Pentecost

Text: John 14:23-31

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Today, we continue the tradition and rite of Confirmation at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Confirmation has long had a unique place in the Lutheran Church. We seldom see one congregation’s traditions align with another's practices. Nor do we see the traditions of one period of time continue into another.

Here is what I mean by this.

As we went through my wife’s grandmother’s old papers, we discovered that part of her Confirmation memorization was to commit to memory every district of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. She had to be able to verbally list each district’s name to her pastor.

As I grew up, my Confirmation process was three years. We received First Communion in year two on Maundy Thursday. Before being Confirmed in year three, I had to write a paper articulating a portion of the Small Catechism.

During my time at seminary, my fieldwork church lined up the confirmands in front of the sanctuary the week before Confirmation and publicly examined them. In other words, the students were asked questions from the Small Catechism, and they had to answer them with everyone’s eyes locked on them.

While on vicarage, the pastor would visit the home of every Confirmation student and examine them in front of their parents. This wasn’t a walk in the park either.

Every method of Confirmation had a reason and purpose. They were just all different, and that’s okay. Different eras and locations often require different approaches.

But what remains at the heart of Confirmation is confession.

Now, I don’t mean confession like we did at the beginning of the Divine Service, where we confessed our sins. I mean our confession before God and man, the world – what you believe to be true.

Soon, Brianna will stand up and be asked a series of questions. Her responses to these questions will form her confession.

Like, “Do you renounce the devil?”

Or, “Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty?”

“Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, [your] Lord?”

“Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?”

Or, “Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?

“Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?”

Your answer to these questions is, “I do, by the grace of God.”

No matter when you were Confirmed, it was “by the grace of God.”

This means that your faith and your ability to make a good confession all depend upon God, the Holy Spirit.

It’s the Holy Spirit who, through the Word and the Sacraments, creates, sustains, and nurtures the faith within you and points you to Jesus Christ.

Reflect on the Collect of the Day as we prayed,

Grant us in our day by the same Spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy consolation.

This prayer is almost a paraphrase of Jesus’ words in the Gospel today as He said,

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Here this again,
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Because the Holy Spirit is with you and, through the Word of God, brings you understanding and consolation.

Consolation, of course, means comfort.

Or, in this instance, peace.

But not just any peace, but rather, heavenly peace.

The peace of God’s forgiveness and eternal life.

The peace that will withstand the assaults of the devil.

The peace to confess before the world and remain steadfast in the faith, even suffering death rather than falling away from it.

And should the day come for any of you, when your life lacks any form of peace, then pray with the Psalmist,

God is [my] refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

He is your refuge, strength, and help in times of trouble. Because the Holy Spirit abides with you. To point you to your Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you.

This is what is at the heart of Confirmation. Knowing who Jesus is, that He did for you, and being able to confess this truth with your lips, even unto death.

And this only happens when we continually and regularly return to hear God’s Word and receive the foretaste of the heavenly feast in the Lord’s Supper.

So do not neglect the Holy Spirit, but pray for His guidance, for He comes to grant you understanding and heavenly peace, even amid life’s troubles.

May He, the Holy Spirit, by grace, grant you this faith, even until life everlasting. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI