Baptism - Eucharist - Ministry: Confirmation of Faith

Dear Friends,
If you have been following The Bethlehem Community blog lately, you know that we are praying for our confirmands and those who will be received into the Episcopal Church on All Saint's Day, November 1st. In this space, we, too, are considering the life of faith, using the preparation materials that candidates have been thinking about and discussing in their meetings together. Having already considered Scripture (see earlier blog entries), we now take a look at The Book of Common Prayer-- with a close look at Baptism, Eucharist and the Ministry to which all Christians commit.

What follows here are the Prayer Book pages to read and the questions to be thinking about--

301 - 305: These pages are from the Baptismal Liturgy. They will be very familiar to you.
1) On the bottom of page 302 (and top of 303) you find six questions and responses.
What's going on here?

2) On page 304 you find "The Baptismal Covenant" which begins with The Apostles' Creed--that's the statement of faith that those to be baptized have always recited (that's a 2000 year plus tradition). Notice that the Creed is broken into three parts (one for each person of The Trinity)--
a) Do you believe in God the Father? Read this section (it's only two lines) and then write it down in your own words.
b) Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God? OK, now, this time list three things from this section that you do believe and also write down one thing about Jesus Christ that you have some trouble believing (or that you have your doubts about).
c) Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?

361 - 363: These pages contain one of the four Eucharistic Prayers. The Eucharistic Prayer is the Thanksgiving Story for Christians. Eucharist is a Greek word that means Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving Story for Christians is God's Gift of Love given in Jesus Christ, shared by those who follow Christ, and then given again by the Church (that's us) to be shared with and in the world.
3) How would you tell this story?

** We have looked at Baptism and Eucharist, the sacramental focus of our lives.
4) What is a sacrament?

309 - 310: These pages are found found at the conclusion of the Baptism section in the Prayer Book. They are the special prayers at Confirmation.
5) What is Confirmation and Reception, based on the prayers on these pages?

365: This page has a Postcommunion Prayer, the closing prayer following Holy Communion. There's another one on p. 366 but we are just looking at this one.
6) How is the Postcommunion Prayer similar to a "Commencement Address" ?

OK, now go back to pages 304 and 305: Following the Apostles' Creed, five questions and responses are found (beginning towards the bottom of page 304 with the words "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship..."). These are the Baptismal Promises-- they were made for us at Baptism. At Confirmation, when we affirm our faith, we reaffirm these promises. Basically, the five promises comprise the blueprint of what it means to lead a Christian life.
7) Very carefully, read the five questions that the Celebrant (priest) asks. Be thinking about the when, where, how and why of these questions; the "Who" is You! So, how you might keep these promises-- when, where, why?

Also, keep in mind that you are invited to post a response on this blog.
The candidates are working on statements that answer these two questions:
What does it mean to be a Christian?
What is distinctive about being a Christian in The Episcopal Church?

If you'd like to respond to these questions, please post your response here.