Confirmation and baptism

As I write this column, Confirmation Sunday is only five days away. Two days ago, I held the last Confirmation class with Sango’s 10 confirmands. They are Hayden Welch, Jake Hopkins, Rachel Dowlen, Ian Pope, Hunter Blake, Rebecca and Bryce Navarre, Sam Irwin and Sara Keel.

I am very impressed with the level of religious knowledge and education these young men and women exhibited. They began the classes at a level frankly considerably above all Confirmation classes I have led so far in my ministry. This speaks very well of their parents, the teachers at our church and Sango‘s congregation as a whole. You should be proud of these confirmands and have confidence that the future of our church is well placed in their hands.

Did you know that Confirmation is really an affirmation of baptism? It is a time when the confirmands confess for themselves the faith in Christ that was professed on their behalf when they were baptized as infants. Those not baptized earlier will be baptized during the service.

The United Methodist Church does not “re-baptize” people. We say that while the motions of baptism - the application of the water and the recitation of the liturgy - are carried out by the pastor and the congregation, the actual work of baptism is done by the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit makes no mistakes and leaves no element undone, re-baptism is never necessary.

However, baptized persons may and should reaffirm their baptism. As we grow and mature in our faith, we come to understand more deeply the significance of our baptism. Baptism is the portal to a sanctified life, the beginning point of “moving on to perfection.” John Wesley said that baptism is an “instituted means of grace,” meaning that its practice for Christians was initiated by Christ himself when he accepted baptism from John the Baptizer. Through our baptism, we receive a particular gift of grace that God makes available in no other way. While there are innumerable means of grace, only though baptism are we inaugurated into the body of Christ.

The Methodist doctrinal statement on baptism says that baptism is “the initiatory sacrament by which we enter into the covenant with God and are admitted as members of Christ’s Church.”
One is never too old to be baptized, so if other teens or adults who hold Christian confession in their hearts but have not been baptized, I urge you to speak with me about accepting baptism. The decision to do so is always an individual choice, but is so important to Christian growth and spiritual health. Likewise, the baptized are invited to affirm their baptism from time to time in a manner much like the Confirmation litany of April 6. I’ll make a time available for affirmation during a service later this spring.