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highs: Jessica Bailey, Todd Pulliam, Tony Lai, Valerie
Ware, and Tom Sim. These young people have been meeting
regularly with their adult mentors since November. They
are reading the Gospel of Luke and working through a 12-module
confirmation guide that requires Bible study, theological
reflection, service projects, attending various church
meetings, interviewing church members, and visiting several
other churches. On Pentecost Sunday these five people
will confirm (say yes) to their baptisms as infants by
professing their faith in Jesus Christ and commitment to
Christ's Church. Those who have not been baptized will
be baptized at this service. The young people that have
been baptized will be anointed with oil as a sign of their
confirmation.
Both baptism with water and the
anointing with oil are Biblical symbols and signs of God's
gift of the Holy Spirit. In the early church, new
converts were both baptized and anointed.
The
anointing with oil was also used as a sign of God's
spirit upon believers when they were commissioned for a
special ministry or when they were in need of healing.
Also, when the service of confirmation developed as a time for
young people to confirm their baptism as infants, the
anointing with oil was used as a sign of
confirmation.
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