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Confirmation Contemplations
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you to go out and bear fruit.” – John 15:16
On May 15, 2016 Holy Cross was blessed to confirm 13 confirmands in their Baptismal faith: Evan Brooks, James DiCostanzo, Christopher Diem, Aidan Folck, Anthony Ludwig, Madeline Olsen, Logan Overton, Lauren Roberts, Emma Roland, Erin Roland, Ian Ropach, Madison West and Charles Wood.
The sacrament of Holy Baptism is the key to understanding confirmation. Holy Baptism is a unilateral act of God. God does all the work in Baptism. He puts His holy name on us in Baptism and the Holy Spirit works faith within us, granting us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. We don’t even wiggle our littlest finger to come to God. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast.
When a person is baptized, that person becomes a member of the Holy Christian Church (as well as a member of our own congregation). Confirmation celebrates the teaching part of Jesus’ mandate to “baptize and teach.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Confirmation celebrates publicly – “in the presence of God and this congregation” – the beliefs expressed or “confessed” by one who has been baptized and now taught the basics of the Christian faith.
Moreover, the Apostle Paul’s teaching of 1 Corinthians 11:28, “Let a person examine himself, then and so eat of the bread and drink the cup,” makes it the congregation’s concern for its growing members to help them prepare for meaningful participation in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, each at one’s own level of development. To receive Holy Communion without understanding it would be meaningless and, in fact, harmful to a person. So catechism instruction helps a person to “examine oneself” before receiving the Lord’s Supper.
May we always remember that through our common Baptism we are united “with one Spirit into one Body” – the Body of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Pastor Nickel
