Sermon from May 19

Here is this past Sunday's sermon.

Pentecost, Confirmation, And Responsibility

For some of you, it’s a date that occurred quite some time ago.  For others, it may not have been all that long ago.  If it happened to you when you were very little, chances are that you don’t have a memory of it.  I know that I personally don’t remember the details when it happened to me.  I do know the date, March 24, during the same year I was born.  For others of you here, it may have taken place when you were a little bit older.  But regardless of when it took place, it was a life-changing event.

What is it that I’m talking about?  The date of your baptism.  On that date, you were brought before God and God’s people, and something rather significant took place.  God extended His promise to you as the water and God’s Word combined to touch you.  When that happened, you were made one of God’s own people.  You became a child of promise.  God’s promise was extended to you, and God doesn’t take the promises He makes lightly. 

But you also weren’t alone on that day, especially if you happened to be very little.  Sure, God’s promise had been extended to you when the baptismal waters touched you.  But how were you to know about that promise?  How would you find out what it means to be a child of God’s promise?  On that day, as you were baptized, there were people there who committed themselves to the task of nurturing you in that faith that you had just been baptized into.  People such as parents, guardians, and godparents made a commitment to God and to you to make sure that you knew that you were a child of God’s promise.  They made a commitment to make sure that you knew what that promise meant for you.

They took that responsibility upon themselves.  And for most of us who were baptized at a very young age, we probably had times in our lives where we didn’t really get that very much.  In my own life, I can recall any number of times when I didn’t really want to get up and go learn more about my faith.  I can recall a few times where I questioned their wisdom in getting me up and dressed just to go sit through church and Sunday School.  And I would imagine that there were those times for pretty much all of us.  While our parents or guardians may have taken that responsibility seriously, we probably didn’t make it all that easy on them a few times.

And yet, many of us are here today because they took their responsibility seriously.  And yes, I have been kicking that word around quite a bit this morning already.  Responsibility.  It’s something that others took upon themselves on our behalf for those of us who were baptized at a young age.  And in some other respects, that’s a key word for us today, especially for the five students who will be confirmed in their faith today.  Responsibility.  

The ritual that we are observing today has several different intentions behind it.  In the Lutheran church, we observe confirmation as the end of a time of instruction in the content of our faith.  The class works through Luther’s Small Catechism, along with quite a bit of Bible reading, to see what we believe, and why we believe it.  Once we have worked our way through that, the moment of truth arrives.  Those who have been attending the class are then ready to say that the faith into which they were baptized is their own.  They know more about it now, and are ready to claim it as their own.

But along with that, there is something more.  Having been instructed, they are also ready to take up the greater responsibility for the continued nurture of their faith life.  Up to this point, it had been primarily directed by others.  Mom and dad bringing them to church and youth group.  A friend that had invited them along the whole time.  But now, once they have completed the instruction time, they are ready to take responsibility for their own continued growth.  And that’s what we observe today.

Today, our confirmation students will be standing before us to declare that they are equipped and ready to take responsibility for the continued nurture of their faith life.  They will be making a number of statements.  They hold to God’s truth that the Bible is the word from God to us human beings.  They will declare that they hold our understanding of what God says as one that is drawn directly from the Bible.  They will declare that they want to be known as a person who holds to that faith, and who intends to hold on to that faith all the way to the time when God brings their life in this world to an end.  They will declare that they are people of God’s promise, and will continue to be so, and will strive to continue to grow in understanding what that means for their lives.

So the continued nurture of their faith life will be their own.  They will take up the responsibility and bear it on their shoulders.  And this brings us to one of the awesome things about our God and the people to whom He extends His promise.  Sure, they are taking responsibility for their faith, but in doing that, they are also not alone.  Yes, God has connected them to Himself through the water of their baptism, and yes, today they are stating that they are taking responsibility for their faith life.  But they also don’t take up that responsibility as though there is no one else to nurture and guide them.

As God’s people, we continue to bear a responsibility toward the nurture of their faith life as they continue to grow.  And I use the word “continue” there very intentionally.  It takes practically the whole body of Christ in any given congregation to nurture and grow the faith life of our children.  In fact, it’s worth recognizing the different roles that many of you have had in the nurture of the faith life of our students.  How many of you have had the chance to teach them in Sunday School?  Vacation Bible School?  Confirmation class?  How many of you have welcomed them when they come to God’s house for worship, or for Bible Study?  How many of you have sat beside them at a meal, or encouraged them during an activity here?  We could keep going on and on about how many of you have had the opportunity to interact with them and to help grow them in their faith over the years of their life here.

Today, your responsibility toward them does not end.  Sure, the primary responsibility shifts from the shoulders of their parents and caregivers onto their own shoulders, but your responsibility toward them continues.  As part of the body of Christ, every single one of us here has a responsibility toward them, to continue to encourage them in their faith life and walk, to equip them as God gives us the opportunity.  We’re part of the body to challenge them to grow to greater levels of maturity in their faith.  And not a single one of you is exempt from that responsibility.  Sure, you may not have had an opportunity to interact with them, and there could be a number of really good reasons for that.  But as part of the Body of Christ, the same Body of Christ that they are part of, you also bear that responsibility toward them.

In fact, right about now, you might be expecting me to pull out my little poster, right?  Connecting Community And Christ.  Confirmation day is really a little bit about doing this.  Our students declare that they are prepared to take responsibility for their faith life.  But they are still part of the community.  It falls on their shoulders, and also on all of our shoulders, to maintain and build up those connections with one another.  Since Jesus has seen fit to give up His life for all of us, washing us all the water of baptism, and in doing that, extending His promise to us, and making us part of His body, that means that we are all connected together as a community.

So our students take responsibility for their faith life.  An important thing for us to remember is that they are still part of the body.  Jesus gave up His life for them, just like He gave up His life for you.  Jesus purchased and won them, just like Jesus purchased and won you from sin, death, and the power of the devil.  Jesus has given the assurance of new life to them by rising from the dead, just as He has given that same assurance to you by rising from the dead.  

We still have a responsibility to our students, as part of the Body of Christ, to nurture and grow them in their faith and life.  And today, they are saying that they are ready to take up some measure of that same responsibility.  Sure, we can’t just take that whole level of responsibility and dump it upon them all at once.  In some ways, they will need to be nurtured to understand exactly what it means to have that responsibility.  In fact, that’s something that we all need continual nurturing in.  We have responsibility for our faith lives, but we also benefit by remembering that we also have a responsibility toward our fellow members of the body of Christ.  We are all people that Jesus has died to redeem.  We are all people that Jesus has made His own through our baptism.  Jesus has given us a community, the Body of Christ, to nurture the hope and the faith that He has given to us.  Our whole community is what it is because of Jesus.

And since Jesus has made every single one of you into a new creation, you see the value of the other members of the Body of Christ.  Part of our new creation in Jesus is that we see the need for our connections to one another.  We connect with the community because we recognize that, even though Jesus has rescued each of us, we also need one another for our continued nurture and growth.  And today, as we welcome our students into that same responsibility, we recognize our role in it, and welcome them to share that responsibility with us.

With that great joy in our hearts today, we give thanks to God that He continues to provide the opportunity for us to encourage and support one another in the faith.  I ask that you join me as we pray for our Body of Christ, and specifically, for our students who assume greater responsibility upon themselves today.