I finished my weekend exhibiting a strong tendency toward confirmation bias — the good kind. I was the Holy Spirit’s partner as 26 in two counties, at St. John’s Cathedral in Los Angeles and All Saints Episcopal Church in Riverside, were confirmed or received or reaffirmed their baptismal vows.
As usual, I did my best to talk the candidates out of it. The church is losing influence in our secularizing times. People are out for themselves. Politics rewards not kindness but cruelty. It’s not logical to pledge all that we have, and all that we are, to glorify God and care for God’s people in a life of sacrifice and risk-taking for the sake of others.
I also took the opportunity to unpack some of the concepts in the weekend’s scripture readings, such as the covenant, biblical (as opposed to contemporary) Israel, a road to Damascus experience, the Lamb, and the Cross. Heavy stuff — but not one candidate backed out, because they’d already been well prepared by the Very Rev. Anne Sawyer and the Rev. Canon Kelli Grace Kurtz and their colleagues at St. John’s and All Saints. We can be proud indeed of these fully vested Christians, now heading out to make disciples of the whole world.
Saturday morning at St. John’s was the annual diocesan confirmation service, designed for those who don’t want to wait until a bishop visits their mission or parish. Dean Sawyer organized the service beautifully, grouping the eight candidates from six congregations at the altar rail surrounded by their sponsors, family members, and friends, comprising almost the whole congregation. The associate rector, the Rev. Mel Soriano, was my chaplain, Heyden Santiago the minister of ceremonies. An exquisite reception followed.
At packed All Saints on Sunday morning, Canon Kurtz assembled a wonderful liturgy whose constituent parts moved as smoothly as ballet, beginning with prayers for an end to violence and war and for the care of children. Jim Boyer was my chaplain. The Rev. Canon John Saville assisted. Reaffirming her baptismal vows was Janet Belliss Nichols, back at church regularly since our celebration of life in January for her father, the Rev. Canon Dick Belliss.
The 18 candidates and I had plenty of time before church to discuss the vast capacity of Christian discipleship to help heal a spiritually constricted world. Two making their way from the Roman Catholic Church especially savored how The Episcopal Church, at its best, twins sacramental mystery with justice and equity.
This was an official visitation, so All Saints had planned a full day, including a delicious lunch and tour of the humming, gleaming campus, with a stop at the kitchen with its new electric appliances, the installation site for solar panels, and a terraced garden being reclaimed from the grass and weeds so the parish can grow fruits and vegetables for neighbors in need. After a spirited conversation with the vestry, the saints of All Saints sent me off with a thoughtful goodbye gift (it might have been this retiring bishop’s last visit) and my second little Jesus.
