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General Conference opened in
Pittsburgh twelve days ago with a great communion service.
Also included in the service was an occasion to remember our
baptism. Each participant placed a bit of water on his or her
head and said, “I am baptized. Thanks be to God.”
Then, each day as I arrived at
the Convention Center about 7:30 in the morning, persons in
robes were waiting at the doors to the Convention Center with
a bowl of water. Each day as I entered I was invited to place
a small amount of water on my head once again, and say “I
remember my baptism. Thanks be to God.”
I am a great believer in the act
of remembering my baptism. In fact, the first thing I have
done every morning of my life for about the last 20 years is
to splash some water on my face and remember my baptism.
The theme of General Conference
2004 was “Water Washed and Spirit Born.” The theme obviously
came out of the water imagery here in Pittsburgh. It seemed
natural.
It is also a great theme for
this Confirmation day. Today we receive into membership the
largest Confirmation class on record—62 persons in total.
Today we mark a moment for each of you confirmands when you
are “water washed and spirit born.”
First you were water washed.
Each of you has been baptized. Five of you were baptized at
the opening part of the worship services today. You were
marked as a child of God. We said in that act you are loved,
respected, honored, and valued by God.
This morning the Chancel Choir
sang a great anthem entitled “Come to the Water.” That anthem
has become powerful music for many of us over the past few
weeks. The words say simply, “All you who thirst, come to the
water. All you who seek, come to the water. All who toil, come
to the water.”
I encourage you to remember your
baptism every morning of your life. You are water washed!
But you are also spirit born.
Confirmation means confirming your baptism. Confirmation also
means the beginning of a new perspective on life.
Today you enter into a new way
of seeing your world. Today you commit yourself to something
which I call “Kingdom living.” Today life takes on a look for
you, a new dimension. Today you are Spirit born.
The New Testament lesson for
this morning talks about the unique happening to believers in
this regard. In another portion of Scripture Paul writes to a
young friend that he should “remember the gifts he received
from God in the laying on of Paul’s hands.”
One of our bishops talked about
her experience at a Confirmation retreat this past April. She
asked the confirmands if they ever felt God’s nudge. She said,
“Have you ever felt God asking you to do something? If so,
what did it feel like?” The answers were amazing. One young
teen said, “It felt like a cloudy image.” Another said, “It
felt like a warm hug.” A third said, “It felt like a whisper
in my ear.”
I pray that you will hear a
whisper of the Spirit in your ear today. As you kneel to have
us lay hands on your heads, I pray you will hear a whisper.
You will hear a voice inside you say today, “You are Spirit
born.”
To be a member of the church is
to be a citizen in a new kind of kingdom. To be a member of
the church is to be a person who sees the world through new
eyes.
To be confirmed for the first
time is to say “yes” to that world view. To be confirmed for
the first time is to say, “I know my life is leaning toward
God.”
You are water washed and Spirit
born. Jesus says in our text for this morning that we cannot
enter the Kingdom until we are born of both water and the
Spirit. You are a child of God on a mission of discipleship.
You are one who now seeks to grow as a follower of Jesus.
My counsel to you today is quite
simple. Do not forget what happens to you today. Remember your
baptism. Remember your Confirmation. You are special today.
You are water washed and Spirit born. Thanks be to God. |
