Lutherans don’t consider confirmation a sacrament as some do. While confirmation isn’t a sacrament in its own right, it does have a deeply sacramental nature. Think of it as the continuation, or part two, of the sacrament of baptism—a journey that begins at the font and matures in the Spirit. In baptism, we are initiated into the Christian life. It marks our entry into the community of faith, cleanses us from sin, and, importantly, we receive the Holy Spirit. This initial outpouring of the Spirit sets the stage for our lifelong journey as disciples of Jesus. Confirmation, then, isn’t a separate sacrament but a deepening of the gift of baptism. You might say that in baptism, the the seed of faith is planted, and confirmation nurtures and strengthens that seed, allowing it to blossom and flourish. During confirmation, the Holy Spirit is called upon once again, intensifying her presence in our lives. This is a time when we are empowered to live out our relationship with God more fully and boldly. Both baptism and confirmation are integral to our spiritual formation, connected by the vital, indispensable role of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit moves within us, guiding, inspiring, and sustaining us all through life, not just our spirituality, but in every aspect of living. As we reflect today, I encourage you be open to the work of the Holy Spirit. How is she calling you to grow? To reconsider? To take on new ways of thing? To abandon old habits? Consider that as we go forward.
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
We know that Christmas and Easter are big events at church. These holidays undoubtedly bring many people to our church, those who we see from time to time, and even those with loose ties or even no ties. But there are other, equally important moments that bring infrequent folks and visitors to worship. I’m referring to baptisms, weddings, and funerals—occasions that some pastors jokingly refer to “hatch, match, and dispatch” services.
These are special times when people come to church seeking something meaningful, whether it’s the beginning of a new life, the union of two people, or the final farewell and literal Godspeed of a loved one or friend. While these special times are jokingly called “hatch, match, and dispatch” services, people who attend church solely for these occasions are also sometimes humorously called “four-wheel Christians,” since they arrive in a stroller, a wedding car, or a hearse. Of course, these labels are meant in good fun—we’re always happy whenever anyone comes to worship, whether it be weekly, at the high holidays like Christmas and Easter, or for the “hatch, match, and dispatch” worship services of baptisms, weddings, and funerals. At all of these, we encounter God and God encounters us.
We might want to be dismissive of “four-wheel Christians,” but “hatch, match, and dispatch” worship services—baptisms, weddings, and funerals—are powerful opportunities for us. They afford us an opportunity to extend the love and grace of Christ to each other and to those who might not otherwise set foot in a church. And I might add—we don’t have to see it as a moment to increase membership. If someone decides to join Emanuel because they come to one of the “hatch, match, and dispatch” services, great. But at the end of the day, what’s most important is that these are times where we can give an account for the hope that is within us, in our own house, and show the hospitality that God has shown us in Christ Jesus—like God, with no ulterior motive.
Briefly, let’s review each of these “hatch, match, and dispatch” occasions. By “hatch” we mean baptism, where new Christians are born. The font has long been likened to a woman’s womb, considered the womb of our second mother, the church. Through the waters of baptism, we are reborn to new life, united with Jesus in death and resurrection. With “match” we mean marriage. In marriage two individuals unite in love and commitment, reflecting the bond between Christ and us, us collectively in particular, the church. And with “dispatch” we mean funerals, the end of earthly life and the passage into the loving care of God. At funerals, the church provides comfort, support, and the hope of resurrection—not just for our own members, but also for those who come seeking faithful commendation to their maker for loved ones and friends.
But there are other “hatch, match, and dispatch” moments that arise—and they’re not occasions that are “just” for four-wheel Christians. No—if we step and look, there’re three pivotal moments in the life of even the most frequent, regularly worshipping Christian that could be called “hatch, match, and dispatch” moments. One we’ve already covered in the original trio: baptism. Baptism is, as we say time and time again, our second birth to newness of life with Jesus. Baptism is both our death and our resurrection with Jesus. We are united with him in death so that we, like him, might rise to newness of life. The early church, in particular in association with Mary Magdalene, used the image of an egg to explain the mystery of the resurrection. The egg symbolized the tomb. Within it, all the potential for new life is hidden, and it breaks forth when the chicken cracks open the shell, or hatches. Baptism is indeed a hatch moment.
The second important moment, the match moment, is when a Christian takes communion for the first time. Down through the ages, communion has been explained in many ways, but one thing it’s often to likened to, even in the Bible, is a marriage feast. Communion is a foretaste of the great marriage feast of the Lamb, a foretaste of heaven. In communion, God joins with us and we join with each other in a mystical union that cannot undone by anything on earth, anything in heaven, or anything under the earth. Put another way, in communion, God matches with us and we match with each other in ties that are as unbreakable as the bonds of marriage are meant to be. And so communion is rightly also looked at as a match moment for the most frequent, regularly worshipping Christian.
But on this day, we want to focus on the dispatch moment. And right now, I want to take a moment to talk to Elizabeth directly, but I want you all to eavesdrop. Because what I’m saying to her is also a good reminder for us all of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
The other moment, in addition to hatch and match, is dispatch. Today, Elizabeth, you make your confirmation. In confirmation, you take on the responsibilities of your own relationship with God. At your baptism, when you hatched out of the tomb into newness of life with Jesus, your parents made promises on your behalf. Today, you take on responsibility for those promises yourself—“to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through act and word, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” These are promises that everyone who’s baptized, and then later confirmed, take on.
We, of course, know that we don’t do these things of our own will or strength, but the Holy Spirit enlightens us with her gifts, gifts of wisdom, understanding, and counsel; of fortitude, discernment, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. And we pray for these seven gifts in your confirmation as well. With these, you are equipped, you are empowered, you are called to live a life as a disciple of Jesus. Confirmation too often becomes the last leg in the Christian journey for many, when in fact it’s really just a beginning. In fact, confirmation is a time recommitment to the mission we all share.
Your confirmation verse came up in today’s gospel, and it points to what living a life as a disciple of Jesus is about. “Peace be with you,” Jesus says. But he goes on to add, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” This is a commission—or perhaps, we might say, a dispatch. Jesus sends you, he dispatches you, he dispatches us all, filled, empowered, comforted, goaded by the Holy Spirit and her gifts, to do the work, or perhaps better put, to continue the work he was sent to do.
It’s no small order, but we know that we don’t do it alone. Know that you, Elizabeth, don’t do it alone. You have us—your Emanuel church family. And we’ll look to you to share in the work that we do. And I might add, we expect you to call us to account when we lose sight of the big picture, getting caught up worrying about things that Jesus didn’t die for. But more than that, you also have God’s very own self within in you—the Holy Spirit. You, like the rest of us, are dispatched by Jesus to do his work with your hands, with our hands, but we do it knowing, believing that the Holy Spirit accompanies us. And even when we fail to live up to the calling to which we’ve been called, we know, by witness of the cross, that God can work the miraculous from the most horrible of human messes. The same power, the same Spirit that raised Jesus to life again after his death on the cross is the same Spirit who fills you and is once again confirmed upon you today. She is the same Spirit who hatched you, who hatched each of us at baptism, who matched you, matched each of us at communion, and now who dispatches, who dispatches each of us, at confirmation—and every day after that.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for affording us an opportunity today to once again remember the love and grace that God in Christ Jesus extends to each of us, and to recommit ourselves, with you, to extending that same love and grace to each other and everyone we meet in our lives—just as Jesus has sent us, just as he dispatches us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev'd Daniel W. Spigelmyer, Jr. 