From the Pastor – May 2024
A new tradition of sorts is beginning this year at WRELC. Starting in 2024 the Rite of Confirmation for the youth will take place on Pentecost (unless, Pentecost falls on Mother’s Day, then we will celebrate it on Holy Trinity Sunday). The reason for this is two-fold: 1) consistency is always a good thing for a congregation. To know that Pentecost is the day in which some of our youth will be confirmed gives us something to celebrate and get excited about. 2) Pentecost, the day in which the Apostles are sent out to share the Good News with the whole world, is a wonderful day in which to associate Confirmation with.
It has been said to the catechumens a million times over, and to their parents as well, that Confirmation is not a graduation. The problem is, of course, that it is often times treated as such. How many teenagers do you know who haven’t stepped on foot inside their church since the day of their Confirmation? I’m not sure where that all went wrong. Perhaps it was when in the not so distant future the LCMS generally adopted the tradition of tying Confirmation to the 8th grade, thus coinciding with the “graduating” from middle school to high school. Or maybe it was when we transferred the job of catechesis (teaching) more on the pastor and less in the home. … Whatever the case, we need to do better (myself included, both as a pastor and as a father). Catechesis is a life-long endeavor of receiving the good gifts of preaching and teaching and incorporating them into our daily lives.
So then, how should we within the LCMS view the Rite of Confirmation. Here are a couple of General Notes that are found in the Altar Book of the LSB:
1. Confirmation is a custom of the Church and not a sacrament. It lends the catechumens to their Baptism, celebrates the reception of the Lord’s Word among them and , in cases where the candidates have not yet communed, welcomes them to the Lord’s Table. Luther strongly urges in both catechisms that those who are unwilling to learn, at the very least, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer should not be admitted to the Lord’s Supper. Baptized Christians are admitted tot eh Sacrament when they have been examined and absolved by their pastor in accordance with the Lutheran custom outlined in the Augsburg Confession (Article XXV).
2. Confirmation declares of a catechumen that he or she is a Christian who has been baptized, confesses the faith, and is in communion with Christ and His Church. The reception of catechumens to the Lord’s Table assumes that ongoing catechesis is the way of life for the faithful Christian. This rite emphasizes God’s work in Baptism, the gift of faith, and then benefits of the Lord’s Supper for all who believe in Christ and the words of His testament.
Another wonderful aspect of the Rite of Confirmation is that the congregation gets to join in with the celebration of hearing the catechumens confess the faith of the Church already given to them in their baptism. And as the catechumen confesses, we corporately welcome them in the name of the Lord with a heartfelt “Amen”. And then we all together, get to delight in the Lord’s Supper together; not to be seen as the finish line of a race never to be run again, but instead of as the constant nourishment for the runner who will never stop running until the Lord brings him home.
So this Pentecost, May 19, let us as the Church at Wheat Ridge welcome our two catechumens in the name of the Lord, while at the same time eagerly looking forward to the three others who we will celebrate next year. … And I’m not sure if you noticed this, but our pews are full of these little ones, which means that there is going to be many years to come in which we get to celebrate this wonderful gift from our Lord with the generation who follows us. May we rejoice in this gift today and always, thanking the Lord of the harvest for continually increase and strengthen His Church.
Rev. Eli
