Confirmation of Clayton Meyermann
St. John 14:23–31
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We are our memories. It’s what’s important to us, what sticks with us, the stories we tell that shape us—it’s where we find our identity. Last Sunday, I spoke about the importance of memory, especially a Christian memory, a memory full of Jesus’ words. And we learned how that memory is especially important for us in difficult circumstances. This Christian memory makes us into Christian people, shaping us and filling us up with Jesus so that we become new people that can share His cross and receive His glory.
But this Sunday, the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent from the Father and the Son to the Church on earth—this day tells us how we get this Christian memory, and Who gives it. Jesus said, The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
So, the Holy Spirit is a Teacher. But He doesn’t teach new things. He brings Jesus’ words to our remembrance. He teaches God’s Word to God’s people, not so that they can get what they need for the moment and then move on and leave it behind. He doesn’t teach so that we can get enough information to pass the test and then forget about what we learned. He doesn’t really even teach so that it’s useful to us, as if it was just some means to an end. He teaches so that we would remember Jesus and His words, so that our memories would be full of His Words, so that His Words would live in us and shape us and give us our identity. The Holy Spirit teaches so that we would remember who we really are: sinners redeemed by the blood of Jesus, people filled with God’s holiness, beloved children.
Now, if the Holy Spirit is a teacher, we are His learners. None of us have perfect memories, but each according to our ability we can make the effort. And there are ways to improve memory, including this Christian memory. The more you know, the more you can know. You’re better at thinking if you have stuff in your mind to think about. And once you have something in there, it becomes easier and easier to add to it.
Thoughts work like people at a party. What’s the first thing you do you when you go to party? You look around to see if you know anyone. And if you don’t know anyone, you’ll probably want to leave. It’s the same with facts, ideas, thoughts. They come into your mind and look around to see if they have any friends. Are there any other thoughts in there that seem to match up or connect with the new one? It’s always easier to keep or remember an idea when it knows where it’s supposed to fit, how it links up with its friends.
So the more you remember the more you can remember. Memory grows by news ideas building on the old ones, or filling in the gaps, making connections, building bridges between different ideas. Memory is like a puzzle, each idea is a different piece, so as you get more pieces that fit together you get to see more and more of the big picture. And it all starts to make more and more sense.
And Clayton, this is the real reason you did memory work. So that you can remember Jesus’ words, so that all of His words start to fit together for you. Your Catechism gave you a framework, the basic parts to get started. So now, when you hear Jesus’ words they have some friends to latch onto already in your mind and heart. See, you did not learn your Catechism so that you could pass a test and leave it all behind. You did not learn it so that you could move on to some greater knowledge or do something more impressive with your faith. Learning and remembering God’s Word is not just for catechumens. All of us are only a Christian so long as we learn and remember the Christian faith. We are our memories.
And if we are our memories, then communities also have a memory. Your family has a memory: the stories you tell and retell, the things you pass on from generation to generation, the name you share—it all tells you who you are. It’s the same with this community here. So, Clayton, the other reason you did your memory work and learned your Catechism was so that you can share in the memory of this community, the Christian Church. You are a part of the community created by the Holy Spirit—the community of saints. So this community that we call the one holy Christian and apostolic Church has the shared memory given by the Holy Spirit. You learn your Catechism so that you have the same memory as the rest of the Church: the stories we tell, the Name we share—it all tells you who you are now in this family of God.
And this community, in its memory and in its life, holds the Lord’s holy gifts in common. The Book of Acts tells us what the Christian Church held in common following Pentecost: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching—that is the doctrine; and the fellowship—that is the unity of all who hold that doctrine; to the breaking of the bread—that is the Lord’s Supper; and the prayers—that is the service of the Church (Acts 2:42). That’s what we are devoted to as well. In the Holy Spirit’s community, we share the Lord’s Word, we share His Baptism, we share His Supper. And now, Clayton, you have been given a greater part, a fuller part in that shared, communal life.
We are our memory. It’s how we live. Our memory is the kitchen pantry—it’s what we feed on. It’s how we grow. Our memory is the seed that grows and unfolds itself in our lives. So, for you, dear Christians, the Holy Spirit fills your mind and heart with the memory of Jesus’ words. And He causes your memory to live on and grow from the holy food God gives.
Speaking of food and memory, have our Lord’s Words of Institution crossed your mind? Jesus said that when we have this Holy Supper: Do this, in remembrance of Me. So these words of Jesus, given to us by the Holy Spirit, along with our Savior’s true body and blood, are to fill our minds and hearts—fill us with the memory of what our Savior did for us in His death and resurrection, and fill us with the memory of what our Savior does for us in the forgiveness of our sins.
But there is another way to take these words from Jesus. Not only, Do this, in remembrance of Me, but also, Do this, for My remembrance of you. So when you have the Lord’s Supper—when you hear His words and eat His body and drink His blood—not only do you remember Jesus, but Jesus remembers you. He thinks of you with love and mercy and blessing. And there He gives it all to you.
Peace I leave with you; Jesus says, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Some parts inspired by Andrew Kern’s podcast episodes on Catechizing Children (2019)
1 Peter 4:7–14
St. John 15:26–16:4
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
To say that memory is important is quite an understatement. I don’t think it’s really going too far to say that memory is who we are. How do you think about yourself? How do you describe yourself? You think about your past, you tell of all your accumulated knowledge and experience.
This is why it’s so painful when elderly loved ones lose their memory. They begin to lose themselves. We still know who they are because we can remember who they were. But tragically, they aren’t that same person in the present because they don’t fully remember that person.
Memory is also how we show honor to others, to our family, to our community. Our memories keep the past alive in the present. Our memories preserve ceremonies and events so that they become traditions which shape our present and future. Our nation’s Memorial Day is a fine example of this. But so are the memories we bring out each year at Christmas or at the anniversary of a loved one’s death.
On the other hand, our memory can lie. We can misremember. Sometimes that’s due to a disease like Alzheimer’s, or simply the deterioration of the mind and body in old age. Other times, without realizing it, we misremember on purpose in order to preserve a better image of ourselves or someone else. That’s due to our sinful mind which does not want to remember the truth.
Honest, humble memory can be a good gift. But memory can also be a great tool in the art of self-deception. Either way, memory is incredibly important and incredibly powerful, and there are times when we desperately need it. In the case of today’s Gospel, Jesus says we will need to remember His words when we face the world’s hostility and persecution.
Jesus said, When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. The Holy Spirit’s job is to bear witness about Jesus, talk about who Jesus is, tell us about what Jesus did and does. This is why the Holy Spirit is the primary author of the Scriptures, which reveal God to us. This is also why the primary job of the Holy Scriptures is to show and give us Christ our Savior, because that’s what the Holy Author does. This is also why it sometimes appears as if the Holy Spirit gets forgotten or ignored. It may seem like we talk a lot about the Father and the Son but then don’t give the Holy Spirit His due.
But here’s the thing, we’re just talking the way the Bible talks. Go through the Bible and you’ll see that the Father and the Son get a lot more page time than the Spirit. But this doesn’t mean the Spirit is less important than the other two. It’s as it should be. The Spirit is the Author and His job is not to talk about Himself. He does not promote or praise His own work. His job is to talk about the love of the Father and the work of the Son. The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, sent by the Son, bears witness about Jesus.
And so actually, every time we talk about Jesus or His words we are talking about the Holy Spirit. Every time we talk about the Bible and its message we are giving the Holy Spirit His due as He would want it, not focusing our attention on Him, but focusing on Jesus. As we talk God’s Word, the Holy Spirit is there, in the Word, doing His work, bearing witness about Jesus.
Now after Jesus tells us about the Spirit’s witness, He also says that the apostles will bear witness. They are the eyewitnesses who learned firsthand from Jesus, saw His miraculous deeds, and witnessed His death and resurrection. And the Holy Spirit worked through them to make Jesus known to all people.
You, dear Christians, are not witnesses in the same way the apostles were. You are not eyewitnesses. The only way you know about Jesus is through what you have heard from the writings of the Spirit and the apostles—the Bible. So you are witnesses of Jesus in a derived way. You bear witness about Jesus so long as you believe and repeat the witness of the Scriptures.
And when the apostles witnessed and when you witness the world reacts. Jesus said, They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. Those who do not believe in Jesus, who do not know the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, they will not react kindly to those who do believe and know this God. There is only one true God, so everyone who does not acknowledge Him is automatically in active rebellion against Him, and so automatically in hatred towards everyone who bears witness about Him.
When the world reacts with violence, when the Church is reviled, when God’s Word is mocked, when Christians are mistreated, or ignored, or killed, that’s when we need our Christian memory—when we need to remember Jesus’ words. Jesus said, I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
So, we might ask, how do we remember? How do we make sure that when the time comes we can remember? First, we must give our attention to it. In order to remember anything, you must attend to the thing, give your focus to it. In the case of Christian memory, this means listening, learning carefully the words of Jesus. Listening to the sermon or reading your Bible closely so that the thought is not gone five minutes later. This doesn’t mean you’ll retain every point every time, but we are required to pay attention.
Then the second thing to do in order to remember something is to tell it ourselves, say it back again, repeat it. This is why we tell and retell stories. This is why, when kids learn a joke, they repeat it again and again. This is why we confess creeds. We are repeating, retelling, confessing what Jesus has said, so that we remember it, so that it sinks into our heart and mind and becomes part of us, or rather, so that we become part of it. We are our memories. And the more our memories are full of Jesus, the more we are full of Jesus.
And then, here’s especially what we want to remember when we suffer for the faith. God appointed Christ’s cross for Him. As we’ll hear St. Peter explain next Sunday on Pentecost: Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23). The cross of Jesus was in His control, it was God’s doing for our eternal salvation. When God’s good will was turned away from the Son and He suffered the pains of hell, that was all according to God’s plan and it was all for us.
The reason we want to remember this is because if God appointed the cross for Christ, then God appoints crosses for His Christians too. So, it’s His doing and it’s all under His control for our good. As we heard St. Peter in His Epistle today: Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you (1 Peter 4:13–14). So you are witnesses with the Spirit, which means you share Christ’s cross, but which also means you will share His glory.
I know it’s terribly disappointing when the world rejects Christ’s saving message.
It’s painful when loved ones and friends are against God’s Word. But don’t be discouraged, God will sort it all out. He knows His own and He won’t lose them. Don’t be afraid, Jesus and His Church can’t be defeated.
Remember Jesus’ words. Listen carefully to the witness of the Spirit and the apostles. Then say it back, tell the story, confess the creed. Keeping these words in our memories gives us hope and life. Because in remembering these words, we are not remembering a lost loved one, or a fallen hero, or a dead Christ. We remember the risen Christ who is actually still present with us. The Spirit of Truth bears witness about Christ who is the Truth. So, the Spirit of Truth brings Christ Himself, risen from the dead and ascended in glory, to you. He is present, not only in our memories, but in His very person—in His words, in His body and blood.
And as you hear and think on these things, the Holy Spirit is renewing your memory so that by faith you can hold onto the promises of God and make them yours. Just as when someone loses their memory they become a different person, so also, by retaining Christ in your new Christian memory, as you remember His words, you are made into a new person. You are made into someone who shares the mind of Christ, so that you think like Jesus and remember His promises while bearing your cross.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies your memory, makes it holy (that means, makes it like God). And just as your earthly memories influence your present and future life, so also, by holding Christ in your mind and heart, the Holy Spirit shapes your present and future, and in confident hope you look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Acts 1:1–11
Mark 16:14–20
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The resurrection of Jesus did not cancel out His crucifixion. It’s not as if Easter solves the problem of Good Friday. Good Friday was not a problem. Both days are the solution—the good and gracious answer from God for us. The only Christ is the Crucified One, the Living One, and the Ascended One.
It makes sense that we think of the Ascension closely connected to the crucifixion and resurrection—they all happened close together. But the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord is also a Feast of the Incarnation. Our God is a man. His name is Immanuel—God with us. And this is just as true on Ascension Day as it is on Christmas Day.
He is the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of the Father, eternally and truly God with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And He is also a man, a real, regular man descended from Adam by way of Abraham, by way of David, by way of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our God has a human body and a rational soul. He’s got genetics, a mind, a will, emotions, reason, shins so real they would bruise if you kicked them. He’s like us. Yet without sin.
That shoots down one of our favorite excuses for sin, doesn’t it? You’ll often hear people say, “I’m only human.” No. You’re only a sinner! Christ is human, and yet He is not a sinner. Being human does not mean you’re off the hook for your sin. God created humans, and the Son of God even made that creation part of Himself. God’s human creation is good. But we are evil.
We’re not only human—we’re much worse than that. Sinners are enemies with God. We have not loved God with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. And this includes even our private sins that nobody else knows about. All our sins are a corruption of our humanity—a twisting and deforming of who God created us to be. And so every sin, even our secret sin, is an open rebellion against God our Creator.
We have no excuse for our sin. Stop trying to find one. It’s okay. Confess it. Get rid of it. Let God take care of it. The Son of God became human as humans are meant to be. And then He shed His blood and His body was laid in a grave, to save humans from their own self–inflicted evil; to forgive sinners; to justify them—to make them righteous; to make peace between God and His enemies; to make them truly humans like Him—good, holy, living forever.
By His death you can live with Him. By His resurrection you have peace with Him. And this then is finally why the Son of God became incarnate: to be one of us—to dwell with us. And so often we think, wouldn’t it have been wonderful to be with Jesus during His earthly life? We could have been so close to Him, kneeling by His manger or hearing Him preach, or staying with Him in Gethsemane, or sitting with the disciples when He appeared to them risen from the dead. How wonderful that would have been. But we are far away from all that. We are separated from those great events by some 6000 miles and some 2000 years. It might seem like a bit of a problem.
But now we come to the good news of the Ascension. The Savior, our true brother in the flesh, sits at the right hand of God and has opened heaven to all humanity! Just as the resurrection did not cancel out or solve the “problem” of the crucifixion, so neither did the ascension cancel out or solve the “problem” of the incarnation. Our God is still a Man. Jesus still has His body and soul, mind and will. And this Man who is God, holds all authority and receives all glory. As a Man, our Man, He rules the world. As a true Man, one like us, He is present everywhere, with us. Because this Man is at the right hand of God. And the right hand of God is not a place, but it means that He wields all of His divine power and authority for your good, for the good of His Church. The Crucified, Living, and Ascended One still has nail marks in His almighty hands, so you know He still loves you and forgives you.
Men of Iowa, why do you stand looking into heaven? Because your Lord has gone there? Yes. He has. But there is more. During His earthly days He walked among us, and yet He was further from us than He is now. We do not see Him with our regular eyes, but He is closer to us than physical sight. Now you behold Him by faith and you see just how close He is.
He promised to be with you always. But even more than that! Christians don’t just have a sense of God or a feeling that Jesus is nearby. The Divine Man, Christ Jesus, who hung on Calvary’s cross and stepped out of the grave, is close to you. He is as close as hands raised in blessing and even placed on your head. He is as close as Words ringing in your ears. He is as close as Body and Blood on your lips.
Why do you stand looking into heaven? Look here, at His altar. Taste, see, and know: He is with you, and you are with Him, now and forever.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
