Confirmation Sunday

Daily Scripture Readings

Monday: Luke 15:1-7
Tuesday: Luke 15:8-10
Wednesday: Luke 15:11-19
Thursday: Luke 15:20-27
Friday: Luke 15:28-32
Saturday: John 1:1-18

Opening Prayer

Gracious God, today we thank you for our confirmation class. We thank you for the decision they are making to follow you. We pray your blessing on them on this day and always. In Jesus name, Amen.

Reading

Mary was beside herself, lost in grief, for she could not find her Lord. Then suddenly she noticed someone behind her – the gardener perhaps? “Woman, why are you crying?” he asked her. “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Mary would do anything and go anywhere to retrieve Jesus’ body. He, of all men, deserved a proper resting place.

Then she heard her name, “Mary.” In that instant Mary recognized her Lord. She clung to him and wouldn’t let him go.

When Jesus spoke her name – “Mary” – everything changed. She had been looking for Jesus, but Jesus had found her. It was she who was lost, not him. It was she, bent over in despair at the tomb, who needed lifting up. Jesus, the living one, raised from the dead, found Mary and transformed her life.

As with Mary, Jesus still comes to us. Yet if we are not careful, we may not notice him. We may be too wrapped up in the material world, bent over with the weight of things that don’t last. We may even be looking where Jesus can’t be found: in buildings and books, holy places and sacred times, confessions and creeds. Jesus is not there.

Easter must never become a remembrance, a mere celebration, or worse, a discussion or debate. For Jesus wants to come to us again and again, here and now. As with Mary, he calls each one of us by name. And he asks us: Why are you crying? Who are you looking for? What are you straining to find? What is upsetting you so? Why are you afraid? He speaks into our hearts, personally, directly, so we can see him as he really is. Our lost Lord finds us.

Jesus comes to everyone who feels lost without him. This is the miracle of Easter. On our own, we can never find him. But he can find us. Our names are on his lips.

Charles E. Moore