Atom“Fly Like Eagles – Confirmation”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you belive this?
Today is confirmation day at First Lutheran Church. Confirmation can mean a lot of things to us…new clothes, lots of pictures, family dinners, presents –even money. When I was in Nebraska, I discovered it mean also that one was now able to drive the family car, or date for the first time, or best of all, sit with the other high school kids in the section of the church reserved for the youth – away from their parents! For some of you – Confirmation Day may have been a fearful time, as in the “testing.” You know what I mean. Young people, ask your parents or grandparents about this. Does anybody here remember being “tested” in front of the congregation? It was a scary time for many, and a memory that has burned itself into many a soul! The testing went like this: Young people were called in front of the congregation or the elders and the pastor of the church and the pastor asked you questions about the Bible, the Creed, the Ten Commandments and other parts of the catechism : “Tell me about the 7th petition of the Lord’s prayer. What is Luther’s word on this?” Recite for me Romans 8:28. Do you remember? There are whole bunches of young people here that are relieved that we no longer do that! I’m relieved that we no longer do that! And it’s not because I’m afraid to know what our confirmands have or have not learned, or what we as pastors have or have not been able to communicate about the faith. I am relieved because I believe that too often, that kind of testing communicated that being a follower of Jesus has something to do with passing a test…sort of like school or in the work place. When you’ve jumped through all the right hoops, when you know the right answers to the right questions, when you’ve done your eighteen sermon notes each year, when you’ve met your performance standards, then we’ll let you be a follower of Jesus.
Well following Jesus isn’t quite like that. Jesus calls you. Jesus says, “You belong to me. Follow me.” You say, “Yes…Yes, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Sort of like Martha in this morning’s gospel, but not in quite such a fearsome place as when you are standing before your brother’s fresh grave. Now that was a confirmation confession.
So…we’ve come to call this day the day of Affirmation of Baptism – the day of affirming, saying “yes,” to God’s claim and promise upon our lives. At 1:00 today, sixteen of our young people and their families and friends, and some of you, will gather together to worship – and then these young people will stand up here and say “yes” to Jesus, “yes” to his forgiveness, “yes” to his spirit’s dwelling in them, “yes” to his leading of their lives, “yes” to his identity as risen Son of God.”
And so I was thinking this week how I might tell the story of Jesus in such a way that we remember this day and what it means and who we are in the journey of life. And I thought of telling it as the story of someone passionately in love with someone else but that someone else just doesn’t see it and won’t give them the time of day, so the one in love decides to put on the likeness and the clothes someone like the one they love and they become friends until the other one finally sees how much they are loved. It sounds a bit like “All Shook Up,” I know… (This was the High School musical playing in town this week – I showed slides on the screen while suggesting this.) But it’s not. It is also the story of Jesus becoming one of us – one like us – taking on our life and even our death so we could know how much God loves us. I thought about that story because it is the reason why we are here today.
But then I decided instead to tell you the story of an eagle – a story I learned a long time ago at Bible Camp. It seems that a farmer asked a neighbor for fertile chicken eggs to incubate and hatch. And when he got the eggs he noticed that one was quite unlike the others, a bit bigger and different, but he put it in the incubator anyway and it hatched out, not cute and yellow, but big and brown and not ugly, but different. After consulting his county extension agent, he discovered this was no chicken, but I fact an eagle.
Well, the eagle grew up with the chickens and since he only saw chickens, thought he was a chicken, too. He imitated the chickens as best he could, but not too successfully, especially as he got bigger. His beak and his feet just weren’t right for pecking around in the dirt. So, one day the farmer decided it was time for his eagle to learn who he was. He needed to learn to fly. He took him out in the field and tried tossing him in the air. It didn’t work. The eagle didn’t even open his wings. He fell to the ground like a rock. Day after day the farmer tried getting him to fly, but with no success.
Finally, deciding to force the eagle to fly, he took him to a high cliff overlooking the river and, holding his breath, threw him off. He held his breath as he watched the big, beautiful bird plummet toward the river…and then, just at the last moment, the eagle opened his wings and caught the wind and flew. He became what God had created him to be – an eagle, high flying and free.
Don’t think too hard today about the improbability of finding an eagle egg in your chicken eggs. But consider the story in helping to understand what it is to be a follower of Jesus today. You are eagles made to fly as God created you…and we are here today to push you off the cliff. (Not really, but sort of.)
Rather, we are here to remind you that you are chosen – special – unique children of God that God has created and claimed and equipped to soar and to fly in God’s world. Some 15 or 16 years ago, on your baptism day, God made a covenant with you, an agreement with you. God promised you:
Forgiveness of sins
Hope of eternal life
Many gifts for living and affecting the lives of those around you
Presence of the powerful Holy Spirit.
God made you eagles on your baptismal day. You’re not just any old “chicken” You’re not just any old person. You are God’s person, baptized into the life of Jesus, claimed as his own.
So then, brothers and sisters…you have received a spirit of adoption. Whe we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Romans 8:16
But, unlike the eagle in my story, you are not alone in learning about what it means to be an eagle. Other Christians, other believers in Jesus surround you to show you and to teach you. They also entered into a covenant – an agreement with God. Your parents and sponsors and members of the congregation promised to help you to learn to fly.
And so you have… Being a member of this church…worshipping…being a part of our Sunday School and Confirmation ministries…joining Grant on youth trips…you have been making short flights…practice flights.
Today we’re inviting you to do some serious flying…to make that call as to whether you will be an eagle or not. The eagle in my story had decide rather quickly you might remember…as he was falling…lest land in the river.
As I said earlier, we are not going to push anyone off the cliff today…but we are asking you to make a similar decision. In the story, the bird was an eagle, created to fly – but didn’t have to. It didn’t have to open his wings. He could have stayed walking around among the chickens, never taking to the air. Or he could have perished when he struck the ground.
We are inviting you to claim your identity as one of God’s special people, created and forgiven and gifted for life by God. Being an eagle doesn’t mean much unless you fly like one. Being a Christian doesn’t mean much unless you fly like one…and on more than short flights. It is a lifelong journey from here out of living and flying like one of God’s eagles – one of God’s children.
What does such flying look like? In the service of affirmation you will be asked if you intend to:
1. Live among God’s faithful people
- God has made you a part of a community to help you grow and use your gifts
- Are there such things as loner Christians? Lone wolves who go their own way and never connect with the larger community. I suppose it is possible…but it is fundamentally different than what Jesus intended…claiming to be and eagle and never gathering where they gather, claiming to be a Christian and never responding to Jesus’ call to meet together.
2. Hear His word and share in His Supper
- This applies directly to our need to be nourished in our faith. We can’t grow and may have difficulty surviving without food. The same is true of being a Christian. Hearing and reading God’s word and receiving the forgiveness promised in the bread and wine are life-giving!
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3. Proclaim the Good News of God in Christ through Word and Deed
- You do this when you tell others of your faith, when you invite others to join you for youth group activities or worship. When you teach your own children about Jesus. When you participate in making the worship service happen in your church or when you teach or support our children’s ministries.
4. Serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus
- Jesus served us. Gave his own strength and life for the good of his friends and neighbors and even people he didn’t know. Christians do the same. During Lent, we have been talking about this…about following Jesus not only in our worship and words, but in the ways we respond to the needs of our community – the food pantry, the crisis center, the nursing home, the homeless shelter.
5. Strive for justice and peace in all the earth…
- More of the same…except we take it beyond our community…to Memphis and to Haiti and to India and to Japan and wherever it is that God opens our eyes to see the neediness of all God’s children and our own capacity to help.
And we ask you to respond to this calling from Jesus with the words: “I do, and I ask God to help and Guide me. And God promises to do exactly that.
Eagles fly like eagles….Christians live like followers of Jesus Christ – who is our example of what flying is really like. We show Jesus to others…we show that we are his followers by the way we live and act, by the way we work and play, by the way we think and talk, by the ways we care for the world God has placed us in.
God’s covenant is a two-way covenant or agreement you see…from the service of Affirmation:
Brothers and sisters in Christ, in Holy Baptism our Lord Jesus Christ received you and made you members of his Church.
The first part of the agreement is God’s. God commits to us. God creates us, loves us, calls us, gifts us for living and service – helps us to fly.
That’s the first part of the agreement. The second part is our part:
Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you
in Holy Baptism?
If so, please respond: “I do and I ask God to help and guide me.” (here I invited the rest of the congregation at other services to also respond and then to make profession of faith.)
You are eagles – created and claimed by God in Jesus Christ. Live like such! And God bless you in your following and in your flying!
Please stand as we profess our faith, using the words of the Apostles’ creed…
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