ROUGHLY EDITED COPY LUTHERAN PASTORAL THEOLOGY & PRACTICE LPTP-22 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. P.O. Box 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 800-825-5234 www.captionfirst.com *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *** >> NICK: You know, some of the folks out here in Los Angeles have never heard of confirmation. What can you tell me about the importance of it? Is it just for kids, or should adults be confirmed too? >> PROF. SENKBEIL: Great question, Nick. You know, the reality is that confirmation is a church rite, as Dr.�Warneck has already informed you. It's really not prescribed by God in His word. And so there's a certain element of freedom when it comes to how it is that church practices this. We would plead, both of us, that there be uniformity of kind of a conformity to standard practice throughout our synod. That's important to pay attention to what other churches in your area are doing regarding the confirmation of adults. Above all, we want to remind ourselves what really is its nature? Because that really stresses its importance. And, as Dr.�Warneck has already remarked, the importance of confirmation is really its function. It's not in and of itself that there's a particular blessing bestowed other than the blessing that might be given to any individual at any given time in their life and, indeed, the blessing which is bestowed at the end of our services of public worship. So we ask the question then what is the function of this rite of confirmation? It might be useful to reflect just reflect just a minute on ritual in general. A lot of people are unfamiliar with the function of ritual. In fact, it's customary, I think, for most people, when they hear the word "ritual" to attribute the adjective "dead" to that word. "Dead ritual." In other words, kind of meaningless activities that really have no application but they're just something that you simply go through the motions. People who take seriously questions of sociology of how people interact find that it's really not that case at all. We have certain elements of domestic rituals, for example, patriotic rituals. When the national anthem is played, the people stand in order to show respect for our country. They join together in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. These approaches, these external rituals, are part a of what defines us as citizens in the country we live in. They tend to bind people together. They tend to mark important moments in the life of any people. So there would be good and laudable reasons then to introduce or to maintain the practice of confirmation amongst adults as well as children. In the case of the children, it indicates a moment in their life when they're admitted to the Lord's table after a period of instruction in their baptismal faith. Now, in the case of adults, when they come as nonbelievers and by the grace of God working through His word by the power of His spirit are brought to the faith, they're then baptized. That very baptism, which normally takes place in the presence of the congregation would take the place of confirmation. It would indeed be in itself, since they're now adults fully instructed in all the articles of Christian faith and now prepared to examine themselves in preparation to receive the Lord's Supper, are now admitted to the Lord's table by that baptism into the faith. In the case of those who have been previously baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in a church or communion which confesses the Holy Trinity, we would not rebaptize them, of course, but we may certainly in good order confirm them publicly. And, there again, you have to be sensitive to the needs of the individuals that are involved. If they're particularly shy, it might be possible to receive them into membership in a smaller kind of environment say with the elders or church council. But ordinarily it might be a very good practice to receive them as a group after their period of instruction into full membership by the rite of adult confirmation, remembering, of course, it's not the rite that bestows any particular blessing. But it is an opportunity to publicly confess the faith which was given to them when they were baptized which they've been instructed in now, according to the chief parts of Christian doctrine, which they themselves then joyfully confess before the assembled congregation. And then we publicly corporately welcome them into our fellowship. It becomes a very wonderful avenue then of building and maintaining this Christian unity in the congregation. So the answer to your question directly would be that depends upon the circumstances of the individuals, giving good counsel and emphasis toward the encouragement of adult confirmation while we wouldn't strictly insist that it must be in every case be a part of their own life in your congregation. *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ***