(My message on Confirmation Sunday is primarily addressed to the confirmands but I hope and pray that all of you will be able to glean something from it.)
I think there is something that we all have in common: At some point in our lives we have been a spectator. We have either gone to a movie, play, concert, sports game, ballet or an opera. We all, I think it is fair enough to say, have been spectators. The great writer from the 1980s Michael Roberts once said, “The reason why we like to be spectators is because in the end we want to identify with winners.” We want to see people succeed. We want to hear great musical performances. We want to see our teams win. We want good things to happen, and as spectators we go anticipating something wonderful happening as a result of it. Being a spectator involves us. We like to see someone else do well. We rejoice in it.
Last weekend, as many of you know, I was at the Indianapolis 500. I was watching with a whole lot of people, and of course, I was cheering for my favourite driver to win –he didn’t! But I was part of it, and I found myself tense at the end of the race because I wanted my driver to win. We all love to participate by being spectators.
However, being spectators is not really what makes life joyful and rich and meaningful. Rather, it is when we participate in something that we gain the greatest benefit. To be a spectator and watch somebody else do well is fine but we also need to be involved. Over the last few months all of you have been involved in the confirmation process here at this church. You have had retreats, which I understand were very exciting. You have had Bible studies and have memorized the Books of the Bible. You have sung songs and written rap songs about the Bible, which I believe someday will be on YouTube and will go viral – trust me! You have had dinners and you have done Q and A’s with me and Katherine and David have been just wonderful with you. You have learnt a lot, and you participated. You have been part of something.
This is only the beginning of your participation. There is now far more challenging, exciting and joyful things to occur. The reason I say that is because our passage from Philippians. This is a great passage, where we belong, and where we participate. Paul says to the Philippians “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say to you, rejoice!” For Paul, the Christian faith and walking with Christ is a joyful activity. It is joyful for a number of reasons. It is different though, and I do want to make this distinction from being happy. Happiness is when you do something and you are full of ecstasy. There are great things happening. It just lasts a while. You all know Pharrell William’s song, which David actually mentioned in his sermon last Sunday, where Pharrell talks about being up in a balloon and he is happy, because he now has a room without a roof – for a moment, just ecstasy, just full complete happiness.
The great C. S. Lewis, who wrote the Narnia series by the way, says “Joy is something deeper than happiness. Joy is like a longing for something better. Joy is with you not only when you feel happy, but even in difficult times. Joy is knowing you are not alone. Joy is knowing that you are loved. Joy is knowing that you are forgiven. Joy is knowing that you are upheld when you need support.” Joy is something that comes, for C. S. Lewis, from God. That’s what Paul is talking about when he said, “I want you to rejoice always” what he means is that he wants you to have joy always. Happiness comes and goes; joy is always there, because it comes from God.
There is something more, and that is this joy looks like and is based on patience and prayer. Paul says, “I want you to be patient, and I want you to pray at all times.” Whenever you face difficult moments, pray! Whenever you feel joy, pray! But, prayer requires that you participate. Prayer is the conversation with God. But, you can’t have a conversation if you are not willing to be a participant in it. And so, this is the beginning of a life and a life in which I hope you will pray and that it will become part of your daily conversation with God, and that God will have a conversation with you. Not that you are going to hear it through headphones, but in your heart, in your conscience, in your lives, you are going to know that God is with you. And, I suspect, and maybe I am stretching it, but for those who are new members here today, who are adults or reaffirming your faith, I think I am right in saying am I not, that prayer has had a role and part to play in your lives. It is a really important part of experiencing joy, and to know that no matter what is going on in your life, you can speak to God about it, you can tell the Lord about it.
This joy, Paul says, is also excellent. Whatever he says is praiseworthy; whatever is excellent, do it! Now, I think you and I want a better world. You have said to me when we met at the confirmation class – and by the way, in the evening I spent with them, I was never grilled with more challenging questions in my life than from this confirmation class! They asked me all the difficult questions that you can imagine. I sputtered and I stuttered, and I was at a loss for words – as hard as that is to believe! I really was. It was great. But behind some of those questions there was a desire I know you have for a better world. When you see the suffering in the world, the death, the destruction of the environment; when you see these things, you want to make it better. Paul understood that, but he knew where it begins: in our hearts.
Paul says, “Whatever is right, whatever is true, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, do these things.” You can’t expect a better world unless you are a better person. We become better people when the Lord comes into our lives, when we seek the guidance and the strength of God to make the world a better place. I would like to read and hear about and experience in years to come ways in which you, this confirmation class, have made the world a better place.
This is a memorable day for two of the clergy in this Church. For Dr. Hunnisett and for me, we have been ordained for thirty years as of this past week – believe it or not! I think it is fair enough to say that over the thirty years I have had at least thirty confirmation classes. One of the things that I have found in those confirmation classes is that God has done some great things through some of those confirmands. We evenhave in this church a woman who I confirmed twenty odd years ago at Woodlawn United in Dartmouth, and she is now a member here at Timothy Eaton.
There is the connection over time, and it is a connection of joy. It is a connection that sees us through good times and bad times. It is a connection that is based on love. It is a connection that is founded in God. I hope that in thirty year’s time, if I am still around, that I will be able to look back at you and say, “You have grown as people of faith, you have made the world a better place, and to God be the glory!” Amen.