Confirmation is an invitation

The truest self BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, AND THE ROYAL IDENTITY

By Allison Seay

At Baptism the church says publicly, ‘This person is royalty; baptize her.’ WILLIAM WILLIMON

Confirmation preparation for young people has begun at St. Stephen’s and 35 teenagers have signed a declaration of commitment to engage in a year-long discernment about their faith and Christian calling. Their requirements include attendance at several presentations throughout the academic year that address topics relevant to the Episcopal Church and to their baptismal vows in order that they may make a mature and public affirmation of their faith whenever it is safe to celebrate their decision in person.

Because Baptism has everything to do with Confirmation, and because the sacrament of Holy Baptism is something we are currently able to offer on campus at St. Stephen’s (see facing page), that topic was a fitting first presentation for our confirmands and many of their parents. In a pre-recorded video they watched before our virtual gathering, I spoke some about the holy mystery of Baptism, this sacrament instituted by Jesus, but I also spoke more generally that which I needed to hear when I was a teenager, and need to hear even now: that in a world which favors quickness, certainty and efficiency, one must take great care to protect and honor mystery. I am increasingly aware that for more and more of us, there is less and less we consider holy.

It is almost always true that—not only for confirmands in high school but for most of us throughout life—the voices of the world are cacophonous, false, and contrary and it is easy to confuse our own true voice with that of a hundred competing sounds. Very rarely does one hear in the noise of the world regular reminders that we are, in fact, divine beings. Very rarely does a job application, or a final exam, or a college essay prompt seek to affirm the nature of our indwelling royalty. And very rarely do we feel safe or sure enough to celebrate our deepest, truest identity—as bearers of God’s own image and likeness. Far simpler, I suppose, to fortify whichever identity we think the world wants and likes the most than to nurture a truth many may find too beautiful to believe: we are, each of us, beloved children of God.

How I wish a year of Confirmation preparation could quickly and matter-of-factly sort all of this out! It is exactly why we need each other, and why Confirmation at St. Stephen’s seeks to engage the whole parish family in the lifelong project of recollecting and honoring the truest identity we share. Confirmation is not about offering easy answers nor is it about instruction; the role of Christian family is not to pretend that the world is other than what it is—demanding, stressful, chaotic. Instead, one role of the church—and one goal of Confirmation preparation, specifically—is, I think, to gently hold one another accountable to that deepest truth, lovingly asking each other, “Do you know who you really are? Do you remember? Do you remember whose you are and in whose likeness you are made and from whom you can never be separated? Do you know that you are royalty? Do you remember that you are divine?”

Confirmation is the invitation to strengthen and celebrate the gift one has already been given in Baptism, an invitation to remember one’s Belovedness, to shift the gaze, tune out some noise and tune in to something eternal and true, something counter to what the world so often shouts and peddles. Here, you see, there is nothing to sell: we have already been given everything we need. Confirmation is an invitation to say, Yes, Amen, I am of God, I have what I need and to say it while honoring doubt and questions and all manner of mystery, to say it in spite of the sound and fury that often surrounds us.

It is a radical, mysterious, holy responsibility. A radical, mysterious, holy Amen.

All of us at St. Stephen’s Church honor our young people as well as their parents and mentors for their faithful commitment and witness. Indeed, you are royalty. And we love you very much. ✤ Allison Seay , associate for religion and the arts, coordinates our youth Confirmation program and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.