On Sunday the 10th of March Bishop Matthew, the Bishop of Stafford will be visiting All Saints’ Madeley to lead a service of confirmation. The service will be a special one, with time to celebrate some of what God is doing in the lives of people in our communities. And the idea of a ‘confirmation’ is basically a public saying of “yes, I confirm that I believe this faith stuff”. During the service there is a moment in the liturgy when the Bishop will ask those to be confirmed,
“Are you ready with your own mouth and from your own heartto affirm your faith in Jesus Christ?”
The response is a simple, “I am.”
The people to be confirmed reply, “I am”, and the liturgy above suggests that they say this, from their own mouth and from their own heart. I love that – from your own mouth and from your own heart.
It’s not enough to say the words unless those words rise up from the heart. And likewise, confirmation is about verbalising what is on your heart. You might have a deep and profound faith but keep quiet about it. Confirmation asks us to verbalise the faith within us.
The service has lots and lots and lots of other words, many of them profound, but I think this is one of my favourite parts of the service.
If you’ve been thinking about confirmation, perhaps this is the time. Why not have a chat with Rev Tim, Rev Dot or Rev Pamela to get the conversation going.
Peace.
Tim
