s why this diocese insists that at least one
parent or sponsor be a baptized believer.]
When I was
confirmed, we were taught that confirmation conferred full membership of the
church and allowed me to take Holy Communion. It was like a rite of passage.
These days we teach that to baptized in the name the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit brings a person fully into the church of God as a member with us of the
body of Christ, and there’s no rule requiring confirmation before admission to Holy
Communion. That changed in the mid-1980s. So if baptism brings a person fully
into the church of God, what then is the role of confirmation?
The order
of service for confirmation contains this opening prayer said by the bishop:
Almighty
and ever living God, you have given your servants new birth by water and
Spirit, and have forgiven them their sins. Strengthen them, we pray, with the
Holy Spirit that they may grow in grace. Increase in them the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit of discernment and inner strength, the spirit of
knowledge and true godliness, and fill them with wonder and awe at your
presence, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If that
isn’t a prayer for the candidate’s deepening commitment of faith and the
maturing of inner life, I don’t know what is.
The rite of
confirmation is an opportunity for believing Anglicans to publicly express a
deeper commitment of their faith, to be a witness of one’s acceptance of
Christian values and lifestyle. The gift of the Holy Spirit is especially asked
for, and when such a prayer request is made, it is always heard, always
answered. When, where and how is another matter. It’s one thing to ask for and
receive the Holy Spirit, and he will empower you with whatever abilities he
sees fit, but then those gifts and abilities need to be fanned into full flame
and invested in the work of the Kingdom of God. It’s the old question isn’t it:
I asked of life, what have you to offer me? And the answer came, what have you
to give?
Candidates
need to be carefully prepared for confirmation, retained within the
congregation of their confirmation, and be offered the support of wise counsel by
senior members of that congregation. It may take time for the activity of the
Holy Spirit to be recognized, interpreted and understood by the recently
confirmed. Through the laying on of hands, the opportunity of a deeper
commitment leads to a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit, and the Son and
the Father. And like any relationship, it needs time, counsel and direction to
mature.
Now why do
I speak of relationship with God? Well, at the outset, we are told in Genesis
chapters 1 and 2 that we are created for the purpose of being in relationship
with God.
God doesn’t
need us as if he lacks something. God as the Holy Trinity can exist quite
happily without any creation at all. But he did create and he desires our
fellowship with him. God takes a risk with that. How often have we said no to
him, refused his desire for fellowship with us? How often do we stamp our feet
and insist on our own way without reference to God? And God grieves that
refusal. After all, he is the lover, we are the beloved, and when love is not
returned, there’s pain and grief. Love risks, because love is feely given. And
a god who doesn’t take a risk and is not prepared to bear pain and suffering
for his beloved, is a god who cannot love, and is therefore not the god I know
about.
That’s why
the church offers the opportunity of confirmation. It’s a pastoral ministry
where the candidate bears witness to his or her love for God, freely given, and
in a mature and deeper way than perhaps baptism might offer, especially if
baptism was done at a very young age.
Like
baptism, confirmation can be taken only once. You can’t be re-baptized or
re-confirmed, and that’s because once the Holy Spirit takes hold of you, you
are his, and that’s that. But on the other hand, there may well be times when a
person feels they need to re-affirm their baptismal or confirmation commitment,
perhaps after an extended period of frustration, loneliness, or even a ‘desert’
experience. Does the Anglican church recognize this need in its liturgy and
pastoral services? Yes. There is provision for re-affirmation in the prayer
book. And certainly every Easter in this parish we re-affirm our baptismal
promises, an opportunity entirely appropriate, and has been since very early in
the history of the church.
In
conclusion then: Why re-affirm our Christian commitment? Why ask for
confirmation? Two things: we are offered the opportunity to enter into a deeper
relationship with our God because the soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds
on. So feed on Christ by heart and faith. And it is also, as I said earlier, a
public witness to our faith in Jesus Christ.
We have the
light of Christ in our lives. So let your light so shine before people, that
they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven, through
the saving work of the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit by the laying
on of hands.
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