Sermon for the 6th of October - Confrimation and Baptism Service - Bishop Michael Marshall

TEXT : From the first reading this morning, some words of St. Paul to the new Christians in the early Church at Ephesus: He says, “I pray that God may grant you to be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Holy Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…so that you may know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge ..and may be filled with all the fullness of God.’

For the five candidates, this service of Christian initiation in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, and as we sang in our opening hymn, this morning-  marks, for each and every one of them, whether young or older - one more step along the road of life, on the great journey of faith and love,  as disciples of Jesus Christ, strengthened at every turn in the road, - as in the words of my text – strengthened in their inner being with the power of the Holy Spirit.

I say that because it's quite clear from what the candidates this morning have shared with me either in writing or meeting that there are many differing  factors working together which have mysteriously led them to set out on the journey of Christian discipleship :– all very difficult to put into words, of course, like all the deep things of life, and yet none the less acting as powerful promptings to make a fresh start.

Because , you see, Christianity isn’t a philosophy, even less a political  ideology or even a religion in the strict sense of the word. Christianity isn’t anything: Christianity is somebody: it is the living God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and his risen life – that abundant, enriched life and therefore eternal, but eternal not only in the hereafter beyond the grave, but even now in the here and now of everyday life.

So, Christian discipleship isn’t so much what you know about God, but rather who you know as the true and living God , with that knowledge of the heart, as philosopher Pascal says – namely, the person of Jesus Christ and again as in my text,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith experienced as love – and a love which surpasses intellectual knowledge and rational understanding. As the wife is reputed to have said of her husband: I love him to death but I think iwill never understand him. So the five candidates are not setting out on the road of discipleship because they understand Christianity.

Of course it’s important in preparation for today, to try to understand the doctrines and teachings of the Church, but that’s all theory, which is useful as far as it goes. But the trouble is, theoretical knowledge doesn’t go far enough when the storms of life strike, as they inevitably will and do. It isn’t enough only to learn the doctrines of the church or to tick all the boxes in the apostles’ creed. You need personal support– yes, somebody to turn to and not just something to fall back on: that’s why in a few moments you will literally take Christ’s life in your hands in Holy Communion, so that you, in turn, can place your life in God’s hands and that hand-in-hand together, you can walk the talk and journey of faith as a disciple empowered by the Holy Spirit as a pilgrim and  disciple of Jesus Christ for the rest of your life. For its only in that way pragmatically that you will come to know by experience – as in the words of St. Paul,  the love of Christ indwelling your heart which surpasses theoretical  knowledge of the mind.

So,  in all this, it’s no good waiting to be certain or to understand Christian discipleship before setting out. Disciples walk the talk of discipleship by faith and trust in their personal guide and companion out on the road. Which is why I shall ask each candidate ‘Do you believe and trust in Jesus Christ, who as the Way, will go with you all the way to discover the true Way to a meaningful life.

Pope Benedict in his last book, says, ‘’Faith is nothing other than the touch of God’s hand in the night of the world.’’ Yes, it’s often in the dark times of life when we sense something of that touch of God as light in the darkness, as a light that no darkness can ever overcome.

So perhaps the easiest way is simply to say that God has touched our lives, which is why in the sacrament of Confirmation, as an outward and visible sign of that touch of God, I shall touch  and lay my hands on the heads of the Confirmation candidates, to re-affirm outwardly and visibly the touch of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, saying, ‘’God has called you by name and made you his own.’’ You, see, beloved in Christ, you are precious to God, irreplaceable, unique as your DNA or as Jesus says in the Gospel ‘’even the hairs of your head are numbered.’’ (God doesn’t do cloning)

So, your Confirmation this morning underscoring your baptism marks a real turning-point in your life,  not necessarily the first and certainly not the last – on the long road of discipleship. That’s why I shall ask each of the candidates: ‘Do you turn to Christ?’ - to Jesus Christ as a friend who you can trust, this Emmanuel God – NOT a God above it all, but rather our Emmanuel God with us in the midst of it all; our God in the mess of it all and our God in the mystery of it all; in times of storm and calm; in  times of sorrow and joy, in  times of light and darkness, and at all times and in all places as a friend to whom you can turn and in whom you can trust and have faith.

So that’s what I shall mean and so much more, when I ask the candidates, ‘’Do you turn to Christ?’’ Christ the Light of the World.

And of course, when you turn to face the light, – the light of Christ – not only do you see everything from a different perspective, but your shadow is now behind you, as you walk freely forward, into the increasing light of Christ, no longer self-centred, but re-centred in God, the source of   love, of life and light.

And that’s why, at the end of the service, I shall say to all the candidates, as I hand them a lighted candle: ‘’You have received the Light of Christ: Walk in this light all the days of your life.’’ In that way, for all the candidates, as for every one of us here this morning, Christ throughout our whole lives, in good and bad times alike, may continue increasingly to enlighten our minds, warm our hearts and to fire our wills in loving service for others, giving our lives for others as Christ gave his life for you and me and for the whole word.

We live and are living through very painful and difficult times, on many fronts. COVID and the threat of climate change together with religious and political conflicts are all challenging us among other things to rethink our lives and priorities, to see the true value of friends and family, of love and service to others . Yet, it's at times such as this - times of breakdown-that we are driven to open up and let God breakthrough to meet us at our point of need and to turn us around to face and live a meaningful life from a new perspective.

So in conclusion, if I may, I shall offer now a prayer not only and of course supremely for these new Christians shortly to be baptised and confirmed, but also for myself and my clergy colleagues  together with each and every one of us in church this morning, - of whatever faith, of wavering faith or no faith and for all those still earnestly seeking faith; - that all of us in the words of that prayer of St. Paul, may be strengthened in our inner being with power through God’s Holy Spirit, that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, so that we may know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, and may be filled with all the fullness of God.’

‘Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us: Spirit of the living God fall afresh on us. Melt us, hold us and mould us, call us and use us,  in your service and the service of others. Spirit of the living God fall afresh on us.’ AMEN