Three weeks ago, the Session of Trinity Presbyterian Church and I had a most enjoyable experience at our monthly Session meeting. I know this is hard to believe, Presbyterians having fun at a meeting - but we did! Indeed, we have a marvelous time at our Session meeting every May because that is the month when the Session has the privilege of engaging our confirmands in spiritual dialogue and approving them for active membership in the church. This wonderful encounter follows a similar pattern every year. Every year, Janet Chester introduces Kim and Mark Merritt and thanks them for their faithful ministry. Every year Kim reads a deeply moving reflection about the year that is coming to its completion - and I am convinced that Kim and Mark's success, in addition to their abiding faith and their incredible love which they share so freely, is that they have discovered the perfect proportion of Bible study and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! Every year the advocates introduce the confirmand that they have gotten to know over the past two years. Every year the confirmands read the statement of the faith that they have written in order to give voice to their collective faith. Every year the confirmands individually share their faith as they respond to questions about what they have learned and what they are excited about as they take this important step in their faith lives. And every year, without exception, at least one confirmand, in response to the question, "What are you looking forward to as an active member of the church?" says, "Getting to check the 'member' box on the Fellowship Pads!"

Well, after today, Jamie, Anna, Wyndham, and Branden, you will be able to put your check mark in a new column. For today you become active members of this congregation and we rejoice with you as you mark this important milestone on your spiritual journey. And today, I want to spend a little time talking with you about what it means to be a member of the church - not only this church, but the Church of Jesus Christ. Just what exactly are you getting yourselves into - beyond changing which column you can check in church on Sunday mornings? What does "joining the church" have to do with living your faith? I want to suggest to you this morning that your confirmation is not so much about you status as a member, but instead is more about the pattern of faith that will be lived out over the course of your lives.

Our two scriptures that were read by your classmates Ethan and Henry each give a direction to your faith. The second scripture from Matthew known as the Great Commission (we might even call it the Great Confirmation) begins with a verb and that verb is "Go." Go into your schools, go into your homes, go into your neighborhoods, go into the world. In some ways 'go' is a funny word to use when we are welcoming you into the church. As soon as you arrive, as soon as you get here, as soon as you can check on the 'member' box, Jesus is telling you to go. And going is one of the most important directions that a Christian can go. For Jesus does not simply hang out with us here, but he is in the world embracing all of creation with his unending love - and he invites us to go and meet up with him there and share in that ministry. Jesus was constantly on the move, constantly seeking out the lost sheep, constantly on the move, constantly feeding the hungry, constantly on the move, constantly healing the sick, constantly on the move, constantly raising the dead back to life. Therefore, if we want to be with Jesus then we must go - for that is where he is and that is what it means to be an active member of his body - to go.

But there is another verb, another direction that is equally important for Christians to follow, and it is a direction that you also commit to today as you profess your faith and begin this new leg of your faith journey. This other direction is to 'come' and it is captured in our first lesson from II Corinthians. Now the word "come" never appears in that passage, but that is what the passage is about. It is about Christian brothers and sisters gathering together so that they might live in peace and unity. It is about greeting one another, and being greeted. This is why I like the passing of the peace so much - for a brief moment in worship we enact Paul's instruction that we live in peace; and therefore we experience Gods love and peace in our midst; that we greet one another with a holy kiss and in turn, all the saints greet us. Pretty cool - in a few minutes on a Sunday morning, we live out a whole scripture passage! Paul instructs us to come to the body and dwell in the body so that we might greet others and be greeted, that we might be encouraged, that we might know God's love and peace, that we might grow in faith, that we might be equipped so that we might be sent again.

This, then, is the pattern of living that you are entering into today as active members of the church - a pattern where you go, go into the world to meet Jesus there so that other might know his love and his embrace, and a pattern where you come, where you come to the body of Christ so that you might continue to grow in your faith and know God's love as it is lived out in Christian community.

So where do we go and to where do we return? We go wherever the Spirit blows us, or urges us, or nudges us, or calls us. But how do we know where that is? We don't always - and so we must live our faith as an experiment. There will be times when you will ask yourselves, "Is this the right way to go? Is this where God wants me to be?" And the only way you will find out is to try it - it may not be where God would have you, but you will only know as you take a risk. There was once a time when Jesus' disciples were alone and they couldn't heal a boy who was possessed with a demon. When Jesus finally showed up, he was a bit exasperated with them because their faith was too thin to heal the boy, but instead of giving up on his disciples he used the opportunity to teach, to demonstrate, and to encourage them. Our faith is not about getting it right, but like the disciples, it is about learning how to live our faith and trusting that Jesus will help us when we need it. That can be scary, but it also promises great freedom because we know that Jesus is not grading us - but is leading us and teaching us. The other way that we know where to go is by being connected to a community of faith - like Trinity. God does not call us to faith by ourselves, but in community with others. Today you are officially a joining a congregation of deeply faithful men and women who ourselves are still learning where Jesus would have us go. We have some experience, we have some battle scars, we are, we hope, a bit wiser for our living - and we stand ready to help you - both to help you figure out where Jesus is sending you and what to do when you get there - if there is a "there". Jesus' ministry wasn't like a circus that only performed once it arrived in a new town; he mostly ministered to others while he was on the way. It's important to remember that the first Christians were not know as Christians or as the church, but as The Way - that is, we are a people whose faith is lived out in movement. Now I don't want to suggest that those of us who have been able to check the 'member' box a bit longer have somehow figured out this 'going.' As often as not, I am not sure if I am where God wants me; my encouragement to you is to recognize that you have brothers and sisters in us who are able and willing to help you see a bit further ahead, who will pray with you and pray for you, who will be partners on the journey.

And what about returning - the coming back part of this faith pattern. Today, Trinity is a primary place to which you come back - back for encouragement, back for equipping, back for love and forgiveness and peace. And this is a great place to come back to - not because we are perfect - we aren't; Trinity is such a significant place to return to because we are committed to growing in our faith and in our community of peace and love. There are times when we will fail each other and disappoint one another, but we know that we are bound together in God's Holy Spirit. So I encourage you to come here often - not just on Sunday morning but whenever we gather to grow in faith and encourage one another.

But here's the cool thing: today you are not simply joining Trinity, you are joining the Church. Today is not only about joining this body, but joining The Body of which Trinity is a part. I have told this story before, but it was so profound to my own life of faith that I want to repeat it again today: Back in 1988, I had the opportunity to study in the Southern African country of Zimbabwe. While there, I started attending the Mbare Presbyterian Church. When I would attend there, I would be the only White person in attendance, and I never understood the service since the entire thing was conducted in Shona, the local language. But the people of Mbare welcomed me warmly and I always enjoyed being there. On my third Sunday at Mbare, I was with a group of Africans from other countries who were in a class with me. As honored guests, we were seated in the front row. During the announcement time, the pastor asked each guest to stand up and introduce him or herself. On that morning, I was sitting at the far end of the row. When the pastor got to me he didn't ask me to stand and I felt a little out of place - until - until he said, "And we won't have our brother from America stand and introduce himself since he is already part and parcel of our congregation." I had been there just two previous weeks and I was already part and parcel of that congregation! But this is the church that you are joining today - it is not just here in University City - it is everywhere. I guarantee it, there will be times in your life when you are 9,000 miles away from here and you will find yourself home.

Coming and going. Going and coming. It is a pattern of faith that will continue on through the rest of you life. For Jesus is not just here, he is out there - so go. But because he has called the church together, he is not just experienced and known out there, but also here - so come. Come and go. Go and come. It is a pattern that you will repeat over and over throughout your lives.

And in closing I have two charges of you confirmands on this day when you commit to live this faith pattern with a new purpose and intentionality. First request: when you go, when you fulfill Jesus' great commission to go and make disciples of all nations, take us with you. So many of us are keenly aware that the world has changed a lot in the past couple of decades and many of us have trouble making sense of it. In a real sense, we have become immigrants in our own land. But you and your contemporaries are natives of this emerging world, and we need you to help us understand what this emerging world feels like, what its needs and hungers are, how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can speak to this world. We need you to be our guides, to be our interpreters, so that we too can go and make disciples. So go, and let us come along, so that we can see what you see, so that we can hear what you hear, so that we can touch what you touch.

Second charge: as you come back to this place, help us to continue to build a community of faith that not only makes room for you, but makes room for your friends and your contemporaries. For God calls us not only to be a body of people who already know each other, but that we also be a place where people from 9,000 miles and a different culture away can find themselves at home here. Trinity has a long and rich history of doing that, but it is an ongoing work and you have important things to teach us and you have invaluable gifts to give as we seek to grow in our community.

Anna, Jamie, Wyndham, and Branden, today on your Confirmation Sunday, check that new box - check it proudly because today you become active members of this congregation. But more importantly, let that check in that new column propel you forth from this place as you go to make disciples, as you go to share your faith, as you go to let your light so shine before others so that the world might see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. And let that check also serve as a magnet that draws you back - back to this community of faith where you are loved and cherished, back to this community of faith that needs your love and your faith, and back to any and every community of faith wherever it exists for wherever two or three are gathered in Jesus' name, he is there among us.