Advent Lutheran Church

"The Power of Affirmation and Approval"

 

NOTE:  In his Sunday, October 31, 2010 sermon, "The Power of Affirmation and Approval", published in our web site, Bishop Emeritus Charles Maahs used a story (about someone seeking a blessing) from a sermon in the 2009 "Journal for Preachers", by Dr. P.C. Enniss, and failed to cite him as the source.  Dr. Maahs wishes to give full credit to Dr. Enniss for his story and his words, and offers his apology.

Reformation Sunday – Day of Confirmation

 

I would like to offer congratulations to you Confirmands on behalf of your pastors, your teachers, especially Mr. John Holt, and your families as you celebrate your Confirmation today after several years of a journey that has included study, service, retreats,  assignments, and “Stepping Stones”  that you have completed.  

 

As well I have been told, you have shared some very fine “Statement’s of Faith” that have summarized your confirmation verse…And I might add that when I asked your teacher and mentor, John Holt, what you are like as a class, he summed in up in words of high praise:  “You  are,” he said, “ a ‘COOL’ group!”

 

It is also a privilege for me to be able to preach at this celebration today since the first of my grandchildren will be confirmed at this service.  I won’t mention Brady’s name since I wouldn’t want to embarrass him, but it is indeed an honor for me, since I was able to be there for his baptism some years ago when he began his journey of faith.  Just as others of you in this class of 30 began the same journey of faith with your Baptism.

 

As we all know the Confirmation service is now called the “Affirmation of Baptism,”  another stage in your journey of faith, which I believe has some  important parts to it.

The first part concerns what you have already affirmed or said in this service, namely, a  “yes” to your Baptism that happened a long time ago. To affirm means to declare firmly, to say it is true!  Affirming or saying yes to your baptism celebrates what has already been done.  Your Baptism claims a blessing that is already yours, even as your faith is continuing to be nurtured and in a process of formation.  

 

There is a scene in author Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “The River”, that illustrates  that  part of your saying Yes to your faith,  today. The occasion is a country baptism with the little congregation gathered at the bank of the river where this well meaning couple have taken a neighbor boy named Bevel to be baptized.  Bevel’s parents are back at the apartment, both suffering from hangovers and glad to have the boy out of the house.

 

So in the story the preacher says:  “If I baptize you, you’ll be able to go to the Kingdom of God…do you want that boy?”  “Yes”, the boy says. “You won’t be the same again,” the preacher says. “Then he turned his face to the people and began to preach and Bevel looked over his shoulder at the pieces of the white sun scattered in the river. Suddenly the preacher said, “All right, I’m going to baptize you now”.  And without warning he tightened his hold and swung him upside down and plunged his head into the water. He held him under while he said the words of baptism (“I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”) and then he jerked him up again and looked sternly at the gasping child…”You won’t be the same again”, the preacher said.

 

Now one might be tempted to argue a bit over O’Connor’s depiction of baptism, but that would be to miss the point.  The point is that the moment of baptism is that unique occasion when the human yearning for approval is ultimately answered by God.

 

So when in this Affirmation of Baptism service ,  when you affirmed your Baptism, this was  to remind you as well as everyone of us sitting (and standing)  in this sanctuary that we have already received the  blessing and approval of God given to us at our baptisms.

 

When you serve as a pastor, not only in a service like today, but you often have other experiences which  remind us how much power there is for us to be found in God’s  blessing and approval.  Some years ago after preaching at three Christmas Eve services, 7, 9, and 11, it was now after midnight and I was in the Sacristy of the Church getting ready to go home after a busy and fulfilling evening.

 

There was a knock on the door and an usher came in to see me. He said, “There is a young couple here who want to see you.  All they want they say is for you to bless them.”

Well, I knew what that meant.  It was Christmas Eve and they didn’t have any money or perhaps even a place to stay overnight.  I was tired and hadn’t noticed an unfamiliar  couple at worship, but it was Christmas Eve and not a time to turn people away who may need some help.  So I said, “Tell them to come up to the altar and I’ll meet with them.”

They were not at all what I expected.  They were nicely dressed, both in the late 20’s I supposed.  There was an air of dignity about them, no signs of having been on the street looking for a handout, so to say.  “Sorry to take your time so late at night”, the man said, “But we just want your blessing.”  Well, it was Christmas Eve and so with some theological misgivings about what this was all about, I asked them their names.  And with that they knelt down on the altar steps and I had a prayer, which was not so much a blessing in the usual sense.

 

Rather as I remember it was a general kind of prayer of thanksgiving for God’s promise to be present in their lives, in acknowledgement of the way God had already blessed them, and God’s purpose and future for their lives.  When I said “Amen”, they stood, smiled, shook my hand, said “thanks”, and left.  Not a word about money, or a meal, or gas for their car, or a place to stay. “All we want is your blessing”, they said.

 

“All we want is your blessing”, they said.  They did not stay long enough to say the precise character of the blessing that they wanted or needed.  Perhaps just as well. I sensed though, that this was a young couple who were seeking some assurance that their life counted for something, and so they sought out the closest preacher to tell them again what they needed to know.  In picking out one of God’s representatives for a blessing, I sensed the young couple were mirroring the universal human need for God’s approval.

 

I do know the biggest difficulty with God’s approval never has been with God, but with ourselves, which is why the theologian Paul Tillich’s definition of faith rings so true. He said, “Faith is our acceptance of God’s acceptance of us even though we know we are unacceptable.”  It is God’s blessing and approval that already took place in your baptism and has been  renewed today in this service (and that makes us “acceptable)…Again, as an illustration of blessing, approval, and acceptance, we remember the baptism of Jesus according to Luke’s Gospel.  “And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him, and lo a voice from heaven saying, ‘this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”  Some translations have it, “This is my child, whom I approve.” (3:21-22)

 

I ask you, is there any longing more universal than the craving of a child for the parents approval?  I don’t know if Jesus needed to be baptized or not, but I do know if the Bible is right about Jesus being human in every way you and I are human, Jesus needed to know God’s approval.  That is what we all need to know, isn’t it?  At the deepest level of our being, we want approval, we want to be noticed, we want to count, we want to know that even when we mess up, we are still loved.

 

There is still another part of the Affirmation of Baptism service that is also very important because it points to your future as a follower of Jesus Christ. It has to do with continuing in the covenant that God has made with us in Holy Baptism.You were asked in this service, with God’s help, to continue to live among God’s people, to be faithful in worship, to follow the example of Jesus in serving all people, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth. The congregation gathered here today was also asked to support you and pray for you in your life in Christ. (To be an example for you)  Your parents who have aided this congregation in the “Stepping Stones” that have brought you here today, are to continue to support and pray for you today and tomorrow just as they have in these past days, months, and years. (To be an example for you). This points out  precisely what  Jesus in John’s Gospel today sums up for us in a few words: We are not at some stopping place today, but we are to “continue in his word!”

 

When I was a young boy living with my parents who were missionaries in Papua New Guinea I saw that command of Jesus lived out. How baptism and service are to make sense when fit together. It happened when I attended a baptism of an entire village of around 500 people with my father and another missionary.  All of the men, women, and children were being baptized at one service.  A baptismal font had been set up on a hillside and the villagers, each to be baptized, wound their way up on a path all dressed in white.  As the missionary baptized each person, a dove had been carved out of wood and set up on a pulley over the baptismal font.  As each person was baptized, the dove would descend over their head and then pulled back until the next person was at the font.  To let the baptized person know in a visual way that they were receiving the Holy Spirit, and were now receiving God’s blessing and approval.

 

After the baptismal service, which was outdoors, the baptized gathered for worship indoors in  a church sanctuary that had been built for the occasion. The church was packed with most of the newly baptized members sitting on the ground.  Right after the preacher had begun his sermon, in a language I did not understand, there was a commotion at the back of the sanctuary.  Two men were at the door struggling with a large log, too heavy for the both of them to carry.  The preacher immediately challenged them. How dare you interrupt this worship service? Can’t you see we are in the middle of worship? This is no time to be fooling around!  One of the men answered (so I was told later by an interpreter): ‘This log represents the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and we need some help in carrying it to the Altar!”  Immediately, members jumped up and ran to help carry the log, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ”, and placed it before the Altar.

 

It was a way for the worship leaders and missionary to show the newly baptized  that in their baptism they had  become  Christians, blessed and approved by God, but now they  must be a Christian,  they were responsible for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

 

Now they didn’t use the words that were repeated here today, but the message and meaning was the same.  “To continue in the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism” which means joining with other sisters and brothers to share the good news of Jesus Christ.  Or as Jesus himself promises all of  us: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and the truth will make you free.” There is always great power for us whenever we confess and affirm our faith.  Not only today and for our class of 30 who have affirmed their faith, but for each and every one of us whenever we make a similar confession and affirmation. 

 

So let us never forget it is the gift we can claim, celebrate, and share, any time, any day, any month, any year. This  blessing and approval which God has already claimed for you  in your Baptisms and which you have affirmed today!  Amen.