Baptisms, Confirmations and Reaffirmations

Yesterday at our 10:00 service, the Rt. Rev. Calvin O. Schofield came to St. Luke’s.  He baptized a baby and a young man.  He confirmed three teenagers and an adult.  He heard the reaffirmation of a grown woman.  The church was blessed.

I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church as an adult.  It was a profoundly moving experience for me.  For a year I could feel the trace of Bishop Schofield’s finger putting that cross on my forehead.  I felt the power of the sacrament and the importance of the moment.

Now what is next?  For me the path forward included study, retreats, teaching Sunday school, and eventually seminary and priesthood.  For one of the teenagers it will include becoming the godfather of his soon to be born sibling.  For the adult confirmand it will include leading his two sons in the faith.  We all have a path and our faith helps us see it and to live it out.

Most of us do not have our faith so radically reaffirmed regularly, but perhaps we should.  Perhaps we were as aware of the anniversaries of our Baptisms and Confirmations as we are of the anniversaries of our births, then we could celebrate our spiritual growth and development.  It might even help us to notice when we had stopped growing and were merely marking time.

One of the more significant pieces of my spiritual journey was to attend Cursillo.  In that community we keep those memories alive by always remembering them in our introductions.  “Hello, my name is Cori Olson.  I worship at St. Luke the Physician Episcopal Church in Kendall, Florida.  I attended Episcopal Women’s Cursillo number 80, where I sat at the table of St. Margaret.”  Then the people clap.  Each of us, when we are introduced include our weekend number and our table name and each is welcomed back into the community with applause.

Would that we did that in our churches!