Confirmation

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ Matthew 11: 28-30

My own Confirmation Service at the university church of St Thomas the Martyr, Newcastle in 2004 was a significant moment on my journey of faith. Finally, I had found an outward-looking community of questioning, passionate, caring individuals, not dissimilar to St Martin’s, where I found belonging and purpose. I was born and bred into a church family and at my baptism as a toddler (by Revd Nick Holtam in Lincoln) I was blissfully unaware of God’s public yes to me. But here at this Confirmation Service in Newcastle, surrounded by family and friends, this was my public yes to God and God’s public – ongoing – yes to me.

My Confirmation Service was a moment of revelation. Discipleship with Christ didn’t all depend upon me and my own efforts. It didn’t require a polished version of myself constantly to be on display. Neither need it be a heady quest for more knowledge about God, as if God was some kind of examiner in the sky (Oxbridge-style bible studies hosted by my parents in our living room as a child gave the impression discipleship was cerebral and complicated). Suddenly, at St Thomas’ I’d realised the Holy Spirit in the Triune God was, in fact, inviting me to rest, alert in its presence in the world all around me. At my confirmation I was being gifted the fruit of the Holy Spirit to share with others with courage, gentleness and humility. In a world with a cacophony of distraction I was being offered a path towards peace and reconciliation.

My prayer for the candidates today getting baptised, confirmed and received into the Church of England is that you remember the invitation each new day to find rest for your souls on your path of discipleship with God. You do not journey alone. You do not need to be perfect. Here at St Martin’s you are accompanied by a whole community of fellow seekers and forgiven pilgrims who turn their faces again towards God and know that they are seen and held and loved.

Little do you know where this journey may lead you.

Almighty and ever-living God, you have given these your servants new birth in baptism by water and the Spirit, and have forgiven them all their sins. Let your Holy Spirit rest upon them; the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; the Spirit of counsel and inward strength; the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and let their delight be in the fear of the Lord. Amen.

Revd Catherine Duce