Confirmation

Confirmation is a point on the Christian journey at which you affirm for yourself the faith into which you have been baptized and your intention to live the life of a Christian.

This affirmation is confirmed through prayer and the laying on of hands by the confirming bishop.

The Church also asks God to give you strength, wisdom and courage through the Holy Spirit to enable you to live in the way of Jesus Christ.

Your confirmation will be led by the bishop. It will usually take place during the main Sunday service at one of the churches in your union or group of parishes.

Your local priest will prepare you for Confirmation.

You will  be expected to attend the Confirmation Morning in the year of your Confirmation at which you will meet the Bishop and the other people being confirmed in the Diocese that year.

There will usually be a rehearsal before the confirmation service. The priest will make sure you know where to sit and when you need to move. Some parts of the service will be for the whole congregation to join in; some will be for just you and the other confirmation candidates to say.  However, as the Bishop always says, ‘the most important thing to remember is that there is nothing to remember.’  On the day of the Confirmation the Bishop will tell you exactly at each stage of the Service what is going to happen next.

Most of the confirmation service will normally take place at the front of the church, but for the renewal of baptism promises and the affirmation of faith candidates will be asked by the bishop to gather around the font, which contains the water of baptism.

At the heart of the Confirmation Service, the bishop lays his hand of the head of each saying:

Confirm, N, O Lord, with your heavenly grace,
that s/he may continue to be yours for ever
and daily increase in your Holy Spirit, more and more,
until s/he comes to your eternal kingdom.

The bishop then makes the sign of the cross on your forehead with the oil of Chrism, as a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, saying:

Receive the seal of the Spirit

Read the text of the Confirmation Service.

Speak to one of the clergy about being confirmed.  They will answer some of the usual questions people have about Confirmation such as: what is the right age for Confirmation? or, what is involved in Confirmation preparation?

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