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Easter and the Sacrament of Confirmation
by Emil Bock
It is of special importance for the life of our Christian Community that in the renewed sacraments the festival of Confirmation is bound up with the Easter festival, the greatest season of Christian rejoicing. Just when the picture of the risen Christ, whose nearness gives power to the sacrament at all times, is presented to us in greatest radiance, the congregation steps back from the altar, as it were, and gives place to the young people who receive the sacrament of Confirmation taking bread and wine for the first time.
Not only the beauty and power but also the mystery of Confirmation unfolds when the sacrament is celebrated not in front of the black Lenten altar, but before the radiant, joyous color of Easter, and when at the same time it becomes a festival of transition from childhood to youth. Then the spring which is fulfilled in nature outside meets the inner spring tide which the young people not only represent in the congregation, but which is actually taking place once and for all in their souls. And the Easter light of Christ’s resurrection transfigures this springtide of soul as also the outer springtide in nature.
The miracle of youth, which nature bestows upon human beings as they leave childhood behind, consists in a new, hidden birth. Two seven-year cycles after the birth of the outer, physical man, the inner soul-man is born. The inner human being, who is still tender, like an opening bud, but who is now entering on the miracle of his original being, his “status nascendi,” is the recipient of confirmation, or “re-enforcement” and “empowering” through the power of the risen Christ. What the spring sun outside means for the opening cup-like blossom of the flowers, the Easter light of the spiritual sun means for the opening blossom of the souls of the children reaching upward toward youth. Quietly but significantly the secret of the cup is indicated in the presence of the chalice on the altar throughout the sacrament of Confirmation; and when that sacrament has been celebrated, the Act of Consecration begins. It is the first sacrament in which those who have been confirmed take part as having “come of age” in the religious sense. Now the cup, hitherto silent and covered, is at last unveiled, and from it those who have been confirmed receive communion.
Celebrated in the glory of Easter, the sacrament of Confirmation reveals itself in its real character as a gift of joy. Thus no vow or confession of faith is demanded of those who receive it. The sphere of Christian truth and power wafts like a new heaven over the young people to whom at the same time the strength is given to grow into this sphere.
On Confirmation Sunday only the confirmands receive communion in the form of bread and wine. It might seem as if something were taken away from the congregation by this giving space to the young people, and coming in a certain way as guests before the altar. But in reality the whole congregation is blessed by a reflection of the wonder of Christened youth.
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