Parish of Llandudno North Wales, Rector's letter June 2008

July 2009

Do you remember your Confirmation? I can remember very little about mine! I was Confirmed in 1964, at the age of 12, in the suburban north London parish church where I sung as a choirboy. The bishop was a rather elderly man, presumably a retired Bishop helping out rather than one of the serving bishops of the diocese of London at the time. I can’t remember anything else about the service at all.

What I do remember vividly is taking the whole thing very seriously indeed and feeling that I really had received a gift from God. For several days I remember being on a kind of spiritual ‘high’ and feeling rather holy. Inevitably the feeling wore off somewhat when the reality of ordinary daily life set in again! But looking back at my Confirmation, what was really important was not what I had felt at the time, but the reality of the strengthening in the Holy Spirit, which was the inward gift I had received in the sacrament, something which would always be a part of my life, and a gift that would always be there to be used.

This month Bishop Andrew comes to Holy Trinity church to Confirm five candidates from our parish. I hope that they will all experience the warmth of the Holy Spirit as I did at my Confirmation 45 years ago. But, much more importantly, I trust that however they happen to feel at the time of their Confirmation, that they really will appreciate the inner reality of what has happened to them. When the Bishop lays his hands on the head of a candidate for Confirmation we believe that the Spirit of God, first given to them at Baptism, is renewed or stirred up for the living of a committed Christian life as a member of the Church of God. The word ‘confirmed’ means ‘to be made strong’ and we certainly need spiritual strength to live a real Christian life in our world. It can be hard enough anyway, but without the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit it would be impossible.

There are many reasons for coming to the Confirmation service on Sunday July 5th apart from the normal commitment to be present at Sunday worship in any case. We need to be there to greet our Bishop – to be present when our father in God visits our parish; we should be present support the candidates as they make this life-commitment to Christ and begin their lives as communicant members of the Church; and in being present at a Confirmation once again we have the opportunity to think about what our own Confirmation means to us. It doesn’t really matter what we actually remember (or like me have forgotten) about our Confirmation day because what we received then is a continuing of the spirit within us to enable us to go on living as faithful servants of Christ. So when we have the opportunity to attend a Confirmation service we can renew our own commitment and ask God to stir up within us once again the sevenfold gift of the spirit to strengthen our lives in Christ.

Meanwhile, please pray for Barbara, Jasmine, Joyce, Melissa, and Tryphena, as they prepare for their special day on Sunday July 5th.

Fr John

top of page

Previous letters: