A joyful confirmation service welcomes 40 among us

more than 40 people from nine congregations were received or confirmed last week

My usual Sunday visits often include the service of Confirmation. I particularly enjoy the opportunity to meet with folks before the service and to talk with them about their journey in faith.

I’m also open to regional services of Confirmation. It’s always fun when people come together from several churches, and we get a sense of being part of something larger than our home congregation.

The greater Portland congregations had been planning a joint service for some time, and as the time approached, the service began to grow as churches from around the diocese joined in. On Sunday, May 1, nine churches of the Diocese, including St. John’s, Bangor and St. Mark’s, Waterville, convened for a joyful service. Some 40 persons, both youth and adults, confirmed the vows of their baptism or were received into the Episcopal Church. Although there wasn’t an opportunity for in-depth conversation, the large gathering had other joys – wonderful music, a wide variety of participants, the joy of hearing all those names as the clergy presented each person.

I’m very grateful for the energy that went into preparing for the shared service. My special thanks go to Dean Ben Shambaugh, David Savage and the Verger Corps, Cathedral Musician Albert Melton, the Altar Guild, Celine Baker (St. Ann’s, Windham) and Madeline Roberts (Cathedral), who read, and all the clergy of the several congregations who prepared the confirmands and took part in the service. It was a memorable celebration.

Bishop Steve

With Thomas we are challenged to change

From Bishop Steve’s sermon at the Portland-area regional confirmation service at the Cathedral of St. Luke on Sunday, May 1.

“I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’m just not sure… you know, about God… about God and Jesus and the Resurrection and all that. What I want, what I fervently desire, is for the Resurrection to be real – very real. And for it to make a difference. I don’t want my faith to be an intellectual construct or a spiritual fantasy. I want faith to be so real that the world must be changed…”

Read it all.

Beyond Sundays

“Round Maine with Bishop Lane” began in the fall of 2008 as a reflection on my Sunday travels. One of my hopes was that it would help us get to know one another better and that we would learn a little about what’s happening around the diocese.

Over time the purpose of the blog has expanded a bit. It now includes occasional sermons and other writings – opportunities for you to read what I think as well as see where I go. And I’ve begun to think that the Sunday-only focus leaves out other occasions of importance in the diocese.

Bishop Steve with confirmands and sponsors at St. Mark's, Waterville

So today I want to share a regional confirmation that took place on Thursday, May 16. There have a been a couple of regional confirmations this past year, and they help in two ways: first they bring together a large group of folks for a very festive service, and they make it possible for people to be presented for confirmation whose process of preparation doesn’t fit with a Sunday visit.

Candidates from St. Michael’s, Auburn, and St. Mark’s, Waterville, joined late Thursday afternoon for a brief time of rehearsal and conversation at St. Mark’s. The service followed immediately at 6 p.m. Steve Foote, interim rector at St. Mark’s, and Jim Lowe, interim rector at St. Michael’s, presented the candidates for baptism, confirmation and reception. The service included a grand procession to the font while we sang Thuma Mina a capella. There were better than a dozen candidates, and the choir of St. Mark’s led our singing and offered a fine anthem. Following the service, members of the two congregations shared a brief reception. Comments from the happy folk at the reception made it clear that this joint service was a meaningful and enjoyable event.

Regional confirmation is an alternative to Sunday confirmation that I’m happy to consider. While visitations are scheduled as much as two years in advance, special gatherings can be scheduled in a much shorter time frame. I know of at least one regional confirmation already scheduled for 2011. Please let me know if such an event is of interest to you.

Bishop Steve