Confirmation – continuing the journey
On Sunday 10th October several members of St Deiniol’s Church were confirmed along with some other members of our Mission Area by Bishop Gregory, Bishop of St Asaph, in a service at Emmanuel Church, Bistre.
Bistre Parish Church, Buckley 
Bishop Gregory with Beryl, Tony, Zak, Hannah and Eadie.
What does it mean to be confirmed and why do we do it?
Confirmation is a sacrament – an outward sign or ritual revealing an inner spiritual grace. All those coming for confirmation will already be baptised (or need to be baptised before being confirmed) but unlike baptism which one’s local priest usually conducts, only a bishop can confirm someone. He will lay his hands on the candidates and anoint them with oil.
At one time it was the practice that those who had been baptised could not take communion until they were confirmed. This usually happened, as in my own case, during someone’s teenage years. Now, however, anyone who is baptised can receive communion in the Church in Wales and therefore there is not the same pressure to be confirmed as there once was.
But confirmation is important. Many of us were baptised as infants. Confirmation allows us to affirm the promises which were made on our behalf by parents and godparents when we were infants. Confirmation is a strengthening and deepening of our relationship with God.
When the bishop lays his or her hands on a person at confirmation and says the words “God has called you by name and made you his own. Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit” we believe that the gift of the Holy Spirit comes down upon that person.
These verses from the Acts of the Apostles seem to describe confirmation telling how some who came to faith in Samaria had been baptised but received the Holy Spirit when Peter and James laid their hands upon them.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)
Confirmation is an important stage on our life journeys as disciples of Christ. Through Confirmation, our personal relationship with Christ is strengthened, we are called to be witnesses to Christ in the world and to deepen our relationship with him through prayer, worship and service.
Please pray for our candidates Beryl, Tony, Zak, Hannah and Eadie.
Revd Andrea
2.10.21