Luke Litz
This Sunday, Church of the Cross will have our annual episcopal visit (visit by the bishop). As part of the liturgy for that Sunday, several members of our community will be confirmed and have the bishop’s hands laid upon them. For those of us who come from high-church traditions (think Catholic or Lutheran, for example), confirmation is a rite with which we may be familiar. Others of us may have a background more similar to my own: I grew up in low-church traditions that did not practice confirmation. As a matter of fact, I never even heard of confirmation while I was in these churches.
After coming to CotC and getting introduced to the Anglican Way, I began to ask questions about what it means to be a member of the church. I took the Foundations class here at the church and I became quite interested in catechesis as an entryway into the Church. It was also during this time that I began to learn more about confirmation for the first time.
Confirmation arose from the ancient apostolic practice of the laying on of hands. Scripture provides several examples: Paul references laying his hands on Timothy (2 Timothy 1:6), Peter and John lay their hands on recently baptized converts so that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15-17). Following these examples, the Church adopted the practice of receiving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.
As I considered the history of confirmation, I came to a realization about my own story: although I had been raised in the Church and baptized in high school, I had never experienced a moment where an elder in the church laid hands on me and prayed for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, I desire to be confirmed because I want to experience more of the Holy Spirit in my life. I want to participate in this apostolic practice and publicly declare my faith in Christ as a member of this community.
Please be praying for all of our confirmands, including myself, as we prepare to participate in this important step in the life of the church!
Luke Litz is a member of Church of the Cross who is getting confirmed this year. He lives with his wife, Ally, and daughter, Lena, in West Roxbury.