“GROWING UP!  IN FAITH!”

Confirmation Day Sermon-----Sunday, May 6, 2007

John 15:11-17

            “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have

            loved you. No one has great love than this, to lay down one’s

            life for one’s friends…You did not choose me, but I chose you.

            And appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…”

Sisters and brothers/Confirmands,  Grace and peace to you this special day from

Jesus Christ.  Amen.

              It all began with a splash of water!  For almost all of you, you were tiny and help-less.  You were held and all dressed up.  Bathed, powdered, fed, burped, and changed for one last time before the worship began.  Your parents hoped you wouldn’t spit up all over your baptismal clothes or bawl your head off.  There was music and talk and a strange voice.  Then, the water hit you, splashed on your head, your name and more words were spoken…”I BAPTIZE YOU IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  AMEN.”  No, you don’t remember.  At least most of you don’t.  One of your class does, because her baptism just took place today.  A special moment.  And whether you realized it or not, you’ve never been the same since.

              I mean it!  You’ve never been the same since that moment.  For in that moment you were named and claimed by God forever.  To your parents words like these were spoken: “IN CHRISTIAN LOVE YOU HAVE PRESENTED __________ FOR HOLY BAPTISM.  YOU SHOULD THEREFORE, FAITHFULLY BRING __________ TO THE SERVICES OF GOD’S HOUSE, AND TEACH THEM THE LORD’S PRAYER, THE CREED, AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. AS THEY GROW IN YEARS, YOU SHOULD PLACE IN THEIR HANDS THE HOLY SCRIPTURES AND PROVIDE FOR THEIR INSTRUCTION IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, THAT LIVING IN THE COVENANT OF THEIR BAPTISM AND IN COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH, THEY MAY LEAD A GODLY LIFE UNTIL THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST.”  These words were meant to encourage your parents to help you live in God’s love and lead a Godly life.   To GROW UP! IN THE FAITH!

              There was also a prayer, like this one:  “GOD, THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WE GIVE YOU THANKS FOR FREEING YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS FROM THE POWER OF SIN AND FOR RAISING THEM UP TO A NEW LIFE THROUGH THIS HOLY SACRAMENT.  POUR YOUR HOLY SPIRIT UPON _______:  THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING, THE SPIRIT OF COUNSEL AND MIGHT, THE SPIRIT OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THE SPIRIT OF JOY IN YOUR PRESENCE.” Wisdom, understanding, council, might, knowledge, knowing God, and the joy of living in God’s presence.

To GROW UP!  IN THE FAITH!

              You’ve never been the same since.  Whether you realize it or not!  You were bundled off to Sunday School on days too cold.  Dropped off at Bible School on days too hot. Taught lots of Bible stories about burning bushes, guys in lion’s dens, how the 10 Commandments came to Moses and the people, heard about arks and floods, miracles of loaves and fishes and so much more.  You were dressed up for Christmas plays in old bathrobes as shepherds, had crowns placed on your heads to look like kings, learned your pieces for the plays with songs sung over and over again.  You were encouraged to remember verses from the Bible, the meanings of the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and the 10 Commandments.  And now after two years of Wednesday gatherings with your classmates both in large groups and your small groups with your guides, service projects and retreats, sermon notes and faith statements…here you are and why?

              All because of some water and words, “I BAPTIZE YOU IN THE NAME OF…”

And because of some promises made to help you ‘grow up in the faith’.  Something, in the giving of the Spirit of God to you, began way back then.  There was nurturing, encouraging, shaping, and guiding.  So that you would abide/live in the covenant made by your parents, god-parents, and God.  The promises made by your parents to provide for you instruction in the faith and the promise made by God when you were claimed and named as God’s child.

              The Gospel from John which I selected for this special day is a continuation of what Jesus says about himself in the words, “I AM THE TRUE VINE, YOU ARE THE BRANCHES, THOSE WHO ABIDE(stay close and connected, are fed and nourished, will grow and remain in the faith and bear fruit) IN ME.”  The portion I read speaks of growth in faith when you are affirming your baptism.  And I want to share three thoughts from this segment which I believe are important to remember so that you will continue to grow up in the faith.

              The first is this: “LOVE ONE ANOTHER JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!”  I

guess he could have said, “As I have loved you, so love one another”. Either way, it starts with God’s love for you .  You are loved by God; not just a warm, fuzzy, sentimental kind of love.  But the kind of love that lets us know that even when we aren’t so good, God loves us.  “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!”(Apostle Paul).  For there is nothing that we can do to deserve that love.  It is the nature of God, who has named and claimed us to want us to know, more than anything else, that we are loved.  And we are called to love, because we are loved.  More deeply than our parents love us.  And because we are loved, we are free to love.  Not grudgingly, or with the prospect of being rewarded.

              Secondly, John goes on to write these words of Jesus, “THE GREATEST LOVE A PERSON CAN HAVE IS TO GIVE HIS OR HER LIFE FOR OUR FRIENDS.”  No greater love than this but to lay down our life for our friends.  The ultimate act of Jesus was laying down his life for us.  Dying on the cross for us, to make us his forgiven friends.  That’s the ultimate act of God’s love for us and God’s world.  Then rising to new life in the resurrection to give us new life.  How great is that?  And you will discover the face of Christ in one another as you seek to love as Christ has loved us and serve as he has served us.

              And third, “YOU DID NOT CHOOSE ME, I CHOSE YOU AND APPOINTED YOU TO GO AND BEAR MUCH FRUIT.”  What I hear being said in those words is that God has thought so much of you, that God has wanted you to know that you are very special in God’s eyes.  That you are chosen!  You know what it feels like when you have been chosen to be part of a team and you also know what it feels like when you are not chosen.  In this case, you have all been chosen, to be part of and to be included in God’s great family.  But for the rest of you life, you will be making choices and decisions about how you want your life to be.  If God had his way, God would have you choose those values and make those decisions which keep you close to the family of faith.  To place your trust and your interests where you can most continue to grow and go and live a life that is fruitful and pleasing to God.

              To chose and keep choosing to be a disciples whose life and witness gives glory to God, in your years in high school, in your family life, in your friendships—in an all inclusive way.  Simply put: “TO BE MORE LIKE CHRIST, TO BE CHRIST’S(of Christ, for Christ, disciples of Christ) TO OTHERS”.

I mentioned that the image undergirding these words from John today is the image of the vine and the branches.  For the branches to have life, they need to be con-nected to the vine.  If cut off the branch looses its life supply of nourishment, it cannot grow, and it dies.  That’s a simple but good illustration, I believe, of what faith is like. Prune it, tend it, feed it, and it has the potential to survive and thrive.  To grow up!

Connect with your peers the youth group, choose Christian friends, be in worship. Neither my faith nor my life in Christ can grow to its full potential when I seek to go it alone.  We need each other to live and to grow up in faith.

              Like the illustration of taking a burning coal from the fire, watching it glow dim, grow cold, and die. But if placed back in the fire, it will  begin to glow and come to life again.  Abiding and growing continues as we stay connected.  Even as we need others, so others need us to help one another grow up in the faith.  So we live in the Word, and we live in Community/among God’s people-the church, and we grow together in faith.

To continue to grow up, in faith remember these words of Jesus:

              “Love one another as I have loved you.”

              “No one has greater love than this but to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

              “You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear

                            much fruit.”

In a few minutes you will be asked, “DO YOU INTEND TO CONTINUE IN THE COVENANT GOD MADE WITH YOU IN HOLY BAPTISM?”

              -TO LIVE AMONG GOD’S FAITHFUL PEOPLE,

              -TO HEAR HIS WORD AND SHARE IN HIS SUPPER,

              -TO PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD IN CHRIST THROUGH WORD

                            AND DEED,

              -TO SERVE ALL PEOPLE, FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD          

                            JESUS,

              -TO STRIVE FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE IN ALL THE EARTH?

You will be asked to respond: “I DO AND I ASK GOD TO HELP AND GUIDE ME!”

Know this, God WILL…HELP AND GUIDE YOU.

And you will…GROW UP!  IN FAITH!

God loves you!  And so do we!      Amen