This Sunday, we find ourselves in the joy-filled celebration of Pentecost—the day the Church was born in wind and fire, when the Holy Spirit moved boldly among Jesus’ followers and sent them out into the world with courage and purpose.
It’s a fitting and powerful day to also celebrate Confirmation—when young people in our community celebrate a period of discernment and study. Some of them choose to say yes to a faith that has been growing in them, often with the quiet guidance of parents, mentors, and the church family who have walked alongside them. Sometimes the young people chose to say so or not yet. I love that our church is serious about providing space for questions, wonderings, and not being sure. On Pentecost, we remember that the Spirit fills the Church. And on Confirmation Sunday, we witness that the Church is still growing, still alive, still receiving the Spirit and still inviting wonderings, questions, and growth.
For the disciples in that upper room, Pentecost wasn’t about certainty—it was about openness. They didn’t have all the answers, but they were willing to be led. In the same way, our congregation is not claiming to have everything figured out. What we are saying in celebration this day is that we are open to God’s spirit. Sometimes that means joining, sometimes it means waiting, sometimes it means another journey all together. That is something worth celebrating.
Confirmation isn’t a graduation—it’s a beginning. It’s a deep breath at the start of a lifelong journey. And just like that first Pentecost, it’s the Spirit who leads the way. The same Spirit who empowered the early church now breathes life into each of us—young and old, questioning and certain, weary and hopeful.
So this Sunday, as we see flames on banners and red in the sanctuary, as we pray over our confirmands and remember our own baptisms, let us give thanks for a Church that is always being renewed. The Spirit is still moving. The Church is still growing. And God is still calling people—maybe even you—to say yes all over again.
-Eilidh
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