For Sunday, April 26, 2009

Scriptures:
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36b-48

The white robes have arrived. I unpacked them this morning and hung them up in the coat room to work out the wrinkles and make them ready for Confirmation day on Sunday.
The purpose of the "faith formation" class (which they have been participating in for two years) is to prepare young adolescent children for the Rite of Confirmation. This is the day that we anticipate when we, as parents, bring our babies to the baptismal font and promise to offer "the nurture and support of the Christian church so that they may affirm their baptism." That affirmation of the promises made on their behalf, when they were infants, is central to the Rite of Confirmation. By their own free choice, they come to claim in our presence, their covenantal relationship with Christ and the members of the church.
I have known all five of the members of the confirmation class for a very long time; most of them I have known since they were in pre-school, one I have known all her life, and so I have shared a considerable part of their faith journey with them. It will give me great pleasure to introduce them to the congregation as full adult members of the church.
I will take as my sermon text an expanded reading of the Gospel appointed for Sunday, beginning with the story of two disciples, who met Jesus on their journey down the Emmaus road. When these two disciples return to Jerusalem to tell others about their experience, Jesus appears to them again and greets them with "Peace be with you." He ate with them, and opened their minds, and he gave them a purpose, and promised to clothe them "with power from on high."
Wherever we are on life's journey, whether just starting out, or well along the pathway, we have a common purpose, and a common promise, and a common blessing in the presence of Christ.