Reformation Sunday, October29,2006
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we gather together today to give you thanks for your gift of salvation, offered to us through our baptism and faith in the death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus the Christ. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, inspire us to continue growing in faith, that we might live in the covenant of our baptism, and reflect to those around us the joy of knowing your redeeming grace. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
I have chosen as my text for this morning the words of Jesus to those Jews who had come to believe in him. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Personally, I can not think of another statement of our Lord that would be more appropriate for our celebration of the rite of Affirmation of Baptism, or for our celebration of Reformation Sunday.
First, let’s consider these words of our Lord as they apply to the rite of Affirmation of Baptism, since David and Ian may be a little edgy about what I might have to say in this regard. But then, I don’t want to leave them off the hook too early, so I’d like to begin by sharing with you my own experience of affirming my faith, forty-six years ago.
At that time, this rite was known only as “the rite of confirmation,” and I believe that the change in title for this rite of the church reflects a real and significant difference in our understanding of what David and Ian are celebrating here, this morning.
Like David and Ian, I had to meet certain requirements to be confirmed. I had to attend Sunday school and worship every week for two years, serve the congregation as an acolyte and honorary member of one of the committees, and successfully complete a series of 40, two-hour classes with our pastor which were held on Saturday mornings, including homework and weekly tests.
When I finished all of the requirements, I was confirmed, along with thirty other students, in a ceremony that was marked with as much pomp and circumstance as a high-school graduation. We all wore special gowns, sat in the front three pews, in alphabetical order. When it came time for the rite of confirmation to take place, we all moved in procession, knelt to receive the pastor’s blessing, then returned to our pews.
Then, as the service continued, we again proceeded to the altar rail in unified procession to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, which was offered to us for the first time, signifying that we were now mature enough to participate fully in worship. Following worship, we had a group picture taken with us in our gowns, which was then included in a folder along with our certificate of confirmation. The problem with this rite of confirmation, was that it gave us the impression that we had graduated, that we had learned all of the essentials of the Christian faith.
David and Ian, it is truly a privilege for me to celebrate this rite of our church, in which you will each “affirm” the faith of your baptism. But if you gain one thing from this sermon that I preach this morning, please don’t conceive of this day as your graduation. Even though you may be thrilled not to have any more homework or quizzes from being in my class every Sunday, I assure you that you have not learned all that you need to know about the Christian faith.
But I do believe that you are ready to affirm the faith of your baptism, and to begin to take responsibility for what it means to live your lives as disciples of Christ. I think the one thing that I enjoy most about being a pastor, is seeing the kids in my class, “my kids,” develop and mature in their faith and honesty during the three years they spend with me in study. That is certainly true of both David and Ian, who will celebrate this rite today.
In fact, I invited David and Ian to attend my class last Sunday, in order to help plan this service, choose hymns, and give opportunity for the rest of my class to support them by taking part in the service. After we had completed our planning, I asked David and Ian if they minded if I include them in my sermon.
David responded by saying, “No, pastor, this is when you tell everyone that I didn’t turn in all of my homework, and that I could have done better on my tests.” In all honesty, I didn’t have that in mind, but since David offered me the illustration of his honesty, I couldn’t refuse.
Of course, Ian did turn in most of his homework, and did fairly well on his tests. But we, as a class, had an awfully hard time convincing him to go to confir-camp. In spite of the urgings of the whole class, including David, who was also a scout, Ian felt that he would have more fun at scout camp, and didn’t attend his first two years. Finally, I told Ian that if he wanted to celebrate this day, he had to attend camp his third year. He agreed.
I then suggested that I would place him in the second year classes, so that if he wanted to come back to camp the next year, he would only have one year of studies to make up. He agreed. And guess what Ian said to me at the end of his first week at camp? He said, “Pastor Ron, I am sorry that I didn’t come all three years. This is definitely a great experience.”
Of course, Ian also had to make up the materials covered in his first year of camp, which he did on his own. And David, showing his maturity chose to postpone his rite of Affirmation of Baptism, in order that he and Ian could celebrate this day together. I am proud of them both, as are the other pastor’s in our confir-camp, who have commented about their knowledge and maturity that they experienced, by having them in their class at camp. And I would love to see them return to camp again.
For listen again to the words of Christ! “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” David and Ian are not graduating this morning from the need to continue learning from the Word of God and their need to worship God on a regular basis. Rather, they are proclaiming that they would like to begin to take responsibility for their own faith development.
And if they are serious about affirming their faith, they cannot neglect these words of our Lord. For the only way that any of us can continue to enrich our lives as disciples of Christ, the only way that we can know the power of God to enrich our lives and give us the courage to live in freedom from the bondage of sin, is by continuing to live in relationship with Christ. And incidentally, both David and Ian have indicated that they would like to continue serving the church as Liturgical deacons.
Well, I think I have had our confirmands on the hot seat long enough. Now it’s time for the rest of us to shuffle a little in our pews. After all, if we can understand the admonitions that I have just expressed to David and Ian, we also need to hear them, regardless of our age, as a mandate from our Lord to take responsibility for our own faith, by continuing in his word.
The truth is, there is never a graduation from the need to continue to immerse ourselves in Christ’s word. There is never a point in which we can say that we have learned enough, for our Lord’s word continues to lead us to grow in our understanding of what it means to live our lives as children of God, united as brothers and sisters through our Lord’s death and resurrection.
It was Luther’s constant study of Scripture that led to his, and the other reformers, to discover the truth of the Gospel, which led to the reform of the church, not only in his day, but throughout the years since. And through their leadership, and the inventing of the printing press, the Bible has been translated into the language of the people, that we might study it and let it direct our lives of faith.
At this point, we need to recognize that as we celebrate these two young men aspiring to assume adult responsibility for their faith, we, as adults, serve as models for what their adult life of faith should emulate. I now pass these young men on to you, the adult members of our congregation, to continue to nurture their faith.
Quite frankly, if our celebration of the Reformation means anything to us any more, we need, as adults, to continue to witness to how the grace of God has changed our lives, given us courage in the face of adversity, and the ability to find peace in the midst of turmoil. We need to continue the witness to our confirmands that as they begin to take responsibility for their own faith, that they are supported by the adult community, and not left on their own to understand what it means to “continue in Christ’s word.
To this end, there are a number of ways in which our congregation exhibits strong leadership. But what about our example of adult participation in continuing to learn from God’s word through our attendance at our adult Sunday school class, or our participation in the Lenten classes. The Reformation has brought the truth of the Gospel into our lives. May God’s Spirit now give us the courage and the will to own the Gospel, and continue to mentor our confirmands in the truth of God’s word.
Amen.
