Confirmation Begins With Water and Ends With Angels

As we move into the new school year and the beginning of another year of confirmation, I thought I'd explain why confirmation is so important. In a Confirmation Handbook, I wrote a couple of years ago,

Confirmation fulfills Mt. 28:19ff. The Lord commanded us to baptize and teach, not just baptize. As we raise our children, the Church offers some of the teaching the Divine Services, bible studies, Sunday School, VBS, youth program, grade schools, and confirmation.

Confirmation is a summary of everything your children have been taught since their baptisms. In their baptisms they received their faith, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Since then, the Lord has been preparing them to join in with all believers in the Feast of Victory, the Lord’s Supper.

Your children are growing up. They are on their way.

Of course, there is a place and time for fun and silliness. Those of you who know me, know how much I enjoy a good laugh. But then, there is a time to grow up and take seriously our actions and their consequences. The same goes for our Christian faith and life in the Church.

The church's objectives with our confirmands is to teach them God's Word and help parents help them to grow up to be faithful Lutherans. Just as all of our education gives us the tools and information into which we grow, so it is with our Christianity. What they will learn is what Christ taught us and commands us parents to hand down to our children. 

Will they "understand" everything? Of course not. 

However, they will learn a lot. Just as we didn't fully understand why 2+2=4 was so important until we got our first paycheck, so too, do we continue to grow and learn how important our repentance and being forgiven is. 

What confirmation does is summarize what it means to be a Christian and participate in the holy gifts of God, the sacraments.

The Word, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper become more and more meaningful and "understandable" with every crisis, every tribulation, every moment of suffering that we all face. 

As parents we are preparing our children so that we can let them go and learn the easy and hard lessons in life. As Christian parents, we want them to learn that when they sin, God's grace and mercy brings to them the forgiveness for their sins through faith in Christ. That is the Christian life. 

Our children will not automatically grow up when they get confirmed. But they will certainly know that they are members of the Bride of Christ, whose Groom always forgives them and continually calls them home to church every week. And they will certainly know what Church is and what Church isn't.

We all continue to "grow up" until we reach our full maturity in heaven. Then we will be completely "grown up."
marksell@charter.net

Egypt, Jesus, and Turmoil

behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt

Probably the most recognizable reference to Egypt in the bible is Mary and Joseph's flight to Egypt after being warned in a dream by an angel (Matthew 2:13-23). Their flight into Egypt was the result of Herod's paranoia over losing power in the kingdom. The birth of Christ was a sign of peace and comfort for believers, but for nonbelievers, it is trouble. Not only did Christ's family flee to Egypt, but it also brought the death of dozens of infants.

In Herod's paranoid state, he ordered the slaughter of children two years old and younger. The Christian church refers to these as the "Holy Innocents," the first martyrs of the New Testament.

All praise for infant martyrs
whom Your mysterious love ...

It's Been a While - Vacancy Pastor at Faith

Late October, my district president, Pres. Mirly, asked me to help out a vacant congregation in Washington, MO. I started at Faith in mid-November, so I've been busy serving Faith Lutheran Church as they prepare to call a pastor and move forward. However, now that I have my schedule settled and have made it through Advent and Christmas, I will now continue blogging here.


Thanks for every one's help and prayers, especially the help from Immanuel, Wentzville who helped us get through the fall. Pastor Auringer and the sheep at Immanuel are a wonderful group of people and I pray the Lord's blessings as they march on.


I continue to serve Trinity, Edwardsville, IL as there visitation pastor.


You can also see what is going on at Faith Lutheran in Washington, MO through her blog. Faith is on top of a  hill just off of a new four lane highway (100) that connects Highway 44 and the city of Washington. It is a fast growing area and there is much work to be done for the kingdom of God. Currently Faith is considering opening a preschool for the growing community.