After the Hymn of the Day, we will have confirmation for Thomas. He has been attending confirmation class for the past two years. He’s attended worship and written sermon notes for those two years – and unlike confirmands of many years, he’s pretty complementary in his sermon notes! For confirmation we use the Affirmation of Baptism service. The idea with confirmation is that he will affirm the vows and promises his parents made on his behalf at baptism. He, being an infant, was too young to have any say in the matter.
While baptism is a life-long reality, and it is neither strengthened nor weakened by being confirmed or not, confirmation is a public affirmation that he is embracing the promises made on his behalf years ago.
A couple centuries ago a boy Thomas’ age was considered nearly grown up. They were expected to speak for themselves. These days, though Thomas may wish he was more grown, he has years of childhood ahead of him. Perhaps it is too young for confirmation. At the same time, his age does have enough intellectual maturity to begin truly engaging the dynamics of faith and belief.
The confirmation material we use is a combination of my own thoughts and things I’ve pulled together over the years. The content is at a level way above the middle school or junior high ages of our students. It’s at a college level, or even graduate school. Why? Why present materials and concepts so advanced that it stretches what any adolescent could grasp? Because of the realities of life ahead.
Right now, today, I am sure that as Thomas makes public affirmation of his baptism he does fully believe and accept the promises made by his parents at baptism. He does intend to take responsibility for his faith and have it be a part of him for the rest of his life. But that is easier said than done.
Consider the Bible readings we had for today. The one was the traditional Pentecost text of the Holy Spirit coming dramatically upon the disciples and those gathered for the Pentecost holiday. The other was Jesus’ predictions about the future, the end of time, and readiness. I picture Thomas as a student in college. He is surrounded by other college guys and they’re saying to him, “You don’t really believe those stories, do you? You don’t really believe there is some Holy Spirit who made tongues of fire appear on people’s heads and they understood different languages? You don’t really believe that stuff Jesus said about a ‘desolating sacrilege’ and some people being just taken away while others are left? This whole confirmation thing you did, I mean, that was quaint and all. It's great that you honored your parents’ faith traditions and all of that, but you don’t really intend to live your life as if all of that really mattered or was true, do you?”
These are all good questions. They are valid ones. And they are ones we should all be ready to answer because they come to all of us in one form or another. We all live a divide between what our faith teaches us and what society teaches. There is a divide between what our faith expects of us and what society expects of us. It is one thing to be here in church and hear Bible stories read, sing songs of faith, hear a sermon, pray, and recite ancient creeds about what we believe. But it is another thing entirely to live them out Monday through Saturday. Christian faith teaches self-giving love without expectation of return. It teaches we should love our enemies and think the best of them, even as we may not do as they want from us. It teaches completely different priorities for possessions, for money, and for time. Christian faith teaches us that the world is interested in status and power and appearances. But we, knowing we are children of God who are made in God’s image, know that all of that stuff is not only a waste of time and effort, it’s actually hurtful. Jesus taught the ironic truth that in order to find yourself you must lose yourself. Any self-centered quest to find your purpose, meaning, or value in life will leave you lost and empty. Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” It is the path to true life and wholeness of being. But the world won’t believe it.
Confirmation classes should prepare Thomas and others to be able to reply to those college student questions with something like this. “It is true that the Bible’s stories come to us from ancient peoples who lived far away. And it is true that the Bible’s authors did not have knowledge of the scientific discoveries that we have today. They have an entirely different world view. But here are other truths that they did know, and that those Bible stories teach. They knew and felt the presence of God’s Spirit in their lives. It was a power and motivation they could not control or predict, but it was clearly leading them in a way different from the world. Jesus knew human nature well and didn’t hide its ugly truths. Jesus knew that people would invent any excuse to distort his teachings, and be exploitative, and be self-centered. He knew that they would grow frustrated with the delay in the fulfillment of his teachings and they would become lazy, and question it, and not believe.
“And most importantly, the Bible’s authors knew that humans are fundamentally untrustworthy. Humans are self-centered. They will lie, twist, and distort. They are very good at lying to themselves! And, humans rarely ever choose what is truly the best for themselves. If given the choice between what is easy and what is right, humans will almost always choose what is easy.
“So, do I believe those Bible stories and the faith that they support? Yes. I do. My parents had me baptized into a set of promises that trusted God to shape me. I affirmed that baptism. And I will live that baptism.
“That does not make me holier-than-thou. It does not make me a Jesus freak or a religious nutcase. It does not mean that I refute science or critical thinking. It does not mean that I am against having fun, or that I think God will somehow specially bless me over others. But it does mean that I’m going to live this life God gave me with confidence and strength. When I make mistakes I will be forgiven. When I do things right, I am building the world God wants for all. And I am certainly not going to waste my life and all my energy in quest of things that will leave me empty.
“God’s work may be hard, but it is worth the effort.”
Those are all my words, not Thomas’, nor any of yours. But it is the general idea of what we all should be able to say. It is the goal of confirmation.
The future is in God’s hands. That’s a key teaching from what Jesus said in our gospel reading. Many things will be unpredictable and chaotic. Many things will be overwhelming for us. Jesus describes wars, rumors of wars, and all sorts of devastating things. And he describes all of them as if that is just the normal course of the world. Through all of it notice what Jesus does teach us to do – be watchful, be faithful. He does not give a series of instructions as to how to prepare or what to stock up on. He does not describe some great battle where the faithful but their own strength conquer the forces of evil. No, Jesus describes that all of these things are taken care of by God and God alone. That is not our battle to fight. Our lives are to be lived in faith, guided by God as inspired by his Spirit.
So whether we are young or old, not yet confirmed or confirmed decades ago, we seek to embrace God’s secure truth which draws us into him.
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