Confirmation

What is Confirmation?

Confirmation, Affirmation, Reception is a church practice of what the Anglican Catechism calls “rites and sacraments.”

This practice (rites) are deeply charged “sites” of God’s grace. They are sacraments because they are visible signs that confer an invisible grace, but we distinguish them from the two primary sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist.

There are then three reasons to be confirmed. First, if you wish to affirm or reaffirm your commitment to Christ. Second, if you wish to receive empowerment from the Holy Spirit. And third, if you wish to be recognized within the global Anglican communion, joining more than 85 million people around the world.

While some shy away from calling Confirmation a sacrament, the witness of the church throughout the ages, especially in the Episcopal / Anglican world, has seen fit to uphold them as a vital means through which God mediates grace to us.

Where did Confirmation come from?

Confirmation arose out of the early church’s reflection on Scripture in connection to how one became a Christian. It was first used to describe what happened when a bishop would lay hands upon, pray for, and anoint the forehead of the newly baptized with oil, signifying the gift of the Holy Spirit. The newly baptized/confirmed would then proceed to receive their first Eucharist.

Gradually, in the western churches (Eastern Orthodox churches still confirm infants immediately upon Baptism), Confirmation became separable from Baptism. For Anglican churches, the normal course would be that you were baptized as an infant, and then as a teenager undergo instruction (catechesis), which prepared you for Confirmation.

Confirmation as growth, belonging, & mission

At its most basic, Confirmation refers to the rite in which, after a believer has been baptized, they make a mature commitment to the faith, and receive an increased gifting of the Holy Spirit through the bishop’s prayer, laying on of hands, and anointing. Once again, the Catechism puts it beautifully. When asked, “What grace does God give you in confirmation?” the response is, “In confirmation, God strengthens the work of the Holy Spirit in me for his daily increase in my Christian life and ministry.”

In both Baptism and Confirmation, the Holy Spirit is present. (It’s a standard rule of Trinitarian theology that wherever there’s one person of the Trinity. In Baptism, the Spirit regenerates us into new life, marked as Christ’s own forever. In Confirmation, on the other hand, the Spirit deepens and strengthens life, so that we grow into more mature Christians.

Confirmation is the sacrament of mission. By this, I mean that Confirmation “marks” a person for undertaking the vocation to which he or she has been called.

In this regard, Confirmation is sort of like Ordination: it marks you out for a specific calling. But unlike Ordination, both lay people and priests are confirmed. And this is because it is every Christian’s vocation to proclaim the gospel and to live into a life of holiness.

This is also why Confirmation is linked to the bishop’s presence. As Ordination into the priesthood requires the bishop’s presence, so too, in Confirmation, the bishop’s presence signifies that the person being confirmed is now charged with the duty of carrying on the apostolic mission.

Why should I be Confirmed?

To reinvigorate and renew the practice of Confirmation is one of the most important tasks for the church today because renewing the practice of Confirmation means renewing the mission of the church. Affirmation is a way of marking where you are on The Way of Jesus. Perhaps see it as a Reception into the Anglican Church or the parish on a deeper level for your personally, in which is affirmed by the bishop, priest, and congregation.

It means being sent out into life, as witnesses of the Good News to those around them. It means further equipping for the work of the Kingdom. And, finally, it means a rising generation of Christians who have dedicated their lives to the glory of God in every area of life, people of The Way.

If you haven’t been confirmed or would like to consider Affirmation or Reception, you may want to receive the invitation to be confirmed.