Readings:
Job 19: 23-27a;
Psalm 17: 1-9;
2 Thessalonians 2: 1-5, 13-end;
Luke 20: 27- 38

Collect:
God, our refuge and strength,
bring near the day when wars shall cease
and poverty and pain shall end,
that earth may know the peace of heaven
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection

One of the absolute joys Ruth and I have had over the last five weeks is to meet with Alex, Gabriel, Jacob and Stephen as they prepare for their confirmation on Sunday. We have been exploring the words in the creed and what they mean to us. We have been challenging each other with questions and as we do so we have been deepening our understanding of our faith in God. Questioning is such an important part of how we start to articulate what we believe and is something that we should all do throughout our lives to mature in our faith.

Quite often we say or sing things that have become so familiar to us, without stopping to think about what we are saying and what it means to us now or even whether we still believe it. I find that over the years there are certainly some hymns that I now struggle to sing because my understanding of the nature of God has changed. Whenever, we say the creed or are asked to affirm our faith in God, most of us will just say the words without thinking about what they mean for us today, so I challenge you to look at the words and to think about them and what they mean to you.

I found this week’s readings a challenge as they raised questions for me about what God was saying through them. What struck me was the questioning both in Job and in Luke. In Luke it is obvious that the Sadducees were posing an ill thought-out question to Jesus as they tried to once again catch him out and challenge his authority. However, it did lead me to think about the importance of asking questions for us to have an open exploration of faith. It was certainly questions about Job’s faith, or lack of it, that lead him to respond with the verses in today’s reading – he unequivocally believes that God hasn’t abandoned him. Just as Job lived his life faithfully before God, we also strive to do the same, but we recognise that it’s not always easy and there will be challenges but we try to be as faithful as we can to God. We know that we too will face questions about what and why we believe; and there will be times when we have our own questions about faith and question God. Let us not be afraid of these questions but to see them as opportunities to grow.

On Sunday at the confirmation service there will be a number of questions both for us as the congregation and for the candidates themselves. Some of these questions will be in the form of promises which the candidates will be asked to make once they’ve been confirmed. It seems appropriate for each of us to think about these promises and what they mean to us as we continue our own journey of faith. The questions are:

Will you commit yourself to the Christian life through words, actions and worship?
Will you seek forgiveness frequently, and forgive others as you yourself are forgiven?
Will you, wherever you can, stand up for love, justice and peace?
Will you be open with others about your faith, and its meaning?

As you reflect on these questions for yourself, what they mean and how they affect your daily life you might want to use the response that the candidates give:

With God’s help, I will.

As we live out our lives of faith we can only do this with the help of God and it is with God that we deepen our faith through the asking and answering of questions.

Please hold Alex, Gabriel, Jacob, Stephen and all who are to be confirmed on Sunday in your prayers as they make this commitment of faith.

Generous God, 
touch us again with the fire of your Spirit,
and renew us by your grace,
that we may profess the one true faith and live in love and unity. Amen.
(Taken from the confirmation service)

Mike Morris