John 17:20-26
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus’ prayer, the one that I just read, is very pointed. Jesus was praying, not only for his Disciples, but also for other people, the likes of you and me, people who would later come to believe. His prayer was that we will come to believe in him, that we will learn to love each other (as he had tried to teach his Disciples) and that we will come together as a unified community. Jesus’ hope was that two thousand years after his death (and beyond) we and yes others, would be doing exactly what we are going to do after this sermon, confirming our youth; receiving them as believers and faithful followers of Jesus. Often, we overlook the importance of this day for our youth, for the church and for the whole Body of Christ. But I don’t think those who are being confirmed today do! I asked them to write a short paragraph about their faith and why they were being confirmed. Most of the class obediently wrote for me a paragraph; one over-achiever wrote a page and a half; their honesty and insight are worth our listening to; in many ways they wrote today’s sermon.
(The first shall be last and the last shall be first) I received this short but informative paragraph last, but I think it is the place for us to start; it reads: “I believe in this God and the Holy Trinity because I grew up learning about it. It was what my family believed in. It is what my family wants me to believe and learn about. Confirmation means to me that I can be a member of the church and can make my own decisions with the Lord’s help.” We all come to faith from different directions, but there are similarities among all Jesus’ followers. And many of us have come to faith thanks to the efforts of our parents and other family members. Another confirmand described the faith journey like this: “God has been in my life almost since I was born. God has been helpful throughout all of the troublesome times I have had. I feel God started to be important to me when I was baptized. Confirmation is putting me to the test. If I really believe in God and Jesus, I think I can pass the test.”
Thankfully they all passed the test. Thankfully their faith is more to them than simple belief.
They each seem to feel open to ask God for help when they need it. Another confirmand wrote, “The faith in Jesus means a lot to me. Sometimes I ask God to help me in sports and believe that everything that happens to me makes me a better person. I think that if you really try hard and trust in God, good things will happen to you. He helps me to fall asleep at night because I trust in him to protect everything I like. The faith in God can never be broken and I will never stop trusting in God.” Such trust in God is the hallmark of faith and important for us all. Listen to the words of yet another confirmand: “To me confirmation means I am an adult member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. I have been going here since I was three weeks old and I love church and have been inspired by it. I have learned it is important to know that I can rely on my faith at all times. For example, one time I prayed to God to help keep pain away from me as my family tried to remove a splinter from underneath my fingernail. After a short period of time they removed it and I didn’t feel much pain. I know God was with me and will continue to be with me. I can share my faith with others. At church it is easy to share faith with others. At school it might be harder, but I shouldn’t be afraid to share my faith. I am proud to continue my faith at St. Peter’s.” Trusting in God’s help and being willing to share his belief is something that, we are all asked to do.
Each confirmand emphasized a slightly different understanding of confirmation and faith. Here is another: To me Christianity means that God is always there for you when you need him. God helps me find a friend in people. Jesus is always finding ways to help me when others make fun of me and when people I love aren’t around me. My faith in Jesus has helped me to see how I can help others. I’m glad that I am getting confirmed into this loving and supporting church. The good friends are in this church” (and the writer listed his friends). Here we have a faith that acknowledges a need to trust, a willingness to ask for help and a knowledge that Jesus offers his comfort to us, but this last one, from our over-achiever is willing also to trust to the point of asking questions of God.
“Whenever I was stuck on a math test, I would ask God to make the answers pop into my head so I wouldn’t get a bad grade. Well, as I got older, I learned that God gave everyone a brain so that they could study for tests, not so that He could give you the answers. This is probably why there have been times in my life where I have questioned why things hadn’t gone as I had hoped. We have all questioned God at one time or another. I know that I did whenever I found out that someone had passed away at a young age or when someone got a sickness. I always asked him, why did you end that person’s life? Why do you take away the things that are a part of our lives? It’s never easy to find out these things, but guess what? It’s life. We would never know the happy times without the sad ones. Getting confirmed was something that I honestly wanted to do until I reached the age where I would actually get confirmed. The stuff that I’m taught in science class can really make me question if God is even real. It was only in the last few months that I asked myself, why question God’s existence when you love going to church and learning about Christianity? It’s a question that kept nagging me for an answer. So, when confirmation classes started, I listened closely for any ways to strengthen my faith. One of the ways I strengthened my faith was my parents. Every time I had a question, they almost always had an answer. If I did something wrong, they forgave me and we moved on together. School has been a really tough obstacle, but I know that they are on the sidelines cheering me on until I cross the finish line. I always get annoyed when I am sitting at the kitchen table at eleven at night and nobody understands my math homework. Not even me. It’s really stressful when your father knows how to do it in a confusing way and your mother is still on her twenty third year of third grade math. I love my parents because even when I say hurtful things out of anger and scaredness, they still love me and provide me with comfort.”
(Now, I’m going to skip a part of this writing about family, which is all good. Simply stated there is a lot of love and appreciation for t writer’s family. Back to the writing: “I have been able to see how fortunate I am that God blessed me with amazing family and friends. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what happened. All that matters is that God gave me a family and God gave me a heart to love church and everything about it. Looking around at our world gives me the feeling of happiness and sadness. I believe that God has given each of us the heart to notice the flaws in our world. I think that if we let our religion guide us through the darkness, we can find the light together and help those in need. With that being said, I would like to thank each and every person I know for making my memories so precious. It means the world to me that everyone here came to see me and the other youth get confirmed. Thank you so much for listening to this slightly long version of what I was supposed to write!”
We have a few prospective pastors in this group. They’re a good group, who have the beginnings of a well-grounded faith and understanding of Christianity; I hope their words inspire you.