We continue in our Easter Season which, as our Book of Worship says, “is the most joyous and celebrative season of the Christian year. It focuses on Christ’s resurrection and the ascension and on the givings of the Holy Spirit.”
We have experienced those “givings.” We were a part of an outburst of missional outreach two weeks ago. Then last week a number of people came forward wanting to rededicate their lives to Christ and his church. This week we get to celebrate 10 young people who want to be confirmed in this faith. After eight months of study capably led by Stephanie Seastrand and Jim Carrillo, these 13-year-olds have the opportunity to confirm publicly the beliefs that were spoken on their behalf by their parents when most of them were baptized as infants. But it is not just they who are confirming the faith for themselves; it is also all of us.
As with baptism, so in confirmation there will be a three-fold covenant made this Sunday at the 9 a.m. worship service. God makes the initial covenant to love us and love us always. Our youth make a covenant to love God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and to love Christ’s body, the Church. We also reconfirm our covenant to do the same. This Sunday is our collective opportunity to do a spiritual “gut-check” as many did last Sunday with the altar call and rededicate ourselves to Christ and Christ’s Church alongside these young people. They need us, we need them, and Christ needs all of us to be about Christ’s healing, peace, and justice in a fractured world.
So – parents, members, and friends, let’s jump on board this “most joyous and celebrative season of the Christian year” and reconfirm our faith this Sunday, because it’s not just for kids. Amen.
