How do you meet God?
It’s a question we have been looking at in preparation classes for confirmation and it is a very relevant question for all of us. When was the last time you considered how and where you meet God? When did you reflect on God’s calling to you and his impact on your life? When did you explore ideas and concepts such as sin and evil, grace and forgiveness?
For those of us who are theologians we live and breathe this everyday but it’s not for everyone. Yet the church intervenes at certain points in our lives and asks us to specifically consider some pretty complicated theological thinking.
Over the last couple of months, Darcy, Glenn, Marilyn and Josh have been mulling over these issues and they have been seeking to find out where and how they will meet God.
One way they will do this is through the sacraments of the church. I hope that each of the candidates could explain what the sacraments are, they have all spent quite some considerable time considering them. But more importantly, I hope they could explain what the sacraments mean to us as Christians.
In each sacrament there is something visible which is pointing beyond itself to God and a prayer accompanying that sign. Shortly I will baptize Glenn, August and Chloe by pouring water over them. This is the visible sign of God’s presence. As I pour the water I will say “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” In this prayer, God will touch them and place a figurative mark deep within their souls as the Holy Spirit is poured out onto them.
In Confirmation, it is Bishop Jeremy who will anoint the candidates on the forehead with the oil of chrism and the prayer is, “Strengthen Lord your servant (n), with your Holy Spirit.” As he lays his hands on their head an prayers for them the Holy Spirit will descend onto them and flood their very beings.
In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the visible is the bread and wine until the consecration (and afterwards the Body and Blood of Jesus) and the prayer is the words of the consecration.
For each of the seven sacraments—and the sacraments were instituted by Jesus—there is something visible pointing beyond itself and there is an accompanying prayer.
Each of the sacraments gives us grace. During their preparation for confirmation, when I explained grace I likened it to petrol. We need fuel in our tanks to run our cars. We go to a petrol station and pay for the fuel. But God’s grace is freely given to us, and his son died that we might receive it. We need to be in a state of grace, and the sacraments of the church can help us exist in a closer relationship with God.
In Baptism, the church teaches that we are freed from the bonds of original sin. More importantly our souls are united with Christ and we become children of God. In confirmation we complete the cycle of grace that began at Baptism when we witness publicly to our faith in Christ. We often associate confirmation with reaching Christian maturity, but I am still not sure I would call myself a mature Christian despite have been Confirmed some 39 years ago.
At the eucharist, we partake in the most wonderful of all the sacraments when we accept Our Lord into our very beings and draw ever closer to him.
But grace has to be used. Not so long ago I had to empty fuel from an old motorcycle. It had laid dormant for 3 years and the fuel had gone off. It was immediately obvious that the fuel was unusable, it smelt wrong.
Grace has to be used. We are called by God to share the grace we are blessed with. We do this particularly in our actions towards others, but also in the way we try to live our lives with our families and work colleagues. It is grace that gives us the strength to live out our faith and endure the challenges of life.
So, whilst today our candidates for Baptism and Confirmation will receive God’s grace deep within them, it would be very easy to let it lie dormant in the future.
And that is where we come in. We the Body of Christ, the church of God, are called to nurture and support each other. We were all baptized and most of us have been confirmed. A couple of us have been ordained and one has even been consecrated. But we are all completely dependent on each other. Bishop Jeremy needs Priests and people. Without them his role is void. And just as we have a bishop in church who needs his people, so we have those to be baptized and confirmed who also need their people. And we are those people, you and I. So instead of looking to someone else, a warden or your priest, to support those who are new to the faith or growing in it, use some of that grace so freely given and reach out to those who are taking these steps today.
Talk to them about your journey. Explain how and where you meet God. Share how you pray, share what frustrates you about the church, and share what you love about it. Play your part in the life of the church and help to grow God’s holy people.