7th Sunday of Easter/Confirmation Sunday 2026

Sermon: 7th Sunday of Easter/Confirmation Sunday 2026

Texts: Acts 1, John 17

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is such a pleasure to be able to preach in this day when Samson, Caleb, Connor, and Reagan have chosen to affirm their baptism. When we think of Confirmation, we often think of a coming-of-age ritual, a mere tradition. But I’d like to invite all of us to think about this moment more deeply, and therefore to ponder our own confirmation, our own yes to the gift of baptism. At the center of this moment is the question: What is the calling of a Christian? What we affirm today is not a one and done event. It is the yes to a lifelong journey of faith, where we follow Jesus into the unknown and trust Him to reveal to us what true human life is. Our tradition is full of stories of people that, called by God, went to do extraordinary things, witnessing to the enduring power of the Spirit within us. And now our confirmands join in the same movement as those that have gone before, to affirm to take such steps of trust alongside Christ.

Jesus says in John’s Gospel: “And this is eternal life, that they may know you”. Indeed, this is the purpose of Confirmation. That all of us might have the foundations by which we can continue on the adventure of our living faith, the adventure of mystery and wonder by which we know and are known by the God who breathed every particle in the universe, the God who inspires every one of us into true life. For indeed, in Him we satisfy the longing for wholeness all human beings yearn for. Jesus teaches us that at the center of existence there stands a primordial relationship which we are called to cultivate. In that relationship, we begin to see the world in a new way, as a united whole woven together by love. As the poet Ernesto Cardenal once wrote, everything in nature is an embrace, everything is a communion that tends towards a You, and the

human being’s greatest You he or she seeks is God. Jesus Christ makes this You that human beings long for, known.

During Confirmation we are taught the pillars where our faith is built, but afterwards we might ask, how do I keep knowing God? And in response to His call, how do I make Him known? It is the reason we proclaim a number of intentions before the community: that we would live among the faithful, that we would hear God’s word and share in the Lord’s supper, that we commit to proclaiming the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, that we commit to serving all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth. Quite a tall order. Alone, it seems impossible, but through Christ and alongside the beloved community, all these things are possible for you. The Christian way of life is an invitation, to participate in the fullness of the life of Christ. If I am to provide you a nutshell version, it is that the life you are affirming is one rooted in community, in prayer, and in justice. You know God in community because the Christian venture is lived within a community and for a community. Jesus lived for others, and therefore you need another to love and embrace, to forgive and be forgiven by. You cannot test the virtues alone, they need relationships that challenge us to grow into our Christ image. Didn’t we hear in our Acts reading, how all the early witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus came together to pray and be called together for the mission at hand? The community is a grace from God, for in it you have a people that pray and care for you. In them you learn to love beyond your own limits. And you don’t know how many times, I see God in these people, working through them and in them. You know God in community.

You also know God in prayer, prayer is the breath of a Christian life. In prayer, the silence becomes full. Prayer is the uplifting of our hearts to God, the orientation of our attention away from all the distractions that consume our precious time. Prayer is not only about petitions to God, where we cast all our anxieties on Him. It is also the forge of our inner self. In prayer we day by day orient ourselves towards God’s will, to know Him by being with Him. And the more time we spend with Him, the more loving and merciful we become. In prayer, I become more human, more aware of my needs, in those quiet moments, I’m able to exist as I am with no pretense at all. Prayer keeps our hearts soft, to have before God’s presence not only your own needs, but those of others. The grace of prayer, that I am heard fully and therefore fully known. Which prepares me to be the same for others.

And finally, you know God because you serve all and seek justice. Jesus is found in the love you give to others, especially those brought low in the world. The world wants us to believe that true life is about success, fame, power, money, or status. But God tells us that true life is about service, humility, mercy, and compassion. God is on the side of the poor and the suffering, in them we receive our moral compass, for Jesus leads us to them, that He is found among them, and seeks your love and attention through them. As Christians we are especially committed to them, and God calls us to be a community of radical solidarity.

As you can see, Confirmation is simply one more step into the larger world of God’s action. Like the disciples heard in the Book of Acts: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?…you will be my witnesses” My dear Confirmands, to all those who have confirmed their faith, and to those who may have not gone through

this path, Christ does not call us to indifference or to callousness, He does not desire that we remain up in the clouds of abstraction, to think only about ourselves, or to even fall into the trap of only concerning oneself with one’s spiritual state or to remain still looking at God as a far away reality. We are given the great call to be signs of God’s transformation of the world, to seek and be faithful to God in the world itself, to find God in each other and all those that you meet, to love and be compassionate with everybody, which means to uphold the dignity of their God-given image. Hear well what Christ says we are: witnesses. We are witnesses of the enduring power of the resurrection, we are witnesses to a love that defeats death, we are witnesses to a grace that is mighty to forgive and renew, we are witnesses to a community of people that exist for others; we are witnesses to a peace that surpasses understanding, for we build peace in spite of the drive of many to destroy. The Christ whom you give your trust today will make you truly alive indeed.

Lastly, we can never tire of remembering, the affirmation of our baptism is the reminder that we belong to Christ. Samson, Caleb, Reagan, Connor, you belong to God. Every beloved person that is here, you belong to God. You belong here, at the table. You are called to join the feast that the Lord sets for us. What a great gift we have received in Christ. To affirm that our unique human life is meant for so much. Let us then pray: