Confirmation

These days when we make a reservation or purchase an item over the phone or internet, we get a confirmation number.  So if the hotel or plane is overbooked, we have our confirmation number. Or if the item ordered doesn’t arrive, we have our confirmation number.  We are given what we hope will give us a sense of security, something to hang onto even when the plane takes off without us, there is no room at the inn, or the ordered item never materializes.  Basically, all we may have is a false sense of security.

In “What shall we do about Confirmation?”, Leonel Mitchell ponders giving up the word “confirmation” altogether. For some Episcopalians, the meaning and value of confirmation seems as vague as the purpose of those confirmation numbers.  Despite this vagueness, most of us consider this rite as important and valuable. The opening rubrics of the confirmation service point out that those baptized young are “expected” to be confirmed, and even Mitchell ends up seeing “the rite in which those baptized as infants have the opportunity to own their faith in which they have been brought up.” [1]

Our parents, godparents, and the Christian community of God’s faithful people, give us a wonderful and beautiful bouquet of spiritual flowers at our baptism. We are taught, nurtured, and guided by these people as we grow in the faith.  As young adults, we do indeed make those promises for ourselves. Confirmation does not become a graduation from church.  Throughout our Christian walk, we will always need to be taught, guided, and nurtured by the community of God’s faithful people.

Confirmation classes begin on Sunday, February 13 from 5:00 - 6:00 pm. Why classes?  During the baptism service, we ask that God give the newly baptized “an inquiring and discerning heart” (BCP, p.308).  “Come and see.” (John 1:39).

Jane+

[1] Mitchell, Leonel L. “What shall we do about confirmation?”  A Prayer Book for the 21st Century: Liturgical Studies 3.  New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1996

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