Last Sunday we had over twenty people confirmed by our Bishop. It was a special day!
We had a few questions come in from people trying to understand more clearly what was happening in the service and specifically what we believe about the presence of the Holy Spirit in someone's life.
We are confirming faith: We are confirming this person has come to publicly own their faith in Jesus Christ with this church. This affirmation is made by the laying on of hands by the Bishop. The Bishop's gesture is a sign of our connectedness to the historic and global church catholic. This is the nature of the apostolic gesture in Acts 8:17, and of the apostolic commissioning in John 20:22.
We are filled with the Spirit: Since the confirmand has a personal relationship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this is not their first encounter with the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, during this sacred moment of confirmation, we pray for an increase of the Holy Spirit's presence to strengthen the life of the believer. We believe that every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit when they believe in Christ and are baptized, as expressed in Scripture, our liturgy, and our Anglican Formularies.* However, we seek an increase in the power of the Holy Spirit and the filling of his power throughout our lives. (Acts 13:52, Eph. 5:18)
We are commissioning for ministry: We believe every Christian is called to be a priest in this world. (1 Peter 2) And so, confirmation is a time where we anoint each believer to take up their Christian vocation and to embrace their own call to Gospel ministry in everyday life.
We typically schedule 1-2 confirmation services each year. If confirmation is something you're interested in, please let Fr. David or Fr. Brian know! You can also read more at https://www.churchoftheres.com/post/should-i-get-confirmed