Dear St. Luke’s,

The bishop is coming! The bishop is coming! On May 15th, Bishop Porter-Taylor will come to St. Luke’s to worship with us and to confirm anyone who feels called to make a mature and public declaration of faith and reaffirm their responsibilities in baptism. In the Diocese of Virginia, a Bishop comes every year and a half, so this is a fairly big deal, and it has the potential to be a very big deal to those who feel called to have the bishop lay hands on them.

Confirmation is an interesting thing in the history of Christianity. In the early Church baptism, confirmation and eucharist were all part of the same initiation ceremony. As Christianity spread, especially into the country and out of cities, bishops had to rely on priests for baptism while they reserved anointing with oil at confirmation for when they were able to visit, and this is a tradition that we continue to embrace in the western Church.

The bishop can do one of four things on May 15th. If someone is not baptized, the bishop can baptize them, and if they are old enough for confirmation, the bishop will confirm them as well. If someone is baptized, but not confirmed, the bishop can confirm them. If someone was confirmed in another Church, like the Roman Catholic Church, then the bishop can “receive” them into the Episcopal Church. We believe in the validity of other Church’s confirmations, so we don’t double confirm! If someone is already confirmed in the Episcopal Church, but wants to go through the process again, they can be reaffirmed into the Church.

I hope to offer a meaningful class, open to the whole congregation, that will teach those who want to know more about Christianity and the Episcopal Church, but will also prepare those who feel called to be baptized, confirmed, received, or reaffirmed. Before this class starts to take shape, I need to know who is interested in participating. The omicron variant has made it nearly impossible to meet as a large group, but there are some creative ways we can foster deep conversation, learning, and discernment even in the world of the pandemic, and I hope to tailor our program to whatever group we have signed up.

So, do you have a teen that is hungry to dive into their faith and/or make a commitment to the Church? Are you ready to learn more and make a commitment yourself? Do you not remember much about your confirmation class all those years ago and want to brush up on what the Church is all about? If so, reach out to me to let me know we’re interested, and we will make room for you at the table (literal or figurative) this spring!

You can e-mail me at nick@saintlukeschurch.net to let me know that you are interested.

Blessings,

Nick