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A pastor was giving the
children’s message during church. For this part of the
service, he would gather all the children around him and
give a brief lesson before dismissing them for children’s
church. On this particular Sunday, he was using squirrels
for an object lesson on industry and preparation. He started
out by saying, “I’m going to describe something, and I want
you to raise your hand when you know what it is.” The
children nodded eagerly.
“This
thing lives in trees (pause) and eats nuts (pause)...” No
hands went up. “And it is gray (pause) and has a long, bushy
tail (pause)...” The children were looking at each other,
but still no hands were raised. “And it jumps from branch to
branch (pause) and chatters and flips its tail when it’s
excited (pause)...”
Finally, one little boy
tentatively raised his hand. The pastor breathed a sigh of
relief and called on him. “Well,” said the boy, “I know
the answer must be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel
to me!”
The
children in this story get it. As do most children, really.
They know they are being set up. They know the pastor is
fishing for an answer. They know that, nine times out of
ten, when the pastor is asking the question, the answer is
Jesus. They know that too often when it comes to young
people and faith, adults are more interested in their
answers—the right answers—than they are in their questions,
their doubts or their experiences. Say the right answer…make
the pastor proud…make mom and dad proud…get a gold star…and
be moved to the head of the class. So often it seems like we
are fishing for the pre-made answer to our questions.
Tonight
we, as a congregation, have the privilege of
confirming—welcoming, really—fourteen young people into full
membership in the First United Methodist Church of
Birmingham, Michigan, the global union of the United
Methodist Church, and the all-encompassing Church Universal.
In a few moments, we will line these students up and ask
them some questions. I suppose it may look like we are
fishing for answers…the right answers…answers that will make
the preacher proud…answers that will make their teacher
proud…answers that will make their moms and dads
proud…answers that will get them a gold star and give them
admittance into the life of our congregation. So before they
answer any question, I want them to know we are already
proud of them. I am proud of them. Deacon Carl is proud of
them. Their parents are proud of them. We gladly welcome
them into the life of this congregation. And I want them to
know that tonight is not about having all the answers
already figured out…because the truth is, most of us don’t
have it figured out yet either.
I am
going to be honest with you Confirmands tonight.
Confirmation is not the end of the journey. Confirmation is
not graduation from Sunday school. Confirmation is an
important moment in your journey, but it is not the end of
the journey.
Take a look at tonight’s
scripture. It tells us that just having the right answers
isn’t always the end of the story. The gospel message tells
us that one day the disciples and Jesus are having a
meeting. Up to this point, everything has been pretty cozy
for the disciples. The healings, the miracles, the
excitement…they all seem to be leading them somewhere where
none of them has gone before. Jesus appears to be everything
he’s cracked up to be—a huge success, a rising star. But on
this particular day, Jesus sits them all down and asks them
the one question that will change everything. “Who do people
say that I am?” One of them says, “Elijah” and another says,
“a prophet.” And then Jesus turns to them and asks the
question: “But who do you say that I am?”
I’ll bet you could have heard a
pin drop. There it was. The question. The question that sits
at the center of our faith: “Who do you say that I
am?” Jesus asks it of his disciples, he asks it of us, and
tonight he asks it of each of you. “Who do you say
that I am?” Not who does Carl Gladstone or Jeff Nelson say
that Jesus is. Not who do your parents say that Jesus is.
Not who do James Dobson, Billy Graham, Jesse Jackson, Rick
Warren, Pope Benedict XVI, Joyce Myers, Hilary Clinton or
George W. Bush say that Jesus is. “Who do you say
that I am?” There comes a point in every one of our journeys
when we must answer that question for ourselves. Tonight
these Confirmands stand before us to say that, at this point
in their journey, they are ready to answer for themselves.
That day
when Jesus sat the disciples down and asked them to answer
for themselves, it was Peter who, without hesitation,
answered, “You are the Messiah.” Ding, ding, ding!!! The
right answer, right? Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed One
of God. Now, “messiah” was no cheap title back then. It
meant something. The Messiah wasn’t someone who could merely
make a difference in the world. The Messiah was someone who
would make a different world altogether. The Messiah was the
one for whom the Jews had waited all their lives. The
Messiah was the king who would restore justice and peace,
who would overthrow the Romans, who would return the
Promised Land to the people of God by any means necessary.
Peter
believed he knew who Jesus was. He believed he had answered
the million-dollar question correctly. He was ready to
receive his gold star, move to the head of the class, get
his certificate and graduate from Sunday school forever. He
had answered the question correctly. He was all grown up…
That is
why it must have felt like a ton of bricks when Jesus told
him his answer wasn’t right. Not about the Messiah
business; Peter was right about that. But about what kind of
Messiah Jesus was going to be. Instead of a victorious,
mighty king, Jesus said that the Son of Man must suffer, be
rejected, killed and then be raised after three days. Peter
only heard the first three—suffer, rejection, death. What
kind of Messiah was this?
Peter learned a valuable lesson
that day. When it comes to Jesus, when it comes to following
him and joining the church that he established, things are
not always what they seem. Peter had a choice that night.
Leave with the answer he had or continue on his journey and
discover the fuller sense of who this Jesus—this suffering
Son of Man—really was. Tonight’s story has something very
important for you Confirmands (and for all of us) to
realize. The moment when we first realize that Jesus is the
Messiah—that Jesus is who he says he is—the moment when we
make our first public declaration that Jesus is our Lord and
Savior, is not the end of the journey. It wasn’t for Peter.
It isn’t for our Confirmands. And it isn’t for any of us. It
is just the opposite. It is the beginning of lifelong growth
in faith and understanding.
It is
only by choosing to follow Jesus that we will begin to see
what kind of Messiah he is, what kind of Lord and Savior he
is. Only through a lifetime of following do we realize that
the power Jesus has comes when he is most powerless, when he
willingly sacrifices himself for others. It is only in
following Jesus that we discover that the Kingdom he is
ushering in is peopled first by the least and poorest among
us. It is only through a lifetime of following that the
strangest paradoxes Jesus told make any sense:
“If you want to be first, be
last.”
“If anyone wants to gain their life, they must lose it.”
“If someone strikes you on the left cheek, turn and offer
them the other cheek.”
At the
end of the day, Jesus wants Peter to know—and I believe
Jesus wants you and me to know—that the life of faith he
offers us is not predicated on having the right answers, but
rather on having the right relationship. And that
relationship is a lifelong one of following him wherever he
might lead.
I am
worried that too many people today equate spiritual maturity
with the amount of biblical knowledge or Christian doctrine
one knows. While knowledge is one measurement of maturity,
it isn’t the whole story. The Christian life is far more
than creeds and convictions; it is character and compassion.
Our deeds must be consistent with our creeds, and our
beliefs must be backed by our behavior. At its core,
Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a
relationship and a way of life.
Paul’s
letter to the Ephesians reminds us that we are called to a
lifetime of spiritual growth. God wants us to grow, to know
the whole truth, and to tell it in love—to become like
Christ in everything. I have a warning for our Confirmands
tonight. Many Christians grow older but never grow up.
Spiritual growth isn’t automatic. It does not just happen.
It takes intentional commitment. We must want to grow,
decide to grow, make an effort to grow and persist in
growing. And more than anything tonight, I hope these
Confirmands make that commitment—to a life of growing into
the faith they now claim as their own.
And the great thing about this
lifetime of growth is that these Confirmands don’t (and we
don’t) have to do it alone. In fact, we’re not supposed to.
It might be downright impossible to even try. That is why
what the Apostle Paul has to say is so important for all of
us, and especially for our Confirmands. In that same letter
to the Ephesians, Paul declares that God “…makes the whole
body grow and build itself up in love. Under the control of
Christ, each part of the body does its work. It supports the
other parts. In that way, the body is joined and held
together.”
As Christians, we don’t join the
church, we become members. Not members of a church or
denomination, but members of a body—the Body of Christ. We
become the eyes and ears in a world looking for the light
and straining to hear a word of hope. We become the hands
and feet, the heart and its beat for a world in need of
healing. So tonight, these young people do not join
anything. They become members of the Body of Christ. And it
is only by being connected to this Body—made up of other
seekers and followers—that this lifetime of following Jesus,
of growing up in faith, will be at all possible.
Paul
makes it clear. All of us are vital members of the Body of
Christ. All of us have something unique to offer the church
and the world. And none of us can do it on our own. We need
to get connected. Connected to God. Connected to each other.
So Confirmands, where are you going to get yourself
connected? Where are you going to find a place to offer your
talents and gifts to this church? Where are you going to go
and what are you going to do to grow into this faith you are
confirming as your own? Will you volunteer to help in the
nursery or elementary grades? Will you start a small Bible
study or prayer group with your friends at school or here at
church? Will you go on a mission trip or volunteer at the
soup kitchen? The “yes” you say to God tonight is not just a
yes for tonight, but a yes to a lifetime of connecting with
God, with the church and with the body of other faithful
people seeking to follow Christ.
This call
tonight is not just for those who are being confirmed, but
for all of us. We too are called to become better connected
to the Body of Christ, to find that place where we can meet
regularly with other people of faith to ask our questions,
share our experiences, pray our prayers and offer our gifts.
We are encouraging everyone to seriously consider getting
themselves better connected. We are forming some new small,
faith-sharing groups that will start up in the fall. This is
our opportunity to get connected in a place that will help
us grow in the fullness of life that God has promised.
Let me
leave you with this picture. Tonight as we extend the hand
of fellowship to these Confirmands, I want you to imagine
that we are all forming one large circle together. As we
invite these young people to join us—to become a part of our
community—our circle becomes larger and more encompassing.
At the center of this circle sits a candle. This candle is
the Light of the World, the God made known in Jesus Christ.
So here we are altogether connected in this circle, just
made larger by the addition of our newest members. How are
we going to get close to the light? How are we going to get
closer to the Light? There is only one way. By each of us
taking a step inward. When we do this, we can’t help but get
closer to each other. How do we get close to God? By
getting closer to each other.
Note: I
am once again grateful to the writings of the Reverend Mark
Feldmeir. Mark is a thirty-something United Methodist pastor
in Southern California and is one of the leading voices in
our denomination on ministry to and with Gen Xers. He has
recently published a second book of sermons entitled
Stirred not Shaken: Themes for an Emerging Generation.
His sermon “You Have No Idea” was helpful in exploring the
themes of the scripture text.
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