All Saints' Day

Liturgically, today was the one year anniversary of my confirmation in the Episcopal Church. It is handy when anniversaries fall on easily remembered days, such as feast days. All Saints' Day is meant to celebrate those who have acheived the beatific vision, and appropriately the liturgy for today contains probably one of the most famous speeches of Jesus, the Beatitudes.

1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

One could do much worse for a mission in life than trying to live out these precepts. Since I was confirmed on this day, the verses leave that much more of an impression upon me.

My day of confirmation was interesting for a few reasons. First, my parents had not been to an Episcopal Church before. I had been attending the church for about nine months being nurished and caught up in the liturgy. The invitation had always been extended for my parents to come see what it was like. Barry had come with me once and started a "WTF!?" list, on which he wrote down questions about what was going on. But this was their first time to visit.

The day started with a meeting with the bishop for all that were being confirmed and their family as well as the children that were being baptized and their family; 10 confirmands and 2 babies for baptism in all. We went around the room doing introductions; the confirmands, if they were new to the church, were asked by the bishop what they remembered of their baptism and seemed interested that I had been baptized by full immersion. The question seems to me now to come from the trend that many come from other traditions into the Episcopal church. He was also impressing upon us the seriousness of the obligation we were undertaking. My mother was uncomfortable in the session, something that wasn't helped when the bishop asked who in the room had been baptized in a creek ("crik"). My mother was the only one. There was some discomfort at this point, my mother had put herself out there as being from a congregation that some Episcopalians looked down upon as "primitive." I've never heard this thought uttered and it wasn't said that day; the heirarchy in denominations is still alive and well in some people's minds though. The bishop was quick to validate her experience although I'm not certain that she remembers it that way. The lesson I took from the bishop was the ideal of the unity of the body of Christ through baptism.

What normally happens at confirmation is this: the confirmand is called forward by the bishop, who kneels before the bishop. He puts his hands on the confirmand and asks Gods blessing. At this point, people who the confirmand wants to "stand with" him or her come forward and put their hands on the confirmand as a sign of community. I had asked my parents to stand with me; my Dad agreed and my Mom demurred. So, when I felt more than two sets of hands on me (my eyes were closed) I almost lost it. The beauty of the liturgy and the meaning that some of the smallest thing convey had me on the verge of tears for most of the service.

November 4th, 2007 is a day I will not forget.

May God, who has given us, in the lives of God's saints, patterns of holy living and victorious dying, strengthen your faith and devotion, and enable you to bear witness to the truth against all adversity. Amen.