“Making It Our Own”

1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-21
Ephesians 4:14-16

May 29, 2005

Today you will be witnesses to several important events during this worship service. You will be witnesses to two baptisms and the joining of 4 young women into membership in this congregation. What you will see will be none other than the grace of God at work, the grace of God that acts first in people’s lives and calls people to respond. Regardless of what age we were baptized, Baptism is still the same and still means the same thing. It is still the visible sign of God’s invisible grace. The visible sign of God’s action in our lives. Whether we were baptized as a baby, or whether we were baptized as an adult, Baptism is not the end of the journey, it is the beginning.

It is Baptism that identifies us as children of God, cleanses us from all that separates us from God, unites us with Christ and with one another, gives us new life in Christ, and marks us for service as Christ’s disciples. As you witness this sacrament of Baptism and celebrate with the Confirmands in their membership in this church, I invite you to remember your own baptism. But today I want to speak directly to the Confirmation class.

Today is an important day for you. You have taken your first step into a larger world, your first step in a new way of discipleship, a new way of embodying your faith and making it your own. Up until this point in your life, others have been responsible for your spiritual growth in the faith. Your parents, grandparents, and other church members were doing what they were supposed to do as baptized believers to raise you in the faith as they had been. They brought you to church and taught you from home so that you would know our Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Through the church and others you learned the stories of the Bible, you learned about God and God’s actions in the world, you learned about what God did for you through the cross of Jesus Christ, and you learned about what God gave you through the Holy Spirit. Through the actions of the church and others, you have learned much.

But today you have made a stand for yourself. You alone have stood in front of the governing body of this, your parents and grandparents and your covenant partners, and you have publicly declared your faith. You have taken what others have taught you and made it your own. No longer will someone else be the only ones responsible for your spiritual growth in faith. The responsibility for your continued growth is now yours first.

You have already written your profession of faith and become members of this church. As members of the church of Jesus Christ, you will be asked to stand on your own more and more. We want to know what you think. We want you to think for yourselves. We want you to be a part of the ministry and mission of this church, not because someone else is making you do it, but because you will want to do it from inside yourself, because you believe it is important, and because you have already learned that being a member of a church is not just a privilege, it is first and foremost a responsibility.

In a short time from now I will ask you two questions for you to answer. The first question is this: Having already publicly professed your faith and been examined by the governing body of this church, will you be a faithful member of this congregation? The second questions is this: will you share in our worship and ministry through your prayers and gifts, your study and service, and so fulfill your baptism and calling as a disciple of Jesus Christ?

These two questions are important ones for you to think about. As members of this church, you are an important part of this congregation. You have something to offer to us as we have something to offer you. You have gifts to share with us as we have gifts to share with you. Through your baptism you are one with us, and now through your joining into the membership of this church you will be asked to make a new commitment to our relationship. This community of faith no longer recognizes you as children, but as those taking their next step into becoming an adult.

As you take this next step in the faith, I want to share with you some of what I think is important for you to remember. The first thing I want you to remember is to keep yourself prepared for when God calls. The spiritual journey of faith that we all are on lasts a lifetime. Again and again throughout our lifetime God will call and we will be asked to respond, for that is the way of faith and obedience, that is the way of what it means to be in relationship with God. God does not want us to remain where we are. God wants us to grow more and more in our personal relationship with him, and with the community that God has chosen as God’s own people.

Like Samuel, you may not always recognize God’s voice when God calls. But remember that Samuel was prepared in the service of the temple, prepared in the faith that he grew up in, so that when that day came, he was able to respond when he was called. Keep yourself prepared in the service of the church and in the faith you grew up in. Continue to learn and learn and learn more and more about God and God’s word. Memorize scripture. Study the Bible. Practice your faith. Love one another. Serve one another. Do what Jesus taught us to do. Be who Jesus taught us to be. Train yourself so that we God calls you, you will be ready to respond.

The second thing I want you to remember is to be devoted to God. Keep God in the center of your life and the most important person in your life. During the time of Samuel, there were people who had drifted far from any concern for God or for God’s commandments or for God’s will. No one really listened for God’s voice. No one really paid attention to God’s work in their life or in the world around them. Those who do not keep God as the central person in their life will not be able to recognize God’s voice when God calls. They will not be able to see what amazing things God is doing through them and around them.

Third, I want you to remember to be disciplined in the faith. Keep worship, prayer and Bible study a routine part of your life. These are the fundamentals of a healthy and wholesome relationship with God. Start now to make these habits in your life, good habits that will ground you to the faith and to the community in which you have become a member. As you continue to mature in life and experience new things, new people, and new circumstances, you will be challenged more and more.

Somewhere along your journey, you will have to stand up for what is right while people around you will be pressuring you not to do it. Somewhere along your journey, you will have to face disappointment and discouragement and doubt. Somewhere along your journey, you may even feel like you’re alone, like you’re the only one who thinks or feels a certain way. By keeping yourself disciplined in the faith, you will have the courage of your convictions and beliefs to face whatever will come your way, for your foundation will be the solid rock of Jesus Christ, and you will be among the company of all the saints who call him Lord.

Lastly, I want you to remember to give yourself. When it comes to discipleship, worship, and even church, the wrong question to ask is what will I get out of it. The right question is what am I putting into it. When discipleship, worship or church is only about our personal gain, then we turn these into things about us, rather than about God. Worship, discipleship, and church are not about you alone, they are first and foremost about God. Give yourself to God and to the work of God’s kingdom. Give yourself in the service of Christ’s church and to the work of the church in the world. When you see a need or something that needs to be done, give yourself to that task fully and completely. When you hear God’s voice calling you, be ready to say, “Your servant is listening.” Give yourself to others, as Christ gave himself for you.

Sisters, you are not just the church of tomorrow, you are the church of today. As Paul tells the church in Ephesus, you must no longer be children, but you must grow up in every way into him who is the head, Jesus Christ. Through him, we are all joined together as his body, and every part of the body must work properly, so the body will grow in love. You matter in the life and ministry of Christ’s church. You matter to us and your contribution to the work of this church is important. I encourage you to continue your growth in maturity of faith and spirituality. Just like Baptism was not the end of your spiritual journey of faith, neither is becoming a member of a church. It is the new beginning for you on the journey. You have learned much, but there is still more for you to learn. You have grown much, but there is still more room for you to grow. Remember your Baptism, and what God said about you and did for you and calls you to do through it, and continue to make it your own. Amen.