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Today’s
message is for our Confirmands. The rest of you can listen
in, of course. But this is for one special
group—twenty-one confirmed at the first hour, twenty-eight
at the second.
What can
I say to you this morning? A noted Los Angeles columnist
was once invited to give a commencement address at a high
school. He asked his wife, “If you were graduating from
high school today, what advice would you like to hear from
a man like me?” She replied, “None.”
What
advice would you like from me for your Confirmation?
I have
only vague memories of my own Confirmation day. It was a
Palm Sunday afternoon in 1952. I was 12 years old—almost
13. My church confirmed everybody at 12 because that was
the way the story about Jesus and the Temple read in the
second chapter of Luke’s gospel. We had a large crowd of
12-year-olds. That’s part of the reason why Confirmation
did not take place on a Sunday morning. One of the
ministers laid his hand upon my head, and I became a full
member of the (then) Methodist Church.
I had no
idea then where life would take me. I had no idea where
God would lead me. I only knew I was at the age of
Confirmation and it was my time. I only knew that this was
my decision to follow Jesus. I only knew that I was to
love God and love the church as my parents had taught me
over the past 12 years.
What else
was going on in 1952? Probably the greatest western movie
of all time was released. It was a movie called “High
Noon,” starring Gary Cooper. I loved westerns.
I began
my own record collection back then. All the records then
were 78 RPM, which means they were big flat disks that
rotated 78 times per minute on a turntable. You had to put
a needle on it to hear the record play. I remind you that
this was a long time ago—shortly after the dinosaurs
left.
We
learned to dance when I was 12. We learned it at school.
It was a very special gym class in which everybody dressed
up instead of dressing down. I hated it. It was a good day
to call in sick, I thought. They were all very slow
dances, like the waltz or the fox trot.
1952 was
the year when Elizabeth II became Queen of England. She is
still Queen of England today. In 1952 a man by the name of
Harry Truman was President of the United States. Later
that year a former World War II general, Dwight David
Eisenhower, would become the President-elect.
What
about TV? If you were lucky enough to have a TV, that was
the year that the Jackie Gleason show began a 20-year run
on television. Back then, Jackie Gleason was the “American
Idol.”
1952 was
a different world, a different time. But there I stood,
before a group of family and friends. I was asked much the
same questions that you will be asked this morning. I
answered “yes” to each one, as I hope you will as well.
Today you
become a different person.
ON YOUR OWN
For one
thing, you come forward on your own. On most occasions to
this point your parents have stood with you. They stood
with you when you were baptized. They either held you in
their arms or stood beside you. Your parents stood with
you when you received awards in school, or when you were
honored with a merit badge or two, or when you became a
Girl Scout or Brownie. Sometimes on those occasions
someone even placed a small flower on your mom’s dress or
gave her some kind of an award.
This is
Mothers’ Day. But Mom isn’t coming with you this time. Oh,
your parents will stand. They will honor you. But they
will not come with you. Long ago they promised to make you
a part of the church. This morning they keep that promise.
But you come forward on your own.
A FOLLOWER OF JESUS
When you
come forward, you will make a promise. Your promise is,
“From today onward I will be a follower of Jesus.”
At this
point in your life, your parents are a bit edgy. They know
that you are moving out on your own, more and more. They
know you will be making more of your own decisions.
Sometimes they worry: “Who are you going to follow? What
member of your peer group will attract you the most? Who
is your ‘American Idol’? What temptations will you face?
What directions will you move?”
Some of
what was happening in the story of Jesus in the Temple at
the age of 12 is parallel to what happens here. He was in
the Temple trying to decide about his young life. He was
reinforcing what he knew about God. He was sorting out
directions. He was nurturing new images.
That’s
exactly what you have been doing for the past four months
in Confirmation. You have been reinforcing what you know
about God. You’ve been sorting out directions. You’ve been
nurturing new images. All of us need to deepen our lives.
We need to wrestle and to struggle and to learn to pray.
We need to learn to whom our lives belong.
I grew up
here in Pittsburgh. My entire life has been lived in this
area. But I have a lot of extended family in the south. In
the south they have a saying that goes like this: “Don’t
forget who your people are.” Today, this church—this group
of Confirmands—these people in the congregation, are your
people. We are those who have decided to follow
Jesus. We have sorted out the options. We
have said “yes” to Jesus. This morning, you are
saying, “I have decided to follow Jesus.”
Four of
us will lay our hands on your head. Then Reverend Shaver
or I will say this: “The Lord defend you with heavenly
grace and by the Holy Spirit confirm you as a faithful
disciple of Jesus Christ.” And from that moment on, you
are a different person.
Paul says
this in our New Testament reading for today: “Do not
model your behavior on the contemporary world, but let the
renewing of your minds transform you so that you may
discern for yourself what is the will of God… what is good
and acceptable and mature.” (Romans 12:1-2)
Pope John
Paul II died last year. In one of his last books he said
this: “Christ walks through the centuries with each
generation…alongside every person. He walks alongside each
person as a friend. An important day in a young person’s
life is the day in which he or she becomes convinced that
Jesus is the only Friend who will never disappoint, a
Friend upon whom you can always count.”
I think
that’s what happened to me on my Confirmation Day in 1952.
I want it for you as well.
A DIFFERENT PERSON
You will
be a different person after this morning. Not different as
in “weird” or “strange” or “odd.” Rather different in how
you see the world. Different in how you see yourself in
it. From this day on, in every new situation, you will
ask, “Does the fact that I am now a follower of Jesus have
anything to say to me here?”
And you
will begin to learn that service is more important than
success. You will learn that meaning is more important
than money. You will learn that vocation is more important
than vacation. You will learn that values are more
important than victories. You will learn that love
sometimes stoops low to help the neediest in our world.
You will learn that you can never again say, “I don’t
really care,” or “It’s not really my problem.” Maybe you
will learn not to just say, “Whatever” any more!
Your
Confirmation today is not just another rite of passage. It
is so much more. And I am so proud of you all. I am proud
of where you have been, who you are, and where you’re
going.
I call
you to make this the day that from deep within your heart
and mind you say, “From today on, I am different. From
today on, I have decided to follow Jesus.” |
