Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the
Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all
this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen
the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” (John 14:8-9)
Believe me, I sooo get where Jesus is coming from here. I mean, can’t you just
picture him slapping a palm on his forehead in frustration and thinking,
“What’s with these guys?! I’ve been
teaching them for three years and they still
don’t get it!”
Maybe you can relate to this, too. Have
you ever explained something to someone over and over again, only to find the
nincompoop just isn’t grasping the concept? If so, welcome to my world—the
world of the Confirmation Class Teacher.
Just try to take middle school-aged kids
and indoctrinate them with Reformation theology; cram into their heads the
Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments; and attempt with
all of your pedagogical might to get them to conceptualize the Holy Trinity!
Just try and make them understand the notion of salvation by grace alone—when
their parents are busy sabotaging your efforts with a superstitious,
works-righteousness doctrine that says, “If I just get this kid confirmed, I
will have appeased the Angry God (and my kid’s grandparents), and we’ll never
have to go to church again!”
The worst of it is, I can’t give these
kids faith. I can only give them
information. Fortunately, that’s all I have to do. It’s up to the Holy Spirit
to do the rest.
In the Gospel lesson appointed in the RCL
for the Day of Pentecost in Year C (John 14: 8-17, 25-27), Jesus gives his somewhat
dim-witted followers these comforting words:
“…the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all
that I have said to you.” (v.26)
And—Gosh dang!—do I ever take refuge in
that promise! You see, I take the Christian education of the young very
seriously. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a fourteen year-old, who
probably thinks he’s ten feet tall and bulletproof, to think deeply about
eternal things. It’s even harder when sports activities have replaced religious
observance as America’s chief form of worship. I feel thwarted in my duty as a
teacher by parents who see the Rite of Confirmation as “Graduation from Church.”
I make concessions for the all-too-cavalier attitude towards learning the
faith, and I feel that if I set my educational bar any lower I will have to dig
a trench for it.
But in the end, I guess it’s all good. I
just have to trust that the Spirit will be reminding, whispering her voice into
my former students’ ears, and every-so-often nudging from the dusty crevices in
the backs of their brains the lessons of today’s Gospel:
·
God
spoke through Christ, and Christ speaks through us.
·
The
spiritual path begins with the religious observance of the Law: Love God, and love
your neighbor.
·
We
are called to do the works of God.
·
The
works of God begin with prayer.
·
God’s
peace is not the world’s peace. It doesn’t come from might or wealth or
position. It only comes from trust in Christ—a trust that overcomes trouble and
fear.
When I lay my hands on my Confirmands’
heads this Pentecost, I’m not expecting to see tongues of flame erupt or to
hear them suddenly proclaim the Gospel in Croatian or Swahili. I fully expect
that I may not see them again until their weddings. But I trust in the patient,
gentle, and somewhat sneaky prompting of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the
blessing I pray over them will, in God’s own good time, come alive in their
hearts and lives.
If it’s okay with you, I’d like to pray
that blessing for all of us now:
Father
in heaven, for Jesus’ sake, stir up in all of us the gift of your Holy Spirit; confirm
our faith, guide our lives, empower us in our serving, give us patience in
suffering, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
May the Spirit bless you this week! Catch
me next time, okay?
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