As part of the confirmation ritual, I gear the sermon toward the confirmands on the day they are confirmed. I also call them by name at some point in the sermon to try to make it clear that God has a claim on them. The downside to that approach is that it can make others listening feel excluded. In the Chapel service where not confirmands were being presented for worship, that feels particularly acute to me as the preacher. I tried to adjust the sermon some for the Chapel, but that is hard to do. I did tell the Chapel group the story of the person who told the preacher after worship, "Your must have been preaching to me today. Taht sermon was just what I needed." only to have the minister say, "No, I was thinking of so-and-so when I was writing this sermon!" I do believe that by the power fo the Holy Spirit we can overhear the gospel, even when the preacher has some other target for the sermon.
In the Chapel I read through vs. 20 o the 16th chapter of Matthew. I took out vs. 20 in the Sanctuary reading. Vs. 20 is when Jesus instructs the disciples not to tell people that he is the Messiah. This is known as the Messianic secret in biblical circles, but since I was not dealing with that issue in the sermon, I thought it might be distracting to have it in the reading.
Matthew 16: 13-19 When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.
“And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”
“What Does It Mean to Believe?” May 1, 2016; FPC, Troy; 3: 12-17; Matthew 16: 13-20
Introduction: we find the resurrected Christ in all sorts of places – on the beach; on the road to Emmaus; meeting with disciples behind closed doors; on a mountaintop.
Pick your spot. Pick your spot and imagine you are there with the resurrected Christ.
Ellie, Alle, Megan, Cayden, Taylor -- You get to ask him a question. Well, you get to ask him the question that I give you.
“What does it mean to believe?”
What do you imagine his answer will be.
Will his answer be: “Take confirmation. Outline sixteen sermons; do daily Bible readings; answer weekly reflection questions; do some mission work; go to PYC; learn enough to pass the test; meet with a mentor
OK, that's my imagination at work. Probably not yours.
What do you imagine he would tell you?
There's a Presbyterian minister who says that when he thinks about what it means for Jesus to call us, he no longer thinks in terms of Jesus calling us to a particular job, like doctor, or teacher, or manager at Macy's; nor does he think about Jesus calling us to a task like elder or deacon.
He says that when Jesus calls you, “you get a whole new life.” (complete quote is as follows – "Well, this is what I believe: The call is not to be a preacher or teacher or doctor or mother or father or elder or deacon or orthodontist or floor manager at Macy’s — even if you are any of these things. The call of Jesus is not to a particular job, but to a way of living life, no matter what job you have. When Jesus calls, you don’t get a new job; you get a whole new life." Tom Are, Jr. 11/11/12 Sermon “It's a Whole New Life”
I think that's close to what the resurrected Christ might tell you if you asked him what it meant to believe. He might say, “it means you get a whole new life.”
What does a new life look like for a confirmand in 8th grade?
For that matter, what does a new life look like for any of us?
Clues for the new life in our work together in confirmation.
Move 1: Reflections from your faith
a. Weekly reflection questions.
- Daily Bible readings led to a weekly reflection question.
- Question based on biblical text.
3. Question that invited you to think about how the faith you discover in the biblical texts speaks to your life today.
b. You ought to see things differently and bring something different to your decisions and conversations.
1. As a high schooler, or as retired person, or anywhere in between, our new life in Christ ought to cause us to stop and reflect on what to say or how we should respond to a situation based on our faith in Jesus Christ.
2. “this is who I am, this is how I was raised. My faith determines all of my decisions.” Ken Niumatalolo, devout Mormon and head coach of Navy football, after announcing an end to formal meetings on Sunday during the season (as reported by Baltimore Sun) 11/24/2014 “He/She Said” Presbyterian Outlook (9)
3. When you say you want to follow Jesus Christ, it means you are called to approach the world and the situations you encounter in your lives differently.
Move 2: you need community
a. Shared experience
- someone to go through confirmation together. Imagine what it would have been like to do confirmation one-on-one with just me!
- I always enjoy the bonding that takes place.
- Someone who might know the answer when you did not; or maybe you were the one with the answer helping the others.
- part of the reason you meet with your mentors is to hear their faith stories and what they think about different things so that you can grow in your faith.
- When you profess your faith and join the church, you become even more a part of a community that will support you as you grow in faith together.
b. people praying for you.
- remember when confirmation started you received a prayer shawl. A visible reminder that people have been praying for you.
- And as we worship each week you know that we pray for others.
- That's part of being in community.
Move 3: Profess your faith in Jesus Christ.
a. where we began our time together last fall.
- Giving you the tools to prepare to profess your faith.
- Lots of work, but the goal was to give you the opportunity to profess your faith in Jesus Christ.
b. WE read in Matthew this morning about the time when Jesus asks the disciples who do people say that I am.
- The disciples give some interesting answers – some say John the ?Baptist; some Elijah; some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.
- Pretty good answers.
- But Jesus wants to know what they believe.1. Not the answer the books or teachers might tell them.2. not the answers that they might learn in confirmation class.3. Jesus makes it personal.4. but who do you5. who do you Ellie, Alle, Cayden, Taylor, Megan, who do you say that I am?
- peter speaks – “you are the Christ, the messiah, the Son of God.
- he gets it right, in a very personal way.
- When you profess your faith today, you get it right, in a very personal way.
Move 4: How do you know? How do you know if you are living that new life?
a. Earlier in Matthew John the Baptist has a similar question for Jesus.
1. he hears about Jesus, the one they call Messiah.
2. John is in prison, so he can't go and see Jesus or talk to him, so he sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “are you the Messiah?”
b. Jesus does not give a simple yes or no.
1. he says look at what I do.
2. Listen to what I say.
3. see how I impact other.
4. Then, figure it out.
5. They do not have to believe because he tells them to believe – he shows them.
b. Tweet test or Instagram story line.
- Read your series of tweets; look at your story-line.
- are you doing and saying things that reflect a follower of Christ?
Conclusion: Good news...bad news...then some more good news.
Good news – done with confirmation.
Bad news – eight months of confirmation is a lot easier than a lifetime of being a disciple of Christ.
Good news – Jesus Christ, the one in whom you profess your faith today, is with you now by the power of the Holy Spirit guiding and directing;
Jesus, is there to pick you up and pleads with God for your forgiveness when you mess up.
Jesus, will be faithful to your profession of faith, even when you are not.
Amen.
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